Conferencia de resultados del T2 de 2026 de Local Bounti (LOCL): los ingresos suben un 14% y la pérdida de EBITDA se reduce

Puntos clave

• Los ingresos del segundo trimestre de 2026 aumentaron un 14% interanual y aproximadamente un 4% respecto al trimestre anterior, hasta alcanzar los 13,9 millones de dólares, impulsados por una mayor producción y ventas en las instalaciones de Texas, Georgia y Washington.
• La pérdida de EBITDA ajustado se redujo un 17% interanual a 5,8 millones de dólares. La dirección prevé que las mejoras continúen en la segunda mitad del año a medida que la red de producción madure y se expanda junto con los clientes minoristas.
• El margen bruto ajustado disminuyó al 27% desde el 30% de un año antes y aproximadamente el 29% en el primer trimestre de 2026. La empresa atribuyó esta presión a ineficiencias temporales en el empaquetado relacionadas con la diversificación de canales en sus instalaciones de Georgia.
• Local Bounti logró un lanzamiento piloto para el relanzamiento de sus kits de ensalada individuales en aproximadamente 400 tiendas de la región del Atlántico Medio este otoño. Otros programas minoristas lanzados recientemente abarcan más de 580 tiendas.
• El efectivo, los equivalentes de efectivo y el efectivo restringido sumaron 10,1 millones de dólares al cierre del trimestre, por debajo de los 18,8 millones de dólares del primer trimestre debido al uso de efectivo en operaciones. Tras el cierre del trimestre, un inversor estratégico existente aportó 12,5 millones de dólares adicionales.
• La capacidad de rendimiento en las instalaciones modernizadas de Georgia, Texas y Washington se mantuvo aproximadamente un 10% por encima de los niveles previos a la actualización. Las inversiones iniciales en una de las instalaciones de California aumentaron la producción total en aproximadamente un 10% interanual.

Resultados financieros clave

Rendimiento comercial y operativo

Local Bounti está relanzando su línea de kits de ensalada individuales mediante una prueba piloto con un importante minorista que abarca aproximadamente 400 tiendas de la región del Atlántico Medio este otoño. El despliegue de seis SKU en más de 250 tiendas de Harris Teeter y otro lanzamiento independiente en un minorista regional de 160 tiendas están plenamente operativos y evolucionan según las expectativas de la empresa.

La empresa también lanzó cinco SKU en aproximadamente 66 tiendas del Sur Medio en julio y cuatro SKU en aproximadamente 110 tiendas de la región de las Montañas Rocosas a principios de agosto. Asimismo, amplió los acuerdos de suministro con varias cuentas minoristas nacionales para productos que incluyen lechuga baby leaf y lechuga mantecosa orgánica.

El kit de ensalada César Romano añadió un centro de distribución en mayo y evoluciona en línea con el sólido ritmo de ventas registrado el año pasado. La dirección también identificó la rúcula como una oportunidad debido a que la cadena de suministro convencional ha tenido dificultades para satisfacer la demanda.

En el ámbito operativo, las mejoras en las torres de cultivo completadas el año pasado en Georgia, Texas y Washington respaldan aproximadamente un 10% más de capacidad de rendimiento. Las inversiones en eficiencia en California podrían mejorar los rendimientos hasta en un 20% a medida que avancen los proyectos, según la dirección. Los trabajos iniciales en unas instalaciones de California ya han elevado la producción total en aproximadamente un 10% respecto al mismo periodo del año anterior.

Las prácticas de siembra más eficientes redujeron los costes de semillas en aproximadamente un 20% interanual. La empresa también está buscando ahorros en compras, mantenimiento, eficiencia laboral y gestión de transporte de mercancías.

Perspectivas de la dirección

La dirección prevé que continúe la mejora mostrada en los últimos trimestres, con el crecimiento de los ingresos y la disciplina de costes como palancas principales hacia un EBITDA ajustado positivo. La empresa espera que la pérdida de EBITDA ajustado mejore durante el segundo semestre a medida que su red madure y se expanda junto con los clientes minoristas.

La dirección también espera que una mayor penetración en el sector minorista y menores costes de los insumos impulsen márgenes más sólidos con el tiempo. No se facilitó ningún objetivo específico de ingresos, margen o EBITDA ajustado.

Riesgos y aspectos a vigilar

• El margen bruto ajustado disminuyó tanto a nivel interanual como trimestral debido a los cambios en la mezcla de canales en Georgia y a ineficiencias temporales en el empaquetado. La empresa afirmó que, desde entonces, los procesos se han perfeccionado e implantado.
• Local Bounti sigue generando pérdidas operativas y consumió efectivo en sus operaciones durante el segundo trimestre. Todavía no ha alcanzado su objetivo declarado de un EBITDA ajustado positivo.
• El saldo de efectivo al cierre del trimestre cayó en 8,7 millones de dólares respecto al trimestre anterior, aunque la posterior inversión estratégica de 12,5 millones de dólares no estuvo incluida en dicho saldo.
• Los cambios en el valor razonable del pasivo por warrants pueden generar una volatilidad significativa en el beneficio neto según GAAP. Esta partida pasó de una ganancia de 5,2 millones de dólares en el primer trimestre a una pérdida de 1,4 millones de dólares en el segundo trimestre.
• La dirección destacó las ventajas en materia de seguridad alimentaria de la agricultura en ambientes controlados, pero advirtió de que «ningún sistema elimina el riesgo al 100%».

Transcripción completa de la conferencia de resultados

Transcripción completa de la conferencia de resultados

Comentarios de la dirección

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.