Earnings call transcript: PyroGenesis Q2 2025 sees revenue dip, stock drops

PyroGenesis Canada Inc. (PYR), with a market capitalization of $138 million, reported a significant revenue decline in its Q2 2025 earnings call, with figures showing a 23.6% year-over-year decrease. Despite operational advancements, the company’s stock experienced an 8.75% drop, closing at $0.36, close to its 52-week low. According to InvestingPro analysis, the company’s overall financial health score is rated as WEAK, with particularly concerning metrics in profitability. The company continues to focus on cost optimization and technological innovation to drive future growth.

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Key Takeaways

• Q2 2025 revenue fell 23.6% year-over-year to $3 million.
• Gross margin improved by 93% compared to the previous year.
• The company completed a major project with Tata Steel and signed a new contract in Europe.
• Stock price dropped 8.75%, reaching $0.36.
• Backlog remains strong at $51.1 million, primarily in U.S. dollars.

Company Performance

PyroGenesis faced a challenging second quarter in 2025, with revenue declining significantly compared to the same period last year. The company’s comprehensive loss for the quarter was $3.1 million, contributing to a year-to-date loss of $7.5 million. Last twelve months EBITDA stands at -$5.1 million, while revenue reached $13.65 million with a gross margin of 31.55%. Despite these financial setbacks, the company reported a substantial improvement in gross margin, signaling potential efficiency gains in its operations.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $3 million (23.6% decrease YoY)
• Gross Margin: 56% (93% improvement YoY)
• Comprehensive Loss: $3.1 million for the quarter
• Modified EBITDA Loss: $2.1 million for the quarter

Outlook & Guidance

Looking ahead, PyroGenesis anticipates increased revenue momentum in the upcoming quarters, driven by ongoing development in plasma and gas conversion technologies. Analysts maintain a bullish outlook, with price targets ranging from $61.76 to $67.58, suggesting significant upside potential. The company is focused on expanding its global customer base and enhancing shareholder value through continuous innovation.

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Executive Commentary

• Steve McCormick, VP Corporate Affairs, noted, "Although the company achieved solid operational progress this quarter, the financial performance was affected by delayed project starts."
• Peter Pascale, CEO, highlighted the growing interest in PyroGenesis’ plasma technology for decarbonization efforts.
• CFO Andre Manela emphasized ongoing cost optimization efforts across all categories.

Risks and Challenges

• Delayed project starts could continue to affect financial performance.
• Market volatility and economic uncertainties may impact future revenue.
• Supply chain disruptions in the aluminum industry pose challenges.
• The company’s ability to maintain and grow its backlog is crucial for future success.

PyroGenesis remains committed to its strategic initiatives, focusing on energy transition, waste remediation, and commodity security. The company operates with a moderate debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58 and maintains a current ratio of 1.97. With a strong project backlog and innovative technologies, the company aims to strengthen its position as a leader in industrial energy transition despite the current financial challenges.

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Full transcript - PyroGenesis Canada Inc. (PYR) Q2 2025:

Conference Operator: Hello, and welcome to the PyroGenesis Second Quarter twenty twenty five Business Update Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. It is now my pleasure to introduce Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Steve McCormick.

Steve McCormick, Vice President of Corporate Affairs, PyroGenesis: Thank you, operator, and good morning to everyone. I’m Steve McCormick, Vice President of Corporate Affairs for PyroGenesis. Thank you for joining PyroGenesis twenty twenty five second quarter financial results and business update conference call. On the call with me today is Mr. Andre Manela, the company’s Chief Financial Officer.

The company issued a press release on Wednesday, 08/06/2025 containing the financial results and a business update for the second quarter ended 06/30/2025, which can be viewed on the company’s website at pyrogenesis.com. If you have any questions after the call or would like any additional information about the company, please email the Investor Relations department and we will try as best as possible to answer questions that are of a public nature. The email address is irpyrogenesis dot com. We will shortly provide prepared remarks reviewing the operational and financial results for the second quarter ended 06/30/2025. I’d like to remind everyone that this discussion may include forward looking information that is based on certain assumptions and is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or from results anticipated by the forward looking information.

Forward looking information provided in this call speaks only as of the date of this call and is based on the plans, beliefs, estimates, projections, expectations, opinions, and assumptions of management as of today’s date. There can be no assurance that forward looking information will prove to be accurate. You should not place undue reliance on forward looking information. PyroGenesis disclaims any obligation to update this information or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward looking information, except as required by applicable law. In addition, during the course of this call, there may also be references to certain non IFRS financial measures, including references to EBITDA, modified EBITDA and backlog, which do not have standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies.

For more information about both forward looking information and non IFRS financial measures, including a reconciliation of EBITDA and modified EBITDA, please refer to the company’s management discussion and analysis, which, along with the financial statements, are available on the company’s website at pyrogenesis.com and on the SEDAR website at sedarplus. Also, a reminder that Pyrogenesis follows Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or GAAP, where revenue is accrued not on sales but on a model that reflects a percentage of the work completed for a given contract during the period, which can vary based on both the nature of the projects in house and on a client’s own scheduling and logistical decisions, both of which can impact production milestones and the company’s ability to book revenue. During these recent years of supply chain, logistical and inflationary uncertainties, those issues have been more frequent and unpredictable. And as stated in previous reports, the company’s revenues are likely to be irregular quarter to quarter as project related revenue fluctuates based on the timing of new project starts and existing project phases and also due to those reasons just outlined. With that, we now turn to the business overview.

I’ll start off with a quick review of some of the company’s top line results for the quarter, followed by a summary of some of the key business activities that occurred before turning the call over to our Chief Financial Officer, Andre Manila. For revenues, for the 2025, the company exited the quarter with revenues of $3,000,000 As stated in yesterday’s news release, this is a decrease of 23.6% year over year with a decrease primarily related to delayed project starts. This represents an example of what I stated in the opening remarks and why we specifically include the statement about revenue being irregular and unpredictable quarter to quarter based on a number of factors, most often related to project start schedules or delayed or slower project phases. It can also be related to cash on hand and in this continuously fluctuating economic landscape, clients can face their own cash flow and CapEx scheduling challenges, which can have an effect on PyroGenesis’ revenue. To gross margin, for the quarter, margin was 56%, a 27 increase from the 29% margin for the same period one year ago for an improvement of 93% year over year.

It is noted, and Andre will extrapolate further later in the call, that the Q2 margin benefited from some revenue items with limited expenses as can happen when projects are in initial scoping, conceptualizing or planning phases. Even with excluding that particular set of revenue items, the margin for the quarter would remain above 42, representing a successful margin quarter all around and in the company’s target range for margins for any quarter. Historically, second quarter margins for the company are strong averaging 41.4% over the past eight years. As always, we like to provide further context for margins via comparison to some of the industries the company serves or supports. The metal mining industry is showing 37% margin for the quarter.

Industrial machinery and components is at 37.4%. Aerospace and defense is at 17.7%. Iron and steel is at 26.7% margin. And for the aluminum industry second quarter margins are currently reporting at a low 12.1%. There’s some interesting data surrounding the low aluminum industry number as tariffs, fluctuating energy costs and demand swings have contributed to higher price inputs costs and higher regional premiums across the aluminum industry, especially in The U.

S. As a result of the tariffs, a reorientation of the aluminum supply chain has been occurring with a large redirection of Canadian aluminum to European markets over the past few months being reported, adding to the tightness in The U. S. Market and contributing to this low margin period for producers and manufacturers. Along with closer ties and new supply arrangements being established among Canadian, European and Middle Eastern aluminum companies, there’s renewed interest investment and expansion for those regions, especially in downstream facilities such as cast houses.

This potentially benefits PyroGenesis whose aluminum sector customer base is primarily within those regions and where cast houses have represented some of the company’s initial projects for aluminum industry energy transition. The ongoing projects with Constellium and Norst Hydro to test plasma and cast off furnaces being the most prominent examples. Now onto backlog. PyroGenesis project backlog stands at $51,100,000 showing continuing strength in the company’s order book. For those that need clarity on backlog, backlog is defined as signed or awarded contracts.

Backlog outlines future revenues for the company that will be added to the financial results over subsequent quarters as projects are started or project milestones are reached on a percentage of work completed basis. In management’s opinion, a strong backlog helps to show the strength of the long term outlook while also illustrating the wide variety of different types of contracts the company can secure. What the company often refers to as its multi legged stool identity. And of course, it shows the minimum future revenue for the company as these projects progress towards completion. And now to some key production highlights for the second quarter.

Please note that projects or potential projects that were previously announced, but which do not appear in this summary update or within the Management Discussion and Analysis or Outlook should not be considered at risk. Noteworthy developments can occur at any time based on project stages and the information presented is a reflection of information on hand of some but not all projects. Projects not mentioned may have simply not passed milestones worthy of discussion or had their project status changed since the last reporting quarter. Starting with a brief reminder of the company’s business strategy, the company leverages an expertise in ultra high temperature processes to create a technology ecosystem for heavy industry. From early stage pilot to full commercialization, our technology solution set is concentrated under three verticals that align with economic drivers that are key to heavy industry.

First, the Energy Transition and Emission Reduction vertical, which utilizes the company’s electric powered plasma torches and biogas upgrading technology to help heavy industry reduce their energy costs, their fossil fuel use and their emissions. There were no major developments during the quarter, but post quarter end, in July, the company announced that its subsidiary Pyro Green Gas Inc. Had completed the previously announced 9,300,000 coke oven gas valorization and hydrogen production project for Tata Steel, one of the world’s largest diversified steel producers. The project was to supply coke oven gas purification solutions and hydrogen production technology to extract hydrogen and other toxic gases from the blast furnace process, then separate, clean, and process the gases to render hydrogen to 99.999% purity level. The project was successfully completed and the systems developed by Pyro Green Gas are now in continuous twenty four hour a day operation at the Tata Steel facility in Kalinga Nagar, India.

The newly formed hydrogen produced by the system is being reused by other applications throughout the facility, improving production efficiency and environmental outcomes. To the waste remediation vertical, which provides technology for the safe destruction of hazardous materials and the recovery and valorization of underlying substances such as chemicals and minerals that could be resold or reused. Also post quarter end in July, the company announced it had signed a contract for approximately $600,000 with one of the world’s largest integrated environmental service companies, expanding Pyrogenesis relationship with its client to include developing a solution for the plastic waste problem in Europe. The client operates more than 100 waste treatment sites and facilities across Europe and this announcement is the third project announced with this client. And finally, for commodity security and optimization, the vertical where the development of advanced material production techniques and the use of technology such as plasma to recover viable material from industrial waste helps to maximize our raw materials and improve the availability of critical minerals.

During the quarter, the company had several announcements regarding the fumed silica reactor pilot plant. For those who are unfamiliar, fumed silica is one of the most widely used industrial materials and can be found in thousands of products from cosmetics, toothpaste, pet litter, powdered food, instant coffee, pharmaceuticals, adhesives, paints, sealants, you name it. It is often used in these products as a thickening, anti caking agent used to stabilize and improve the texture, consistency, and flow of the end product. The Fumed Silica Reactor or FSR was designed by Pyrogenesis to produce commercial grade fumed silica from quartz in a single eco friendly system, while eliminating the use of the harmful chemicals used in the conventional production method. A sequence of developments in the second quarter helped move the FSR closer to commercialization.

In May, it was announced that material was successfully produced and collected from the FSR’s product recovery unit known as the bag house, then sent to a third party laboratory for analysis to confirm various technical assumptions. Subsequently, in May, that analysis confirmed those assumptions, that the material was in fact fumed silica and that any impurities observed were not only anticipated but were in a state that was expected and which could be removed. Also, amount of fumed silica produced was also greater than anticipated. Later it was announced that the company had received accelerated requests for fumed silica samples from multiple potential clients and those samples were then shipped within ten days to those clients. And in June, the company received notice from a leading global supplier of fumed silica that the material samples recently delivered to them successfully passed the client’s test protocols.

Moving forward, the FSR continues to undergo testing and modifications to improve both the system and the material produced. And finally, during the quarter, the company announced it had received approved supplier status with Boeing for its TI-sixty four coarse cut titanium metal powder produced by Pyrogenesis next gen plasma atomization process with a particle size that is within the range of 53 to 150 microns. This particular powder has now been added to Boeing’s qualified list of materials available for use in additive manufacturing by their parts makers and service centers. To read about these and other events and updates, as well as ongoing projects not discussed on this call, please refer to the corresponding section of yesterday’s news release or the Management Discussion and Analysis, in particular the Outlook section of those documents. I’ll be back at the end for some final thoughts, but at this point, I’d like to turn the call over to the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Andre Manela, to discuss the financials in more detail.

Andre?

Andre Manela, Chief Financial Officer, PyroGenesis: Thank you, Steve, for the in-depth overview, and thank you to the participants for joining the call. Now let’s turn our attention to PyroGenesis’ financial performance for twenty twenty five Q2 and year to date. As highlighted in the operational updates, the company continues to execute its strategy across its three verticals. In this section, I’ll provide additional detail regarding the financial performance for the period and provide insight into the revenue and expenses. For Q2 twenty twenty five, PyroGenesis recorded revenue of $3,000,000 representing a decrease of $900,000 compared with $3,900,000 recorded in 2024.

The main product line responsible for this was Torch related sales, which decreased by $1,600,000 This was due to the completion and delivery of a Torch system in 2024 and also to twenty twenty five projects, which are still in their early stage. In the biogas upgrading product line, revenue was up 600,000.0 as the company continues to advance the gas desulfurization projects. For year to date revenue, it closed at 6,000,000, down by $1,400,000 versus 2024. And this varied for the same reasons explained for the quarter. Furthermore, the decrease was also caused by current project statuses for the Pure VAP projects and for systems supplied to the U.

S. Navy. This is expected to reverse as project stages advance with more momentum and greater revenue being recorded in the upcoming quarters. As of 08/06/2025, our backlog stands at $51,100,000 and expected to be recognized progressively over the next three years. And it’s important to note that the majority of this backlog is in foreign currency, more specifically 83% is in U.

S. Dollars. Despite the dip in revenue, we’re pleased by the gross profit of $1,700,000 or 56% for the quarter and $2,500,000 or 41% for the year to date results. While there are many factors that affect margins, our results were favorably impacted by the sales mix and higher margin projects, and also due to the projects being at stages where minimum costs are needed to be incurred. In addition, the company continues to emphasize its cost control efforts and improve sourcing to reduce the manufacturing costs.

And now turning to operational expenses. Selling, general and administrative expenses totaled $3,600,000 in Q2 twenty twenty five and $7,300,000 for the 2025 year to date. It’s important to note that 2024 quarterly and year to date results appear unusually low due to a reversal of the expected credit loss. This was due to accounts receivables that were provisioned for collection purposes, but these accounts were collected and hence the need to reverse these expenses. If you were to exclude the impact of the credit loss reversal, we see that the company’s SG and decreased by a net amount of $400,000 in the quarter across various expense categories.

The most important ones being professional fees, employee compensation and share based expenses. Unfortunately, the impact of the Canadian to U. S. Dollar rate caused an FX variation of $265,000 For year to date SG and A, we experienced the same anomaly with the comparative figures. But again, if we exclude the impact of the credit loss reversal, year to date SG and A expenses are actually down by $1,400,000 And once more, due to the rates of the Canadian to U.

S. Dollar, we experienced an FX variation of $500,000 We continue to execute our cost optimization across all categories and proof sourcing. Headcount is reduced and therefore compensation is down $500,000 year over year. Savings are also realized in share based expenses, professional fees, insurance premiums and finally office in general. Cost management and operational improvements are driving progress in our financial performance.

The net R and D expenses for Q2 twenty twenty five totaled $400,000 so it’s a slight increase from a comparable $300,000 in Q2 twenty twenty four, and year to date closed at $700,000 versus $500,000 for 2024. These increases are due to additional materials and equipment used in development and testing activities. And this aids in the development of new technologies and brings improvements to our existing products. The company also continues to benefit from client funded R and D projects, which qualify for SRED tax credits, further supporting our investments in innovation. Next, let’s look at the quarterly financial costs, which begins at a $275,000 amount before a favorable adjustment from the revaluation of the balance due on business combination, which are no longer milestone liabilities, giving a net financial income of $800,000 for the quarter.

The year to date financial expense also began as an expense of $563,000 and favorably affected by the same reevaluation of the business combination liability and resulting in a net financial income of 500,000.0 Aside from this item, financial expense was as expected, but it varied mainly because of the convertible loan redeemed in the year, reduction of the convertible debenture and the issuance of a new secured loan in May 2025. The fair value adjustment of strategic investments resulted in an expense of approximately $1,400,000 in the quarter and $2,100,000 year to date. This was based on the decrease of the share price of HPQ common shares, which directly affects the value of the investment and the fair value of the warrants owned by PyroGenesis. The exercise price of the warrants is greater than the share price, and therefore an unrealized loss has been recognized. Moving on to our comprehensive loss, which as a result of the items discussed, is a loss of $3,100,000 for the current quarter and a loss of $7,500,000 year to date.

Overall, this is due to lower sales, which generated a higher gross margin, but SG and A lacked the favorable impact of the credit loss reversal that occurred in 2024. As well, the 2024 periods had a favorable gain of $1,200,000 from a legal settlement. 2025 was also negatively impacted by the HPQ share price, but fortunately the reversal of the business combination liability created a financial income. The EBITDA was a loss of $3,600,000 for the three month period and loss of $7,300,000 year to date. The EBITDA does not include the change in fair value of the investment, which resulted in an expense of $1,400,000 in the quarter and $2,100,000 year to date.

And finally, once we do adjust for the fair value of the investment and for the share based compensation, we arrive at a modified EBITDA loss of $2,100,000 for the quarter, and that equals $5,100,000 loss year to date. Now this metric helps investors to better understand the financial performance of our operations while excluding elements outside of our control and other non cash items. This wraps up the financial review for Q2 twenty twenty five. I’ll now hand the call back over to Steve for some final comments. Thank you.

Steve McCormick, Vice President of Corporate Affairs, PyroGenesis: Thanks very much, Andre. As Peter Pascale, the company’s President and CEO, remarked in yesterday’s news release, although the company achieved solid operational progress this quarter, the financial performance was affected by delayed project starts leading to lower than expected revenues. Given that our revenue recognition based on the percent of complete method is often influenced by customer timelines, we can remain focused on what we can control: driving continued cost optimizations to operate more efficiently accelerating innovation to enhance the power and cost effectiveness of our plasma torches and gas cleaning and conversion technologies and expanding our global outreach to engage a broader range of customers across both the high and low ends of the addressable market. Mr. Pascali and the Board of Directors expressed continued confidence in the company’s strategic path.

As Mr. Pascali also stated, in recent years several global market leaders have signaled a clear intention to tackle decarbonization by exploring Pyrogenesis plasma technology as a high temperature heat source for industrial processes. This week’s announcement of a plasma torch sale to Constellium, one of the world’s largest aluminum transformation and recycling companies, marks the start of that important project’s milestone implementation phase and reflects our growing momentum in the aluminum sector. We’ve long maintained that the energy transition movement will eventually extend into other hard to abate industries. The growing number of confirmed projects and active discussions within the steel, cement, plastics, glass and chemical industries as highlighted in our outlook underscores this accelerating shift and supports the continued confidence for our company in the road ahead.

Above all else, the company remains committed to driving shareholder value and continues to focus on innovating, improving efficiency, growing its customer base and engaging with existing and potential new customers around the world on a variety of exciting new business opportunities. We look forward to providing you with additional updates in the very near future. And a reminder to email any questions you may have about the company and its projects to our Investor Relations department at irpyrogenesis dot com. Thank you again for joining us today, and good afternoon. Operator, please end the call.

Conference Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating. This does conclude today’s program, and you may now disconnect.

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