Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Basis of Presentation Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Nature of Operations

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Basis of Presentation Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Nature of Operations
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2023
Basis of Presentation Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Nature of Operations  
Basis Of Presentation, Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies And Nature Of Operations

Note 1. Basis of Presentation, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, and Nature of Operations

 

Basis of presentation

 

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of Lightbridge Corporation and its subsidiaries have been prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, including the instructions to Form 10-Q and Regulation S-X. Certain information and note disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America, including a summary of the Company’s significant accounting policies, have been condensed or omitted from these statements pursuant to such rules and regulations and, accordingly, they do not include all the information and notes necessary for comprehensive condensed consolidated financial statements and should be read in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022, included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022.

 

In the opinion of the management of the Company, all adjustments, which are of a normal recurring nature, necessary for a fair statement of the results for the three-month period have been made. Results for the interim period presented are not necessarily indicative of the results that might be expected for the entire fiscal year. When used in these notes, the terms “Lightbridge”, “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our” mean Lightbridge Corporation and all entities included in our condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

The Company was formed on October 6, 2006, when Thorium Power, Ltd., which was incorporated in the state of Nevada on February 2, 1999, merged with Thorium Power, Inc. (TPI), which was incorporated in the state of Delaware on January 8, 1992 (subsequently and collectively referred to as “we” or the “Company”). On September 29, 2009, the Company changed its name from Thorium Power, Ltd. to Lightbridge Corporation and began its focus on developing and commercializing metallic nuclear fuels. The Company is a nuclear fuel technology company developing its next generation nuclear fuel technology.

 

Basis of Consolidation

 

These condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Lightbridge, a Nevada corporation, and the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiaries, TPI, a Delaware corporation, and Lightbridge International Holding LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. These wholly-owned subsidiaries are inactive. All significant intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation.

 

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

 

In accordance with the provisions of ASC 820, “Fair Value Measurements,” the Company determines fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between unaffiliated market participants at the measurement date. The Company generally applies the income approach to determine fair value. This method uses valuation techniques to convert future amounts to a single present amount. The measurement is based on the value indicated by current market expectations with respect to the future amounts.

 

ASC 820 establishes a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs used to measure fair value. Assets and liabilities measured at fair value are categorized based on whether the inputs are observable in the market and the degree that the inputs are observable. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to active markets for identical assets and liabilities (Level 1 measurement) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurement). The categorization of financial instruments within the valuation hierarchy is based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are as follows:

 

Level 1 - Observable inputs such as quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities

 

Level 2 - Inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly. These include quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active and inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the asset or liability

 

Level 3 - Unobservable inputs that reflect management’s assumptions.

For disclosure purposes, assets and liabilities are classified in their entirety in the fair value hierarchy level based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the overall fair value measurement. The Company’s assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement requires judgment and may affect the placement within the fair value hierarchy levels.

 

The Company’s financial instruments consist principally of cash and cash equivalents, accounts payable and accrued liabilities. The carrying amounts of cash and cash equivalents (which includes U.S. treasury bills), accounts payable and accrued liabilities are considered to be representative of their respective fair values because of the short-term nature of those instruments. U.S. treasury bills are classified as Level 1 on the fair value hierarchy as there are quoted prices in active markets for identical assets.  

 

Certain Risks and Uncertainties

 

The Company will need additional funding by way of a combination of strategic alliances, government grants, further offerings of equity securities, or an offering of debt securities in order to support its future research and development (R&D) activities required to further enhance and complete the development of its fuel products to a proof-of-concept stage and a commercial stage thereafter.

 

There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to successfully continue to conduct its operations if there is a lack of financial resources available in the future to continue its fuel development activities, and a failure to do so would have a material adverse effect on the Company’s future R&D activities, financial position, results of operations, and cash flows. Also, the success of the Company’s operations will be subject to other numerous contingencies, some of which are beyond management’s control. These contingencies include general and regional economic conditions, contingent liabilities, potential competition with other nuclear fuel developers, including those entities developing accident tolerant fuels, changes in government regulations, support for nuclear power, changes in accounting and taxation standards, inability to achieve overall short-term and long-term research and development milestones toward commercialization, future impairment charges to its assets, and global or regional catastrophic events. The Company may also be subject to various additional political, economic, and other uncertainties.

 

Cash and Cash Equivalents

 

The Company may at times invest its excess cash in interest bearing accounts and U.S. treasury bills. It classifies all highly liquid investments with original stated maturities of three months or less from date of purchase as cash equivalents and all highly liquid investments with stated maturities of greater than three months as marketable securities. The Company holds cash balances in excess of the federally insured limits of $250,000. It deems this credit risk not to be significant as cash is held by two prominent financial institutions in 2023 and 2022. The Company buys and holds short-term U.S. treasury bills to maturity. U.S. treasury bills totaled $20.0 million and $19.9 million at March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively. The remaining $8.1 million and $9.0 million at March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively, are on deposit with two notable financial institutions.

 

Contributed services - Research and Development

 

The Company was awarded a grant in 2019 and a second grant in 2021 from the United States Department of Energy (DOE) which represented contributed services to further the Company’s R&D activities. The Company concluded that its government grants were not within the scope of the revenue recognition standard ASC Topic 606 as they did not meet the definition of a contract with a customer. Additionally, the Company concluded that the grants met the definition of a contribution, as the grants were a non-reciprocal transaction. As such, the Company determined that Subtopic 958-605, Not-for-Profit-Entities-Revenue Recognition applies for these contributed services, even though the Company is a business entity, as guidance in the contributions received subsections of Subtopic 958-605 applies to all entities (not-for-profits and business entities).

 

Subtopic 958-605 requires that nonfinancial assets, which includes services, such as the research and development services provided under the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) vouchers described in Note 6, should be shown on a gross method at the fair value of the services contributed, with contributed services - research and development shown as other operating income and the related costs as a charge to research and development expense, rather than depicting contributed services - research and development as a reduction of research and development expense. The fair value of contributed services was determined by the cost of professional time and materials which were charged by the subcontractor who fulfilled the services contributed under the grant award. The principal market used to arrive at fair value is the market in which the Company operates.

Stock-Based Compensation

 

The stock-based compensation expense incurred by Lightbridge for employees and directors in connection with its equity incentive plan is based on the employee model of ASC 718, and the fair value of any stock options granted is measured at the grant date. In accordance with ASU 2018-07, Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Nonemployee Share-Based Payment Accounting, options granted to our consultants are accounted for in the same manner as options issued to employees.

 

Awards with service-based vesting conditions only: Expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period of the award.

 

Awards with performance-based vesting conditions: Expense is not recognized until it is determined that it is probable the performance-based conditions will be met. When achievement of a performance-based condition is probable, a catch-up of expense is recorded as if the award had been vesting on a straight-line basis from the award date. The award will continue to be expensed on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period until a higher performance-based condition is met, if applicable.

 

Awards with market-based vesting conditions: Expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period, which is the lesser of the derived service period or the explicit service period if one is present. However, if the market condition is satisfied prior to the end of the requisite service period, the Company accelerates all remaining expense to be recognized.

 

Awards with both service-based or performance-based and market-based vesting conditions: If an award vesting or exercisability is conditional upon the achievement of either a market condition or performance or service conditions, the requisite service period is generally the shortest of the explicit, implicit, and derived service period.

 

The Company elected to use the Black-Scholes pricing model to determine the fair value of stock options on the measurement date of the grant for service-based vesting conditions and the Monte-Carlo valuation method for performance-based or market-based vesting conditions for stock options. The Company estimates forfeitures at the time of grant and revises the estimate, if necessary, in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from those estimates. The forfeiture rate estimate used for all equity awards was zero, based on the experience of the Company having an insignificant historical forfeiture rate. Shares that are issued to employees upon exercise of the stock options or vesting of Restricted Stock Units or Restricted Stock Awards (RSAs) grants may be issued net of a number of shares with a fair value equal to the required tax withholding requirements to be paid by the Company regarding its tax withholding obligations. As a result, the actual number of shares issued with tax withholding obligations are fewer than the actual number of shares exercised under the stock option or on the dates of vesting of restricted stock unit or RSAs grants.

 

The Company grants two types of RSAs. The first type is an award of our shares that have full voting rights and dividend rights (with dividends paid upon vesting of the RSA) but are restricted with regard to sale or transfer before vesting. These restrictions lapse over the vesting period. The shares are forfeited and returned to the Company if they do not vest. The RSAs are included in common stock issued and outstanding and are considered contingently issuable in the calculation of weighted-average shares outstanding for purposes of calculating earnings per share. The condensed consolidated statement of changes in stockholders’ equity shows the initial grant of RSAs as a reclassification from additional paid-in capital to common stock, with any compensation expense related to the RSAs included in stock-based compensation. The second type of RSAs that can be granted by the Company can have only performance conditions. These RSAs do not have voting and dividend rights until they vest as ordinary common shares and are not included in common stock issued and outstanding.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncement

 

The FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326). This standard requires a financial asset to be presented at the net amount expected to be collected. The financial assets of the Company in scope of ASU 2016-13 will primarily be accounts receivable. The Company will estimate an allowance for expected credit losses on accounts receivable that result from the inability of customers to make required payments. In estimating the allowance for expected credit losses, consideration will be given to the current aging of receivables, historical experience, and a review for potential bad debts. The Company does not expect to have revenue or substantial receivables for the foreseeable future. The Company adopted this guidance in the first quarter of fiscal 2023 and it did not have a material impact since the Company had no outstanding accounts receivable on which to apply this new standard.