UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
                    
FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): May 15, 2020

LAKE AREA CORN PROCESSORS, LLC
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
 
 
 
South Dakota
000-50254
46-0460790
(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)
(Commission File Number)
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
 
 
 
46269 SD Highway 34
P.O. Box 100
Wentworth, South Dakota 57075
(Address of principal executive offices)
 
(605) 483-2676
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions (see General Instruction A.2. below):

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Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)
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Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)
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Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))
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Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: None

Title of each class
Trading Symbol(s)
Name of each exchange on which registered
 
 
 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).

Emerging Growth Company o

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. o









Item 8.01 Other Events

Lake Area Corn Processors, LLC (the "Company"), relying on SEC Release No. 34-88465 Order Under Section 36 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Modifying Exemptions From the Reporting and Proxy Delivery Requirements for Public Companies (the "Order"), is unable to timely file its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 (the "First Quarter Report"). The Company could not timely file the First Quarter Report due to COVID-19 related schedule disruptions and the additional time needed by the Company to evaluate and quantify certain financial statement matters which resulted from the impact COVID-19 is having on the Company's financial position. Specifically, significantly decreased demand for ethanol as people are not traveling due to COVID-19 has impacted the Company's financial position and required management to evaluate financial statement disclosures related to this impact. The Company estimates it will file its First Quarter Report on June 15, 2020.

Risk Factors     

The following risk factors are provided due to material changes from the risk factors previously disclosed in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019. The risk factors set forth below should be read in conjunction with the risk factors section and the Management's Discussion and Analysis section included in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019.

We are subject to global and regional economic downturns and related risks. The level of demand for our products is affected by global and regional demographic and macroeconomic conditions. A significant downturn in global economic growth, or recessionary conditions in major geographic regions for prolonged periods, may lead to reduced demand for our products, which could have a negative effect on the market price of our products in the United States.  For example, in December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus surfaced in Wuhan, China (“COVID-19”). In just a few months, the spread of COVID-19 has resulted in businesses suspending or terminating global operations and travel, self-imposed or government-mandated quarantines, and an overall slowdown of economic activity in some areas.  Cases have been confirmed worldwide, including in Japan, Italy, Brazil, Canada and the United States.  To the extent that such economic conditions negatively impact consumer and business confidence, travel and consumption patterns or volumes for our products, our business and results of operations could be significantly and adversely affected.

COVID-19 may negatively impact our ability to operate our business which could decrease or eliminate the value of our units. COVID-19 has resulted in significant uncertainty in many areas of our business.  We do not know how long these conditions will last.  This uncertainty is expected to negatively impact our operations.  We may experience labor shortages if our employees are unable or unwilling to come to work.  In addition, if our suppliers cannot deliver the supplies we need to operate our business, including corn and chemicals for our operations, we may be forced to shutdown operations or reduce production.  In addition, if we are unable to ship our products because of trucking or rail shipping disruptions, it could also result in a forced shutdown or reduction of production.  If we are unable to operate the ethanol plant at capacity, it may result in unfavorable operating results, especially since we will continue to pay our fixed costs of maintaining the facility.  Any shutdown or reduction of production, especially for an extended period of time, could reduce or eliminate the value of our units.

Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This report contains forward-looking statements that involve known and unknown risks and relate to future events, our future financial performance, or our expected future operations and actions. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "future," "intend," "could," "hope," "predict," "target," "potential," "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are only our predictions based on current information and involve numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties. Our actual results or actions may differ materially from these forward-looking statements for many reasons, including the reasons described in this report and our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019.

The cautionary statements referred to in this section also should be considered in connection with any subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements that may be issued by us or persons acting on our behalf. We undertake no duty to update these forward-looking statements, even though our situation may change in the future. Furthermore, we cannot guarantee future results, events, levels of activity, performance, or achievements. We caution you not to put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this report.  You should read this report and the documents that we reference in this report and have filed as exhibits completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we currently expect.  We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.







SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
 
 
 
LAKE AREA CORN PROCESSORS, LLC
 
 
 
 
Date:
May 15, 2020
 
/s/ Robbi Buchholtz
 
 
 
Robbi Buchholtz, Chief Financial Officer