MONTREAL, Nov. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PyroGenesis Canada Inc. ( http://pyrogenesis.com) (TSX: PYR) (NASDAQ: PYR) (FRA: 8PY), a high-tech company (the “Company” or “PyroGenesis”), that designs, develops, manufactures and commercializes advanced plasma processes and sustainable solutions which are geared to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG), is pleased to announce today its financial and operational results for the third quarter ended September 30^th , 2023.

"We are seeing improvements across industrial supply chains and customer bottlenecks, resulting in two straight quarters of growth coming off of the three-year quarterly low we saw in Q1 of this year," said Mr. P. Peter Pascali, CEO and President of PyroGenesis. “While we can’t guarantee that these early signs of sector-wide recovery will continue at the same pace, our quarterly revenues are steadily increasing from the early year low. Combined with renewed strong demand in traditionally slower business lines such as waste destruction where we have signed contracts for six separate projects so far this year, and the increasing interest in plasma torch applications of 2MW power and higher, we have confidence around continued momentum.”

“PyroGenesis is competing hard while closely scrutinizing both potential and existing projects to ensure that the utilization of our labour and financial resources are optimized. As we have shown in the past, we will only engage in projects if the short or long-term potential benefit to PyroGenesis is significant and well-understood. We continue to intensify our focus on project and budgetary clarity during this persistent period of elevated global inflationary pressures. As always, we maintain our emphasis on developing low carbon-footprint technology solutions that we believe will take hold with leading global industrial companies during a period of major paradigm shift, namely in Energy Transition & Emissions Reduction, Commodity Security & Optimization, and Waste Remediation,” added Mr. Pascali.

PyroGenesis Canada Inc reports in Canadian dollar and in accordance with IFRS
Key Q3 Financial Highlights

• New project sales of over $6.5 million
• Backlog of signed and/or awarded contracts of $35 million as at November 9, 2023
• Revenue of $3.7 million
  • up 21% from Q2 2023 and up 42% from Q1 2023
  • down 35% year-over-year
• Margin of 30%
• EPS loss of $ 0.03
  

Outlook and Recent Developments

Q3 Production Highlights

The information below represents highlights from the past quarter for each of the company’s main business verticals, followed by an outline of the Company’s strategy, and key developments that will impact the subsequent quarters.

In Q3 2023, PyroGenesis continued its focus on advancing its updated business strategy that was first outlined in the Company’s 2022 fourth quarter and year-end results.

As noted, as the variety of uses for the Company’s core technologies has expanded, and industry interest has increased, the Company is concentrating its activities under three ecosystem-solution that align with economic drivers that are key to global heavy industry:

1. Energy Transition & Emission Reduction:

• fuel switching, utilizing the Company’s electric-powered plasma torches and biogas upgrading technology to help heavy industry reduce fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions,

2. Commodity Security & Optimization:

• recovery of viable metals, and optimization of production methods/processes geared to increase output, maximize raw materials and improve availability of critical minerals,

3. Waste Remediation:

• safe destruction of hazardous materials, and the recovery and valorization of underlying substances such as chemicals and minerals.

Within each vertical the Company offers several solutions at different stages of commercialization.

1. Energy Transition & Emission Reduction

• In August, the Company announced a contract (Press Release dated August 1, 2023) for $4.13 million for a 4.5MW plasma torch system, with an aeronautics and defense industry client who is a prime contractor for the U.S. government and who has extensive experience as an innovation hub, providing technology and test services to solve critical defense, military, and aeronautics challenges.

2. Commodity Security & Optimization

• In September, the Company announced receipt of an order from a global aerospace firm (Press Release dated September 19, 2023) for the Company’s coarse cut titanium metal powder, produced by the Company’s NexGen™ plasma atomization system, which are designed for use in industrial 3D printing and additive manufacturing. The Client is a large global aerospace original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in the United States, and is the one that the Company is undergoing a qualification process; this new order is unrelated to that process, and is intended for a separate use in the Client’s research and development programs.
  
  As stated at the time by Mr. P. Peter Pascali, CEO and President of PyroGenesis of the announcement, “The significance of this order is the particle size distribution (PSD) that has been requested. The PSD for this order is for our coarse cut titanium powder, in this case for powder between 45-150μm (microns), which we have been producing over the past year as we build our stock inventory. This contract recognizes what we believe is the superior overall quality of our powder and establishes a market for a larger percentage of our powder output, thereby improving our overall returns substantially.”
  
  In certain traditional metal powder production processes, as the powder is created then filtered and separated into different cut sizes, the fine cut powder is removed for sale, with the remaining coarsest cut often considered of limited use, or even discarded as unsuitable. However, with PyroGenesis Additive’s NexGen™ plasma atomization system, the coarsest cut component of the production batch remains of such a high quality, that the inventory of these powders is stored for future sales. Furthermore, we are currently in discussions with various potential clients who have expressed interest in the coarse cut powder. By selling both the fine and coarse cut of each powder production run, the Company’s yield percentage from raw material is greatly enhanced, which is in line with the Company’s broader mandate for commodity security and optimization.

3. Waste Remediation

• In September, the Company announced receipt of a $2.25 million plasma torch contract (Press Release dated September 12, 2023) from a U.S. corporation geared to destroy perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) on behalf of a large operator of public water systems.
  
  PyroGenesis had previously announced its involvement (Press Release dated October 28, 2021) in this very same project before subsequently suspending and discontinuing discussions (Press Release dated October 7, 2022) as, at the time, the project did not align with the minimum requirements of the Company’s global strategy. However, as a result of renewed interest from the project principles, and upon developing a different approach, the Client re-engaged with PyroGenesis and as such PyroGenesis will now supply a plasma torch system as a key destruction component of the overall solution build.
  
  PFAS are man-made chemicals – often referred to as “forever chemicals” – that have been widely used in consumer products in various industries, such as aerospace, automotive, construction, amongst others, for many decades. Products that may contain PFAS include non-stick cookware, stain resistant coatings used on carpets, upholstery, and other fabrics, water resistant clothing, cleaning products, personal care and cosmetics products and any other product that resist grease, water and oil. Due to their widespread use and strong chemical bonds and properties, which account for their persistence in the environment, PFAS are proving to be persistent pollutants that affect humans and wildlife, as they are likely to be exposed to these chemicals by consuming contaminated water or food, using products made with PFAS, or breathing air containing PFAS.

Q3 Financial Highlights

• In July, the Company announced amendment of a potential $5 million brokered private placement of convertible debenture units (Press Release dated July 10, 2023) originally announced in June of Q1 (Press Release dated June 22, 2023), including participation by the CEO; the placement closed in July (Press Release dated July 21, 2023), with aggregate gross proceeds of $3,030,000.
• In August, the Company confirmed receipt (Press Release dated August 22, 2023) of the down payment of $826,000 associated with the $4.1 million contract for a 4.5MW high power plasma torch system (Press Release dated August 1, 2023).
  
• In August, the Company confirmed receipt (Press Release dated August 24, 2023) a milestone payment of $445,200 associated with the engineering phase for its SPARC™ refrigerant waste destruction system from the government-mandated organization known as Cool-Safe, which previously ordered the $6 million system from PyroGenesis in Q1 of 2023 (Press Release dated January 10, 2023).

Overall Strategy