LM Funding America Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 14, 2024

There are 5 speakers on the call.

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the LM Funding America Incorporated Second Quarter 2024 Business Update Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode and a question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Ted Avis, Investor Relations.

Operator

Sir, you may begin.

Speaker 1

Good morning and thank you for joining LM Funding America's 2024 Second Quarter Financial Results and Business Update Conference Call. On the call with us today are Bruce Rogers, Chief Executive Officer and Richard Russell, Chief Financial Officer of LM Funding. This morning, the company announced its operating results for the quarter ended June 30, 2024 and its financial condition as of that date. The press release is posted on the company's website, lmfunding.com. In addition, the company has filed its quarterly report on Form 10 Q with the U.

Speaker 1

S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which can also be accessed on the company's website as well as the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. If you have any questions after the call or would like any additional information about the company, please contact Crescendo Communications at 212 671-1020. Before management reviews the company's operating results for the 3 6 months ended June 30, 2024 and its financial condition as of that date, we would like to remind everyone that this conference call may contain forward looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this conference call, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, strategy and plans and our expectations for future operations are forward looking statements.

Speaker 1

These forward looking statements are based largely on the company's current expectations and projections about future events and trends that it believes may affect its financial condition, results of operations, strategy, short term and long term business operations and objectives and financial needs. These forward looking statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties and assumptions as described in the company's Form 10 ks filed with the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission on April 1, 2024. Because of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward looking events and circumstances discussed in the conference call may not occur and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or applied in the forward looking statements.

Speaker 1

You should not rely upon forward looking statements as predictions of future events. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance or achievements. In addition, neither the company nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any of these forward looking statements. The company disclaims any duty to update any of the forward looking statements. All forward looking statements attributable to the company are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements as well as others made in this conference call.

Speaker 1

You should evaluate all forward looking statements made by the company in the context of these risks and uncertainties. In addition, today's discussion will include references to non GAAP measures. The company believes that such information provides an additional measurement and consistent historical comparison of its performance. A reconciliation of the non GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is available in today's news release on our website. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Bruce Rogers, Chairman and CEO of LM Funding.

Speaker 1

Bruce?

Speaker 2

Thanks, Ted. Good morning and thanks to everyone who joined us today. On behalf of the LM Funding team, I'd like to thank all of our shareholders for your ongoing support and for joining us on this call this morning. April was an eventful month with the Bitcoin Having event. Despite this transition reducing miners' rewards by 50%, we are pleased that we successfully mined 44.1 Bitcoins during the quarter, valued at approximately $2,900,000 Notwithstanding the having event, we're extremely pleased that several expensive hosting contracts have recently expired, allowing us to relocate these machines to more cost effective mining sites.

Speaker 2

As of July 31, we had approximately 3,800 minuteers placed at several hosting sites and our potential hash rate remains strong at 639 Petahatch. We believe that this positions LN Funding for even greater mining success in the future. I would now like to turn the call over to our CFO, Rick Russell, for a review of the financial highlights for the 2024 Q2. Rick? Thank you, Bruce.

Speaker 2

As of June 30, 2024, the company had approximately 1900 Bitcoin mining machine operations at various coasting sites. We have subsequently placed an additional 2,000 machines into service at the Arthur Mining site. In total, our 5,900 minuteers provide the company with approximately 639 petahash of mining capacity. We mined 44.1 Bitcoins in the Q2 of 2024, generating $2,900,000 revenue at an average Bitcoin price of $65,600 As of June 30, 2024, the company held 160.4 Bitcoins valued at approximately $10,000,000 Total revenue for the Q2 of 2024 was approximately $3,000,000 a decrease of $184,000 from the same period last year. Digital Mining revenue was relatively flat at $2,900,000 in the Q2 of 2024 versus $3,000,000 in Q2 of 2023.

Speaker 2

This change was

Speaker 3

a result of the effects of

Speaker 2

the April 2024 Bitcoin Avi event and the repositioning of miners during the month of June, offset in part by the increase in Bitcoin prices. Operating expenses for the quarter ended June 30, 2024 rose to $7,800,000 from $6,400,000 year over year due to a $1,300,000 loss in Bitcoin fair value and $1,200,000 increase in depreciation and amortization costs, offset in part by a $1,600,000 decrease in staff costs and payroll. Additionally, we reported net loss attributable to shareholders of approximately $6,100,000 dollars including a $1,900,000 unrealized loss in securities compared to a $4,500,000 net loss in the prior year. Moreover, we reported that our core EBITDA loss was $2,200,000 in Q2 2024 from $100,000 in Q2 of 2023. However, we achieved positive core EBITDA for the first half of twenty twenty four of $2,200,000 I'll turn it back over to Bruce for our business overview.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Rick. I'd now like to focus our attention on our overall business and strategic focus for 2024, 2025 and beyond. We recently announced that the company has entered into a letter of intent to acquire a mining site in Texas. This site offers an initial power capacity of 12 megawatts with the potential to expand by an additional 60 megawatts. This acquisition will provide us with a cost effective location to power all of our existing machines.

Speaker 2

The mining site is currently generating 55 petahash of mining capacity using immersion mining techniques. And our primary goal with this acquisition is to invest capital to mine the full potential 72 megawatts. We are leveraging our Bitcoin holdings to finance the acquisition of market price power, which can be used for Bitcoin mining or resold to the grid. We now have a clear path to grow from our current transitory position to quickly mining 12 megawatts and then to a steady leverage capital expansion plan aimed at growing our Texas sites mining capacity to 72 megawatts, which is projected to yield about 1,000 bitcoin annually at current network difficulty rates. Additionally, the company has partnered with Arthur Mining to establish a new 15 megawatt hosting facility near Oklahoma City, where we have already relocated approximately 3,000 of our Bitmain S19J Pro machines.

Speaker 2

Arthur Mining has agreed to host these machines at cost for 10 months, significantly reducing operating expenses for L and M funding. The companies are also considering a new 60 megawatt site adjacent to the existing Oklahoma facility. We believe these sites provide us with cost effective short and long term solutions to host our S19 J Pros allowing us to rapidly scale our Bitcoin mining capabilities. The strategic alliance with Arthur Mining enables LM Funding to capitalize on Arthur's hosting expertise and infrastructure and allows us to focus on our core competencies while minimizing operational integration risks, thus positioning the company for what we believe will be a period of accelerated growth and increased profitability. In order to facilitate these expansion initiatives, the company secured a $5,000,000 non convertible loan, the proceeds of which will be dedicated to acquiring additional miners, further bolstering the company's mining capabilities.

Speaker 2

Our legacy business, which provides funding to non profit community associations, has been stable since the end of 2023. Looking ahead, we anticipate growth due to increased demand for reserve funding, spurred by legislative changes following the 2023 Seaside Tower collapse in South Florida. New Florida laws now mandate as associations fully fund building maintenance reserves, which may lead to higher association dues and more homeowners unable to pay. Our experience collecting over 12,000 delinquent condominium owners accounts may afford us an opportunity to address the fully funded reserve problem faced by Florida Condominium Associations. So to wrap up, we are committed to reinvesting our mining revenue into purchasing additional cutting edge miners.

Speaker 2

Perhaps more important is our laser focus on integrating sophisticated software and technologies into our mining operations, enabling us to enhance the hash rate of our existing machines. We're excited about our new initiatives to acquire the mining facility in Texas and our partnership with Arthur Mining to establish a new 15 megawatt hosting facility near Oklahoma City and possibly a new 60 Megawatt site adjacent to that facility. We are confident that these initiatives will provide Ellen Funding with cost effective and efficient hosting solutions for our S-nineteen J PROs benefiting us in both the short and long term. By implementing these initiatives, we are well positioned to significantly accelerate our Bitcoin mining operations. Furthermore, we believe these efforts will drive increased shareholder value for our investors in the future.

Speaker 2

I would now like to open the call up for questions. Operator, can you assist us with that?

Operator

Thank you. At this time, we will be conducting our question and answer Our first question is coming from Michael Donovan with H. C. Wainwright. Your line is live.

Speaker 4

Thank you, operator. Congrats on the quarter, Bruce and Rick.

Speaker 2

Can you help us get

Speaker 4

a better read on Texas and Oklahoma, just in terms of the build out? I know you mentioned immersion. Do you plan on just dropping containers there? Or do you expect to have a larger build out? Also, what are you thinking about in terms of power?

Speaker 4

Are transformers going to be needed at additional transformers needed at both these sites? Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Michael. Bundle question there. Okay. Texas and Oklahoma are 2 different places. Both sites will operate using containers.

Speaker 2

I'm sorry, Texas actually does have a

Speaker 3

Yes, Texas will be immersion containers. Right now, the Oklahoma site is air containers, right? And that is 15 megawatts is fully built out right now. The Texas site, they've got 4 new emerging containers that we will put in service once we buy it. They have 3 slightly older suburb emerging containers that are active right now.

Speaker 3

And then, of course, we will buy more emerging containers to fill out the other 6 megawatts of the site at Texas.

Speaker 4

Okay. And

Speaker 2

the second part of your question, Michael, was that yes, there are transformers on the ground in Texas. There are in Oklahoma, but there are costs for additional costs for build out at both in tranches to build more megawatts.

Speaker 4

Okay. Now in terms of the potential for AI or HPC posting, what's your connectivity do these sites offer, either for fiber connectivity and what sort of water sources do you have nearby just for this potentiality?

Speaker 2

We have not priced or valued the sites for HPC uses. I only have general knowledge and stuff like that. To us, it's securing the power. So it's 72 megawatts in Texas and the additional 60 potential in Oklahoma where we've got there. So just not our business yet.

Speaker 4

Got you. Fair enough. Now Oklahoma, so it's going to be at cost for 10 months for the running the 3,000 minuteers there. After the 10 months, have you guys discussed what that looks like or what a potential deal would be

Speaker 1

after that?

Speaker 2

Yes, it's in the agreement, Michael. It's in the agreement, the docs. It goes to market price after the 10 months. So the big picture of that is we rather than provide a hosting company with the deposit that they use and to build you something, we'd loan them on a secured basis the money they need to build it out. And then to make money on our money, they're mining for us for cost for this 1st 10 months.

Speaker 2

And then after that, we plan to be elsewhere and they'll rent our space out to somebody that will pay market rates and be able to pay off that loan to us.

Speaker 4

Okay. Thank you. Now in terms of the timeline that took to transition those 3,000 minuteers, is that in June July? I think I believe that they're all over there now, right, the 3,000. So it's just that were that had interrupted operations?

Speaker 3

Yes. It took probably a good 45 ish days to transition over, right? Just get a move set up, few kinks worked out with the new site as usual. But they're all installed there now

Speaker 2

at this point, the 3,000.

Speaker 4

Okay. And can you remind us about the new machines that you the S21s and are they located at a 3rd party site? I believe you're expecting them to arrive in March, April.

Speaker 1

Can you just help with that?

Speaker 3

Yes. They came in, I want to say, April and they're installed at the core location in Kentucky with our XPs. So we have about 800 S21s and XPs combined

Speaker 4

over there. Okay. And for your 3rd party hosting, is everything with core now or do

Speaker 1

you still have some at Giga?

Speaker 3

No, we transitioned out of Giga and they went to a warehouse and we're looking to move some of those over to the Texas site once that's done.

Speaker 2

So hosting we have core and then the Arthur site is a hosting site.

Speaker 3

Yes.

Speaker 2

Great.

Speaker 4

Now more of a big picture question with that, the $5,000,000 loan, I believe you spoke to some of that being used for Immersion. Is this going to be mostly for infrastructure or purchasing new machines too? How should we think about that?

Speaker 2

Mostly, well, I don't know mostly. It mostly has a number attached to it. Whatever infrastructure it takes plus whatever machine the infrastructure will support, that's the plan.

Speaker 4

Okay. Okay. So next, good. All right. Well, I'll hop back.

Speaker 2

10 megawatts of capacity doesn't do any good if you don't have any machines to plug in it. So you got to kind of think of it like that.

Speaker 4

Fair enough. Thank you so much, Bruce and Rick. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if there will be any final questions or comments, Okay. As we currently have no further questions in queue, I will hand it back to management for closing comments.

Speaker 2

Thank you all for joining us on today's call. With 2024 having event behind us, we now turn our focus toward enhancing our Bitcoin mining operations in anticipation of the next halving event expected to occur in 2028. With our current initiatives providing cost effective locations to power all of our existing machines, we are extremely excited about what the future holds for LM Funding and its shareholders. We are grateful for the ongoing support of our shareholders and look forward to updating you on the future progress. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's call and you may disconnect your lines at this time. And we thank you for your participation.

Powered by Quartr
Earnings Conference Call
LM Funding America Q2 2024
00:00 / 00:00