Ultralife Corporation (NASDAQ:ULBI) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Phil Fain: I would say, hopefully soon. It’s been information-intensive providing as much detail as we possibly can, which we look at as a top priority because it’s certainly cash that we would love to see along with our ERC claim that would go directly towards the paydown of our debt.

John Deysher: Okay. Fine. ERC claim, which claim is that?

Phil Fain: The ERC claim is a claim that we filed in June with the IRS and we disclosed the amount, the amount was approximately $1.5 million that we recognized in Q2 and similar to the business interruption claim, along with everybody else, we’re waiting for the refund check to come from the IRS.

John Deysher: I got you. That makes sense. And finally, you’ve done a good job at paying down the debt from the acquisition. I’m just curious how much availability do you have on the credit facility now as of year-end?

Phil Fain: Well, we have actually quite a bit, and let me define that. We have an accordion feature that we can call into play if we needed $15 million, which we don’t because we’re generating some very good EBITDA. We could certainly work with the bank to use the accordion feature that’s in our revolver credit loan.

John Deysher: So you have the $15 million accordion, but nothing beyond that?

Phil Fain: We have an accordion that could get us to that level, provided that there was a really great reason, an underlying strong business reason that we could — that we see. But then again, we would compare that to other financing alternatives as we go through our normal due diligence, whether it’s CapEx, whether it’s acquisitions, whatever it may be. One of the — and I’ll just have to mention this because I preach this all the time, the cheapest financing that we have is working down our inventory, which we very successfully did in Q3 — in Q4 versus Q3, working down inventory by approximately $4.7 million from Q3.

John Deysher: Okay. So ignoring the accordion, which it sounds like a special circumstance facility, is it fair to say that there’s no availability under the current term loan or the credit…

Phil Fain: No, we certainly have availability. We’re not by any means capped out.

John Deysher: Okay. What is that availability, both on the term loan and the revolver?

Phil Fain: Yeah. The availability before we would use accordion feature if we decided to, is over $5 million.

John Deysher: $5 million availability, and that’s primarily on the revolver?

Phil Fain: Yes.

John Deysher: Okay. So you’ve got $5 million on the revolver availability.

Phil Fain: Yes.

John Deysher: Right now. Okay. Great. Thank you very much.

Phil Fain: Okay. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. One moment please. Our next question comes from the line of Albert Rocco of [indiscernible]. Your line is open.

Unidentified Analyst: Hi, good morning. This is Al Rocco. I’m just wondering if you’ve ever looked at providing battery cells to the auto industry?

Mike Manna: Well, we provide a lot of battery packs into that industry currently. We are partnered with cell providers that actually we use in that marketplace. We thought about it. It’s a very long cycle. Typically, you’re at least three or four years of cell development and another two or three years of downhole testing before you really get what I would call approved, and you really have to have a partner that’s willing to put the product downhole to do all the testing and qualification. So it’s always being thought about, I’ll say that.

Unidentified Analyst: Okay. I wish you luck in finding a partner who needs a domestic provider. I would assume you’re well positioned there.

Mike Manna: Sure.

Phil Fain: Thank you.

Unidentified Analyst: Great quarter.

Phil Fain: Thanks. Thanks so much.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of [Stuart Citron of the Citron Company] (ph). Your line is open.

Unidentified Analyst: Good morning, gentlemen. Nice presentation and a good quarter. My question has to do with your conformable wearable battery. How significant a percentage contributed into your bottom line is the conformable wearable battery? And secondly, how significant is the Microsoft delay?

Mike Manna: Well, right now, it’s zero contribution to our bottom line. We saw…

Unidentified Analyst: I’m talking potential.

Mike Manna: Well, potential, I mean, we had a very large award. It’s an IDIQ, so there’s a potential very large number out there. But ultimately, with any IDIQ and we’ve lived them in and out of this building for — and all the businesses. It’s basically a hunting license to actually get business. It doesn’t actually guarantee you’re ever going to see one order, let alone revenues. So I mean we’ve kind of always put it off as to — it’s going to be a good opportunity. We have other commercial and other government customers that would love us to be in a production capability mode with that product. And we believe we’re going to bring it to market successfully, and it will be a contributor to our bottom line.

Unidentified Analyst: Are there still, I believe, four companies competing for this?

Mike Manna: There were four awards. We’re not really privy to where the others actually are. The only thing we’ve been told is no one else is through fab. So no one else is actually qualified at this point. That’s the only thing — the only tell I have.

Unidentified Analyst: No timetable on expectations, obviously.