Polaris Renewable Energy Announces Q3 2022 Results

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / November 3, 2022 / Polaris Renewable Energy Inc. (TSX:PIF) ("Polaris Renewable Energy" or the "Company"), is pleased to report its financial and operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022. This earnings release should be read in conjunction with the Company's consolidated financial statements and management's discussion and analysis, which are available on the Company's website at www.PolarisREI.com and have been posted on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The dollar figures below are denominated in US Dollars unless noted otherwise.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Quarterly consolidated energy production of 134,652 MWh (net) for the period ended September 30, 2022, of which 98,949 MWh (net) was contributed by the Company's geothermal facility in Nicaragua, an aggregate of 18,992 MWh (net) was contributed by the Company's hydroelectric facilities in Peru, 14,262 MWh (net) was contributed by the Company's solar facility in Dominican Republic and 2,449 MWh (net) was contributed by the Company's hydroelectric facility in Ecuador.
• The Company generated $14.5 million in revenue, including $14.1 million from energy sales and $0.4 million from the sale of carbon emission reduction ("CER") credits for the three months ended September 30, 2022, compared to $14.8 million in energy sales in the same period in 2021.
• Net loss attributable to owners was $1.5 million or $0.07 per share - basic for the three months ended September 30, 2022, compared to net earnings of $2.2 million or $0.11 per share - basic for the same period in 2021.
• Adjusted EBITDA was $10.0 million for the period ended September 30, 2022, compared to $10.9 million in the same period in 2021.
• For the nine month period ended September 30, 2022, the Company generated $20.7 million in net cash flow from operating activities, ending with a strong cash position of $41.64 million ⁽¹⁾ .
• Continued progress on the construction of the Binary power plant at San Jacinto, which is on schedule for completion in the fourth quarter of 2022. An additional $3.3 million was spent in the third quarter, bringing the total investment to date to $22.9 million.
• Development of the Panama Solar projects, acquired in March 2022, continues as planned. During the third quarter of 2022 the Company spent $3.5 million in additions to construction in progress and an additional $4.2 million set aside as guarantees to ensure delivery of the solar panels to Panama. Construction of the solar plant began in March 2022 and is expected to be completed in December 2022.
• On September 7, 2022, the Company closed the acquisition of 83.16% of the issued and outstanding shares of Hidroeléctrica San Jose de Minas ("HSJM"), a run-of-the-river hydro project with approximately 6.0 MWs capacity, in Ecuador, for $16.3 million. The Project has 7 years remaining on a 15-year power purchase agreement ("PPA") with a wholly owned Ecuadorian government entity, for the sale of all power production at $78.10 per MWh. The effective date of the transaction was August 31, 2022.
• On September 20, 2022, the Company completed the redemption of its unsecured convertible debentures, equivalent to $15.3 million, of which $15.0 million were converted into common shares prior to the redemption date resulting in the issuance of an aggregate of 1,294,799 common shares, and $0.3 million were redeemed in cash.
• The Company remains focused on maintaining a quarterly dividend. For the three months ended September 30, 2022, the Company declared and paid $3.1 million in dividends. The Company has declared the twenty-seventh consecutive quarterly dividend of $0.15 per outstanding common share, which will be paid on November 25th, 2022.
• The Company continued to advance its environmental, social and governance ("ESG") initiatives as part of its core strategy while continuing to maintain an excellent health and safety record. Readers are encouraged to refer to the Company's ESG annual report, which is available on the Company's website for additional details.

The Company does not conduct business with or within Russia and Ukraine; however global instability is increasing market and foreign exchange volatility, worsening existing supply chain delays, and bringing inflationary pressures to the economy, impacting not only the entities with interests or exposures to both countries. Although the current exposure to these risks has been determined as low, the Company continues evaluating them to determine if mitigation measures in place are appropriate or need to be adjusted, as needed.

(1) Includes current and non-current restricted cash.

OPERATING AND FINANCIAL OVERVIEW

1. Net of transaction costs.

During the three months ended September 30, 2022, quarterly consolidated power production was lower than the same period in 2021, due to lower hydrology in Peru and planned major maintenance performed in Nicaragua and Peru, partly offset by the additional production from the solar project in Dominican Republic acquired on June 28, 2022, and the hydroelectric project in Ecuador, acquired on September 7, 2022.

For Nicaragua, third quarter 2022 production averaged 44.8 MWs (net), compared to 54.7 MWs (net) in the third quarter of 2021. The decrease in average production was due to planned major maintenance carried out in the third quarter of 2022, which in comparison had been performed in the second quarter of 2021. Certain high enthalpy wells, such as 9-3 and 6-2, were required to be shut in during the major maintenance program. These wells took approximately 2-3 weeks to recover to their pre-Maintenance levels of production. Accordingly, the net reduction in power production due to the maintenance program in the third quarter was approximately 6 MWs (net) as opposed to 4 MWs (net). Production to date in the fourth quarter is inline with expectations and at similar levels to production delivered in the second quarter of this year.

Consolidated production in Peru for the three months ended September 30, 2022, was lower due to lower water availability at 8 de Agosto, El Carmen and Canchayllo facilities. Water levels are usually expected to be lower in the third quarter as this is the dry season in Peru, however this year was below prior years and below estimated levels. In addition, we executed a planned major maintenance program at 8 de Agosto during the quarter, which was not performed in the same period of 2021.

For Dominican Republic, the Canoa 1 facility produced 14,262 MWh in the three months ended September 30, 2022. This is in line with historical results and our expectations.

For Ecuador, third quarter 2022 production of 2,449 MWh represents only one month of production contributed by HSJM. Overall, and similar to Peru, production in Ecuador is driven by the dry and wet season, with the dry season generally running from June to November and wet season from December to May.

"We are pleased with the third quarter results as we generated strong free cash flow and consolidated recent acquisitions in the numbers. In addition, sales of carbon credits offset expected seasonal weakness in the quarter due to maintenance in Nicaragua and the dry season in Peru. We are also very happy with the fact that the Binary unit and the solar projects in Panama are on schedule and close to achieving commercial operation." noted Marc Murnaghan, Chief Executive Officer of Polaris Renewable Energy.

About Polaris Renewable Energy Inc.

Polaris Renewable Energy Inc. (formerly, Polaris Infrastructure Inc.) is a Canadian publicly traded company engaged in the acquisition, development, and operation of renewable energy projects in the Americas. We are a high-performing and financially sound contributor in the energy transition.

The Company's operations are in 5 Latin American countries and include a geothermal plant (~72 MW), 4 run-of-river hydroelectric plants (39 MW), 1 solar (photovoltaic) project in operation (25 MWac) and 2 solar projects with an expected total capacity of approximately 10 MWac, currently under construction.

For more information, contact :

Investor Relations
Polaris Renewable Energy Inc.
Phone: +1 647-245-7199Email:
[email protected]

Cautionary Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, which may include, but is not limited to, financial and other projections as well as statements with respect to future events or future performance, management's expectations regarding the Company's growth, results of operations, business prospects and opportunities, construction plans in Panama, production in the fourth quarter in Nicaragua and synergies of the acquisitions discussed above, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, statements relating to estimates of recoverable energy "resources" or energy generation capacities are forward-looking information, as they involve implied assessment, based on certain estimates and assumptions, that electricity can be profitably generated from the described resources in the future. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "estimates", "goals", "intends", "targets", "aims", "likely", "typically", "potential", "probable", "projects", "continue", "strategy", "proposed", or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.

A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others: failure to discover and establish economically recoverable and sustainable resources through exploration and development programs; imprecise estimation of probability simulations prepared to predict prospective resources or energy generation capacities; inability to complete hydro projects in the required time to meet COD; variations in project parameters and production rates; defects and adverse claims in the title to the Company's properties; failure to obtain or maintain necessary licenses, permits and approvals from government authorities; the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange and interest rates; changes in government regulations and policies, including laws governing development, production, taxes, labour standards and occupational health, safety, toxic substances, resource exploitation and other matters; availability of government initiatives to support renewable energy generation; increase in industry competition; fluctuations in the market price of energy; impact of significant capital cost increases; the ability to file adjustments in respect of applicable power purchase agreements; unexpected or challenging geological conditions; changes to regulatory requirements, both regionally and internationally, governing development, geothermal or hydroelectric resources, production, exports, taxes, labour standards, occupational health, waste disposal, toxic substances, land use, environmental protection, project safety and other matters; economic, social and political risks arising from potential inability of end-users to support the Company's properties; insufficient insurance coverage; inability to obtain equity or debt financing; fluctuations in the market price of Shares; inability to retain key personnel; the risk of volatility in global financial conditions, as well as a significant decline in general economic conditions; uncertainty of political stability in countries in which the Company operates; uncertainty of the ability of Nicaragua, Peru, Panama, Ecuador and Dominican Republic to sell power to neighbouring countries; economic insecurity in Nicaragua, Peru, Panama, Ecuador and Dominican Republic; and other development and operating risks, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's annual and interim MD&A, copies of which are available on SEDAR. There may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the risk factors that could affect us. These factors should be carefully considered, and readers of this press release should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking information contained herein is provided as at the date hereof and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

Additional information about the Company, including the Company's AIF for the year ended December 31, 2021, its annual and interim financial statements and related MD&A is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.PolarisREI.com.

Non-GAAP Performance Measures

Certain measures in this press release do not have any standardized meaning as prescribed by IFRS and, therefore, are not considered GAAP measures. Where non-GAAP measures or terms are used, definitions are provided. In this document and in the Company's consolidated financial statements, unless otherwise noted, all financial data is prepared in accordance with IFRS.

This news release includes references to the Company's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("adjusted EBITDA") and adjusted EBITDA per share, which are non-GAAP measures. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to net earnings (loss) attributable to the owners of the Company or other measures of financial performance calculated in accordance with IFRS. Rather, these measures are provided to complement IFRS measures in the analysis of Polaris Renewable Energy's results since the Company believes that the presentation of these measures will enhance an investor's understanding of Polaris Renewable Energy's operating performance. Management's determination of the components of non-GAAP performance measures are evaluated on a periodic basis in accordance with its policy and are influenced by new transactions and circumstances, a review of stakeholder uses and new applicable regulations. When applicable, changes to the measures are noted and retrospectively applied.

Descriptions and reconciliations of the above noted non-GAAP performance measures are included in Section 11: Non-GAAP Performance Measures in the Company's MD&A for the three months ended September 30, 2022 and in the Company's website www.polarisREI.com/Non-GAAP .

SOURCE: Polaris Renewable Energy Inc.