Benson Hill’s second Investor Day showcases technology leadership and strategic positioning for durable growth in multiple value-added markets

Date:03-30-2023

• Company unpacks deep R&D product pipeline with its CropOS^® technology platform to meet growing demand for plant-based protein and oil products.
  

• ADM plans to launch a portfolio of ADM soy ingredient products co-branded with and powered by Benson Hill technology in the second quarter of 2023.
  

• Company expects to open new market opportunities for its Ultra High Protein varieties through a commercial license agreement with Corteva Agriscience and M.S. Technologies L.L.C. for Enlist E3^® soybean technology.
  

• Company signs with First National Bank of Omaha a nonbinding term sheet for a conventional debt facility for up to $100 million, pursuant to its plans for refinancing debt, implementing a new Liquidity Improvement Plan, and raising funds intended to achieve positive cash flow in 2025.

Benson Hill, Inc. (NYSE: BHIL, the ″Company″ or ″Benson Hill″), a food tech company unlocking the natural genetic diversity of plants, hosts its 2023 Investor Day at the Company’s headquarters. The event will showcase Benson Hill’s clear management strategy and competitive moat that uniquely positions the Company to meet the consumer-driven demands of the evolving global food system.

″Since our last Investor Day, we have demonstrated that our strategy to scale innovative seed-to-plate soy ingredients for human food, aquaculture, and oil markets is working. We established a successful closed- loop business model and formed strategic partnerships that amplify the reach of our proprietary ingredients,″ said Matt Crisp, Benson Hill Chief Executive Officer. ″This year’s Investor Day will highlight the advantages of our CropOS^® technology platform, our current commercial portfolio, and our extensive pipeline as we continue to drive adoption of our innovative products.″

Investors will hear from management on several business updates:

Building a foundation with farmer partners: Investors will engage with farmers who are helping to build an exclusive network of seed-to-fork acres. ″Working with the Benson Hill team provides the kind of genuine partnership and progressive business opportunity many of our farmer community members have been waiting for,″ said Matt Ronken, Chief Executive Officer of UnCommon Farms, a network of agribusiness experts and farmers helping build more profitable and sustainable farm operations.

Scaling the commercial portfolio through licensing and partnerships: Investors will receive an update on the Company’s strategic partnership with ADM, which is on track to launch a co-branded portfolio of seed-to-fork ingredients to ADM’s extensive customer base in the second quarter. Investors will also dive deeper into how the Company’s partnerships with Denofa and BioMar are expanding its reach into the European aquaculture market.

Leveraging dual premium soybean breeding to optimize the soy meal/oil complex: Investors will learn how Benson Hill is using the power of its CropOS technology platform and Crop Accelerator to expand its dual premium breeding program, simultaneously delivering value-added traits in both soy meal and oil. This approach dramatically expands the potential market impact across feed and oil markets.

Advancing pipeline varieties to market with predictive breeding and gene editing: The Company will provide an update on pipeline advancements featuring increased protein content, higher yield potential, and greater geographic diversity to augment the current non-GMO soy portfolio. Three new varieties will be released for 2024 commercial planting, and multiple additional new Ultra-High Protein (UHP) varieties are in final testing for a limited release in the 2024 season. The management team will also give an overview of how the Company has advanced to its third year of field testing its first wave of gene edited soy varieties developed using Benson Hill’s proprietary CRISPR gene editing technology. Finally, investors will hear how field and lab test results validated protein and functional specifications within the Company’s yellow pea pipeline, with the first proprietary commercial plantings slated for 2025 to serve the pet food market.

Developing UHP varieties with Enlist E3^® soybean technology for market expansion in 2025: Benson Hill is also announcing that it has entered into a commercial license agreement with Corteva Agriscience and M.S. Technologies L.L.C. for Enlist E3^® soybean technology in the U.S. The transgenic soybean event in Enlist E3^® soybeans is jointly developed and owned by Corteva Agriscience and M.S. Technologies L.L.C. and was commercialized in 2019. The Company is committed to advancing high value varieties with near term impact in the pipeline, and the integration creates herbicide tolerance within Benson Hill’s UHP varieties. This expansion of the portfolio provides greater choice for farmers and flexibility for different geographies and end markets, including large U.S. feed markets such as poultry.

Executing a plan to achieve its near-term and 2025 financial targets: Management will reinforce a strong outlook for 2023, affirming its recent guidance for 40 percent to 50 percent year-over-year proprietary revenue growth and a more than doubling of consolidated gross profit. Persistent high supply chain costs required a shift to a targeted growth strategy to continue the profitable expansion of the Company’s proprietary product portfolio. The revised approach is expected to result in an approximately 50 percent year-over-year increase in 2023 planted soybean acres.

The Company expects the execution of its strategic objectives and other actions noted below to result in positive Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow in 2025. Underpinning the expected achievement of this milestone are consolidated revenues greater than $400 million, with proprietary revenues of $300 million or greater, and expected consolidated gross margins of 25 percent.

Management is taking prudent actions to enhance its capital structure with the intention of fully funding the business to achieve its 2025 financial targets. Benson Hill has signed a non-binding term sheet with First National Bank of Omaha as administrative agent and arranger to provide up to a $100 million syndicated senior secured credit facility. The two parties expect to close the facility as early as the third quarter of this year, subject to obtaining binding commitments from a syndicate of lenders and execution of the final loan documents. The lending facility is expected to consist of a syndicate of commercial banks and include the following:

• $50 million line of credit;

• $20 million equipment loan; and

• $30 million term loan.

Management cannot make any guarantees regarding the new lending facility, however, the fully executed non-binding term sheet and ongoing discussions with FNBO provide management confidence that the successful completion will lower Benson Hill’s cost of capital and provide greater flexibility and liquidity.

The focus on cost discipline and efficient use of cash remains central to the Company’s achievement of its plans for growth. To help ensure that the Company has sufficient liquidity to meet its objectives, management is implementing a Liquidity Improvement Plan. As announced in an 8-K filing yesterday, the Company expects it will include:

• Operating Expense Reduction: Implement run-rate cost reductions of at least $20 million per year by 2024.

• Optimize Manufacturing Base: Enhance operational gains achieved through record production in the Company’s closed-loop soy processing facilities by exploring strategic options for its Seymour, Indiana, facility and further increasing capacity utilization at the Creston, Iowa, facility in coordination with utilizing assets available through current and future strategic partnerships.

• Minimize Working Capital: Increase free cash flow by optimizing acreage targets and other areas of working capital while ensuring achievement of proprietary revenue growth targets.

These collective actions are intended to improve liquidity by an estimated $65 million to $75 million through 2024 and reduce to $35 million to $45 million the amount of proceeds from equity and/or non-dilutive sources needed to fund the Company’s business plan to achieve positive cash flow in 2025.