Vancouver Jun 19, 2015 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of Polaris Materials Corp earnings conference call or presentation Thursday, May 7, 2015 at 6:00:00pm GMT TEXT version of Transcript ================================================================================ Corporate Participants ================================================================================ * Herb Wilson Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO * Darren McDonald Polaris Minerals Corporation - VP of Finance and CFO ================================================================================ Conference Call Participants ================================================================================ * Chris Lalor GMP Securities - Analyst * David Charles Dundee Capital Markets - Analyst * Bill Shetty 555-424-BC Limited - Analyst ================================================================================ Presentation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [1] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Polaris Materials Corporation's first-quarter 2015 financial results conference call. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions). This call is being recorded on Thursday, May 7, 2015. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Herb Wilson. Please go ahead. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [2] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you. And well, good morning and welcome to the Polaris Materials conference call to discuss the results of the first quarter of 2015. I am Herb Wilson, President and Chief Executive. And with me today is Darren McDonald, our Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer, who will be sharing this presentation. Before discussing the details, we must advise you that during the course of the conference call, there may be forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results or the performance of the Company, or of the industry, to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. We encourage you to review the Company's annual and quarterly public filings on SEDAR or on the Company's website. All currency amounts are in US dollars unless otherwise stated. The first-quarter 2015 results were very encouraging, as the Company reported net income in this winter quarter, and demonstrated the further improvement in performance that we described on the last call. Darren is now going to review the numbers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Darren McDonald, Polaris Minerals Corporation - VP of Finance and CFO [3] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you, Herb. In the first quarter, the Company reported sales of 718,000 tons, which were 14% above the first quarter of last year. Revenue increased by 23% over the comparable quarter last year, due in part to an increase in average selling price of $1.15 per ton. Net income was $246,000, which was an improvement of $1.8 million when compared with the net loss of $1.6 million reported last year. EBITDA, which is a commonly used proxy for operating cash flow, was $1.1 million for the quarter or $1.59 per ton, compared with a negative EBITDA of $0.5 million or negative $0.75 per ton last year. Adjusted EBITDA, which is another useful indicative cash metric, was $2.10 per ton in the quarter, compared with negative $0.48 per ton in the prior year. The Company used $1.4 million of cash in operations during the quarter, which, in part, supported an increase in trade accounts receivable of $2.1 million. After taking into account the change in accounts receivable, this supports the EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA numbers as signals the positive cash flow being generated from operations. Due to the weakening Canadian dollar, particularly in January, the quarter benefited from an unrealized foreign exchange gain of $1.2 million on working capital at Orca. This foreign exchange gain is due to US dollar receivables held by Orca Quarry, the company's Canadian subsidiary, owing from the Company's US subsidiary, Eagle Rock Aggregates. The influence of this can be expected to diminish over time. I would like to address two further points relating to this quarter's results. The first is the distribution of net income between Polaris, and the noncontrolling interest of our minority partner in the Orca Quarry Sand and Gravel LP subsidiary. The weighting towards the noncontrolling interests arises from the transfer pricing mechanism set by Revenue Canada, taking into account the unrealized foreign exchange gain on working capital at Orca. Over the course of the full year, this can be expected to reverse. Secondly, the quarter was significantly influenced by the foreign exchange gain. But the month of March had only a minor foreign exchange component. We cannot provide monthly account in isolation, but it is encouraging to note that March, which included sales in line with our annual expectations, produced significant net income that was substantially above the net loss in March of 2014. I will now turn the call back to Herb to deal with specific items relating to the business. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [4] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you, Darren. The selling prices will be the story and the major influence on results in 2015, the first quarter having benefited from certain increases we applied on January the 1st. I have referred previously to this Company's decision to bid two contracts back in 2012 that secured much-needed sales volume on which to build the business. During this first quarter, we completed deliveries to those two contracts, which had prices that were fixed throughout last year. The benefit from the conclusion of these fixed prices was only partially felt in the first quarter, but we will have the full impact from the beginning of the second quarter. The focus for Polaris will be to continue improving prices this year, as construction output appears set to further increase across the US, and the major aggregate companies pressed to regain price levels after the unprecedented recession -- trends from which we expect to benefit further. Shipping commitments have been set at modest levels in this winter quarter in order to minimize the risk of incurring excessive costs or debt freight through unpredictable winter weather conditions. The outcome was that after a slow January and early February, our major Bay Area customers required a significant increase in shipments in March. And I am pleased to say that our shipping contractor was able to meet the changing expectations. These had a lot to do with the good weather conditions in the quarter, in sharp contrast to those at the end of 2014. The improved access to the Redwood City terminal following the channel dredging last year was certainly helpful, although not a complete solution. And we look forward to the final stage of the dredging this summer. The Company had anticipated that implementation of Phase II of the North American environmental control area at the beginning of January would produce an increase in shipping fuel costs. However, the fall in world crude oil prices that began towards the end of the fourth quarter last year produced lower fuel prices in the quarter, which have masked any impact from the new regulation. This is helpful to maintain the competitiveness of shipped materials, although Polaris does not experience an overall impact to its margins, as these changes are passed through to contracted customers quarterly in arrears. The construction industry recovery in the US is again supported by the latest forecast from the Portland Cement Association, who's September 2014 economic outlook predicted that cement consumption in 2014 would be an 8.2% increase over the previous year, with similar increases to follow in each of 2015 and 2016 -- a compound increase of 27% over three years. The Dodge Momentum Index supports this optimism, the average of the first three months of this year being 22% higher than in the corresponding three months of last year. The longer-term highways funding bill remains the priority for the industry, with the Trade Association continuing to press Congress for such a measure. It appears that some progress is now being made, with a joint budget resolution passed by the House and Senate only this week in which surface transportation funding is included, albeit at a level 22% below that previously. This vote does not have the effect of law, but it does set the guidelines for the various appropriation committees that authorize the expenditures, and has been passed in such a way that should additional funds become available, the surface transportation portion can be increased. We continue to monitor progress through our membership of the Trade Association, which is very active in lobbying for the industry. The specific markets in which we presently operate still exhibit patchy demand. The San Francisco city to San Jose corridor, or Silicon Valley, continues to benefit from increasing private investment, solid public project investment, and the buoyant commercial sector, driven by the successful high-tech companies, which are now buying up substantial quantities of real estate in the area for future development and growth. The North and the East Bay markets remain relatively slow, and this has an effect on the efficiency of our shipping movements, as we balance demand between individual terminals and barge capacity for lightering. However, our customers in these weaker areas remain convinced that the situation will soon change, and a more balanced situation will be experienced again. Recovery in Southern California, and particularly the Los Angeles Basin, seems solid, with many major contracts now in the pipeline. I want to turn to Southern California and the Company's Long Beach terminal. The terminal has been essentially completed for some weeks. In that week, we received a ship, unloaded it, and dispatched trucks over our scales. Completion has been delayed by two considerations. Firstly, the need to obtain a final approval to a revised grading and drainage plan, following the heavy rains experienced in December. There has been a protracted exchange between the city and our civil engineer of record, and we understand that the matter is now finalized, pending signature. This will permit the remaining minor items to be finished and the certificate of occupancy to be issued, which will enable full operation. We have been frustrated that we did not meet our expected year-end target for completion, but are mindful that there were no committed supply arrangements in place, and therefore no defaults. The second item governing our progress has been the industrial action by the Longshoremen's Union and the lack of a formal agreement in place, which would define the operational rights within all the West Coast ports, including Long Beach. A final vote on the new contract is scheduled for late May, and if approved, will remove the last impediment to operating. I would like to conclude these comments by updating our ambitions to develop a second source of coarse aggregate from a potential limestone resource situated near the Orca Quarry on Vancouver Island. This project is at the early stages of assessment. And we await independent laboratory test results by which to judge suitability to meet California specifications, this being an essential requirement before proceeding further. There is no doubt that a significant resource exists, and the possibility of development appears encouraging, but we have to be certain of these basics first. Naturally, development of another resource on a large scale is a long process under any conditions. The outlook for 2015 is very positive, and we have opened the year with further encouragements from a much improved and profitable first quarter. We very much appreciate your interest in Polaris Materials and thank you for listening to this call. We will now be pleased to answer questions. ================================================================================ Questions and Answers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [1] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Operator Instructions). Chris Lalor, GMP Securities. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chris Lalor, GMP Securities - Analyst [2] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good quarter. Just a couple questions. I'm just wondering if you'd talk a little more about the opportunity to increase prices in 2015? Maybe just in terms of the quarter, how much of the increase was having those fixed price contracts come off? And how much was just through general market conditions? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [3] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, thank you, Chris. I'd be pleased to address that. The fixed price contracts actually had only a very minor bearing on the first quarter. Possibly only 25% of the total benefit showed up in the first quarter because of timing. In the case of one contract, we made our last delivery in March, so it had a very small impact. And in the case of the second one, the price change is only applicable from the middle of February. And, of course, the tonnage is being -- the winter tonnage, we were relatively low at that time. So, we've still got quite a long ways to go in terms of benefit from those. What has changed through our industry, and certainly as far as Polaris is concerned, is that it has traditionally been a case that companies would have an annual increase. Come the spring when activity levels pick up sometime in April, companies would put out a notification that the price was going up $0.75 a ton. And that would be it until the following spring. That condition is no longer applying. And when I look at the spread of our customers, or the locations that we serve, there is something changing on a quarter-by-quarter basis. So we actually had quite a big jump in January. We were very encouraged by it because we got a significant increase at our busiest terminal. But there is going to be incremental increases on each of our supply points on a quarter-by-quarter basis. And we have some negotiations to go through this year in terms of setting pricing mechanisms for next year. And I think we are going to see a very different climate. So it's not one straightforward answer, but the summary is there's a lot more to come in these next quarters, particularly from one of the major fixed price contracts. It was a large volume at our lowest price, and has now concluded and being replaced by current market work. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chris Lalor, GMP Securities - Analyst [4] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay. And the pricing on the market, the market volumes, are the increases applied more kind of uniformly across all markets? Or are they done by negotiations? And do they vary a lot from customer to customer? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [5] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's a very good point. And I've often had to apologize that we seem to have a simple company but with a great deal of complexity, because they do vary location by location. At the end of the day, you can't set a price that's out of line with where the market is. The other point that is really impacting Polaris now is that we are transitioning from a situation where we were frankly just staying alive through this difficult recession, and aided very much by the high quality of our material, to now being in a market situation where we can start to differentiate ourselves based on that quality, in what we would describe as perhaps the most difficult of our markets, despite some of the problems in the pickup not having happened yet. We have no trouble putting through an increase on our premium small gravel product. So there's a number of factors involved here, not simply how the market is moving, but is now trying to differentiate ourselves on quality. We have been clearly recognized as having the highest quality delivered into the Bay; it kept us in the game. Now it's time for us to get recognition for that. So, there's a couple of areas of pressure, both the activity levels and now this quality factor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chris Lalor, GMP Securities - Analyst [6] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay. That's great color. Looking at the East and the North Bay markets, you mentioned that you do expect them to start to recover in 2015. Do you have a sense of -- or can you give a sense of how large those markets could be, just looking back maybe at how large they were before the downturn? And what potential they could have relative to the markets that are doing well right now, just in the Bay Area? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [7] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. I mean, I think at present, and unfortunately, statistics are not available from any government source or reliable source on very discreet markets for our industry. But in discussions with the customers, particularly to the north of the Golden Gate Bridge, they are still running at about 50% of the level that they were at when we first started supplying them. The impact of the ending of the recession has not yet gone across the Golden Gate Bridge. But everything we hear in terms of huge escalation in property prices, the pressures on development in the City of San Francisco and Silicon Valley, has happened in the last tech boom up in -- towards 2000. It's now forcing developers to look at opportunities north of the Golden Gate. And there are some very big redevelopment plans around the City of Oakland. So they all refer to quite a list of contracts which now appear to be set to break any time during the next 12 months. And I'm sure the owner of Shamrock Materials wouldn't mind me quoting him. I met with him a couple of weeks ago, and he said, next year, we are going to be the new Silicon Valley. It's that sort of feeling. It's been a long time coming for the North and East Bay, but there is now a lot of projects in the pipeline. So, for us, putting a quantum on it, it's rather difficult. But those sites, our own Richmond terminal and the sites we supply through Petaluma, are probably 0.5 million tons short of where they should have been just three or four years ago. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chris Lalor, GMP Securities - Analyst [8] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's great. Last one and I'll just -- and I'll turn it over. G&A, excluding share-based comp, was lower than what we've seen in previous quarters. Was that mainly FX? Or was that -- were there any changes in the Canadian dollar cost? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [9] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Darren, would you like to comment to Chris on that one? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Darren McDonald, Polaris Minerals Corporation - VP of Finance and CFO [10] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sure, absolutely. Yes, I would say that the Canadian dollar costs were actually pretty stable. And we had some reductions in some administrative costs and that sort of thing. But overall, I would say the decline is the Canadian dollar and the benefit of that over those fixed SG&A costs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chris Lalor, GMP Securities - Analyst [11] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perfect, thanks a lot. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Darren McDonald, Polaris Minerals Corporation - VP of Finance and CFO [12] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [13] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you, Chris. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [14] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Charles, Dundee Capital Markets. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Charles, Dundee Capital Markets - Analyst [15] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's David here. Just a quick question, I suppose. Before today's results, we were -- sort of had a view maybe that you could come in with sales of about 4 million tons in the current financial year. Obviously, the first quarter was a little bit less than expectation. And I think you also have said sort of given sort of a view that maybe Long Beach will be a little bit slower, even though we hadn't got a big number in our forecast for that. I'm just wondering, do you think that 4 million tons on an annualized basis this year is a reasonable number where you see it at the moment? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [16] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. Good afternoon, David, and that's a very fair question. And in fact, the VP of Operations up at the quarry asked me the same thing only a couple weeks ago. He said, what do I need to be telling the guys about planning shifts going forwards? And the answer was it's -- frankly, it's just too early in the year to be considering that point. We do see these fluctuations. It was the end of 2013 where we suddenly had an absolute barnburner of a fourth quarter. Because we do get these timing swings. We still are expecting to be at or very close to that 4 million. We have seen nothing in the overall picture of what our customers have said to us that is changed. And if we did miss a couple of shipments into Long Beach, we also had a very low expectation of tonnage in that. Long Beach is a long-term game plan. And I do hope our followers have appreciated that Los Angeles is a very complex market to get into, and we had to get into it at the earliest stages of redevelopment because you can't afford to be too far behind the game. But it was never huge in our plans. This frustration, we haven't talked about it too loudly because of this union situation. And I want people to be reassured. Once that contract is signed -- and it's out for ratification by the members now -- that sets the parameters. We are not a longshore operation on that site. It's on private land. The only involvement of the Union is the tie-up and cast-off of the ships, which happens at every port and happens at our Richmond terminal and Redwood City. It's just whilst there is no contract in place, the rights aren't set. And we were counseled that there is too big a risk of commencing operating when the situation isn't defined. So we have been rather laid-back and a little bit frustrated ourselves. But that's a very long answer to say we still have every opportunity to get to that 4 million ton number. A lot of things may well develop on -- the opportunities are all to the positive side now in this industry. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Charles, Dundee Capital Markets - Analyst [17] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maybe just coming back to Long Beach, I mean, it now looks like if they have the vote in May, that you really talking about a second-half event here. How quickly could you get -- like, how are you going to proceed? Are you going to deliver material down there? Or are you going to try to get contracts before you deliver the material? Is there a chicken and an egg situation there? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [18] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm not sure which is the chicken and which is the egg, but we are absolutely going to put a ship in the very minute that we can. And we have one in our schedule for June. And we are going to build the inventory there, David, because it's such a different situation down there and being independent, which will prove over time to be very positive for this Company to have absolute control down there. But it's very hard to sell things when you haven't opened the shop. We've done all the testing. Everybody has been hugely impressed with running our material through their laboratories and seeing what its technical parameters are. They just want to see it on the ground now, and know if they pick up the phone and say we've made a commitment, we need 20,000 tons, that we have it there. So -- and we will absolutely go in with inventory as soon as we are right to do so. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Charles, Dundee Capital Markets - Analyst [19] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So this would be a typical capacity of about 80,000 tons? And it would be dedicated just for Long Beach? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [20] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That site will hold about 120,000 tons. In planning the logistics of this business, you can't afford to -- you can't do just-in-time deliveries with big ships. The big ships don't run like local trucking, I'm afraid. So we set ourselves an objective at each of our operations to be able to hold 1.5 times the load, so that we were never running out when the next delivery was due. And I'm very proud to say in the eight years we've been running, we've never let anybody down in the Bay Area. We occasionally trucked a couple-of-thousand tons from one site to another, but Long Beach has got a very good capacity. We can conservatively put 120,000 tons on the ground. So, we will start off with the first shipment and go from there. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Charles, Dundee Capital Markets - Analyst [21] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And maybe one final question, if I may, going back to pricing. You know, you've talked about the fact that you're getting a little bit of -- it hasn't really started yet, but you expect, with the fall-off of the old contracts, new drop contracts coming on will be at a higher rates. Looking ahead into the second half of the year, I mean, are there more price increases that you think you should start getting flowing through, as well as the volume increase that you would hope to get to achieve your goals? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [22] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. There will be some -- some further increases. I think the better part of them will come in the first half of the year, which of course is good, because it will impact through the busier quarters. And the third and -- well, recently, for our industry the third and the fourth quarter have both been very buoyant. So we want them front-end loaded, which I think is where our sales agreements are. But there's going to be some element of each quarter going through. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Charles, Dundee Capital Markets - Analyst [23] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay, thank you very much. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [24] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you, David. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [25] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Operator Instructions). Bill Shetty, 555-424-BC Limited. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Shetty, 555-424-BC Limited - Analyst [26] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (technical difficulty) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [27] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Operator Instructions). Bill, your line is now open. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Shetty, 555-424-BC Limited - Analyst [28] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you. Herb, first of all, congratulations on your quarter. It seems as though things are on the right road and making good progress. Secondly, I wonder if you or Darren have a pipeline or an insight into the California and federal legislatures such as they are gathering funds for infrastructure expenditures? Is there something that is a foot in those legislatures that would allow them to increase taxes or increase revenue sources for infrastructure expenditures? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [29] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. Hello, Bill, and thank you for the question. Your second connection was very clear, so that's good. We monitor the Caltrans and the public California budget system very well. I'm pleased to say California makes terrific use of modern media, and very informative websites. And we look at their budget plans. They, as a state, have driven a lot of funding down to local initiatives to county by county bond initiatives to fund infrastructure. And California on that side is doing remarkably well. They have -- they made a point in the last budget, which was only recently adopted by the Senate, to maintain their infrastructure spending program, even though they were making other cuts on the education side, particularly to balance budgets. And so California is forging ahead. And there's no doubt the real estate market is telling people -- and we have a very good shareholder in San Francisco who is a real estate guru and very close to this -- that the development is very much back on track, not only in the Bay, but also in Los Angeles, there's some very major investment coming. So, we stopped worrying about California as a state. And they are very positive about maintaining their infrastructure programs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Shetty, 555-424-BC Limited - Analyst [30] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, I do have a second question. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [31] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please. Bill Shetty I do have a second question. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [32] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill, go ahead. Your line is open. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Shetty, 555-424-BC Limited - Analyst [33] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (technical difficulty) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [34] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Operator Instructions). Okay, so our next question is from Bill Shetty. Bill, please go ahead. Your line is now open. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Shetty, 555-424-BC Limited - Analyst [35] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, Herb, I really contact aggregates in California. They anticipate healthy increases in aggregate demand over the next two to three years at least. And just as a way of reinforcing what you mentioned earlier, the final question that I have is -- I believe you have mentioned that you have a source of sand for that market as well? Am I off base there? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [36] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm afraid the first part of your comment, Bill, just didn't come through. I'm sorry, it's been an awfully difficult connection, this one. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Shetty, 555-424-BC Limited - Analyst [37] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, can you hear me now? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [38] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I can, certainly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Shetty, 555-424-BC Limited - Analyst [39] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay. I have contacted aggregate suppliers in Southern California. They anticipate healthy demand over the next two to three years at least. And they raise questions as to how they are going to (technical difficulty) their product. I don't know how many aggregate suppliers in the Los Angeles area you have contacted already, but can you give us an idea? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [40] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, I can, but we are in contact with all the major ready-mix concrete producers in the market down there. And we are targeting particularly a couple of companies that whose plants are best located for us, from a transportation viewpoint, to supply materials to. In Los Angeles, our product is going to be for the high-quality applications. The Los Angeles Basin has a strong supply of aggregates for what we might call the regular grade of work. We are very much focused on this premium pricing aspect down in Los Angeles. But we are hearing from those people that we are talking to, we do have some very strong, long personal connections down there, members of my Board, the gentleman that we are working with on the technical side. And there is no doubt they see, again, further shortages arising in the shorter-term, maybe it's two to three years. There's a quantum change likely to happen in that market. So, rather different in Northern California, where we had to establish volume. We are looking at establishing ourselves in a niche premium market down in Los Angeles. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Shetty, 555-424-BC Limited - Analyst [41] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good. Once again, congratulations, Herb. It looks as though things are definitely on the upswing here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [42] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They are, Bill. We feel that and thank you for following us. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [43] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. Please proceed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals Corporation - Director, President and CEO [44] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you, operator. And I'd just like to thank everybody for listening, and observe that we could clearly be heard this time. I was so embarrassed about the last call, which didn't go terribly well. But yes, things are very much on the upswing. And we can't emphasize too much how these quantum changes and cash generation from operations are just the fundamental step this Company needed to see. So, we look forward to reporting on the second quarter shortly. Thank you, everybody. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [45] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.
|