BioHarvest Sciences (BHST) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Motley Fool Transcribing, The Motley FoolWed, August 12, 2026 at 1:57 AM UTC

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Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS -

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Zaki Rakib

Chief Financial Officer - Bar Dichter

Controller - Roi Atsaraf

TAKEAWAYS -

Revenue -- $8.8 million, growing 3.8% year over year from $8.5 million, reflecting contributions from the nutraceutical products business and the CDMO division.

Gross Profit -- $5.1 million, representing a 58% margin compared to 59% in the prior-year period.

Net Loss -- $3.7 million or $0.17 per basic and diluted share, improved from a net loss of $4.1 million or $0.24 per share in the second quarter of 2025.

Adjusted EBITDA Loss -- $1.6 million, compared to a loss of $1.2 million in the prior-year period, reflecting increased investments in CDMO development and a new marketing strategy.

Cash and Cash Equivalents -- $16.2 million as of June 30, 2026, a significant increase from $3.7 million as of June 30, 2025.

Fragrance CDMO Contract -- $20 million to $30 million in potential revenue across 2027 to 2028, following a secured supply and manufacturing agreement for a 20-ton commitment of a rare fragrance compound.

Total Revenue Guidance -- $37 million to $40 million for full year 2026, revised downward from the previous range of $42 million to $48 million due to strategic resource reallocation.

VINIA Revenue Guidance -- $33 million to $35 million for the full year, adjusted from $38 million to $42 million as the company redirected marketing spend toward manufacturing capacity and CDMO growth.

VINIA EBITDA Loss Guidance -- $1.5 million to $2.5 million loss, revised from a previously forecasted gain of $0.5 million to $2 million.

CDMO Revenue Guidance -- $4 million to $5 million, tightened from the previous $4 million to $6 million range as the company focuses on high-value projects.

CDMO EBITDA Loss Guidance -- $1.5 million to $2.5 million loss, a reduction from the previous forecast of $4 million to $5 million.

Consolidated EBITDA Loss Guidance -- $3 million to $5 million for 2026, compared to a previous range of $3 million to $4 million.

VINIA Active Customers -- Approximately 95,000, representing 2% growth both year over year and versus the first quarter of 2026.

Pricing Strategy -- Up to 20% increase implemented in June for new subscription customers from their second order onward to improve unit economics.

Saffron Development Agreement -- $1.125 million for Stage 2 development, following the successful establishment of a saffron cell bank during Stage 1.

Israel Innovation Authority Grant -- $1.4 million in nondilutive funding approved in July to support data science, machine learning, and high-throughput sensing in biological workflows.

Sales and Marketing Expenses -- $4.4 million, compared to $4 million in the second quarter of 2025, reflecting higher media costs and acquisition spending.

R&D Expenses -- $1.7 million, increased from $1.4 million year over year to support Botanical Synthesis platform advancements.

G&A Expenses -- $1.5 million or 17% of revenue, down from $1.6 million or 19% of revenue in the prior-year period.

Operating Expenses -- $7.6 million, compared to $6.9 million year over year, driven by technology development in the CDMO business unit.

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RISKS -

Rakib stated, "The category has seen meaningful media inflation. Meta media costs increased double digits over the period," acknowledging that higher costs for the same audience influenced the decision to lower marketing spend.

Rakib noted that the decision to prioritize capital toward manufacturing capacity and CDMO growth led to the revision of the direct-to-consumer business forecast from a gain to "an expected EBITDA loss of $1.5 million to $2.5 million."

Management detailed a strategic shift toward high-margin CDMO opportunities while revising 2026 revenue guidance downward. The company announced its first commercial supply agreement for a rare fragrance compound and outlined plans to achieve consolidated EBITDA breakeven by 2027. BioHarvest Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:BHST) reported progress in its sweetener and saffron development programs and stated an intention to manage cash flow without additional equity financing. The company continues to invest in industrial automation and machine learning to optimize its Botanical Synthesis technology platform.

CEO Rakib characterized the new fragrance contract as a validating deal for the company's technology, stating it involves a "rare premium scent that is widely regarded as one of the most valuable fragrance raw materials in the world."

Management noted the fragrance project is significantly ahead of the previously outlined schedule, with production expected to begin in a dedicated section of the current facility in the first half of 2027.

BioHarvest expanded its collaboration with Tate & Lyle to include the development of several plant-based sweetener molecules beyond the original single compound.

The company plans to launch single-dose VINIA Daily Chews in September to target younger audiences and improve customer retention.

The licensing model for high-volume products, such as sweeteners, involves strategic partners building their own facilities while BioHarvest provides technology transfer and collects royalties.

CEO Rakib stated the Israel Innovation Authority grant initiative "aims to move plant cell culture from traditional empirical trial and error methods towards a data-driven optimization framework."

Management indicated that the company will not bring any new proprietary products to market besides VINIA for the time being, focusing instead on making developed assets available to CDMO customers.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY -

CDMO: Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization, a company that provides development and manufacturing services to other companies in the pharmaceutical or biotech industries.

Botanical Synthesis: A proprietary technology platform that allows for the cultivation of active plant ingredients in bioreactors without growing the whole plant.

VINIA: A dietary supplement derived from red grape cells containing a full spectrum of polyphenols including resveratrol.

Polyphenols: A category of compounds naturally found in plants that provide various health benefits.

IIA: Israel Innovation Authority, a government agency providing funding and support for innovation in Israel.

Nondilutive Funding: Capital that does not require the company to give up any ownership or equity.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Good morning and welcome to the BioHarvest Sciences Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I will now hand the call over to Dory Kurowski of LifeSci Advisors. Please go ahead.

Dory Kurowski: Greetings, and welcome to the BioHarvest Sciences Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. With us on the call this morning is Dr. Zaki Rakib, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that management will be making projections and forward-looking statements on the call today regarding future events. Any statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These statements are made pursuant to and within the meaning of the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We encourage you to review BioHarvest Sciences' SEC filings, including the company's most recent Form 6-K, which identify risks and uncertainties that may cause future actual results or events to differ materially.

These filings can be found on the company website as well as the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Please note that the forward-looking statements made during today's call speak only to the date they are made, and BioHarvest Sciences undertakes no obligation to update them. And with that, I would like to turn the call over to Dr. Zaki Rakib, Chief Executive Officer of BioHarvest. Please go ahead.

Operator: Hello, Dr. Zaki. Just a reminder to unmute, please.

Zaki Rakib: Yes, you can hear me? Should I start from the beginning? Did you hear everything?

Operator: Yes, please. Thank you.

Zaki Rakib: Okay. Sorry, my apologies. Thank you, Dory, and thank you all for joining us this morning. This morning, we proudly announced our first-ever CDMO manufacturing and supply agreement, another validating deal that shows the value of our programmable plant cell biology, which yields highly consistent, bioavailable and patent protected precision botanics. These are non-GMO compounds possessing enhanced potency and purity compared to the original plant. Our AI-driven development and industrial scale bioreactors are a revolution in plant cell culture production at mass scale. This morning's announcement relates to our program that we have with a UAE-based customer for a global luxury rare fragrance.

I'll talk more about this exciting announcement and what it means to BioHarvest after you hear the prerecorded review of the financials that includes a more detailed summary of our numbers for this quarter. Please note that our CFO, Bar Dichter, has prerecorded the financial summary, but for happy family-related circumstances will not be joining the call today. Our company's Controller, Roi Atsaraf, will be on the call, and if necessary, he will follow up with any unaddressed financial questions on the call. Operator?

Bar Dichter: Thank you, Zaki. Good morning, everyone. I will provide you with a summary of our financial results. A full breakdown is available in our SEC filings and in the press release that crossed the wire before market opened today. Please note that all figures are in U.S. dollars unless stated otherwise. Revenues for the second quarter of 2026 were $8.8 million, an increase of 3.8% year-over-year from $8.5 million for the same period last year. Cost of revenue was $3.7 million compared to $3.4 million for the same period last year.

Gross profit for the second quarter of 2026 was $5.1 million or 58% of total revenue compared to $5.1 million or 59% of total revenue for the same period last year. Sales and marketing expenses totaled $4.4 million for the second quarter of 2026 compared to $4 million for the same period last year. R&D expenses totaled $1.7 million for the second quarter of 2026 compared to $1.4 million for the same period last year. G&A expenses totaled $1.5 million for the second quarter of 2026 compared to $1.6 million for the same period last year or 17% of revenues as compared to 19% for the same period last year.

Total operating expenses for the second quarter of 2026 were $7.6 million compared to $6.9 million for the same period last year. The increase is driven by technology development expenditures with CDMO services business unit as well as investing in new marketing strategy for the products business unit. Net losses for the second quarter of 2026 totaled $3.7 million or $0.17 per basic and diluted share as compared to a net loss of $4.1 million or $0.24 per basic and diluted share for the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA loss, a non-IFRS measure for the second quarter of 2026 totaled $1.6 million compared to $1.2 million for the same period last year.

Cash and cash equivalents, together with bank deposits as of June 30, 2026, totaled $16.2 million compared to $3.7 million as of June 30, 2025. I would now like to pass the call back to Zaki.

Zaki Rakib: As mentioned at the start of this call, I'm extremely pleased to share that BioHarvest has secured our first supply and manufacturing contract with our fragrance customer for a rare premium scent that is widely regarded as one of the most valuable fragrance raw materials in the world. It is significantly ahead of the schedule we had previously outlined. This agreement reflects our partners' high prioritizations of this program as well as their awareness that BioHarvest has multiple competing development programs. The partner through the agreement expresses a desire to secure the earliest possible product availability for commercialization purposes. Today's announcement is an important strategic milestone in our quest to be the largest producers of cell culture-based rare fragrances.

The 20-ton commitment with the delivery of the final product for our partner's specifications has the potential to translate to $20 million to $30 million in revenue for BioHarvest in the 2027, 2028 time frame. We will start limited production in the first half of 2027 in a dedicated section of our facility. Our Botanical Synthesis technology is a horizontal platform covering multiple industries, and it carries a very large opportunity for BioHarvest. The fragrance project and supply agreement we are discussing today is just one example of that vast potential. Let me now emphasize the key strategic goals of the company for the next 12 to 18 months.

As demonstrated by today's announced manufacturing agreement, we will accelerate the monetization of molecules we have already developed or that are in advanced stages of development. We will shift our focus from proving the breadth of Botanical Synthesis application to selectively converting our highest value opportunities into recurring manufacturing revenue, royalties and sustainable profitability. At the same time, we will continue building our direct-to-consumer business for healthy, profitable growth. Taken together, these priorities support our growth plans and our path to EBITDA breakeven in 2027 on a consolidated basis. And throughout, we will manage our cash carefully with the intent to avoid raising equity-based funding. Now I will review details of our other CDMO programs that are making important progress.

As reported last quarter, BioHarvest's CDMO division completed Stage 1 of its multistage saffron development agreement, successfully establishing a saffron cell bank for potential nutraceutical as well as culinary applications. Saffron is one of the most -- one of the world's most valuable and health-promoting botanicals. And this program, along with our fragrance program is highly valuable to us. Completion of Stage 1 for the saffron program triggered advancement to Stage 2, a development agreement valued at $1.125 million which will focus on scaling saffron biomass in bioreactors to support pre-commercial testing and formulation work. Under the terms of the agreement, BioHarvest retains a 25% ownership position in the saffron composition being developed in addition to future manufacturing royalties.

In May, we also announced an update with our strategic partner, Tate & Lyle, which was an expansion of our original collaboration that broadened the scope of our joint sweetener development program. The expanded agreement broadens the scope of the partnership, moving from a single compound to development of several plant-based sweetener molecules. Based on our optimized strategy, we believe there is opportunity to secure additional selected contracts with strategic partners over the next year. We also expect additional development revenue from existing projects before the end of this year. In July, we announced that the Israel Innovation Authority approved a grant of approximately $1.4 million to BioHarvest.

This non-dilutive funding will support the new research initiative integrating advanced data science, machine learning, computer vision and high-throughput digital sensing directly into BioHarvest's biological development workflows with the goal of accelerating its plant cell culture progress. The initiative aims to move plant cell culture from traditional empirical trial and error methods towards a data-driven optimization framework. This is the second IIA grant BioHarvest has received this year. The first supported scaling the company's manufacturing facility through industrial automation and machine learning. The grant takes the form of a zero-interest loan with repayment contingent on the company reaching predefined commercial milestones and is expected to come solely from future revenues generated by the funded project.

This technology investment, among other goals, aims to enable BioHarvest to own the largest cell bank for valuable and endangered plant species in the world. The CDMO side of our business remains strong with high growth potential. Today, we announced that the CDMO business is tightening its expected revenue range from $4 million to $6 million to $4 million to $5 million and is anticipating a significant reduction in full year EBITDA loss from $4 million to $5 million to $1.5 million to $2.5 million. Now an update on our product division.

We are revising full year guidance for the VINIA D2C business from $38 million to $42 million to $33 million to $35 million, reflecting a reallocation of spend towards its manufacturing capacity build-out and investments in the CDMO business. Accordingly, the direct-to-consumer business is now forecasting an expected EBITDA loss of $1.5 million to $2.5 million compared to previous guidance of a gain of $0.5 million to $2 million. This reflects a deliberate reallocation of spend, not a deterioration in the underlying business, which remains stable at approximately 95,000 active customers with growth of 2% versus the prior year and 2% versus Q1. Our decision reflects where we see the best return on every dollar of customer acquisition spend.

The category has seen meaningful media inflation. Meta media costs increased double digits over the period with more advertiser dollars chasing the same audiences. Our view is that the right response is not to spend more into that environment, but to change what we put in front of the consumer. We have directed capital toward our manufacturing capacity build-out, building the channels we control directly and requirements of the growing CDMO business. We are pairing that discipline with three offensive moves entering the second half. First, in June, we implemented the first pricing change since May 2021, an increase of up to 20% for new subscription customers from their second order onward.

Execution was clean, and we have so far not seen material impact. Second, we're executing a substantial shift in brand messaging that we believe will improve conversion rates and lower our cost of acquisition in the current environment. Third, in September, we will launch single-dose VINIA Daily Chews, a format we expect to drive further improved conversion rates amongst our younger audience as well as deepen consumption and retention across customers. Alongside these, our health professional affiliates channel continues to build momentum, and we have completed a comprehensive strategy to address gyms and running, hiking and swimming clubs, which we are putting into action. These are contributors to future growth at structurally lower acquisition costs.

This is a deliberate sequencing decision, stronger offer, stronger creative and broader product range with our chosen market first with paid investments scaling behind us, positioning us to grow more efficiently and more profitably than spending into the current environment would have allowed. In summary, and as I have emphasized in today's call, we are optimizing our revenue targets to achieve our two critical goals: EBITDA breakeven on a consolidated basis in 2027 and preservation of cash. Accordingly, total revenue guidance for 2026 is $37 million to $40 million compared to previous guidance of $42 million to $48 million.

Despite the revenue reduction and as a result of the strong momentum on the CDMO, the consolidated EBITDA losses are expected to be in the range of $3 million to $5 million as compared to the previous expected loss of $3 million to $4 million. In closing, I'm currently here in Boston at the Canaccord Growth Conference, which gives me a great opportunity to share today's news and BioHarvest's growth strategy directly with institutional investors. I'm looking forward to several engagements with conference attendees and with our BioHarvest investment community to update them on the exciting prospects of our business. With that, I'd like to open the floor to questions. Operator?

Operator:[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Matt Hewitt with Craig-Hallum.

Matthew Hewitt: Congratulations on the CDMO contract. That is big news. On that topic, so you're still working on the Stage 2 of development that's supposed to take basically through the end of the year. Will you be able to start the actual production while that Stage 2 is in process? Or do you need to wait for that to complete first and then start the larger production program? And with that larger production program, are you able to generate revenues as that's ramping up? Or is it once the project is completed, which sounds like it will be later in '27?

Zaki Rakib: Actually, let me explain. Thanks for the question. So as you know, once we have crossed Stage 1, which is considered the riskiest part of the project, we were able to understand and basically check the mark on the initial success of the project. Stage 2 is important, and we expect to complete it by the end of the year. What we would be doing is that instead of having Stage 3 in which we are actually increasing the size of the bioreactors, we will start manufacture with a smaller scale bioreactor that would provide a commercial availability for the customer to be able to bring to the market.

And hence, we will be able to recognize revenue from product sales in the first half of 2027. We will not have to wait until the end of 2027 for that purpose. In fact, we expect to move into larger bioreactors throughout in the middle of the year. And then in 2028, because of the size of the contract, it's a 2027, 2028 contract for 20 tons. It will be now -- it will be then in 2028 part of the larger facility that we are currently building.

Matthew Hewitt: Got it. That's super helpful. And then shifting gears to the VINIA opportunity. I know you're launching the Daily Chews here in September. But I think there's previously been talk about potentially getting into a retailer or more. I'm just curious how those discussions are going. Is that an opportunity still out there? Or with the kind of the refocus on the CDMO business, should we just kind of focus on that?

Zaki Rakib: These are not competing priorities. The work led actually by Ilan on the retail side continues. We are continuing to seek those opportunities in the U.S. and outside of the U.S. as well for retail, focusing on products. For example, like the hydration would be one of the great opportunities on the retail side. We will continue to update you once we have such a retail arrangement, but they are not competing priorities.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Sean McGowan with ROTH Capital Partners.

Sean McGowan: Yes, following up on a couple of those questions. So in CDMO, why would the fact that you've got this contract result in a tightening of the revenue forecast? Is it a question of reallocating some resources? Or is something else going on?

Zaki Rakib: It's more on what I said earlier in the call, which is instead of chasing a significant number of opportunities, which would have brought us to $6 million in terms of tightening $4 million to $5 million instead of $4 million to $6 million is actually focusing on the opportunities that will bring more value. So it's value more than number, which would allow me to focus my resources into the projects, including especially the fragrance project, which requires more focus to get it to manufacturing earlier in 2027.

Sean McGowan: Okay. I get that. So it's a resource allocation issue. And then on -- similarly, in products, can you talk about what the status is of work that was being done on other plants, pomegranates, olives, other things that you guys have talked about in the past, given this kind of dial back on the marketing in VINIA and red grapes rather.

Zaki Rakib: So that is -- there, there is indeed a change in strategy and any other products that we develop and part of the CDMO assets are the products that we have already developed, and these will be made available to customers of the CDMO. In fact, they will accelerate the process so that we don't have to wait. A customer -- if a customer is interested, let's say, in the olive product or the pomegranate product or the blueberry product or others that we have already as assets, it will be faster. So there's less time for development, and we can move much faster into the manufacturing and supply arrangements.

We don't plan to bring into the market by ourselves any product besides VINIA this time.

Sean McGowan: Okay. And can you -- if I can follow up on this contract. Can you give a little bit more detail on some of the parameters of the contract? Are there guarantees? What would be the timing of the revenue recognition? Are there upfront payments related to that, et cetera?

Zaki Rakib: There are no upfront payments. We will deliver the products. There is a schedule of delivery in 2027 and 2028, obviously, more in 2028 than it is in 2027. First half is when we start delivering products, and we expect to generate revenue, and that's built into the strategy and the numbers that we are projecting internally for purpose of achieving our goal of being breakeven next year on a consolidated basis. So we're timing our delivery. We're focusing our resources with that purpose, and then we align them with the contract and the schedule for delivering products.

From a customer perspective, the earlier, the better, the opportunity is vast, and it's a very disruptive supply of a very important ingredients in the fragrance industry. So it's not for the lack of demand. It's just that our ability to manufacture. I think the customer is very happy with the speed at which we were able to advance the project and is looking forward to start sampling and start getting products in the market.

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Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Sameer Joshi with H.C. Wainwright.

Sameer Joshi: I would just like to understand a little bit more on the new contract announced. Is there a possibility of disclosing the name of the customer and what product -- exact product it is? And more importantly, once they start selling it, do you get sort of recognition like BioHarvest inside kind of ingredient disclosure that they might want to talk about?

Zaki Rakib: So I'll start with the latter part of the question. We haven't really contemplated yet in that part. And remember, we do have 20% ownership in that in the profit that this business will be generating. So we are -- this agreement is part of this partnership that we have with that customer. At this time, we've agreed with the customer that we do not want to disclose the particular details on which product it is, and we can -- it's a significant fragrance raw material that covers a multibillion-dollars sector of the fragrance business and a growing one.

I mean there are -- it's not hard for some people to dig deep and try to find out, but we're binded right now by nondisclosure arrangement, both for the name of the customer as well as the name of the product. But it's a multibillion-dollar industry, and this raw material is very important in several parts of the world, and it's growing also in the Western world and used by serious high-end fragrance manufacturers and brands.

We -- as I said earlier, it's not for the lack of demand and -- but still we want to keep it in a stealth mode so that when it comes to the market, we're ready to penetrate the market faster and more efficiently.

Sameer Joshi: Understood. And I suppose that because this is a big significant 20-ton contract over 2 years, it is likely that this can get renewed for several years following the 2027, 2028 time frame.

Zaki Rakib: Could you repeat the question, Sameer? I missed one piece of it.

Sameer Joshi: Sorry if I was muffled. Is there a possibility or is there a provision in the contract to extend it beyond the 2028 time frame?

Zaki Rakib: It's -- we're the exclusive manufacturer. I mean I can't see anyone else being able to deliver such a product. So the exclusivity is currently for '27, '28. We -- it's the most likely scenario that we will be continuing to be the manufacturer beyond that time frame and for multiyears. We have actually signaled in the last few months to the market and to investors that we expected this fragrance to generate $180 million in revenue for BioHarvest for the first 5 years from beginning of manufacturing. And we stand by such projection, especially now after we have secured the first agreement.

Sameer Joshi: Understood. And then just on CDMO, the guidance for revenue is only slightly tightened, but the losses are significantly less. Should we understand, as you mentioned, that you are focused on converting highest value prospects rather than just keeping on working on a broad range. So most of the savings are coming from your discontinuation of these other projects. Am I reading it right? Or are there other cost cuts?

Zaki Rakib: No, we're not actually discontinuing Sameer, we're not discontinuing any project that is currently in place. It's just that we're not taking new projects that are not going to yield value and will require much more efforts in the beginning. So we are actually leveraging what we've already developed between the work we're doing with customers and molecules that we already have that are likely to be licensed in that time frame. So we're leveraging already a development that was done over the years and licensing those molecules to CDMO customers, generating faster revenue and accelerating the time to market, meaning the time to start manufacturing those molecules.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Nicholas Sherwood with Maxim Group.

Nicholas Sherwood: So when thinking about this fragrance contract, what specific types of payments should we be expecting in 2027 and the timing? Should we be expecting any royalty payments? Will it mainly just be offtake payments? And are there any sort of milestone payments that are going to be associated with the production in 2027?

Zaki Rakib: The -- so we expect to start recording revenue in the first half of 2027. It will be modest because just in the early beginning of manufacturing with a relatively limited capacity within the confinement of the space that we currently have. So -- but as we grow the size of the bioreactors, we'll be able in the second half to record an even higher revenue to start with. But in terms of what the amount, I mean, the question was how is it modeled? And how could you look at it for 2027? Was that the question, if I -- if you may repeat it?

Nicholas Sherwood: Yes. The question is around -- are we expecting royalty payments? Or is it mainly just going to be offtake and some...

Zaki Rakib: Okay. I missed that part. Thanks for reminding. So we -- the model includes royalty, which are to be negotiated. That part has not been negotiated. But you have to remember that we also have 20% ownership. So the overall part, the overall amount of royalties that we will receive will be also connected to our ownership. That is in negotiations, that piece on the royalties will be negotiated. But there's enough margins one can count on. Even if without the royalties, there's enough margins to be made. The beauty of that business.

And as part of the strategy picking those molecules with high margins, is that there's enough when you apply above our cost of manufacturing, even if you don't add any royalties, it's very healthy in terms of revenue and gross margins that we can record in 2027 and beyond.

Nicholas Sherwood: Yes. And then kind of shifting to the Tate & Lyle expanding that agreement. What is the potential scope for expansion of the collaboration with Tate & Lyle, where now you're working on multiple plant-based molecules for sweeteners? Is there the potential because compared to fragrance, I would think that Tate & Lyle will want just the volume of production will be much higher in order to meet the needs of these sweeteners. Is there any potential for them to help fund the building out of your current facility or helping provide cash for building out a facility in the U.S. down the line?

Like kind of how should we think about the scope of where this Tate & Lyle partnership can kind of grow over the next year or two?

Zaki Rakib: This is an excellent question. In fact, we've initiated discussions with Tate & Lyle and soon to be part of the greater combination with Ingredion, which is quite exciting because it gives us access to a larger opportunity above and beyond the sweetener. So currently, the focus of Tate & Lyle, the two sweetener molecules, which are progressing nicely. We expect that this would translate into manufacturing agreement. I think the very early part of the manufacturing agreement may indeed occur in our facility in Israel.

But the goal is to try to negotiate a deal with them in which they build their own facility, and we license them and we provide them with the technology transfer and we collect royalties. That is an integrated part of our model. So for large volume, especially for nutrition purpose, we prefer the model where the customer builds his own facility, and we just help him with the technology transfer required and of course, limited to production of only the molecules we are -- we have developed, but it's a healthier model and doesn't consume cash from our end and CapEx and whatnot. And that would certainly be a facility in the United States.

So it is part of the strategy of the company to engage in those type of discussions with Tate & Lyle, Ingredion or other entities that would be looking for components or compositions with high volume as opposed to the fragrance business, which is slightly lower volume but much higher margins.

Nicholas Sherwood: Yes, that definitely sounds like there's a lot of potential there. And then my last question is, can you kind of just give us any insight into any of the advances you've been able to make in your production or just building out your facility when it comes to things like robotics and machine learning and maybe any plans that you have through the end of this year or next year that are going to be able to bring your production into that next level?

Zaki Rakib: So we are in the process of the completion of the detailed design, which will have embedded computer vision and robotics. So we expect in the beginning of 2028 when we start production in the new facility to take advantage of all the development that has taken place, part of which is financed or been helped by the grants that we've received. In 2027, the goal is to continue to support the demand using the current facility with an aim to improve our gross margin by reducing our cost of production because we would have a little more scale.

We're going to be implementing a few improvements, more than one supplier for some of the key elements, overall, try to reduce modestly the cost of goods to achieve higher gross margin. But the big deal is the -- and the new facility is -- we expect to start seeing production in early 2028. We believe we have what it takes in 2027 with the existing facility and with the additional dedicated facility that we're creating for the fragrance is to combined, we have enough capacity to support the demand for VINIA, the fragrance, I'm talking 2027 as well as potentially one or two additional products that would be ready for limited manufacturing as part of the CDMO in 2027.

Operator:[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from the line of Sean McGowan with ROTH Capital Partners.

Sean McGowan: You touched on this right at the end of your previous comment, but I just wanted to get a little update on the capacity expansion. You talked about the timing and strategy and everything behind that. But can you talk a little bit about capital requirements over the next 12 months on that?

Zaki Rakib: So we -- as I said that throughout my call today, is we are designing our cash spending to correspond to the cash that we have and not needing to go and raise more capital on an equity basis. There may be opportunities, leveraging agreements to try to help with some of the financing. But the goal is to live with the cash we have, cover our operation as well as the building of the facility. We are going -- it's going to be staggered. We don't need to build on day one, 100-ton facility.

And for 2028, we expect to be able to support the 30 to 40 tons, give or take, and then subsequently to build it up using cash that we generate from the business. So we feel comfortable with the goals of not requiring any more equity-based cash and basically achieving the EBITDA breakeven for 2027.

Sean McGowan: Right, I was actually asking about capital expenditures. So is there any change from your previous expectations of what the capital expenditures would be in '27?

Zaki Rakib: We have tightened it in that sense because of the strategy of not having to jump into a much, much higher capacity in 2028 and the ability to focus on projects that would yield the highest margins, the highest profits.

Operator: There are no further questions at this time. I will now pass the call back to Dr. Zaki Rakib, Chief Executive Officer, for closing remarks.

Zaki Rakib: Thanks, everyone, for attending this call. I mean, I don't know how else can I express my excitement. I'm elated with the contract we have. It's the culmination of years of unbelievable amount of work done by everyone in the company. I can't think of a better validation of our CDMO strategy and our technologies. This is the real first ever contract of this magnitude, $20 million to $30 million magnitude is just the beginning. It's just the tip of the iceberg of what Botanical Synthesis can do covering so many industries and bringing in some amazing results. And once again, thanks for your attendance, and I look forward to continue to update you.

I'm sure that we will have news coming your way to further build your confidence in BioHarvest and its CDMO business and beyond that. Thanks, everyone. Operator?

Operator: Thank you. This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

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