Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Description of Business and Basis of Presentation

v3.20.1
Description of Business and Basis of Presentation
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Description of Business and Basis of Presentation

NOTE 1

DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

 

Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. (the Company, which may be referred to as we, us, or our), an environmental and technology know-how company, is a Delaware corporation, engaged through its subsidiaries, in three reportable segments:

 

TREATMENT SEGMENT, which includes:

 

  - nuclear, low-level radioactive, mixed waste (containing both hazardous and low-level radioactive constituents), hazardous and non-hazardous waste treatment, processing and disposal services primarily through three uniquely licensed and permitted treatment and storage facilities; and
  - Research and Development (“R&D”) activities to identify, develop and implement innovative waste processing techniques for problematic waste streams.

 

SERVICES SEGMENT, which includes:

 

  - Technical services, which include:

 

  o professional radiological measurement and site survey of large government and commercial installations using advanced methods, technology and engineering;
  o integrated Occupational Safety and Health services including industrial hygiene (“IH”) assessments; hazardous materials surveys, e.g., exposure monitoring; lead and asbestos management/abatement oversight; indoor air quality evaluations; health risk and exposure assessments; health & safety plan/program development, compliance auditing and training services; and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) citation assistance;
  o global technical services providing consulting, engineering, project management, waste management, environmental, and decontamination and decommissioning field, technical, and management personnel and services to commercial and government customers; and
  o on-site waste management services to commercial and governmental customers.

 

  - Nuclear services, which include:

 

  o technology-based services including engineering, decontamination and decommissioning (“D&D”), specialty services and construction, logistics, transportation, processing and disposal;
  o remediation of nuclear licensed and federal facilities and the remediation cleanup of nuclear legacy sites. Such services capability includes: project investigation; radiological engineering; partial and total plant D&D; facility decontamination, dismantling, demolition, and planning; site restoration; logistics; transportation; and emergency response; and

 

  - A company owned equipment calibration and maintenance laboratory that services, maintains, calibrates, and sources (i.e., rental) health physics, IH and customized nuclear, environmental, and occupational safety and health (“NEOSH”) instrumentation.
  - A company owned gamma spectroscopy laboratory for the analysis of oil and gas industry solids and liquids.

 

MEDICAL SEGMENT, which includes: R&D of the Company’s medical isotope production technology by our majority-owned Polish subsidiary, Perma-Fix Medical S.A. and its wholly-owned subsidiary Perma-Fix Medical Corporation (“PFM Corporation”) (together known as “PF Medical” or the Medical Segment). The Company’s Medical Segment has not generated any revenue as it remains in the R&D stage and has substantially reduced its R&D costs and activities due to the need for capital to fund these activities. All costs incurred by the Medical Segment are reflected within R&D in the accompanying consolidated financial statements (see “Financial Position and Liquidity” below for further discussion of Medical Segment’s significant curtailment of its R&D costs and activities).

 

The Company’s continuing operations consist of Diversified Scientific Services, Inc. (“DSSI”), Perma-Fix of Florida, Inc. (“PFF”), Perma-Fix of Northwest Richland, Inc. (“PFNWR”), Safety & Ecology Corporation (“SEC”), Perma-Fix Environmental Services UK Limited (“PF UK Limited”), Perma-Fix of Canada, Inc. (“PF Canada”), PF Medical and East Tennessee Materials & Energy Corporation (“M&EC”) (facility closure completed in 2019).

 

The Company’s discontinued operations (see Note 9) consist of all our subsidiaries included in our Industrial Segment which were divested in 2011 and prior, previously closed locations, and our Perma-Fix of South Georgia, Inc. (“PFSG”) facility which is in closure status.

 

Financial Position and Liquidity

 

The Company’s cash flow requirements during 2019 were primarily financed by our operations, credit facility availability, loan proceeds of $2,500,000 from a loan that we consummated on April 1, 2019 (see “Note 10 – Long Term Debt” for further information of this loan), and the receipt of the $5,000,000 in finite risk sinking funds from AIG Specialty Insurance Company (“AIG”) in July 2019 resulting from the closure of our M&EC facility (see a discussion of this finite risk sinking funds in “Note 14 – Commitment and Contingencies - Insurance”). The Company’s working capital at December 31, 2019 was approximately $26,000 as compared to a working capital deficit of $6,753,000 at December 31, 2018.

 

The Company’s cash flow requirements for 2020 and into the first quarter of 2021 will consist primarily of general working capital needs, scheduled principal payments on our debt obligations, remediation projects, and planned capital expenditures. The Company plans to fund these requirements from our operations, credit facility availability, and cash on hand. The Company is continually reviewing operating costs and is committed to further reducing operating costs to bring them in line with revenue levels, when necessary. As previously disclosed, the Company’s Medical Segment has not generated any revenue but continues on a limited basis to evaluate strategic options to commercialize its medical isotope production technology. These options require substantial capital to fund research and development (“R&D”) requirements, in addition to start-up and production costs. The Company’s Medical Segment has substantially reduced its R&D costs and activities due to the need for capital to fund such activities. The Company anticipates that its Medical Segment will not resume full R&D activities until it obtains the necessary funding through obtaining its own credit facility or additional equity raise or obtaining new partners willing to fund its R&D activities. If the Medical Segment is unable to raise the necessary capital, the Medical Segment could be required to further reduce, delay or eliminate its R&D program.