Clean Energy Reports Revenue of $106.9 Million and 57.0 Million RNG Gallons Sold for the Fourth Quarter of 2023

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ: CLNE) (“Clean Energy” or the “Company”) today announced its operating results for the fourth quarter of 2023 and year ended December 31, 2023.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue of $106.9 million in Q4 2023 compared to $113.8 million in Q4 2022.
• Revenue of $425.2 million for the year 2023, compared to $420.2 million for 2022.
• Net loss attributable to Clean Energy for Q4 2023 was $(18.7) million, or $(0.08) per share, on a GAAP (as defined below) basis, compared to $(12.3) million, or $(0.06) per share, for Q4 2022.
• Net loss attributable to Clean Energy for the year 2023 was $(99.5) million, or $(0.45) per share, on a GAAP (as defined below) basis, compared to $(58.7) million, or $(0.26) per share, for 2022.
• Adjusted EBITDA (as defined below) was $21.2 million for Q4 2023, compared to $12.2 million for Q4 2022.
• Adjusted EBITDA (as defined below) was $43.6 million for the year 2023, compared to $49.1 million for 2022.
• Cash, Cash Equivalents (less restricted cash) and Short-Term Investments totaled $263.1 million as of December 31, 2023.
• 2024 outlook:
  • GAAP net loss of approximately $(111) million to $(101) million.
  • Adjusted EBITDA of $62 million to $72 million.

Operational and Strategic Highlights

• Renewable natural gas (“RNG”) gallons sold of 57.0 million gallons in Q4 2023, a 4.8% increase compared to Q4 2022. RNG gallons sold for the year 2023 were 225.7 versus 198.2 in 2022, a 13.9% increase.
• Completed construction on two dairy farm RNG digester projects totaling $72 million in construction costs and 11,500 dairy cows.
• Obtained a $300 million senior secured term loan with a two-year delayed draw loan commitment for an additional $100 million.

Commentary by Andrew J. Littlefair, President and Chief Executive Officer

“We have fully moved into the operational stage at multiple RNG production projects around the country with one already generating state and federal environmental credits. The important process of capturing what would have been harmful methane from dairy cow manure and turning it into a transportation fuel, is being recognized as an important component in the overall transition to a clean energy world. Our engineering and construction, RNG digester, and sustainability teams have already become best-in-class and will be a valuable competitive advantage as we expand our production footprint and provide our growing fueling infrastructure with the lowest carbon-intensity RNG. We also ended the year with a balance sheet that has never been stronger by upsizing our credit availability, which allows us to expand our RNG production portfolio and add to our fueling station network as 2024 becomes a critical year with the commercial introduction of the Cummins X15N engine. We couldn’t have a better financial partner in Stonepeak, which issued the credit facility as we continue to follow our plan of maintaining our leadership position in the clean fuel space.”

Summary and Review of Results

The Company’s revenue for the fourth quarter of 2023 was reduced by $16.1 million of non-cash stock-based sales incentive contra-revenue charges (“Amazon warrant charges”) related to the warrant issued to Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC (the “Amazon warrant”), compared to Amazon warrant charges of $8.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. Q4 2023 includes $5.9 million of alternative fuel excise tax credit (“AFTC”) revenue versus $5.5 million of AFTC in the fourth quarter of 2022. Q4 2023 station construction revenues of $8.9 million versus $6.6 million of station construction revenues in Q4 2022. Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2023 also included an unrealized gain of $0.1 million on commodity swap and customer fueling contracts relating to the Company’s Zero Now truck financing program, compared to an unrealized gain of $2.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. Q4 2023 renewable identification number (“RIN”) and low carbon fuel standards (“LCFS”) revenues of $11.5 million versus $10.2 million of RIN and LCFS revenues in the fourth quarter of 2022 reflecting principally higher RIN credit prices and an increase in gallons of fuel sold, partially offset by lower LCFS credit prices and lower share of RIN and LCFS values in the fourth quarter of 2023 versus 2022. Natural gas costs were lower in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the fourth quarter of 2022 resulting in lower sales prices, which are based off the costs of natural gas. Effects of lower sales prices in Q4 2023 were offset by an increase in gallons of fuel and services sold and serviced, respectively, in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.

Net loss attributable to Clean Energy for the fourth quarter of 2023 had higher Amazon warrant charges and lower unrealized gains on derivative instruments relating to the Company’s Zero Now truck financing program when compared to Q4 2022. In addition, Q4 2023 non-operating net interest expenses and losses from equity method investments were higher than Q4 2022 due to our sustainability-linked term loan under the Riverstone credit agreement and extinguishment of such term loan pursuant to the Riverstone credit agreement and expansion of RNG investment, respectively. Selling, general and administrative expenses were lower in Q4 2023 by approximately $2.9 million from the receipt of insurance recovery funds related to our Texas LNG plant that has been down for repairs throughout 2023, offset partially by increased scoping costs for fueling stations.

Non-GAAP income (loss) per share (as defined below) for the fourth quarter of 2023 was $0.01, compared to $0.01 per share for the fourth quarter of 2022.

Adjusted EBITDA (as defined below) was $21.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to $12.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2022.

In this press release, Clean Energy refers to various GAAP (U.S. generally accepted accounting principles) and non-GAAP financial measures. The non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures being used and disclosed by other companies. Clean Energy believes that this non-GAAP information is useful to an understanding of its operating results and the ongoing performance of its business. Non-GAAP income (loss) per share and Adjusted EBITDA are defined below and reconciled to GAAP net income (loss) per share attributable to Clean Energy and GAAP net income (loss) attributable to Clean Energy, respectively.

The table below shows GAAP and non-GAAP income (loss) attributable to Clean Energy per share and also reconciles GAAP net income (loss) attributable to Clean Energy to the non-GAAP net income (loss) attributable to Clean Energy figure used in the calculation of non-GAAP income (loss) per share:

The table below shows Adjusted EBITDA and also reconciles this figure to GAAP net loss attributable to Clean Energy:

The tables below present a further breakdown of the above consolidated Adjusted EBITDA:

Fuel and Service Volume

The following tables present, for the three months and year ended December 31, 2022 and 2023, (1) the amount of total fuel volume the Company sold to customers with particular focus on RNG volume as a subset of total fuel volume and (2) operation and maintenance (“O&M”) services volume dispensed at facilities the Company does not own but at which it provides O&M services on a per-gallon or fixed fee basis. Certain gallons are included in both fuel and service volumes when the Company sells fuel (product revenue) to a customer and provides maintenance services (service revenue) to the same customer.

Sources of Revenue

The following table shows the Company’s sources of revenue for the three months and year ended December 31, 2022 and 2023:

2024 Outlook

GAAP net loss for 2024 is expected to range from approximately $(111) million to $(101) million, assuming no unrealized gains or losses on commodity swap and customer contracts relating to the Company’s Zero Now truck financing program and including Amazon warrant charges estimated to be approximately $69 million. Changes in diesel and natural gas market conditions resulting in unrealized gains or losses on the Company’s commodity swap and customer fueling contracts relating to the Company’s Zero Now truck financing program, and significant variations in the vesting of the Amazon warrant could significantly affect the Company’s estimated GAAP net loss for 2024. Adjusted EBITDA for 2024 is estimated to range from approximately $62 million to $72 million. These expectations exclude the impact of any acquisitions, divestitures, new joint ventures, transactions and other extraordinary events; any lingering negative effects associated directly or indirectly with the COVID-19 pandemic; and macroeconomic conditions and global supply chain issues. Additionally, the expectations regarding 2024 Adjusted EBITDA assumes the calculation of this non-GAAP financial measure in the same manner as described above and adding back the estimated Amazon warrant charges described above and without adjustments for any other items that may arise during 2024 that management deems appropriate to exclude. These expectations are forward-looking statements and are qualified by the statement under “Safe Harbor Statement” below.

The tables below present a further breakdown of the above consolidated Adjusted EBITDA:

Today’s Conference Call

The Company will host an investor conference call today at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time (1:30 p.m. Pacific). Investors interested in participating in the live call can dial 1.888.886.7786 from the U.S. and international callers can dial 1.416.764.8658. A telephone replay will be available approximately three hours after the call concludes through Wednesday, March 27, 2024, by dialing 1.844.512.2921 from the U.S., or 1.412.317.6671 from international locations, and entering Replay Pin Number 47982980. There also will be a simultaneous, live webcast available on the Investor Relations section of the Company’s web site at www.cleanenergyfuels.com, which will be available for replay for 30 days.

About Clean Energy Fuels Corp.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. is the country’s largest provider of the cleanest fuel for the transportation market. Our mission is to decarbonize transportation through the development and delivery of renewable natural gas (“RNG”), a sustainable fuel derived from organic waste. Clean Energy allows thousands of vehicles, from airport shuttles to city buses to waste and heavy-duty trucks, to reduce their amount of climate-harming greenhouse gas. We operate a vast network of fueling stations across the U.S. and Canada. Visit www.cleanenergyfuels.com and follow @ce_renewables on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement the Company’s unaudited consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with GAAP, the Company uses non-GAAP financial measures that it calls non-GAAP income (loss) per share (“non-GAAP income (loss) per share”) and adjusted EBITDA (“Adjusted EBITDA”). Management presents non-GAAP income (loss) per share and Adjusted EBITDA because it believes these measures provide meaningful supplemental information about the Company’s performance for the following reasons: (1) they allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management to assess the Company’s operating performance and make financial and operational decisions; (2) they exclude the effect of items that management believes are not directly attributable to the Company’s core operating performance and may obscure trends in the business; and (3) they are used by institutional investors and the analyst community to help analyze the Company’s business. In future quarters, the Company may adjust for other expenditures, charges or gains to present non-GAAP financial measures that the Company’s management believes are indicative of the Company’s core operating performance.

Non-GAAP financial measures are limited as an analytical tool and should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, the Company’s GAAP results. The Company expects to continue reporting non-GAAP financial measures, adjusting for the items described below (and/or other items that may arise in the future as the Company’s management deems appropriate), and the Company expects to continue to incur expenses, charges or gains like the non-GAAP adjustments described below. Accordingly, unless expressly stated otherwise, the exclusion of these and other similar items in the presentation of non-GAAP financial measures should not be construed as an inference that these costs are unusual, infrequent, or non-recurring. Non-GAAP income (loss) per share and Adjusted EBITDA are not recognized terms under GAAP and do not purport to be an alternative to GAAP income (loss), GAAP income (loss) per share or any other GAAP measure as an indicator of operating performance. Moreover, because not all companies use identical measures and calculations, the Company’s presentation of non-GAAP income (loss) per share and Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures used by other companies.

Non-GAAP Income (Loss) Per Share

Non-GAAP income (loss) per share, which the Company presents as a non-GAAP measure of its performance, is defined as net income (loss) attributable to Clean Energy Fuels Corp., plus Amazon warrant charges, plus stock-based compensation expense, plus accelerated depreciation expense relating to the removal of fueling station equipment located on certain Pilot premises, plus (minus) loss (income) from the SAFE&CEC S.r.l. equity method investment, and plus (minus) any loss (gain) from changes in the fair value of derivative instruments, the total of which is divided by the Company’s weighted-average common shares outstanding on a diluted basis. The Company’s management believes excluding non-cash expenses related to the Amazon warrant charges provides useful information to investors regarding the Company’s performance because the Amazon warrant charges are measured based upon a fair value determined using a variety of assumptions and estimates, and the Amazon warrant charges do not affect the Company’s operating cash flows related to the delivery and sale of vehicle fuel to its customer. The Company’s management believes excluding non-cash expenses related to stock-based compensation provides useful information to investors regarding the Company’s performance because of the varying available valuation methodologies, the volatility of the expense (which depends on market forces outside of management’s control), the subjectivity of the assumptions and the variety of award types that a company can use, which may obscure trends in a company’s core operating performance. The Company’s management believes excluding non-cash accelerated depreciation expense relating to the removal of fueling station equipment located on certain Pilot premises is helpful to investors because the expense is not part of or representative of the on-going operations of the Company and may reduce comparability or obscure trends in the Company’s operating performance. Similarly, the Company believes excluding the non-cash results from the SAFE&CEC S.r.l. equity method investment is useful to investors because these charges are not part of or representative of the core operations of the Company. In addition, the Company’s management believes excluding the non-cash loss (gain) from changes in the fair value of derivative instruments is useful to investors because the valuation of the derivative instruments is based on a number of subjective assumptions, the amount of the loss or gain is derived from market forces outside of management’s control, and the exclusion of these amounts enables investors to compare the Company’s performance with other companies that do not use, or use different forms of, derivative instruments.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA, which the Company presents as a non-GAAP measure of its performance, is defined as net income (loss) attributable to Clean Energy Fuels Corp., plus (minus) income tax expense (benefit), plus interest expense (including any losses from the extinguishment of debt), minus interest income, plus depreciation and amortization expense, plus Amazon warrant charges, plus stock-based compensation expense, plus (minus) loss (income) from the SAFE&CEC S.r.l. equity method investment, plus (minus) any loss (gain) from changes in the fair value of derivative instruments, plus depreciation and amortization expense from RNG equity method investments, plus interest expense from RNG equity method investments, and minus interest income from RNG equity method investments. The Company’s management believes Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors regarding the Company’s performance for the same reasons discussed above with respect to non-GAAP income (loss) per share. In addition, management internally uses Adjusted EBITDA to determine elements of executive and employee compensation.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements about, among other things, our fiscal 2024 outlook, our volume growth, customer expansion, production sources, joint ventures, governmental regulations, and the benefits of our fuels.

Forward-looking statements are statements other than historical facts and relate to future events or circumstances or the Company’s future performance, and are based on the Company’s current assumptions, expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effect on the Company and its business. As a result, actual results, performance or achievements and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in or implied by these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors including, among others: the direct and indirect impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the willingness of fleets and other consumers to adopt natural gas as a vehicle fuel, and the rate and level of any such adoption; the Company’s ability to capture a substantial share of the market for alternative vehicle fuels and vehicle fuels generally and to compete successfully in these markets; the potential adoption of government policies or programs or increased publicity or popular sentiment in favor of other vehicle fuels; the market’s perception of the benefits of RNG and conventional natural gas relative to other alternative vehicle fuels; natural gas vehicle and engine cost, fuel usage, availability, quality, safety, convenience, design, performance and residual value, as well as operator perception with respect to these factors, in general and in the Company’s key customer markets, including heavy-duty trucking; the Company’s ability to further develop and manage its RNG business, including its ability to procure adequate supplies of RNG and generate revenues from sales of such RNG; the Company and its suppliers’ ability to successfully develop and operate projects and produce expected volumes of RNG; the potential commercial viability of livestock waste and dairy farm projects to produce RNG; the Company’s history of net losses and the possibility that the Company could incur additional net losses in the future; the Company’s and its partners’ ability to acquire, finance, construct and develop other commercial projects; the Company’s ability to invest in hydrogen stations or modify its fueling stations to reform its RNG to fuel hydrogen and charge electric vehicles; the Company’s ability to realize the expected benefits from the commercial arrangement with Amazon and related transactions; the future supply, demand, use and prices of crude oil, gasoline, diesel, natural gas, and other vehicle fuels, including overall levels of and volatility in these factors; changes in the competitive environment in which we operate, including potentially increasing competition in the market for vehicle fuels generally; the Company’s ability to manage and increase its business of transporting and selling CNG for non-vehicle purposes via virtual natural gas pipelines and interconnects, as well as its station design and construction activities; construction, permitting and other factors that could cause delays or other problems at station construction projects; the Company’s ability to execute and realize the intended benefits of any acquisitions, divestitures, investments or other strategic relationships or transactions; the future availability of and the Company’s access to additional capital, which may include debt or equity financing, in the amounts and at the times needed to fund growth in the Company’s business and the repayment of its debt obligations (whether at or before their due dates) or other expenditures, as well as the terms and other effects of any such capital raising transaction; the Company’s ability to generate sufficient cash flows to repay its debt obligations as they come due; the availability of environmental, tax and other government legislation, regulations, programs and incentives that promote natural gas, such as AFTC, or other alternatives as a vehicle fuel, including long-standing support for gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles and growing support for electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles that could result in programs or incentives that favor these or other vehicles or vehicle fuels over natural gas; the Company’s ability to comply with various registration and regulatory requirements related to its RNG projects; the effect of, or potential for changes to greenhouse gas emissions requirements or other environmental regulations applicable to vehicles powered by gasoline, diesel, natural gas or other vehicle fuels and crude oil and natural gas fueling, drilling, production, transportation or use; the Company’s ability to manage the safety and environmental risks inherent in its operations; the Company’s compliance with all applicable government regulations; the impact of the foregoing on the trading price of the Company’s common stock; and general political, regulatory, economic and market conditions.

The forward-looking statements made in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as otherwise required by law. The Company’s periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov), including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 that the Company expects to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission on or about February 27, 2024, contain additional information about these and other risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, and such risk factors may be amended, supplemented or superseded from time to time by other reports the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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