CitroTech Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

CitroTech (AMEX:CITR) reported third-quarter financial results on Wednesday. The transcript from the company’s third-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

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Summary

CitroTech’s Q3 2026 revenue increased by 130% year over year to $264,000, despite some delays in purchase orders. The company cut its operating losses nearly in half to $2.3 million compared to $4.2 million in the previous year.

A recent public offering raised $5.6 million in gross proceeds, strengthening the balance sheet.

CitroTech expanded its Certified Partner Network from 13 partners to 31, with plans to train more partners in December.

Operational achievements include successful field tests and expansion in wildfire-prone areas, gaining significant industry interest.

Time Magazine recognized CitroTech as one of its Best Inventions of 2026, highlighting its disruptive potential.

The Hexatec joint venture with Hexion achieved milestones in fire-retardant-treated lumber, expanding the addressable market.

The company is focused on U.S. market expansion but is considering international opportunities as fire seasons vary globally.

CitroTech aims to convert its growing pipeline into high-margin, recurring revenue, entering 2027 with a strong operational position.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Greetings and welcome to CitroTech Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. All lines are in a listen-only mode. Later we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If you should require operator assistance at any time, press star zero. Today’s call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Brett Moss of Hayden IR. Please go ahead, sir.

Brett Moss (Investor Relations)

Thank you, operator. This call today is being hosted by Wes Bolsen, Chief Executive Officer, and any questions can be sent to citraydenir.com and they’ll be answered following this call. We appreciate the opportunity to review the third quarter results and recent business highlights. Before we get started, let me remind you that this call is being recorded and webcast. During this call, management may make forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Please refer to the cautionary text regarding forward-looking statements in the earnings release and shareholder letter issued today, Tuesday, November 10th, well, actually, it’s November 11th, which applies to the content of this call.

I’d like to now turn the call over to Wes Bolsen, CEO. Wes, please go ahead.

Wesley J. Bolsen (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you, Brad. Before I get started this morning, I want to recognize that today is Veterans Day. I want to thank everyone who has served and is currently serving in our military. Many who’ve served in the military continue their commitment to service after transitioning to civilian life by joining the fire service, protecting our homes, our families, and our communities. And I want to take this opportunity to extend my sincere thank you to all of our veterans as well as those who put their lives at risk every day to protect our communities from the threat of wildfire.

Your courage, dedication, and commitment to service do not go unnoticed. With that, I’ll now turn to my comments on CitroTech’s third quarter earnings call. CitroTech provides critical solutions that are becoming the industry standard for fire-retardant-treated wood, proactive fire prevention, and protection of infrastructure and assets from the threat of wildfire. And in the third quarter we focused on expanding our partner network and increasing sales, reducing costs, and working on projects alongside our partner Hexion to deliver the next generation of fire-retardant-treated wood and engineered wood products.

Let’s start with the financial performance and the cost discipline that’s been put in place by the great team that I get to work with every day at CitroTech. I’m proud to report that third quarter 2026 revenue increased 130% year over year to $264,000, up from 228 in the third quarter of 2025. We achieved this milestone despite a couple of significant purchase orders shifting by just a couple of weeks from the third quarter into the fourth quarter.

Just as important as our top-line momentum is how carefully we’re managing our cash and building operating leverage. In the third quarter of 2026, we cut our losses from operations nearly in half, down to 2.3 million compared to 4.2 million in Q3 of last year. In October, we took a major step forward, strengthening our balance sheet by closing an underwritten public offering that generated 5.6 million in gross proceeds. Notably, the offering was structured entirely with common stock with no warrants attached, which we view as a positive outcome given the challenging capital markets environment. Another notable highlight is that our own leadership stepped up alongside our shareholders. Our Board Chair and Director Craig Hoff, through BoltRock Holdings LLC, purchased $500,000 of common stock at the 2.50 offering price as publicly reported in his Section 16 filings with the SEC.

This additional capital gives us the runway we need to sign and execute commercial contracts, build inventory ahead of 2027 wildfire season, and keep pushing forward with the U.S. Forest Service towards achieving Qualified Products List, or QPL, status. What I’m most excited to talk about are the operational achievements that are starting to drive our commercial momentum. The Certified Partner Network that we’re building is becoming an engine of our scalable, repeatable revenue strategy, enabling trained operators to deploy CitroTech and Citrus Safe systems across the Western United States. After growing from 13 partners at the end of Q2 to over 20 in August, our network expanded to 31 trained and certified partners as of September 30, 2026.

We’re experiencing tremendous interest from leaders in the industry that want to switch from legacy retardants to a fire retardant that is safe not only for their customers and the environment, but also for their own employees. In response to this growing demand for CitroTech and our Citrus Safe systems, we will host our fifth certified partner training cohort on December 7th and 8th in Oceanside, California, where we plan to train an additional five to ten partners. Following the training, we’ll bring all of our great partners together with our entire team for a holiday celebration. We view our Certified Partners as an extension of our CitroTech family, not simply as vendors or distribution channels.

We believe that relationship-driven approach sets us apart and makes a difference in the way that we work together to grow the business. Our partners are stepping up on the front lines both in proactive prevention and in emergency asset protection. A great recent example of this is All Risk Shield during the North Day Fire in Orange County, California. That fire, which broke out on October 16, burned 570 acres and injured two firefighters. While the official cause remains under investigation, having our partners out there actively protecting assets in those moments demonstrates the real-world value of this network.

All Risk Shield is a great example of a leader in the industry moving to a product that we believe is among the safest and most effective products in the industry based on current testing data. Finally, it’s incredibly rewarding to see our innovation and our real-world impact gaining recognition on a national stage. Time Magazine recently named CitroTech one of its Best Inventions of 2026, providing meaningful validation of what we believe is the disruptive potential of our platform. Standing out as the first and only long-term fire retardant recognized by the EPA Safer Choice Program and tested to UL GREENGUARD Gold standards. America has been built on innovation and CitroTech is proud to emerge as a leader in the environmentally safe fire prevention and protection market.

We’re a platform for broader fire tech to circle around, whether that’s predictive capabilities of artificial intelligence, leading drone makers in the industry, or even equipment and service providers. As a public company, CitroTech is helping to unite leaders in our industry and to deliver the best solutions to our customers. As for expansion, turning to our municipal and regional expansion, the early success we’re seeing in San Diego is serving as a blueprint for broader adoption. San Diego has continued buying and deploying CitroTech throughout the second half of the year, especially in ecologically sensitive areas where heavy-metal-containing phosphate-based retardants simply aren’t an option. Building on that momentum, we took a huge step forward across Southern California in the third quarter.

In August, we hosted what I lovingly call the Big Burn Showcase. This was in Los Angeles County that brought together six county fire agencies, more than 30 fire chiefs, top decision makers from utilities, and at least five of our commercial partners. That live demonstration validated in real-world conditions what we believe the U.S. Forest Service testing has indicated. CitroTech has performed favorably in both safety and efficacy evaluations relative to other fire retardants that have been tested.

Since that showcase, we’ve seen growing interest in CitroTech among county fire chiefs. We believe that firsthand validation is going to accelerate our adoption heading into 2027, whether that’s for utilities, railroads, transportation agencies, or even counties using CitroTech to protect high-risk corridors, prevent ignitions around homeless encampments, or to contain prescribed burns. Leadership in both state and federal governments is starting to take notice of CitroTech’s role in advancing wildfire prevention and asset protection solutions.

When I turn to some of the technological developments, our field deployments in the third quarter also gave us some incredibly real-world use cases for how our technology protects critical infrastructure. For instance, during Q3 we treated wooden railroad bridges in East Los Angeles where fire ignitions had been a recurring problem in the past. Not long after treatment, arson-related fires were set near the bridges on two separate occasions. While surrounding structures sustained significant damage, the CitroTech-treated wooden railroad ties were left charred but unburned.

That was a significant real-world validation for us and a major proof point not only for that railroad but for the others in the industry as well. On top of that, we kicked off a milestone utility deployment in the Western United States where we sprayed a 50-foot radius around transmission lines and a 20-foot radius away from distribution lines. We believe the utility has been extremely pleased with both the application and the results, which really underscores the massive opportunity we see to help utilities prevent catastrophic ignitions from their assets and protect their utility infrastructure from incoming fire.

We expect to expand our operations with utilities in the 2027 fire season subject to customer demand and available resources. Turning to fire-retardant-treated lumber and engineered wood products. Our Hexatec joint venture with Hexion is moving along well and achieved a milestone in the third quarter. We first started testing at CitroTech. We were testing it on Douglas fir, a very common wood in the Western United States. But in Q3 Hexatec successfully passed outside burn testing across other major wood species like spruce, pine, fir, and southern yellow pine.

This represents a significant milestone for us because it creates an opportunity for Hexatec to start replacing traditional fire-retardant-treated lumber, which requires a pressure treatment process, while expanding our total addressable market in fire-treated building materials. On the insurance front, as property insurers reassess their exposure and coverage in fire-prone regions, we continue to advance conversations both at CitroTech as well as through our certified partners with some of the largest insurance carriers in the country. Based on our conversations, we believe many carriers are increasingly reluctant to have heavy-metal phosphate-based retardants sprayed around the homes of their insured clients. We also hear that some carriers have concerns about reliance on water-based sprinkler systems that depend on municipal and backup water infrastructure.

We believe insurers are increasingly interested in long-term fire retardant solutions for home defense systems. That shift puts our non-toxic treatments and Citrusafe defense systems in the driver’s seat to help solve residential insurability challenges and reduce risk for homeowners. In conclusion, looking ahead, we continue to significantly strengthen our position. When you combine the operational execution with our strengthened balance sheet and the real-world validation we’re seeing across utilities, municipalities, and wood product applications, we have tremendous confidence heading into 2027. We continue to accelerate the buildout of our partner network, proving the effectiveness of the technology across major wood species and critical infrastructure.

We believe we’ve secured sufficient capital to reach several significant upcoming milestones in our current operating plan. Simply put, we’re entering 2027 with a strong operational position and we’re focused on working to convert a growing pipeline into what we believe can become high-margin, repeatable, recurring revenue for our shareholders. Thank you again for joining us this morning and for your continued support. I’ll now turn the call back over to Brett Moss of Hayden IR to walk through the questions debated by investors as well as potentially a couple of others. Brett, back to you.

Brett Moss (Investor Relations)

Thank you, Wes. Operator, you can go ahead and take our analyst from Northland, please.

OPERATOR

Thank you. We’ll hear from Robert Brooks with Northland. Please go ahead.

Robert Brooks (Analyst)

Hey, good morning, team, and thank you for taking the question. Wanted to ask on the Certified Partner Network. Obviously that seems like a really big piece of the story going forward of driving adoption, right? And so was curious to hear kind of what are the right qual you want in your certified out of a business trying to join the Certified Partner Network. Have you turned down certain applicants because they weren’t the right fit? And then lastly, have you given thought to what the right level of partners will be?

I’m guessing it’s still multiples above the current 31, but is it more like something in hundreds, or like thousand plus?

Wesley J. Bolsen (Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah. Thanks, Bobby. Appreciate the question. And we are very proud of our growing Certified Partner Network, and that’s why we are turning down people, to answer that question kind of in the middle, because we want the best partners, we want the trained partners. It’s not they’re going to some training that somebody’s making money off of it to try to teach them something. It’s coming in and we’re actually giving them the chemistry, the details behind it.

We’re giving them the capabilities, Bobby, to go out and actually are kind of like our frontline sales force. They’re going out and doing the things that need to be done to homes as well. Sometimes that’s home hardening or helping homeowners with defensible space. And I mentioned, you know, a couple times, we’re proud. I mean there’s 31, but I mentioned All Risk Shield and there’s some others in that that are just doing a great job going out. And these are everywhere from the high-end insurance companies, the multimillion-dollar homes, down to mom and pop. Everybody’s home matters to them. And so what I see is some of those partners, Bobby, are going to actually expand out, build out almost their own franchise and say, hey, our company is going to serve across multiple states and multiple geographies.

We’re already seeing that. So I actually don’t see it in the thousands. You know, maybe 100 or something at some point. But, you know, just because this is personal, this is local, these are partners who believe that CitroTech is the answer and they’re coming to us. That’s why it’s an application process. I mean, from our website you have to apply to get into the Certified Partner Network program, and that’s why we’ve had to cut off in Cohort 4. We had to tell people, I’m sorry, it’s full, because we want to give dedicated time to those certified partners.

So, you know, you can hear me passionately talking about these are our partners. We’re going to celebrate our holiday Christmas with them because these are our friends that we’re building out in the industry. We’re going to welcome in people who have capabilities—people, trucks, equipment—already going out to the homes, know the communities, that already are doing maybe some home hardening, vent screens, and doing other things on the home. Adding CitroTech onto their business makes so much sense because it’s, you know, it’s going to be much better than a water-based sprinkler system or people out trying to do those kind of water-based defense systems. A long-term fire charge is where the industry is moving and those partners want the best product to be going out. I hope I answered all the questions there, Bobby. If not, please feel free to add on to that.

Robert Brooks (Analyst)

Yeah, no, absolutely. You hit them all. Appreciate that. And then, you know, this bridge—the East Los Angeles bridges—that sounds like a really profound, you know, find, like real, real-world test, right? A real-world result is probably a better way to say it. And from my perspective, you know, just being from my perspective it’s hard to see why the railroad immediately place like a bigger order. But I’m sure I’m just not thinking of all the nuances the large company needs to clear for like a new innovative product.

So I was just hoping to get a sense of your view of when these companies, or when these larger companies, are seeing these incredible results, what are the factors holding them back from placing a larger order and, like, covering all their bridges across America with CitroTech?

Wesley J. Bolsen (Chief Executive Officer)

Man, I love your question because you’re actually completely right, and you’re even right that sometimes the wheel—getting the wheel in motion—we all know takes a lot more effort, and that was a monumental real-world application. And like I said, it’s not just—and I haven’t named, and I probably won’t name the carrier—but there’s only a small number of powerful rail carriers and they talk to each other, they work with one another on fire prevention, bridge and asset protection.

I mean these guys talk to each other and they’re all going, hey, you got to use CitroTech. So then what’s the problem putting the wheel in motion? Honestly, SAP and getting in the supplier network and getting the paperwork. I mean as an entrepreneur, paperwork frustrates me. I want to move, I want to go, I want to start protecting. So they did. In fact, some of the sales that you saw in Q3 were from that. Some of the sales that I hope and anticipate in Q4. What I can say is, Bobby, is California and some of the other states, maybe fire season will start to slow down—we call it the shoulder season. We actually are seeing some other fires and fire risk picking up in, say, something like Texas. You know, we are seeing some concern and some real concern. You look at El Niño patterns.

So we may be able to do some additional work with some partners, some institutional enterprise customers, before the end of the year based on some of the results that we’re seeing. So you’re not wrong. It’s just getting the wheel in motion. That is. But that means really good things for us in 2027. That’s the forward-looking statement. But I’m hoping it was really, really good for momentum moving into 27.

Robert Brooks (Analyst)

Got it. That’s super helpful. And then it feels like over the last year your team has really leaned into testing and collecting data to really prove out and have, you know, data-driven answers to prove the effectiveness of the solution. Is that a fair statement? And then secondly, maybe just expand on what has been some of the best data you’ve compiled over the last year that really helps elevate or ramp up potential customer discussions.

Wesley J. Bolsen (Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah, I’ll put that in two categories. One is kind of our wildland fire side and two is through our joint venture with Hexion. So I’ll start with the Hexion side. It’s an amazing organization. I mean, couldn’t have a better partner that comes into their long-term customers—the leading engineered wood product companies. I mean there’s nobody better in the industry than Hexion to do this. But they’re going to come in and they’re going to lead with science, they’re going to lead with the facts of what CitroTech is doing, how it’s working, the burn test, the large-scale test, the different wood, the pieces.

This is what is, again, laying that foundation for an amazing long-term joint venture that is our science plus their strength plus built with, you know, more scientists and R&D and engineering and new technology and the things that are going into that. So always lead with facts and data. When you can have the best technology in the industry, you know you want to bring the science with it. So you are correct that maybe, you know, people wish it moved faster, but if you move a little slower at the beginning it leads to faster in the long term by real adoption by the end customers.

Flipping to the wildland fire side, you know, when you think about out in the field, that big burn—the thing we did—that it wasn’t just one fire chief or one little burn. We’re talking 15-foot flames, thousand degrees burning through an area with a head fire, backfire, trying to light fire in the middle of it. One of the fire chiefs joked that if I can’t light fire where CitroTech’s been treating with a drip torch, it’s sure not going to light on fire with a few embers or things blowing into that vegetation.

I mean it was an eye-opening moment. I mean these guys have worked with the standard legacy retardants for decades and their eyes were open. Said we’ve never seen something like this. That’s the real world—not just the railroad bridge that we talked about, not just some of those other things—that are seeing is believing. Because these are the guys putting their lives at risk every day and saying, hey, when I put down a line of CitroTech, when I do something, I need to know that it’s going to protect.

And that’s why they pushed the product to its limits, and I think we surpassed what they’re doing. In addition, though, I’ve got a great team. Our head of business, Kevin Schaff, is leading amazing data, Andrew Hotsko. I get to work with an amazing team bringing cone calorimeter tests and different testing and science and working with universities. Like, we need to lead to the market, we need to lead to insurers. They want to know that this is the safest and most effective product to be putting out around homes. So you are correct. The customers are asking the questions and we’re going to deliver both science and proven validation.

Robert Brooks (Analyst)

That’s really helpful and exciting to hear, and I can definitely agree. Having seen it myself, seeing is believing, and it’s a pretty incredible product when you see it in person or see it happen in person. So appreciate it, Wes, and I’ll return to the queue.

OPERATOR

Thank you.

Wesley J. Bolsen (Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah, I think, Brett, the focus of CitroTech has been U.S.-based, and I think that’s to make sure we establish ourselves and don’t get stretched too thin. But we absolutely are looking at some international opportunities where things move around the globe based on fire season. Like I said in one of my earlier comments, fire season can move. Inside the U.S. we may still have some significant fire risk. It used to be fire season was kind of like, oh, everybody thinks May to September.

I mean, we had our partners treating red flag warnings last week in Southern California. I mean, we’ve had fires in Colorado, like the Marshall Fire or others, in January, December, and January in the Palisades. I think we have to be prepared 12 months a year. I think we have to have CitroTech in the hands of people across—and I say the western United States, it’s really across the U.S. We’ve got a great new partner down in the Southeast, Global Fireproof Solutions, doing a great job for us. Came in, got training, expanding down in the Southeast. I mean, these are the kind of things where more and more of these certified partners are getting trained, capable product, CitroTech product, in their hands and then starting to reorder.

You know, so we’re having some of those partners reorder based on, hey, we’re going out to protect homes and properties. You haven’t heard me say, hey, now we’re going into Australia, Spain, France, etcetera. Yet we do have product up in Canada. We’ve talked about that. We have a partner up there that we’re working with. I mean, so it’s not just us, but as that fire season is now 12 months a year, as weather patterns change, we’re looking at where is there high-risk fire threat situations—heavy winds, red flag warnings, particularly dangerous situations.

Anytime there’s ever going to be a public safety power shutoff, a PSPS event, you should be using CitroTech, safest, most effective way of saying, hey, let’s prevent an ignition during this. And maybe we wouldn’t have to shut off as much power if we needed to in every area. So these are all things we’re talking about for where CitroTech is going to be used, I believe, in the future.

Brett Moss (Investor Relations)

Great. And the expansion of the certified partner network will certainly help with that. Can you talk to the cost of CitroTech-infused wood products versus current products that are out there and how this could be a cost benefit for builders and others considering purchasing?

Wesley J. Bolsen (Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah, thanks, Brett. I mean, the Hexatec joint venture is handling the commercialization of CitroTech-treated lumber products and building materials. And we anticipate it’s going to be very comparable, maybe better even than, you know, pretty intense pressure-treated process. When you have to incise wood to get fire-retardancy, FR-treated lumber, you’re weakening that wood by definition—incising it or impregnating it, whatever word you’d like to use—poking it weakens that wood.

And CitroTech has the ability to spray onto that lumber or to even dip it—they call it dip coating. These are methods and processes that are exceptional. Again, back to Bobby’s question, we’re going to work with the science, though. We’re going to work with the facts behind making sure the CitroTech-treated FR lumber is going to deliver the characteristics to go out to the builders. And we’re having a lot of great conversations with builders saying, hey, this could be tremendous for us in how we build. Not having to ship lumber off—the time, let alone the cost—the time of shipping off lumber, having it pressure fire-retardant treated, and then having it shipped back.

That makes so many unknowns for builders that I believe this is going to move upstream, and builders will start to demand CitroTech-treated lumber in the long term.

Brett Moss (Investor Relations)

Great, thank you. I do want to acknowledge we did have a few questions submitted that the company cannot answer, given that answering would violate non-disclosure agreements and for general competitive purposes. So, answers to some of those questions may be disclosed publicly at a later date. Wes, thank you for your time, and everybody for joining. This concludes the questions that have been submitted for our Q3 CitroTech earnings call. I’d like to thank you for joining and remind you that if you have additional questions, please send those to circumstances ditrdenir.com, and if we’re able to answer them publicly, we will.

We can follow up with you individually at that time. Operator will conclude the call. Thank you, everyone.

OPERATOR

Thank you. This does conclude today’s teleconference. We thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time.

Disclaimer: This transcript is provided for informational purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, there may be errors or omissions in this automated transcription. For official company statements and financial information, please refer to the company’s SEC filings and official press releases. Corporate participants’ and analysts’ statements reflect their views as of the date of this call and are subject to change without notice.