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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20549
SCHEDULE 14A
(Rule 14a-101)
Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities
Exchange Act Of 1934
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Soliciting Material Pursuant to §240.14a-12 |
CLEAN DIESEL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
(Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)
(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if Other Than the Registrant)
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DEAR FELLOW SHAREHOLDERS:
As we entered into our fiscal year 2010, the economic climate was still volatile and unpredictable.
This market uncertainty created challenging conditions for our customers and certainly for our
business. The operating environment for the last two years was probably the most difficult one our
team has ever experienced. With the benefit of hindsight, we discovered more about our capabilities
and commitment to persevere than we could have under less daunting circumstances. The progress our
team achieved, despite the difficulties we faced, gives us great confidence about our companys
future.
Notwithstanding the challenging conditions, we accomplished a number of important strategic and
operational initiatives to position the company for growth in 2011. The most notable of these
initiatives was our successful completion of the business combination between Clean Diesel and
Catalytic Solutions, Inc. (CSI) in October 2010, which we refer to as the Merger. The Merger
has resulted in a vertically integrated global manufacturer and distributor of emission control
systems, which we believe is able to compete more effectively and more efficiently to win new
business. The new Clean Diesel now has a deep product portfolio and customer base with the
ability to serve global markets through enhanced sales and marketing resources.
For former CSI shareholders, the Merger resulted in receiving shares that are listed on the NASDAQ
Capital Market, providing them with improved liquidity. In addition, the listing provided the new
Clean Diesel access to an expanded investor base and visibility on one of the worlds leading
financial markets. For shareholders of Clean Diesel prior to the Merger, it is important to note
that the Merger resulted in a dramatic shift of Clean Diesels business, with Clean Diesels
operations folded into CSIs Heavy Duty Diesel Systems division. In addition, because the Merger
was accounted for as a reverse acquisition, our financial statements are now those of CSI, with
Clean Diesels results of operations included from the October 15, 2010 closing date of the Merger.
A more detailed discussion about the effects of the Merger on our consolidated financial statements
is contained within our enclosed 10-K. Finally, we want to welcome all shareholders. We look
forward to a number of rewarding years and firmly believe our customers and shareholders will
benefit from this business combination over the long term.
Financial
Highlights
Although we saw continued improvement in our Heavy Duty Diesel Systems division, with sales up 20%
over 2009, unfortunately it did not translate to improvement in 2010 total revenues. For the year,
our total revenues declined 4.75% due to lower Catalyst division sales, which offset the Heavy Duty
Diesel Systems division growth. The sales decrease in our Catalyst division was largely as a result
of an automaker accelerating the manufacture of a vehicle that requires a catalyst product meeting
a higher regulatory requirement than the product we supplied to that automaker. Nonetheless, even
though sales were down, our margin improvement initiatives together with a better product mix
enabled us to increase gross margins to 25.0% for 2010 from 23.7% for 2009. We are continuing to
seek productivity enhancements in our operations and believe we have the opportunity to further
increase gross margins. Specifically, we anticipate that following approval by the regulatory
agencies, which is currently expected sometime in the second quarter of 2011, we will have the
ability to supply our own manufactured catalyst products to our Heavy Duty Diesel Systems division.
This is a very welcome and important development for us and we believe this change should result in
improving total gross margins going forward.
You may
recall, CSI began resetting its cost structure and adjusting its business model in the fall
of 2008 when a combination of financial-world missteps expanded into a steep global recession that
affected almost every industry, including the automotive industry. The contraction had a
significant effect on our customer base, which led to reduced demand for our Catalyst products. In
both anticipation of and due to the contraction, CSI acted quickly and consistently to reduce cost
and investment. CSIs restructuring activity in 2008 and 2009 to realign its Catalyst division
operations to improve operating efficiencies was the right decision given the slowdown in the
automotive market. We have seen the full benefit of that action in 2010 having reduced the cost
structure of this division by approximately $12 million on an annualized basis. For 2010, we
reduced our operating expenses by $4.0 million to $15.9 million by maintaining a realistic estimate
of demand and aligning our cost structure accordingly.
Heavy Duty Diesel Systems Division
We are very excited about our opportunities to continue to grow our Heavy Duty Diesel Systems
division in 2011. In a challenging economic environment, we were able to grow revenue for this
division by $5.3 million, or 20%, to $31.2 million for 2010. During 2010 we took steps to
strengthen the business by expanding the distribution channels in the United States and around the
world; today we have more than 100 distributors globally. We also benefited from funding allocated
to diesel emission control under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (commonly
referred to as the Stimulus Bill), which provides customers with an incentive to acquire our
emission control products.
As we look forward into 2011, we are increasingly excited and optimistic about the opportunities
available in the London Low Emission Zone (LEZ) and in the United States. We believe there are more
than 160 LEZs in operation throughout Europe, with others being planned in Europe and Asia. The
London LEZ regulations are estimated to require 20,000 heavy duty diesel vehicles entering the LEZ
to meet certain emission standards by January 2012. With a broad array of existing products, new
products in the pipeline and our advanced catalyst technology, we expect to benefit from this
market growth. Although it is early in the process, we have begun to receive orders for the London
LEZ program and we anticipate that most of the retrofit activity for this program will take place
in the second half of 2011. Additionally, we see renewed commitment for on-road diesel emission
reductions from U.S. state governments, such as California, which has mandated that all 1996
through 2006 Class 7 and 8 diesel trucks be retrofitted with diesel particulate filters to meet
state emission standards between 2012 and 2014.
Catalyst Division
Revenue for our Catalyst division for the year decreased $7.4 million, or 29%, to $17.7 million
from $25.1 million for 2009. As previously mentioned, our 2010 Catalyst sales were negatively
impacted by one automaker customer, however, we expect that sales of our Catalyst products to this
automaker will resume toward the end of 2011 once we have received the necessary regulatory
approvals and customer qualifications.
Clean Diesel is focused on the technology-driven automotive industry customer. We are very pleased
to have added a new OEM customer in early 2011 and expect revenues in the Catalyst division for the
first quarter of 2011 to exceed the fourth quarter of 2010. However, we recently learned that one
of our other automaker customers was adversely affected by the recent tragic events in Japan and is
temporarily reducing its production. Although it is too early to speculate on the duration of this
temporary reduction in production and the effects of this action on our full year 2011 revenues, we
expect to see some negative effects in the second quarter of 2011.
Investments for Future Growth
The dynamics of the market over the past two years have challenged the companys liquidity
management. We have responded with working capital and cash management disciplines and have worked
with our lenders to address our operating requirements in the current market conditions. We closed
the year with $5.0 million of cash and cash equivalents and a working capital surplus of $2.9
million, compared to a deficit of $4.4 million for 2009. Subsequent to the close of 2010, our Board
of Directors and the management team determined the need to raise additional capital in order to
ensure that we could successfully capture the numerous opportunities for both of our business
divisions in 2011 and beyond. By strengthening the balance sheet, we believe we can properly
support the necessary sales, marketing and product verification expenditures for the London LEZ and
to complete verification of certain catalyst products for use by our Heavy Duty Diesel Systems
division. We recently announced a $3 million convertible note financing which will help provide
needed short term working capital while we continue to explore additional long-term financing
alternatives.
Although organic growth is expected to be the primary driver, we do expect acquisitions to continue
to play a role in our growth strategy going forward and we anticipate a good pipeline of potential
opportunities as economic conditions improve. In pursuing acquisitions, we intend to concentrate on
businesses that support our mission to be a leader in emission control products and allow us to
enter new markets and new geographies. The Merger is a good example of the execution of our growth
strategy, as the combined company has important product line enhancements and improved access to
new and additional market extensions.
A Renewed Confidence
In 2011, depending on the timing of certain heavy duty diesel retrofit programs, we expect to see
continued improvement in our business as we capture the opportunities available in the London LEZ
and in the United States. The London LEZ is well underway and our team in Europe is off and
running. With one of the broadest and most advanced product portfolios to address the
ever-increasing emission standards imposed around the world, we believe Clean Diesel is very well
positioned to capitalize on these opportunities.
We believe our Catalyst technology is state-of-the-art and we are continually working to advance
the performance of our products to ensure we can meet or exceed the requirements of our customers.
Although we expect some lumpiness in the top-line performance for this division in the first half
of 2011, we expect to see improving results in the second half of the year based on new customer
activity and the product verification processes already underway.
We plan to continue to invest, leverage our scale and develop our team to be a true global leader.
We took several important steps in fiscal 2010 as part of that journey and intend to continue that
effort as we move forward in this new decade.
A Final Word
In conclusion, we expect to demonstrate our ability to produce long-term organic growth through our
portfolio of highly engineered products and continue to strategically reinvest in both our current
technologies and select new technologies in order to enhance our portfolio and market
diversification.
Today, Clean Diesel is a vertically integrated company in emission control with a broad portfolio
of approved products backed by strong intellectual property, and substantial growth potential for
emission reduction products. In the near-term, we have a significant business opportunity underway
with the London LEZ, opportunities developing with other LEZs in operation, and a new OEM customer
for our Catalyst products. We believe we have solid growth prospects in the United States for our
Heavy Duty Diesel Systems division today and over the next few years as states such as California,
New York and others in the non-attainment areas move towards compliance with emission reduction
requirements. With over 100 distributors globally, we believe we have the products, the team and
the manufacturing expertise to capitalize on the opportunities in our market both locally and
internationally.
We are proud of the accomplishments of our company, the performance of our team and the
effectiveness of our strategy during the economic turbulence of fiscal year 2010. In the face of
intense economic pressure, we were able to successfully complete the Merger, grow the sales of our
Heavy Duty Diesel Systems division by 20%, bolster our financial position and extend our global
market presence.
Our achievements in fiscal year 2010 did not come without a price. We want to thank our employees
around the world for their incredible support, hard work and diligence. They demonstrate everyday
that the true strength of our organization is teamwork. We also want to thank our customers,
suppliers and Board of Directors for their strong support in fiscal year 2010 and our Shareholders
for their continued support and investment in the future of Clean Diesel.
Over the long-term we are confident that your company is well positioned to capitalize on the very
powerful trends toward global environmental stewardship.
We know that the best is yet to come for our company, and we hope you are as eager as we are to see
our successful future unfold.
Sincerely,
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Alexander Hap Ellis III
Chairman of the Board of Directors
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Charles F. Call
Chief Executive Officer |