© 2024 Alpha Spread Limited. All Rights Reserved.
www.alphaspread.com is not operated by a broker, a dealer, or a registered investment adviser. Under no circumstances does any information posted on www.alphaspread.com represent a recommendation to buy or sell a security. The information on this site, and in its related newsletters, is not intended to be, nor does it constitute, investment advice or recommendations. The information on this site is in no way guaranteed for completeness, accuracy or in any other way. In no event shall Alpha Spread Limited be liable to any member, guest or third party for any damages of any kind arising out of the use of any content or other material published or available on www.alphaspread.com, or relating to the use of, or inability to use, www.alphaspread.com or any content, including, without limitation, any investment losses, lost profits, lost opportunity, special, incidental, indirect, consequential or punitive damages. Past performance is a poor indicator of future performance.
You don't have any saved screeners yet
Intrinsic Value is all-important and is the only logical way to evaluate the relative attractiveness of investments and businesses.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Good afternoon, and welcome to the BioHiTech Global First Quarter 2021 Financial Results and Corporate Update Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Participants of this call are advised that the audio of this conference is being broadcast live over the Internet, is also being recorded for playback purposes. A webcast replay of this call will be available approximately 1 hour after the end of the call today through August 17, 2021.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Scott Gordon, President of CORE IR, BioHiTech Global's Investor Relations firm. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you, Keith. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's conference call. Joining me from BioHiTech Global's leadership team are Tony Fuller, Chief Executive Officer; and Brian Essman, Chief Financial Officer. During this call, management will be making forward-looking statements including statements that address BioHiTech Global's expectations for future performance or operational results. Forward-looking statements involve risks and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those statements.
For more information about these risks, please refer to the risk factors described in BioHiTech's most recently filed periodic reports on Form 10-K, its 10-Q filed with the SEC today, May 17, 2021, and BioHiTech's press release that accompanies this call, particularly the cautionary statements in it. The content of this call contains time-sensitive information that is accurate only as of today, May 17, 2021.
Except as required by law, BioHiTech disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any information to reflect events or circumstances that occur after this call. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to CEO, Tony Fuller. Tony, please go ahead.
Thanks, Scott, and good afternoon to everyone on the call. I welcome you to BioHiTech Global's First Quarter 2021 financial results and corporate update call. We have maintained the momentum from 2020 and continue to drive our efforts to grow revenue and reduce expenses across both of our complementary waste solutions. Our first quarter revenue of over $3 million surpassed our fourth quarter by 21%, marking a new quarterly record high since BioHiTech became public in 2015.
This was largely driven by continued growth in Digester revenues as a result of the equipment purchases by Carnival Corporation. Revenues from equipment sales were $2.3 million, an increase of 602% over the first quarter of 2020, and 37% over the fourth quarter of 2020. We also lowered our SG&A expenses and loss from operations as a percentage of revenue in the quarter by significant margins. During the first quarter, the operating loss was $1.3 million, which represents a reduction of $1.7 million as compared to the fourth quarter in 2020. We are encouraged by these results and remain confident in our approach to executing on our operating and growth plans.
We continue to be encouraged with the expansion of our contract with Carnival Corporation, the world's largest cruise company and are pleased to report that since we last updated, we've received additional orders totaling approximately $2.3 million. We're actively pursuing others in the maritime industry and beyond, companies whom we believe share our goals of reducing food waste and responsibly disposing of the food that ends up in waste streams.
The value proposition of our Revolution Series Digesters to the diverse array of industries we are targeting can result in a substantial reduction in cost by eliminating the transportation and logistics expense associated with food waste disposal. The greenhouse gases associated with food waste transportation and decomposition in landfills that have been linked to climate change are reduced. Our digester data analytics platform provides real-time waste transparency, which attacks the problem of food waste at its inception.
Our clients continue to realize the strong value that our products and services offer. We are confident that our efforts to expand into additional industries are on track to yield results in the coming quarters. Our business development and sales efforts continue in health care, grocery stores, government and universities, where our products gained traction in 2020. Turning now to our HEBioT facility.
Revenues during the first quarter of 2021 were $353,000, a decrease of $138,000 versus the comparable period in 2020. This was offset by a decrease in expenses of $135,000 as compared to the comparable period in 2020. Our capabilities to process both municipal waste and plastics that are no longer able to be recycled serve a crucial function for communities. Taking that, which was destined for landfill, and converting it into an EPA-recognized renewable fuel.
We are currently exploring additional uses for our fuel, such as fuel for gasification than as a feedstock for bioplastics. What we have learned is that we make a very good fuel with a consistent BTU value which opens many opportunities for additional uses and future growth. As you can see, our commitment to innovation and the development of alternative uses for our renewable fuel continues to grow and is a key component of our growth strategy in 2021.
We are pleased with our continued efforts along these lines as we broaden the uses for our renewable fuel. We're seeing an uptick in interest in the plant. We are regularly approached by stakeholders to understand how our technology could serve their community needs. We believe our prospects for growth remain strong. And we're excited as we look to the future into the construction and operation of additional HEBioT facilities.
And with that, I'll now turn the call over to Brian, our CFO, who will review our financial results for the first quarter. Brian?
Thanks, Tony, and hello, everyone. The financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021. The company continued to grow in the quarter ended March 31, 2021, with total revenues of $3 million, increasing 21% over the fourth quarter of 2020, and 124% over the comparative first quarter of 2020. Total revenues of $3 million mark, as Tony had mentioned, a new high -- quarterly high since the company went public in 2015.
The overall contribution rate, revenues less direct costs, increased to 29% in the first quarter of 2021 as compared to 20% in the fourth quarter of 2020 and 10% in the comparative first quarter of 2020. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue decreased to 54% in the first quarter of 2021 as compared to 115% in the fourth quarter of 2020 and 141% in the comparative first quarter of 2020. The loss from operations as a percentage of revenue decreased to 42% in the first quarter of 2021 as compared to 120% in the fourth quarter of 2020 and 176% in the comparative first quarter of 2020.
The company continues to achieve growth in Digester and Corporate line of business that has most recently been driven by sales to Carnival Cruise Lines such that first quarter operating loss was driven down to $184,000 from $1 million during the fourth quarter of 2020, and $1.3 million during the comparative first quarter for 2020. During the first quarter of 2021, the HEBioT facility revenue was $353,000, a decrease of $138,000, which was offset by $135,000 in direct costs.
As compared to the fourth quarter in 2020, the decrease in revenues of $142 million was partially offset by a decrease of $116,000 in direct cost. The company has been hindered in growth at the HEBioT plant in Martinsburg, West Virginia, resulting from mechanical challenges during 2020 and constraints on our primary solid fuel -- customers' ability to accept fuel due to its closure, resulting from COVID-19 and subsequent refiring difficulties at their kiln that have only recently been partially resolved.
In each of the current sequential and comparative quarters, there has been a negative contribution, which, when combined with other operating expenses, resulted in a loss -- operating loss of $1.1 million, $2 million and $1.1 million during the first quarter of 2021, the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2020, respectively. For the 3 months ended March 31, 2021, the company had a consolidated net loss of $2.3 million, incurred a consolidated loss from operations of $1.3 million and used net cash and consolidated operating activities of $1.9 million.
At March 31, 2021, unrestricted cash was $7.3 million. I will now turn the call back over to Tony before we turn the call back over to the operator.
Thank you, Brian. Before I turn the call over to questions, I would like to thank our entire dedicated team who drive our accomplishments with a deep sense of pride and determination. I would also like to thank our investors for entrusting a portion of their investment dollars in our company and the causes we pursue. In closing, I reflect upon the 5 tenets we espouse in our year-end review and our progress on each in the first quarter.
We achieved record revenue while reducing expenses. We have progressed in improving operations at the plant. We are communicating with intention. And we have grown our team through a singular vision to achieve our mission and our capabilities. Operator, please open the call to questions.
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] And the first question comes from Joel Marcus with Network 1 Financial.
Congratulations on a really promising quarter. I'm very pleased. I really don't have so much of a question as -- I'd just like to add a comment. I've been registered for way over 50 years and during my time, I've been involved in many small-cap companies. Management of this company really is truly, truly excellent. Brian and Tony are fabulous, I believe in them, I want to complement them. And I really, really believe that they will make this company a huge success in the coming quarters and the coming years.
So for anyone who might be new to this, new to the conference, I've been involved with this for a couple of years through ups and downs and I just want to express that as a "old timer" in this industry. I really have rarely, if ever, seen management as capable and as good, as the management that this company is blessed with.
Joel, thank you for that. I will tell you that it's probably more than Brian and I deserve, but we are so proud to represent this team here that is working on these causes, which, as I said in the script, are causes that we are pursuing. And we commit to all of you our utmost effort in getting that done. It is a joy and a privilege to work with this team, and we are truly, truly excited about what the future can hold.
[Operator Instructions] And the next question comes from Edward Woo with Ascendiant Capital.
Have you noticed any change in the competitive environment? Do you feel that that's going to be a possible challenge? Or is it really more of just taking time to kind of work through this pandemic as companies kind of get back to normal and figure out their ongoing business plan?
Yes. I can't -- thanks for the question. I personally would tell you that this has always been a strong, competitive environment. When I look at what we've all been through the past year, I think it I think it ups the stakes a little bit. I think anybody that's answering that question honestly would say, we are in a time now when customers who are impacted or getting back in business. We're at a time now that will represent possible inflection points as far as opportunities to grow business and expand your business.
But I'd also tell you, we welcome that competition.
So from a competitive environment perspective, we're really excited about the opportunities that we see, and we're excited by the opportunity to compete. That always makes you better, and we're committed to getting better and to capturing these opportunities. It is super encouraging to see the way business is coming back. And to understand that these sectors and these -- some of these small businesses that have been so impacted in the past year are now back and operating again and beginning to operate at higher levels.
But the thing that they have to figure out and we have to figure out with them is do we compete the same way? What is the customer going to demand of you if you're an operator from a cleanliness perspective? How are you going to deal with environmental issues? Clearly, I think it's fair to say and fair to believe that the consumer today is more focused on that than they have ever been. That the environment in the marketplace is more open today to the type of environmental solutions that we and others have, and we're happy to compete as we solve some of these big problems that face the globe. So hopefully, that answered your question, if not, follow-up, okay?
That does answer my question. My last question is more of a -- has there been any significant issues with your supply chain? Inflation? Or with shortages on component or just any other potential issues? I know you aren't as affected -- of your plan, but just maybe on your digesters?
Yes. As you know, lots of people are having lots of issues with supply chain today. I would not tell you that we have experienced significant issues with our supply chain. There are isolated instances. And what we've tried to do, Bob Joyce and our team that may -- runs that part of our business have done a great job getting out in front of that. We worked hard on the supply chain all of last year.
We're going to have issues on occasion with certain suppliers, every company does. From a pricing standpoint, I think that we're seeing some pressure on pricing, but it has not been such that it's caused us great concerns because simply the volume of production that we've been able to enjoy. We've been able to ride that out. I think that's going to be a question that we all have to deal with in the coming years.
I won't say this year as much because we're pretty well locked-in. But when you look at the business environment going forward, who's not talking about inflationary pressures.
And this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Tony Fuller for any closing remarks.
I want to thank you all for being a part of this today. I have lost my notes as to exactly how I was going to wrap this up. But I do -- I truly. We're grateful for the participation of our shareholders and the opportunity to share our results with each of you. So have a great day. Thank you.
Thank you. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines.