Local Bounti (LOCL) Earnings Call Q2 2026: Umsatz steigt um 14 %, EBITDA-Verlust verringert sich

Wichtigste Erkenntnisse

• Der Umsatz im zweiten Quartal 2026 stieg im Jahresvergleich um 14 % und gegenüber dem Vorquartal um etwa 4 % auf 13,9 Millionen US-Dollar, gestützt auf eine höhere Produktion und steigende Verkäufe in den Standorten in Texas, Georgia und Washington.
• Der bereinigte EBITDA-Verlust verringerte sich im Jahresvergleich um 17 % auf 5,8 Millionen US-Dollar. Das Management rechnet in der zweiten Jahreshälfte mit weiteren Verbesserungen, da das Produktionsnetzwerk weiter reift und mit den Einzelhandelskunden skaliert.
• Die bereinigte Bruttomarge sank von 30 % im Vorjahr und etwa 29 % im ersten Quartal 2026 auf 27 %. Das Unternehmen führte diesen Druck auf vorübergehende Ineffizienzen bei der Verpackung im Zusammenhang mit der Kanaldiversifizierung an seinem Standort in Georgia zurück.
• Local Bounti hat sich für diesen Herbst eine Pilot-Einführung seiner neu aufgelegten Einzelportions-Salat-Kits in etwa 400 Filialen in der Mid-Atlantic-Region gesichert. Weitere vor Kurzem gestartete Einzelhandelsprogramme decken mehr als 580 Filialen ab.
• Flüssige Mittel, Zahlungsmitteläquivalente und Guthaben mit Verfügungsbeschränkung beliefen sich zum Quartalsende auf insgesamt 10,1 Millionen US-Dollar, verglichen mit 18,8 Millionen US-Dollar im ersten Quartal, was auf den Barmittelbedarf im operativen Geschäft zurückzuführen ist. Nach Quartalsende stellte ein bestehender strategischer Investor weitere 12,5 Millionen US-Dollar zur Verfügung.
• Die Ertragskapazität an den modernisierten Standorten in Georgia, Texas und Washington lag weiterhin rund 10 % über dem Niveau vor der Modernisierung. Erste Investitionen an einem Standort in Kalifornien steigerten die Gesamtproduktion im Jahresvergleich um etwa 10 %.

Wichtigste Finanzergebnisse

Geschäfts- und operative Entwicklung

Local Bounti legt seine Produktlinie für Einzelportions-Salat-Kits über ein Pilotprojekt mit einem großen Einzelhändler in etwa 400 Filialen in der Mid-Atlantic-Region diesen Herbst neu auf. Eine Einführung von sechs Artikeln (SKUs) in mehr als 250 Harris-Teeter-Filialen sowie ein separater Start bei einem regionalen Einzelhändler mit 160 Filialen sind voll im Gang und entwickeln sich im Rahmen der Erwartungen des Unternehmens.

Im Juli führte das Unternehmen zudem fünf Artikel in etwa 66 Filialen in der Region Mid-South und Anfang August vier Artikel in rund 110 Filialen in der Rocky-Mountain-Region ein. Es verlängerte Liefervereinbarungen mit mehreren nationalen Einzelhandelskunden für Produkte wie Baby-Salatblätter und Bio-Kopfsalat.

Das Salat-Kit „Caesar Romano“ hat im Mai ein weiteres Vertriebszentrum hinzugewonnen und entwickelt sich im Einklang mit der starken Verkaufsdynamik des Vorjahres. Das Management hat zudem Rucola als Chance identifiziert, da die konventionelle Lieferkette Schwierigkeiten hatte, die Nachfrage zu decken.

Operativ unterstützen die im vergangenen Jahr in Georgia, Texas und Washington abgeschlossenen Turm-Modernisierungen eine um etwa 10 % höhere Ertragskapazität. Effizienzinvestitionen in Kalifornien könnten dem Management zufolge die Erträge im Zuge des Projektfortschritts um bis zu 20 % steigern. Erste Arbeiten an einem Standort in Kalifornien haben die Gesamtproduktion gegenüber dem Vorjahreszeitraum bereits um etwa 10 % erhöht.

Effizientere Aussaatpraktiken senkten die Saatgutkosten im Jahresvergleich um etwa 20 %. Das Unternehmen strebt zudem Einsparungen in den Bereichen Beschaffung, Instandhaltung, Arbeitseffizienz und Frachtmanagement an.

Ausblick des Managements

Das Management geht davon aus, dass sich die in den letzten Quartalen gezeigte Verbesserung fortsetzen wird, wobei Umsatzwachstum und Kostendisziplin als wesentliche Hebel auf dem Weg zu einem positiven bereinigten EBITDA dienen. Das Unternehmen rechnet damit, dass sich der bereinigte EBITDA-Verlust in der zweiten Jahreshälfte mit der Reifung und Skalierung des Netzwerks an der Seite der Einzelhandelskunden verbessern wird.

Zudem erwartet das Management, dass eine höhere Durchdringung des Einzelhandels und geringere Inputkosten im Laufe der Zeit zu einer Stärkung der Margen beitragen werden. Konkrete Ziele für Umsatz, Marge oder bereinigtes EBITDA wurden nicht genannt.

Risiken und Beobachtungspunkte

• Die bereinigte Bruttomarge ging sowohl im Jahres- als auch im Quartalsvergleich zurück. Ursächlich hierfür waren Veränderungen im Kanal-Mix in Georgia sowie vorübergehende Ineffizienzen bei der Verpackung. Das Unternehmen gab an, dass die Prozesse seither verfeinert und umgesetzt wurden.
• Local Bounti verzeichnet weiterhin operative Verluste und benötigte im zweiten Quartal Barmittel für den Geschäftsbetrieb. Das selbstgesteckte Ziel eines positiven bereinigten EBITDA wurde noch nicht erreicht.
• Der Barmittelbestand sank zum Quartalsende im Vergleich zum Vorquartal um 8,7 Millionen US-Dollar, wobei die darauffolgende strategische Investition über 12,5 Millionen US-Dollar in diesem Bestand noch nicht enthalten war.
• Änderungen des beizulegenden Zeitwerts von Optionsscheinverbindlichkeiten können zu erheblicher Volatilität beim Nettoergebnis nach GAAP führen. Die Position wandelte sich von einem Gewinn von 5,2 Millionen US-Dollar im ersten Quartal zu einem Verlust von 1,4 Millionen US-Dollar im zweiten Quartal.
• Das Management hob die Vorteile der kontrollierten Umgebungswirtschaft (Controlled-Environment Agriculture) für die Lebensmittelsicherheit hervor, gab jedoch zu bedenken, dass „kein System Risiken zu 100 % ausschließt“.

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz zu den Quartalszahlen

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Ausführungen des Managements

Operator

Good morning. and welcome to Local Bounti's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call.

[Operator Instructions]

Please also note today's event is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference call over to Jeff Sonnek, Investor Relations at ICR. Jeff, please go ahead.

Jeff Sonnek

Thank you, and good morning. Today's presentation will be hosted by Local Bounti's President and Chief Executive Officer, Kathleen Valiasek and Interim Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer, Tony Hughes.

Comments made during today's call contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical facts are considered forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs as well as a number of assumptions concerning future events. Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Some of these risks and uncertainties are identified and discussed in the company's filings with the SEC.

We'll also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures today. Please refer to the press release, which can be found on our Investor Relations website investors.localbounti.com for reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures. And with that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Kathy.

Kathleen Valiasek

Thank you, Jeff. And good morning, everyone. I want to start by recognizing the work our team put in to achieve the results for sharing today. The second quarter continued the trajectory we've been building with disciplined execution across every part of the organization, and I want to walk you through that today. Revenue grew 14% year-over-year to $13.9 million and grew again sequentially from the first quarter. Adjusted EBITDA loss improved 17% year-over-year to $5.8 million, and adjusted G&A came down 17% year-over-year as well, all supporting our primary goal of achieving positive adjusted EBITDA.

We've talked for a while now about our ongoing strategic partnership discussions across the retail landscape. But I'd say in light of recent events in our industry, those conversations have never felt more relevant than they do right now. Food safety has become a genuinely mainstream conversation for consumers over the last several weeks, and that's translating directly into how retailers think about where and how they source their produce. Conversations that use to center on cost and availability now also focus on traceability water sourcing, food safety and environmental control. All questions that our CEA model was specifically built to solve for. We're seeing that shift show up almost daily across our retail network, including with prospects who aren't even our customers yet. Retailers want to understand how our water is sourced, treated and monitored in a closed loop, and while growing in doors under controlled conditions is structurally safer than open field agriculture, which is exposed to unpredictable outside conditions like runoff, wildlife and weather.

Our model also collapses much of the traditional supply chain. We take a plant from seed to finished package in a captive environment, which is a meaningful advantage when a retailer needs to understand and trace the product's journey quickly. To be clear, no system eliminates risk 100% but growing indoors remove several of the specific pathways like contaminated irrigation water, and wildlife exposure that drives these outbreaks in the first place. Conventional produce supply chains built around open fields and exposed to uncontrollable environmental impacts have a hard time addressing those difficult conversations with confidence. That shift doesn't create demand overnight, but we expect it to be a significant driver of long-term growth as retailers and ultimately, consumers increasingly choose product based on where and how it has grown and the brand behind it. The strategic conversations we've been having across our network for a while now carry more weight and move with more urgency than they did even a quarter ago.

So turning to the commercial side. Following discussions with a major retailer, we are relaunching our single-serve salad kit line and agreed with that retailer to a pilot launch throughout the Mid-Atlantic region in approximately 400 stores this fall. It's an encouraging step in building this product line that our commercial team is genuinely excited about and we expect can be a driver of continued growth for this product line in the future. We'll have more to share as that develops. So the rest of our commercial base continued to perform well across our approximately 13,000 doors and continues to build on our base of blue-chip retail relationships. The 2 accounts we discussed last quarter, a 6 SKU rollout covering more than 250 Harris Teeter stores and a large regional retailer operating 160 stores are both now fully launched and tracking in line with expectations. In July, we also launched a new retail partner in the Mid-South region featuring 5 SKUs across approximately 66 stores and in early August, launched a new retail partner in the Rocky Mountain region, featuring 4 SKUs across approximately 110 stores.

Between the first and second quarter, we were also awarded bids extending supply agreements with multiple national retail accounts. These relationships span key product lines, including baby leaf lettuce, and organic butter lettuce. These wins are a good measure of how our existing retail partners actually view us. Our Caesar Romano salad kit also continues to perform well. The additional distribution center we picked up in the first quarter, launched in May and is tracking in line with the strong velocity we saw last year. And we continue to see real opportunity in Arugula where the conventional supply chain has struggled to keep up with demand. Our greenhouse grown approach is a natural fit there, and it's a conversation more actively continuing with the retail partners. Selectively, these wins reflect the strength of our relationships with blue-chip retailers and their continued confidence in us to deliver consistent, high-quality products over the long term.

Turning to operations. The tower upgrades we completed across Georgia, Texas and Washington last year continue to deliver, running at roughly 10% higher yield capacity than before those upgrades, and our yields remain at the highest levels in the company's history. Looking at our California facilities, the selective investments we've talked about before are on track, aimed at improving efficiency in those legacy assets and strengthening our position in living butter head lettuce, and we still believe they can improve yield by as much as 20% as those projects progress through the year. In fact, our initial investments at one of our California facilities is already driving an approximate 10% increase in total production versus the prior year period. It isn't limited to California either. Across all of our facilities, we continue to make tangible progress on the cost side of the business. For example, more efficient seating practices have lowered our seed costs by approximately 20% year-over-year, and we expect to continue garnering cost savings across procurement, maintenance, labor efficiency and freight management across the network. With that, I'll turn it over to Tony for the financial review.

Anthony Hughes

Thank you, Kathy, and good morning, everyone. Turning to our results. Second quarter revenue grew 14% to $13.9 million compared to $12.1 million in the second quarter of last year, and grew approximately 4% sequentially from $13.3 million in the first quarter. The increase was driven by increased production and growth in sales from our Texas, Georgia and Washington facilities. Adjusted gross margin for the second quarter was 27%, excluding depreciation, stock-based compensation and other noncore items, compared to 30% in the prior year period and approximately 29% in the first quarter. The sequential and year-over-year decline is a function of our strategy to diversify our channel mix at our Georgia facility and resulted in temporary packing inefficiencies, which have since been refined and implemented.

As we look longer term, we expect that our increased penetration of the retail channel in combination with our broader efforts to lower input costs will support enhanced margins over time. Adjusted G&A expense for the second quarter was $4.1 million, down from $5 million in the second quarter of last year, a reduction of approximately 17% year-over-year, and essentially in line with the $4.1 million we reported in the first quarter. GAAP net loss for the second quarter was $19.8 million compared to $21.6 million in the second quarter of last year, and $12.7 million in the first quarter of 2026. The year-over-year improvement was primarily driven by a $1.5 million improvement in loss from operations reflecting lower operating expenses, along with a modest reduction in net interest expense. The sequential increase in GAAP net loss for the first quarter was almost entirely explained by noncash items. The change in fair value of our warrant liabilities swung from a $5.2 million gain in the first quarter to a $1.4 million loss in the second quarter, driven by changes in our stock price during the period.

Adjusted EBITDA loss for the second quarter was $5.8 million compared to a loss of $7.1 million in the second quarter of last year, a 17% year-over-year improvement. Relative to the first quarter, the loss was stable, and we still expect the pattern of continued improvement to hold in the second half as our network continues to mature and scale alongside our retail customers. Looking at our trending for the first half of the year, revenue is up 15% to $27.2 million, and adjusted EBITDA loss has improved approximately 24% to $11.5 million compared to $15.3 million in the first half of last year. These results reinforce that we are on the right path. With respect to the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash of $10.1 million, down from $18.8 million at the end of the first quarter reflecting cash used in operations during the quarter. Subsequent to quarter end, and prior to today's call, we received an additional $12.5 million investment from an existing strategic investor which is not reflected in that $10.1 million balance.

Combined with the $15 million investment we received in March and the transactions we executed in 2025, these commitments continue to give us the financial flexibility to be strategic about growth and partnership decisions as we advance towards profitability. In terms of our outlook, we expect the trajectory of improvement we've demonstrated over the past several quarters to continue. Revenue growth and continued cost discipline remain the 2 biggest levers we have towards our goal of positive adjusted EBITDA. With that, I'll turn it back to Kathy for closing remarks.

Kathleen Valiasek

Thank you, Tony. To close, I'd say this was a quarter that moved us forward on every front that matters. The commercial pipeline turning into real placements, our operational discipline continuing to compound, and our strategic investor who knows the business well, choosing to back it with more capital. And all of it against a backdrop where the case for how we grow food has generally never been more relevant.

There is more work ahead of us before we get to positive adjusted EBITDA, but every quarter like this one narrows that gap. I'm grateful to the entire Local Bounti team for the execution and to our investors and partners for their continued confidence. That concludes our prepared remarks. Thank you again for joining us today and for your continued interest in Local Bounti.

Operator

Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference and webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.