Sustainable Green Team Ltd. (OTCQX: SGTM)
Investment Considerations
- The SGTM team boasts more than 40 years of next-level experience with mulch manufacturing, colorant production, product innovation and treating/caring for trees and tree debris recycling.
- The company’s services include tree removal, trimming, grapple hauling, land clearing, stump grinding, mulch processing/production/bagging, colorant production, cypress lumber production, transportation and distribution.
- Its acquisition of MMI provides the company a significantly larger footprint nationally and abroad.
- MMI maintains its historical contracts with big box retailers nationally for bagged mulch sales.
- The company benefits from a competitive advantage over other mulch manufacturers, because the acquisition of mulch feedstock drives revenue instead of simply being a cost of goods sold.
- SGTM is an environmentally responsible corporation focused on being “stewards of the environment” in all aspects of its business; the source of its sustainable feedstock coming from its tree services division decreases the environmental burden on landfills.
- The company has ample room for expansion utilizing the 100-acre site in Florida approved as the flagship tree debris collection site and mulch feedstock production facility, as well as the 100,000-square-foot building and 28-acre site in Jacksonville.
- SGTM was a recipient of the Angie’s List Super Service Award in 2018.
- A strategic relationship with a national waste disposal company has provided the company millions of dollars in cost savings and years of time that would otherwise have been incurred if the company had needed to secure the required locations and permits that the partnership provided; this relationship represents a significant potential expansion opportunity for the company.
- SGTM’s indirect subsidiary through MMI, Nature’s Reflections, manufactures its own product line of colorant and mulch coloring machines.
Sustainable Green Team Ltd. (OTCQX: SGTM) is currently incorporated and in good standing in the State of Delaware. The company conducts business activities principally through its two wholly owned subsidiaries, National Storm Recovery LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and Mulch Manufacturing Inc., an Ohio corporation.
Through its subsidiaries, the company provides tree services, debris hauling, removal and biomass recycling, mulch manufacturing, mulch packaging, sales of next-generation mulch products and sawmill operations manufacturing specialty cypress lumber.
The company’s primary corporate objective is to provide a solution for the treatment and handling of tree debris that has been historically sent to local landfills and disposal sites, creating an environmental burden and pressure on disposal sites around the nation, by converting the biomass into a marketable beneficial use product.
The company’s solutions are founded in sustainability, based on vertical integration efforts that begin with collecting tree debris through its tree services division and collection sites and then, through its processing division, recycling and using that tree debris as a feedstock that is manufactured into a variety of organic, attractive, next-generation mulch products that are packaged and sold to landscapers, installers and garden centers.
The company plans to expand its operations through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions that are both accretive to earnings and positioned for rapid growth from the resulting synergistic opportunities identified. The company’s customers include governmental, residential and commercial clients.
Company Products and Services
Tree Care, Removal and Services
National Storm Recovery LLC (“NSR LLC”), d.b.a. Central Florida Arborcare (“CFA”), was initially founded to provide tree maintenance, disaster recovery, debris hauling, removal and disposal services. Each of these services is provided to residential, commercial and governmental customers and was structured to drive revenue for the company. Examples include:
- A multi-year contract with the Town of Oakland, Florida (an area known for its large old oak trees), for emergency debris hauling and tree removal and
- A multi-year contract with the Orange County, Florida, School District (covering 267 properties that include schools, administrative sites and maintenance facilities) for tree removal, trimming and maintenance services.
In each case, these contracts are renewable following their initial multi-year terms, with aggregate terms of five years.
NSR LLC has spent years perfecting its technique for proper tree care, removal and services. From tree removal, stump grinding and tree care to grapple hauling and storm recovery, NSR LLC/CFA ensures properties remain safe and business can continue as usual.
NSR LLC/CFA was established as a company to provide tree maintenance, disaster recovery, debris hauling (Rose Transport), removal and disposal services – services that provide it with access to a large amount of wood or tree debris.
Thought of from a different perspective, the company has access to a large amount of “feedstock” that is required to manufacture wood-based mulch products. However, unlike traditional wood-based mulch manufacturers who purchase ALL their feedstock, the company is paid to cut it, paid to haul it and paid to dispose of large volumes of clean wood debris. Its cost, in that limited equation, was its own disposal cost. However, by processing the tree material into mulch and selling it, the company:
- Eliminates its disposal costs;
- Receives the feedstock it would need as a mulch manufacturer at a much lower net cost;
- Does not have to police its suppliers to ensure responsible tree harvesting, because the trees and material the company handles are either from trees and branches downed in storms or cut as part of the care and maintenance of the trees for which it is paid to care; and
- Has a “cost structure” for its feedstock that is even better than a competitor that secures feedstock using unscrupulous or irresponsible harvesting methods and/or sources.
So, by grinding, screening and packaging the tree material that it is already receiving (and is paid to receive), the company is able to leverage its existing activities, create additional value and position itself to substantially increase its overall revenue and earnings prospects – all while decreasing the burden that this material would otherwise place on local landfills or collection sites.
Mulch
In February 2020, SGTM acquired 35-year-old industry leader and innovator Mulch Manufacturing Inc. (“MMI”). Structured as a share exchange, this strategic partnership provides the company with a significantly larger footprint in the mulch industry.
MMI will strive to become more vertically integrated by receiving a substantial volume of wood fiber recovered from CFA’s operations and its Rose Transport Grapple fleet to feed the growing raw material needs to augment its long-standing fiber procurement process. MMI has the product line and distribution system to address a substantial customer base, which can be expanded. MMI offers many mulch variants, including cypress, cypress bark, pine bark, IPEMA certified playground chips, numerous colored mulches and its proprietary patented ‘SoftScape’.
The acquisition includes MMI’s national distribution agreements, an increase in production and packaging capacity and its sales contracts with numerous big box retailers. MMI includes mulch production, sawmill operation, Nature’s Reflections colorant manufacturing and equipment manufacturing.
Next-Generation Products
The company’s vision and commitment to the environment is paired with MMI’s revolutionary “next-generation” mulch product, Nature’s Reflections Softscape®.
Softscape mulch products, created from natural forest products, are color-enhanced with environmentally safe colorants to provide four-year color retention and are free from contaminants. Safe for people and pets, Softscape allows water and air to penetrate soil and roots, which is vital to plant health.
Cypress Sawmill
Mulch Manufacturing’s Homerville Sawmill Operation is located in Homerville, Georgia. The mill was founded in 1981.
The mill currently operates as the nation’s only mill to exclusively saw cypress and has capacity to saw 6.5 million board feet annually. The mill has a drying capacity of 3.1 million board feet annually, as well as milling capabilities, and it produces in excess of 2,500 trucks of mulch products annually.
The mill is sourced through a network of timber companies, timber dealers and private landowners. Mulch Manufacturing ensures that best management practices are employed when harvesting cypress logs to ensure the sustainability of the product.
Room for Expansion
The company has received final zoning approval for its 100-acre site, located in Lake County, Astatula, Florida, which will serve as the company’s flagship tree debris collection site. The facility will also house the company’s mulch manufacturing, soil composting and production bagging. This prime location includes a 5,000-square-foot building that contains warehouse and office space. The 100-acre property can accommodate millions of cubic yards of organic debris and will allow the company’s debris hauling division to realize significant savings on its transportation costs.
The company has chosen as its new headquarters the Mulch Manufacturing facility in Jacksonville, Florida, comprising a 100,000-square-foot warehouse/truck terminal. It is located on 26 acres for centralized operations of MMI and NSR LLC, and it has ample room to expand as needed. The facility recently began new operations to provide grapple truck services, wood/biomass recycling and operation of a new mulch production/bagging facility in the Jacksonville area.
Leadership
SGTM’s leadership team boasts more than 40 years of next-level experience with mulch manufacturing and treating and caring for trees. This team is guided by a roster of highly qualified professionals:
- Tony Raynor, Chief Executive Officer
- Brian Meier, Chief Operating Officer
- Scott Siefker, Chief Financial Officer