Green Plains' Q1 2011 net income down $7.9m on Q1 2010

Based in Omaha, Nebraska, US, ethanol producer Green Plains Renewable Energy's net income was $7.7 million (€5.5 million), as the company reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2011, ended 31 March. This compares to $15.6 million for the same period in 2010. Revenues were $812.2 million for the first quarter 2011, compared to $426.5 million during the same period in 2010.

'We are pleased to report our eighth consecutive quarter of profitability at Green Plains,' says Todd Becker, president and CEO of Green Plains Renewable Energy. 'We continue to focus on managing risk and increasing our operating efficiency. All of our businesses performed well in the first quarter with positive operating income in each of our segments. Our production platform produced and sold a record 172 million gallons of ethanol, which is a 39% increase over the first quarter of last year.

'Our corn oil extraction technology deployment is processing well. We now have six locations producing corn oil and expect to complete the installations at two additional plants by the end of the second quarter. Additionally, we plan on installing the extraction equipment at our recently-acquired Otter Tail ethanol plant during the third quarter,' Becker continues. 'These projects have had a positive effect on operating income in this quarter, and we expect their contributions to grow as we progress through the year.

'We have committed capital to expand our grain storage capacity at our Tennessee grain elevators and our Otter Tail ethanol facility this year by a total of 3.6 million bushels. Both of these locations will provide advantaged opportunities to originate more harvest grain directly from farmers. These projects, along with other opportunities we are pursing, show our commitment to growing our presence as an agricultural processor and handler.

'Similar to last year at this time, forward ethanol margins are compressed during the middle of the year with no clear visibility of acceptable margins. We have defensively locked away margins for a substantial portion of expected production as we are seeing a return to more normalised industry margins. We believe the actions we have taken to diversify our business, with a goal of generating at least $50 million of total operating income annually from corn oil production, our agribusiness operations, and marketing, blending and distribution activities, will be successful,' Becker states.

The company's first quarter EBITDA (earnings before interest, income taxes, non-controlling interests, depreciation and amortisation) was $32 million, compared to $33.2 million for the same period in 2010.
Green Plains Renewable Energy had $162 million total cash and equivalents and $53.8 million available under committed loan agreements in the period which ended on 31 March 2011.

Total cash and equivalents declined during this quarter, and the company attributes this to normal first payments to farmers for grain sold in 2010 under deferred payment contracts, as well as payments on long-term debt of $23.1 million, which included free cash flow payments of $13 million under various loan agreements.
During the first quarter of 2011, Green Plains also invested cash totally $17.7 million for the Otter Tail acquisition, corn oil extraction equipment and other capital expenditures.