YHGJ

Good day, and welcome to the Yunhong Green CTI Fourth Quarter and Year Ended December 2023 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] This conference is being recorded today, February 22, 2024. The earnings press release accompanying this conference call was issued last night. On the call today is Yunhong Green CTI's Chief Executive Officer, Frank Cesario; as well as Chief Operating Officer, Jana Schwan. Before we begin, we would want to note that you should read the forward-looking statements in the company's earnings press release. During today's call, management will make certain predictive statements that reflect its current views about future performance and financial results. The company base these statements and certain assumptions and expectations on future events that are subject to risks and uncertainties. The company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, lists some of the most important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from its predictions. Please note that the company's earnings press release makes reference to adjusted EBITDA and non-GAAP financial measure. The company views adjusted EBITDA as an operating performance measure, and as such, the company believes that the GAAP financial measure most directly comparable to it is net income or loss. For further information, please refer to the earnings press release and the company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Frank Cesario, Chief Executive Officer of Yunhong Green CTI. Sir, please go ahead.

Thank you, Jenny, and thank you to everyone joining us today. We finished the year with the strong Valentine's Day shipments already knee-deep in production for Mother's Day, Father's Day and graduation season. Our fourth quarter revenue beat the prior year by $1.2 million as we saw improvement in foil balloons, commercial films and balloon-inspired gifts. One trend we've identified is a shift from everyday business to seasonal business. That's good at this point during the year and something we will work on before entering the second half, particularly as we look to add new revenue streams to our offerings. Year-to-date sales were $17.8 million in 2023 compared to $18 million during 2022. I'm pleased how we fought back from the third quarter deficit on this metric and that shows up in our margin performance. Gross margins improved to 18% in 2023 versus 17% the prior year, and that was driven by a strong fourth quarter. More appropriate revenues allowed us to post a 24% gross margin in the fourth quarter of 2023 versus 19% in the prior year. Helium pricing continues to have a slightly negative impact on our marketplace, but much less so than the prior 18 months. This has been an issue every four years or so and should improve when the Russian supply becomes available. For now, it's something we watch. We always own our results. And last year, we said they simply were not good enough. With all the challenges, I'm pleased to have reported a full year 2023 with a $1.2 million improvement in net income and a $1 million improvement in adjusted EBITDA with earnings per share going from a $0.22 loss to a $0.01 loss. With that said, we are nowhere near where we need to be. We continue to push the envelope on operating efficiently and look to adding new revenue streams. Before we talk about our activity in Hubei, China, I would ask our Chief Operating Officer, Jana Schwan, to share some of the high-level actions we've implemented that led to a much improved financial performance in 2023. Jana?

Thank you, Frank, and hello, everyone. We have spoken before about the benefits of automation. We now have two manufacturing lines featuring robotic arms, and it should be no surprise that they are consistently our top-performing lines over and above the reduction in labor cost. We have started the process to have our third line operational during 2024. Results are also driven by strong vendor partner relationships along with processes and people who know what they should be doing and have the experience and culture to raise issues and opportunities as they see. This is an important operating environment that we have developed over the years and it has delivered an incredibly positive impact to the organization as we continue to push the bounds of efficiency. Frank?

Thank you, Jana. Now let's talk about that recent bit of news related to our purchasing of a manufacturing facility in Hubei, China. This initiative was not taken lightly and was concluded after careful consideration internally and with our partners in China, who have significant resources and experience, especially with new emerging growth opportunities. As a result of this strategic initiative, we now have more direct manufacturing facilities that can be used in the compostable material business. We also have a stronger connection with the rest of the Yunhong family of companies. We believe this relationship should offer dividends in both our traditional business areas as well as the new material space. By issuing up to 5 million shares of our common stock, we look to acquire a fully equipped facility with working capital, and we can avail ourselves to exponentially more people who can support and grow our business. We and our broader group continued to move through the process of developing and bringing to market our patented compostable, biodegradable and recyclable materials to enhance environmental sustainability. We made this directional push very clear last year when we rebranded our company. We're now building inventory to support our very active period with customers for Mother's Day, Father's Day and graduation season. We are bringing our new assets online for use. We have proven ourselves nimble and look to continue to move at speed. As we don't speak to listen to ourselves talk, this concludes our prepared remarks. We know most people catch this on the replay. But for anyone who's on live, if you like to ask a question, Jenny will open the Q&A line. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Frank. We are now opening the floor for questions. [Operator Instructions] Okay. Frank, I'm not seeing anyone in the queue at the moment. I can certainly let you know if someone jumps in. I can hand back to you for any further comments.

We do appreciate your interest in our company, and we look forward to the story that we can talk about in 2024. And with that, I wish everyone a good day.

Thank you very much, Frank. Thank you, Jana. This does conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your phone lines at this time, and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.

Good day, and welcome to the Yunhong Green CTI Third Quarter and Nine Months Ended September 2023 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] This conference is being recorded today, November 2, 2023. The earnings press release accompanying this conference call was issued last night. On the call today is Yunhong Green CTI's Chief Executive Officer, Frank Cesario; as well as Chief Operating Officer, Jana Schwan. Before we begin, we want to make note that you should read the forward-looking statements in the company's earnings press release. During today's call, management will make certain predictive statements that reflect its current views about future performance and financial results. The company bases these statements and certain assumptions and expectations on future events that are subject to risks and uncertainties. The company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, lists some of the most important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from its predictions. Please also note that the company's earnings press release make reference to adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure. The company views adjusted EBITDA as an operating performance measure and, as such, the company believes that the GAAP financial measure most directly comparable to it is net income or loss. For further information, please refer to the earnings press release and the company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Frank Cesario, Chief Executive Officer of Yunhong Green CTI. Sir, please go ahead.

Thank you, Holly. Good morning, everyone. I would like to thank you for joining us on our call today. This is the time of year where we take a breath and appreciate the transition from what has historically been our weakest quarter, Q3, to our strongest quarter, Q4, thanks to Valentine's Day shipments. However, it isn't everyday that a company is rebranded, so let's start there. During August, our stockholders approved renaming our company from Yunhong CTI Ltd. to Yunhong Green CTI Ltd. as a way of communicating the new biodegradable and compostable products designed to reduce our reliance on single-use plastics. Along these lines, we've also changed our ticker symbol to reflect our name. CTIB has given way to YHGJ. Our new ticker may be more awkward to speak out loud, and I know that, but it is more reflective of our company name, Yunhong Green CTI Ltd. We have added significant new assets to our website and have been sharing product samples while undergoing performance testing in the U.S. as we begin the process of entering the U.S. marketplace. I encourage anyone interested in this product area to look at our website and see what these solutions are about. With that as our backdrop, let's start with the numbers. Year-to-date sales were $11 million in 2023 compared to $12.4 million during 2022. Helium became the story in the second quarter of 2022 as a good start to the year became particularly challenging with the skyrocketing cost of helium, following the loss of Russian supply after the invasion of Ukraine. We also had a short-term supply issue in the United States that has since been resolved. It's no surprise that Q1 '22 was a strong balloon quarter, and Q2 was weak. 2023 was more consistent, building as the year went along. I'm pleased to share that we have finally caught up on a year-to-date basis. It's been a tough road, one that has seen our 2 largest competitors in the U.S. file Chapter 11 in 2023. Film products dropped off in the third quarter and lagged 2022 substantially. Film product orders ebb and flow in a market where consolidation is common, competitors are plentiful, and each quarter has a wide range of potential outcomes. I believe the fourth quarter will be better, but the gap is significant. Our other category is led by a balloon-inspired gift items, which continues to show strong order growth. We note that because we recorded all of our Valentine's Day shipments by the end of December of '22, something we did not do during 2021, the first 9 months of this year shows a drop in the category despite an increase in overall order flow. The timing of our shipments may cause challenges in comparing finite periods. But overall, this area has been working well for us, and I believe it will continue to do so. The gross margin was up 1.6% from 16.7% last year to 15.1% this year on a reduction in overall revenue volume during '23, driven by our commercial films area. However, the rest of the income statement shows a much better outcome, such that a $0.28 per share loss last year is now $0.04 per share this year. We had onetime costs and benefits, particularly from the income recognition of the Employee Retention Tax Credit. But overall, our spending discipline helped us weather the helium storm. We believe that bodes well for our future profitability as we find ways to deal with cost challenges that have exploded broadly these past couple of years. In the prior quarter, we discussed the deployment of automation in our manufacturing process to create efficiencies and, in the long term, lower our operating costs. Perhaps this quarter, I can ask our Chief Operating Officer, Jana Schwan, to share the seasonality of our traditional business such that listeners can better manage their expectations. Jana?

Thank you, Frank, and good morning, everyone. As foil balloons drive the bus, let's focus on the seasonality for balloons and related gift items. Roughly half our business is everyday, think birthdays, get well, anniversary and other sentiments, while the rest is driven by such events as Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and the graduation season. We ship approximately 2 months prior to the holiday while production is underway months before that. We naturally gear up starting in August, operate feverishly through October through November, and then take a moment to reorganize after shipping Valentine's Day. We then ramp up from February to April as we focus on Mother's Day and graduation. Our third quarter is about spending controls and longer-term planning as we prepare to do this all again, and the payoff is millions of happy customers, which makes it all worthwhile. Frank?

Thank you, Jana. As we indicated during our prior call, our credit line expired September 30. We've agreed with our lender to extend this line for 2 years until September 30, 2025, under similar terms. We've completed the name change. We are now giving compostable product samples out. We are updating third-party test results domestically. We will be participating at the China International Import Expo 2023 next week, November 5 through 10. Our company, together with Yunhong Biotechnology, Inc., another member of the Yunhong Group family of companies, will be displaying our traditional balloons and balloon-inspired gifts, but also our group's patented compostable, biodegradable and recyclable materials to enhance environmental sustainability. We continue to find our footing. Helium pricing continues to slowly improve. People desire to celebrate, and we can play an important role in making those experiences special and memorable. Our balloon-inspired gift category continues to grow, and we offer our customers outstanding designs and quality products. Adding more automation will help us as well the development of new product areas, and now we get to fulfill customer holiday orders. This hasn't been easy, but a few things worthwhile are. We know most people catch this call on the replay, but for anyone who's on live, we invite you to ask a question. Holly, would you please open the Q&A?

[Operator Instructions] Your first question for today is coming from [Glenn Hamilton], a private investor.

Frank, my question is, either you or Jana are going to be attending the Yunhong conference in China coming up?

So this time, we decided that just Yunhong folks were going to do that one. We have a variety of things being presented. So we have been supporting that conference with a lot of materials. You don't want to know how many packages have gone overseas. But we are coordinated and ready to roll. But to answer your question, this time, we get to avoid the long plane trip and have local assets take care of it.

Okay. Second, I'm familiar with Party City in bankruptcy. Who was the second company you mentioned in BK. I wasn't familiar with that.

Yes. There's a private company called Pioneer. They are based in Wichita, Kansas. They own brands such as Qualatex. They have another entity name called Continental. But they were the largest latex company and, overall, the second largest balloon company behind Anagram/Party City.

Would you say you are the third largest producer in the United States at this point?

For foil, for domestic, I think that answer is correct. The next largest besides us is a company called Convertidora out of Mexico. But as far as an American domestic manufacturer, I think it's clearly us.

Okay. I'm going to end this pretty shortly. With all the competitors pretty much very weak, I would think it'd be easy to start stealing some of their sales. And how is next year going to be any different than this year? I would think you should be able to just go in and just take a lot of these weaker customers. That's just my off the top.

Well, it's a conversation we certainly had because as people go through any transitional period, right, that creates some uncertainty that somebody else could hope to fulfill. I will note that both were Chapter 11, not Chapter 7, which means that the entities continue just in the reorganized fashion. On the one hand, for example, Party City came out of their issue with, what, $1 billion less debt. So that will certainly help their competitive position and no longer public, by the way, they're a privately held company now. So there are differences in that. But clearly, it's -- I think it's advantageous for us to operate continuously and to add new items to our mix.

Okay. Last question, I swear, no more. With the increase in the number of shares, which I was not really happy with, I'd like to think those shares increased somehow Yunhong is going to be looking at acquisitions in the future. And that's great, okay, no problem using shares to buy other companies. But for a $3 stock, let's say, I'd rather the stock be a $10 to $20 stock and start doing that. So I'm just wondering, have you had any conversations with senior management in China? Have they looked at any possible acquisitions? I don't want any specifics, but is that on their game plan? Because why issue the number of shares if you're not going to use them?

Well, absolutely. So what a great way to finish that, right? So we authorized more shares. We did not issue any of those shares. So we have more shares available to our Board of Directors if we find an appropriate technology partner, M&A target, whatever. And frankly, we are looking at uses for those shares that will develop our business. But this isn't one of those things where we're racing around with a handful of shares saying, "Whatever the most is that we can get for this, that's what we want." That's not how we're going about this. We're saying, "How can we get better at our traditional business and particularly with the new business venture that we're deploying? How can we get better at doing that?" And so these shares give us an asset that we can use to leverage into getting more of those hard assets, technologies, partners, et cetera. So it's wonderful to have more flexibility and something to work with, but be clear, we are only intending to deploy these where they're value add.

Okay. Great. No more questions. I'm going to try to come out and see you guys in the next couple of weeks, depending on your schedule. So I'll give you a call just to see your availability.

All right. Terrific. Thank you. So to everyone else, we're in the Chicago land area.

[Operator Instructions] We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session, and I will now turn the call over to Frank for closing remarks.

All right. Thank you, Holly. So again, we know most people catch this on the replay. We thank you for your interest in our company, and we're working hard to give you reports that you're going to be interested in going forward. So a lot of stuff is happening. This is our wonderful Valentine's Day shipment season, so we're really enjoying that here. And we look forward to talking to you with year-end results and heading into '24. Can't believe we're saying that, but we're heading into '24. So thank you all.

Thank you. This does conclude today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

Good day, and welcome to the Yunhong CTI Second Quarter and Year-to-Date 2023 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. This conference is being recorded today, August 3, 2023. The earnings press release accompanying this conference call was issued last night. On the call today is Yunhong CTI's Chief Executive Officer, Frank Cesario, as well as Chief Operating Officer, Jana Schwan. Before we begin, we want to note that we should read the forward-looking statements in the company's earnings press release. During today's call, management will make certain predictive statements that reflect its current views about future performance and financial results. The company bases these statements and certain assumptions and expectations on future events that are subject to risks and uncertainties. The company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, lists some of the most important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from its predictions. Please also note that the company's earnings press release makes reference to adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure. The company views adjusted EBITDA as an operating performance measure, and as such, the company believes that the GAAP financial measures most directly comparable to it is net income or loss. For further information, please refer to the earnings press release and the company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Frank Cesario, Chief Executive Officer of Yunhong CTI. Sir, please go ahead.

Thank you, Matthew. Good morning, and thank you for everyone joining us on our call today. We'll review the numbers in a bit, but first, I'd like to address the rebranding that many of you have seen in our public filings in the Annual Shareholders Meeting materials. As we've been discussing for some time, our company has been working increasingly on compostable and biodegradable solutions, both involved in our existing product families and separate from them. Our name for decades, CTI stood for Container Technologies, Inc. In 2020, we added Yunhong as a way to connect to the Yunhong, China Group. For the first time, we weren't alone. Now supported by a diverse enterprise. This year, we decided to add the term green to share that we do more than containers. The term container includes our balloons and packaging films with our gift items being a natural extension of the balloon products. Now we are presenting other solutions unrelated to containers, which offer better stewardship for our planet. That's why we are asking our shareholders to approve the name of YunHong GreenCTI Limited as our company name. As a related matter, our trading symbol of CTIB was easy to remember, CTI balloons. That was a fine symbol in the past, but today isn't as descriptive as it used to be. That's why we have reserved YHGJ, the YH for Yunhong and G for Green. We plan to do many things unrelated to our past. And I should mention that trading symbol is not in use as of now, but if our shareholders approve the name change, then we can deploy it, and we intend to. We plan to do many things in the future that are through our well-established retail channel. That process was part of the initial investment calculus and continues to build. The Yunhong Group sells quite a variety of items from health supplements to solar panels to software apps with tens of millions of subscribers to advanced materials solutions. They have an industrial park in China with companies spread across China and interests around the world. Our company serves as a valuable point of connectivity for the North American market, one which hasn't been served in the past. At the same time, we benefit from the financial support that helped us pay down debt and weather storms when they occur and material solutions that we could never develop on our own. With that as our backdrop, let's talk about numbers. Year-to-date sales were $9.1 million this year compared to $10.2 million last year. Helium was the story of 2022 as a good start to that year became particularly challenging with the skyrocketing cost of helium following the loss of Russian supply after the invasion of Ukraine and a short-term supply issue in the United States that has since been resolved. It's no surprise that Q1 2022 was a strong balloon quarter and Q2 of '22 was weak. While 2023 has been more consistent, building as the year went along. Film products bounced back from a nonexistent first quarter this year to narrowly beat last year's second quarter. Film product orders ebb and flow in a market where consolidation is common and competitors are plentiful. So each quarter has a wide range of potential outcomes. Our other categories led by balloon inspired gift items, which has reported an increase of $1.7 million from full year '21 to '22. Because we recorded all of our Valentine's Day shipments by the end of December '22, something we did not do during '21. The first 6 months of this year shows a drop in that category despite an increase in overall order flow. It's hard to complain about shipping a bit earlier, so I won't, but it does make comparability more difficult and thought it important for our shareholders to be aware of this as you review our results. The gross margin was identical during the first 6 months of each year despite a 10% drop in reported revenue during '23. We believe that bodes well for future profitability. As we find ways to deal with the cost challenges that have exploded broadly the last couple of years. As is often the case, we had an unusual items flowing in either direction. We've spoken in the past about an employee retention tax credit claims that were factored for $0.9 million in proceeds in 2022, but for which related income or expense offsets weren't recognized until those returns were ultimately processed. That has now happened, resulting in noncash income recognition of that deferred income. Audit fees were very high as we onboard a new audit firm during the first quarter for immediate service on our year-end audit in annual report on Form 10-K filing. Those are coming down for the rest of the year, but I note auditing expenses are expected to remain stubbornly high going forward as the profession has been impacted by personnel shortages. We also have to deal with interest rates like everybody else. We've discussed using automation in our manufacturing process to create efficiencies in the long term, lower our operating costs. The leader of that charge is our Chief Operating Officer, Jana Schwan, Jana, they asked for an update on our automation campaign.

Thank you, Frank, and hello, everyone. We have talked in the past about gradual investments in our automation on our manufacturing floor. The first robotic cell we installed is consistently our most profitable line in terms of cost reduction coupled with throughput. I'm pleased to share that we are currently installing automation on our second manufacturing line and expect it to be operational in the coming days. We are also planning for the installation of a third line, which we currently expect to be completed by early next year. Each requires fewer people, which allows us to allocate scarce human resources to more optimal activities. Gradual investment has been effective for us as we are ready for each new installation. I would also like to go faster, but appreciate the measured approach in which we are integrating. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that customer indication of upcoming Valentine's Day orders looks like a solid increase over the past year. Frank?

Thanks for the heads up, Jana. In addition to the company branding and new products we're trying to launch domestically, we also have the conclusion of our credit facility in September. We'll advise you just as soon as we have an agreement to replace this facility, something we expect to be successful in doing, but nobody around here declares victory until it's done. I'm hoping to have quite a bit to talk to you on our next call. For now, I'm pleased that our shareholders' equity has increased as we continue to find our footing. Helium pricing continues to moderate, but remain stubbornly elevated and must be managed, particularly while the Russian supply is unavailable. People desire to celebrate, and we can play an important role in making those experiences special and memorable. Our balloon inspired gift category continues to grow, and we offer our customers outstanding designs and quality products. Adding more automation will help us as will the development of new product areas and customer indications of stronger upcoming holiday orders certainly indicates their optimism and future sales. We know that most people catch this call on the replay, but for anyone who's on live, we invite you to ask a question. Matthew, will you please start the Q&A session?

[Operator Instructions] Your first question is coming from Glenn Hamilton.

Frank, I'm probably the only one on the line here, right? As always. I have 2 questions. One is going to be for Jana. Jana, does your dad John Schwan, aware of the name change, number of shares increasing, the simple change, I cannot believe your dad will be on board for this. You may not answer that question.

Let me chime in for a moment. For anyone who listens to this and doesn't know, we're talking about our former Chairman, John Schwan, who's been retired for years. So Glenn, you're welcome to talk to him. I know you know him on the side. But I can tell you there's a lot of support for what we're doing with everybody associated with our company.

Here's my fear. Just yesterday, China has been announcing that it's increasing its petroleum reserve beyond belief. And you say, well, who cares? The rumor on the street is China is preparing for a possible invasion of Taiwan next year. That's why it's stocking up its oil beyond belief. And guess what our country is doing, Our country is depleting its reserves, Geniuses that we are. So my question is, not a question, observation, if there is any form of invasion by China. Here, we are basically, CTI is primarily owned by a Chinese investor, who we all, I think, know very little about. For the past year, I've been hearing all this Green stuff Green stuff, Green stuff. I haven't seen $1 of revenue coming in, just a lot of talk. I have a lot of Chinese friends over there who have their doubts also. So I know you're not going to say anything, Frank, I just don't see them doing anything that benefits shareholders, increasing the shares to the billions is unbelievable. It doesn't work, ask Nokia. So I don't know what you can say here, but I just don't see shareholder interest being aligned with management. I just don't see it. And if you could convince me, please do. Okay. I'm done.

Okay. So let me tackle that as best I can. Obviously, that's a very large broad question, a series of questions on -- but let me do what I can. So first, whenever there is instability anywhere in the world, and we saw this with Ukraine, right? That's damaging. It consumes resources, it causes inefficiencies. It causes problems. And that's true of anything. So I'm not singling out anybody and anybody, I'm just saying, to the extent there's disruption, that's mostly bad. So if there is, we'll deal with that as best we can, like everyone else because that's the only choice that you've got. When we get to the U.S. and China, I mean, the 2 largest economies, we're natural trading partners. There's a lot of stuff. And oh, by the way, we've gotten a lot of support from this investor group which allowed us to pay down our debt. If we hadn't, the increase in interest rates would have hurt us tremendously, quite a bit more than they did and already wasn't trivial. But look, I understand your concerns. At the same time, I will tell you that this investor group has been helpful and continues to be helpful and is giving us things that we're both working on that hopefully can be commercialized successfully. That's what we're all trying to do. Are there any guarantees of this Green stuff as you put on, being tremendous. We never said we'd have revenue this year. We said we're working on it. We're prototyping it. We're doing a lot of work around it because the payoff could be huge. Yes, that's why we're committed to this path, and that's why we're doing what we're doing. But I do want to specifically call out your mentioned billions of shares so that everyone understands what this is and isn't. In our materials for the upcoming Annual Meeting of Shareholders, our Board has asked the shareholders to approve authorizing additional shares, specifically to the tune of 2 billion additional -- total outstanding shares. And it's a huge number for us, right? The old number, the current number is 50 million. So why 2 billion? In authorizing these shares, not a single share gets issued automatically or by any process other than the normal one, which is the Board agrees to terms of some sort of share issuance, they're bound by the rules of the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, the SEC, the U.S. laws, I can go down all day long. At the end of the day, if any of those shares are ultimately issued then they would be subject to all the rules around issuance today. We have 50 million authorized shares today, of which 21 million are accounted for. That gives 29 million shares that could be issued subject to all the rules that we talk about. So whether that's 29 million or a larger number, it's the same thing. The reason I asked the shareholders for this change is to be ready. We're going to a whole another line of business truly, and that might include new facilities, might include merger partners, M&A, joint ventures and so we want to already be ready to then come to those agreements, go through shareholder approval if appropriate, for whatever that is and move forward. But none of that is committed as of today. We are not issuing additional shares because of that request of shareholders. So everyone should just understand we don't have an immediate plan for deploying those share assets. We just want to be able to if circumstances warrant. So I know that was long, and I apologize for that, but Glenn, you raised a lot of important issues, and we wanted to be responsive to them.

Yes. And I understand that you and I -- we've talked separately about it. And I would have no problem issuing 1 billion, 2 billion shares if you weren't a $2 stock, if you were a $10 stock, $20 stock, it makes sense, maybe to do that for acquisition purposes. It just doesn't make sense at $2 and I just don't know what's going to get the stock up from $2 to $4. There's very little trading volume these days as you can see. And the market doesn't seem to perceive these future developments as bringing in revenues because I think we see more institutional activity, just volume. We just -- the stock is just like a little hamster on the wheel, just going nowhere, just sitting on [ 2 boxes ].

And I appreciate that. It wasn't long ago, it was quite a bit under $2. And we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the largest entity in our space is currently in Chapter 11. So this has been a hard year since the price of helium went bananas 1.5 years ago. And so we fought through it. And I -- frankly, I take a measure of pride in how this team has fought through it. We do more with less, I think, than anybody and that shows. And we think it's going to show through as we get out of this as we see the sales volume perking up as things like helium get resolved, if we ever get the Russian supply in the market, I can't wait to see what those prices go to. But in the meantime, we're not counting on that. So we're going to fight through and do the very best that we can. And hopefully, we'll impress people. We'll see.

Okay. No more questions. I'm good.

[Operator Instructions]. That concludes our Q&A session. I will now hand the conference back to Frank Cesario, Chief Executive Officer of Yunhong CTI for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Matthew. I hope people weren't intimidated by all that, but we did get a lot of topics out and that's good. So we look forward to the next quarter when we'll have new things to talk about. We appreciate everyone who's voted their shares already for the upcoming annual meeting. For anyone who hasn't. This is a great time to do it and we look forward to talking to you soon. Take care.

Thank you, everyone. This concludes today's event. You may disconnect at this time, and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.