The Energy Forum Lincolnway Energy NEVADA, IOWA Exhibit 99.1 Volume XIV, Issue I January 2018 INSIDE THIS EDITION Our Path Forward 1, 3 Forward Looking Statements 1 Financial Review 2 New Fermenter 2Iowa, King Corn and Prince Ethanol3 Tax Reminder 3 Buterfly Sanctuary 4 Annual Meetng 4 UNIT TRADING Jul. 2017: 27 Units @ $675/Unit 25 Units @ $725/Unit 25 Units @ $600/UnitAug. 2017: No Sales Sept. 2017: 50 Units @ $625/Unit Oct. 2017: No Sales Nov. 2017: 6 Units @ $625/Unit 30 Units @ $683.33/Unit 75 Units @ $750/UnitDec. 2017: No Sales Jan. 2018: No Sales OUR PATH FORWARD It has been almost five years since I arrivedat Lincolnway Energy and looking back it isamazing to see the changes to the industryand our company in that short tme. We havemoved from record high to record low pricesfor corn. Ethanol producton has increased toan almost unimaginable 17.0 billion gallonsa year. Yields are pushing levels that wereconsidered unreachable in 2013. The Chinesehave gone from the largest buyer of DDGs topunitve tariffs to import the product. Corn oilhas risen from a side business to one of theprime drivers of margin in the industry. During these changes, I have tried to stakeout a path for Lincolnway Energy to be ahigh margin compettor by making it easy todeliver corn to our facility and to increasethe value of our final products. Today, weare easily the most efficient producers ofcorn oil in the market. With the completonof our dryer project in March and our newfermentaton capacity in July, we are on thecusp of markedly improving the value ofthe corn we process each day. LincolnwayEnergy contnues to believe that this strategyis the best way for us to remain a strongindependent ethanol plant in Story County. By Eric Hakmiller, President and CEO Increasing the ease of delivery of corn to ourlocaton was a critcal issue when I arrived.We had 500,000 bushels of space whichwas standard for an ICM facility when wewere built. That level of space meant we hadeight days of inventory and were either fullor empty at any given tme. We could notstay open five days a week and our farmercustomers could not depend on being ableto deliver to us regularly. This led to hugelines in the morning so people could get corndelivered some tme before we shut downthe corn dumps. We added 780,000 bushelsof additonal storage two years ago and wereally could not imagine operatng without ittoday. We never have lines and are regularlycomplimented on the ease of delivery. Thisleads to more corn wantng to come here andultmately beter values for the corn we buy. Corn oil has been another long fought batlehere that we have turned into a successstory in the last couple of years. Corn oil isthe most valuable component of the bushelfetching prices of $0.24 - $0.30 per pound inthe last couple of years. With DDGs valuesdown around $0.06 per pound, every poundof oil that can be extracted is a very valuable contnued on page 3 FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS Some of the informaton in this newsleter may contain forward looking statements that express LincolnwayEnergy’s current beliefs, projectons and predictons about future results or events, such as statements with respectto financial results and conditon; future trends in the industry or in business, revenues or income; litgaton orregulatory maters; business and operatng plans and strategies; compettve positon; and opportunites that may beavailable to Lincolnway Energy. Forward looking statements are necessarily subjectve in nature and are made basedon numerous and varied estmates, projectons, beliefs, strategies and assumptons, and are subject to numerous 59511 W. Lincoln HighwayNevada, Iowa 50201 Office: 515-232-1010Fax: 515-663-9335 risks and uncertaintes. Forward looking statements are not guarantees of future results, performance or businessor operatng conditons, and no one should place undue reliance on any forward looking statements because actualresults, performance or conditons could be materially different. Lincolnway Energy undertakes no obligaton to reviseor update any forward looking statements. The forward looking statements contained in this newsleter are includedin the safe harbor protecton provided by Secton 27A of the Securites Act of 1933, as amended and Secton 21E of www.lincolnwayenergy.com the Securites Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. 1
Volume XIV, Issue I January 2018 FINANCIAL REVIEW By Kris Strum, Director of Finance Lincolnway Energy, LLC (LWE) ended the 2017 fiscal year with a $4.5 Comparison of Fiscal Years Ended September 30, 2017 and 2016 million in net income, a roughly $6.1 million increase from the previousyear. Revenues increased from fiscal year 2016 by approximately 9.6%due to increased producton levels for both ethanol and corn oil withthe implementaton of new process improvements as well as highermarket prices for ethanol. Statements of Operatons Data: Revenues Cost of Goods SoldGross Profit 2017 2016 $110,845,184 $101,141,768 103,151,272 99,340,675 7,693,912 1,801,093 LWE hit record levels in fiscal year 2017, producing 62.5 million gallons General and Admin. Expenses 3,136,379 3,379,164 of ethanol compared to 57.0 million gallons produced in fiscal year2016. Records were also made in corn oil producton. In fiscal year2017 LWE produced over 10,600 tons of corn oil, a 40% increase fromfiscal year 2016. Operatng Income (loss) 4,557,533 (1,578,071) Other Income (loss) (53,685) (62,325) Net Income $4,503,848 ($1,640,396) Cost of goods sold for fiscal year 2017 increased approximately 3.8%when compared to fiscal year 2016. The increase in cost of goods soldis primarily due to increases in corn costs, natural gas, as well as repairand maintenance costs. These costs were partally offset by a decreasein depreciaton. Balance Sheet Data: Working Capital Net Property Plant and EquipmentTotal Assets 2017 2016 $5,176,444 $5,265,892 39,945,183 34,929,124 51,173,323 46,085,438 The increases in corn and natural gas costs are directly correlated toLWE’s increased producton. The higher maintenance and repair costsare a result of equipment getng older. LWE has also increased itsfocus on preventatve maintenance to reduce downtme and maintainhigher producton rates. The decrease in depreciaton resulted fromthe fact that the plant has completed 10 years of operaton and amajority of the original assets are now fully depreciated. General and administratve expenses decreased approximately$.3 million in fiscal year 2017 due to the loss on the dispositon of thecoal combustor in fiscal 2016. During fiscal year 2017, LWE spent approximately $8.5 million oncapital improvements. The majority of the expenditures were for theongoing PureStream™ Protein dryer project. This project will allowLWE to produce species specific animal feed and is antcipated to becompleted in the second quarter of fiscal year 2018. Expenditureswere also made to improve our distllaton and fermentaton areas ofthe plant. Working capital was approximately $5.2 million at the end ofSeptember and our book value per share was $999. A complete SEC 10K report for the year ended September 30, 2017,can be found on a link on the Lincolnway Energy’s website under theheading Investors and SEC Financial Report. NEW FERMENTER In many ways an ethanol plant can be considered a pipe where wepour corn in the front and ethanol, DDGs and corn oil come out theother end. The fermenter is the "work horse" of the process and servesas a “wide spot” in the road for the corn to sit with enzymes and yeastto produce ethanol. The more fermenters a plant has the more tmethe “work horse” can work. This allows all the sugar to be consumedby the yeast and all the ethanol possible to be produced. This createshigher yields per bushel but not necessarily more ethanol per year.This has been a very common upgrade to the original ICM design andhas long been on our wish list to complete. Long-Term Obligatons 3,942,960 3,542,593 Member’s Equity 41,997,638 37,493,790 Book Value Per Member Unit $999 $892 LWE Net Income $20,000,000 $15,000,000 $10,000,000 $5,000,000 $- $(5,000,000) $(10,000,000) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 LWE Book Value per Share $1,400 $1,200 $1,000 $800 $600 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 We are finally to the point of moving forward with this project. Wehope to start setng the foundaton in the spring and have it completedby mid-summer. Early indicatons are extending ferm tme by sevenhours results in 0.02 - 0.035 increase in yield which should show agood return on this project even in a low corn cost environment. 2
Volume XIV, Issue I January 2018 IOWA, KING CORN AND PRINCE ETHANOL By Blair Picard, Commercial Manager Back when I wore a younger man’s clothes, as today, Iowa was stllthe leading corn producing state. Natonal yields were 118 bushels peracre and the price was a couple bucks per bushel in the mid 1980s.Today, in the mid 2010s, the Nehru jacket and bellbotoms havebeen long retred and the natonal corn yield is up to 175 bushels peracre and the price is three and a half bucks. Partcularly adjusted forinflaton, not a lot has changed in terms of prices and producton herein the Hawkeye State. But a lot of other things have changed very much in the supply anddemand for corn. Total US supplies of corn surpassed 11 billion bushelsin the 1980s. Today that supply number approaches 17 billion bushels.Back then, we fed about 40% of our supplies to animals. Now thatnumber is down to under a third. We exported about the same 13-14% of our supplies then and do the same now. So where does thatextra 6 billion bushels, now worth $21 billion dollars, go? It by and large goes to produce fuel ethanol, a market that did not existwhen corn was ofen shipped in box cars. This year the US will use athird of its corn supplies to make nearly 16 billion gallons of ethanol,or 10% of the gasoline consumed in this country. That ethanol,currently priced at about $1.20 per gallon here at Lincolnway, not onlyhas pulled down the price of your gasoline at the pump and raised theoctane values without the harmful groundwater polluton associatedwith petroleum, it has also fed an additonal $25 billion dollars ofrevenue into the pockets of US farmers. Many of those billions haveflowed into our economy here in Iowa. Basic economic theory tells us that if a commodity is priced belowits cost of producton for an extended period of tme, producers willstop producing untl the supply is reduced enough to bring prices backabove the cost of producton. Certainly if corn were stll priced at $2per bushel, producton would not be 15 billion bushels. While no Iowafarmer is getng rich at $3.50 per bushel, it is enough to support thosebig current producton numbers. And that ethanol demand is very important to our state. In the 1980s,the US produced 45% of the world’s corn supply. Today that numberhas dropped below 33%. New lands have been opened up in SouthAmerica, Asia and Eastern Europe. Utlizing more technology, foreignfarmers have been closing the yield gap versus their US counterparts.It is a very compettve world out there. That all means a lot for all of us here in Iowa. Farm income is a big partof our state’s income producing matrix. When farm income is strong,here in Iowa greater economic actvity is supported. Real estate pricesincrease, both farmland and housing. More jobs are created in theagriculture industry and outside industries. Iowa and many of ourMidwest neighbors escaped some of the economic carnage followingthe 2007/08 meltdown because of a strong agricultural sector. Thisrelatve prosperity is directly related to ethanol. Despite lowerinflaton adjusted corn prices than we saw in the 80s, the ability ofthe market to absorb many more bushels of corn at prices above thecost of producton, has contributed mightly to our prosperity in Iowa.And that contributon is virtually completely due to the ascendance ofethanol. contnued from page 1 additon to revenue. Lincolnway Energy was an early mover in thissegment but were caught up in patent litgaton and so we were neverin a positon to fully execute on the potental of corn oil untl recently.As the court case has turned in our favor, we began looking for waysto extract more oil per bushel. Through knowledge we bought to bearfrom the vegetable oil refining business as well as some technologywe have licensed and others we have patented, we are now producingwell over a pound of oil per bushel, nearly twice the industry average.This change has led to a major improvement in our margins and amuch beter compettve positon in the market. For those of you who drive by the plant you can see the constructonunderway, convertng the old coal facility to the new dryer building.This dryer will allow us to produce a beter, more valuable coproductwe are calling PureStream™ Protein targetng the swine industry. Thisis important as it will allow us to focus a higher value product on a localIowa growth market in the Iowa swine industry and not be beholdento Chinese or other foreign markets that have proven to be at bestopportunistc and at worse unreliabile. As we have watched proteinmarket prices rise this year we are looking forward to the introductonof this new product. This has been a tough winter for constructon butwe are on line to be operatonal by early spring. TAX REMINDER The final step in our plans this year will be the constructon of a fifhfermenter scheduled to be completed in the middle of the summer. Itwill be located to the west of our current fermentaton capacity. Thishas been a long awaited project for us, designed not to increase theamount of ethanol we produce but to extend fermentaton tmes sowe can increase the yield of ethanol we produce from each bushel.We have made strides in this area, with 2017 the best yielding year wehave had since I have been here, but this investment should vault usto the head of the pack. There is an adage called Hofstadter’s Law that everything takes longerthan you think even if you consider Hofstadter’s Law. I feel that everyday as we move various domino pieces in line. We have made a lot ofchanges here and have goten a lot of things in place. We now havethe right organizaton and the right technology. I am very much lookingforward to the next chapter in our history. As always, I want to thank you for your contnued support of LincolnwayEnergy. Please feel free to give me a call if you have any questonsabout the company or where we are going. I will do my best to get youan answer. Also, we enjoy showing the facility to shareholders so ifyou are in the area and want a tour please feel free to give me a call. Ilook forward to seeing each of you at the Annual Meetng on March 5. In mid-to-late February, investors will receive a K-1 for their porton of LWE’s taxable income for the period January 1 - December 31, 2017. Thisinformaton will need to be included in your 2017 tax returns. Just a reminder that the distributons paid during December 2017 are not taxable.LWE cannot give out tax advice, please contact your tax professional if you need assistance. 3
BUTTERFLY SANCTUARY About six months ago we were approached by the Iowa Renewable Energy Associaton about spearheading a program targeted at monarchbuterflies and other pollinators. We would work with the Monarch Conservaton Consortum to build a sanctuary for the migratng monarchand other pollinators. The concern was that Iowa gets bad press due the success of corn cultvaton and this would be a low impact way to giveback to the environment. The program would have Lincolnway designate some of our land to the program and then work with the State ofIowa to seed it with flowering cover. Reviewing our property, we selected 2.7 acres on the southwest corner on the property bordering LincolnHighway. We have roughed up the ground and will plant seed in the spring. Our hope is that this will be an opportunity to brighten a secton ofthe roadway and give back to the environment which has been so good to us in Iowa. ANNUAL MEETING Monday, March 5, 2018 - 6:30 p.m.Holiday Inn Ames Conference Center2609 University Blvd. - Ames, Iowa Monte Shaw (lef), Kevin Reynolds (middle), and Eric Hakmiller (right) stand onLincolnway Energy’s Monarch Fueling Staton in front of Lincolnway Energy. Lincolnway Energy, LLC 59511 W. Lincoln HighwayNevada, Iowa 50201 Volume XIV, Issue I January 2018 COME JOIN US ON THE WEB! If you haven’t already, please give us your e-mail address. This way you can receive the full color newsleter via e-mail and we can save on postage. E-mail your request to us at info@lincolnwayenergy.com. Find us on Linked https://www.linkedin.com/company/lincolnway-energy 4