Byrna Technologies, Inc.

Good morning. Welcome to Berna's Fiscal First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Rob, and I'll be your operator for today's call. Joining us for today's presentation are the company's CEO, Brian Ganz, and CFO, David North. Following their remarks, we'll open the call to questions. Earlier today, Berna released results for its Fiscal First Quarter ended February 29, 2024. A copy of the press release is available on the company's website. Before turning the call over to Brian Ganz, Berna Technologies' Chief Executive Officer, I'll read the Safe Harbor Statement. Some discussions held today include forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from the statements made today. Please refer to Berna's most recent 10-K and 10-Q filings for a more complete description of risk factors that could affect these projections and assumptions. The company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. As this call will include references to non-GAAP results, please see the press release in the investor section of our website, ir.berna.com, for further information regarding forward-looking statements and reconciliations of non-GAAP results to GAAP results. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Berna's CEO, Brian Ganz.

Sir, please proceed. Thank you, Rob, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. This morning, we filed our first quarter 10Q at the SEC and issued a press release providing financial results for the fiscal first quarter ended February 29, 2024, along with key business accomplishments we've made so far this year. I'll begin this morning by passing the call over to David North, our CFO, to discuss our financial results for Q1. Following that, I'll review what was a strong start to the year, highlighted by our GAAP profitability, offer insights into our operations, and then discuss our go-forward strategy. And then lastly, we'll open the call to questions from our publishing analysts. David? Thank you, Brian, and good morning, everyone.

So let's discuss our financial results for the first fiscal quarter ended February 29th, 2024. Net revenue for Q1 2024 was $16.7 million, and that's up 98% from the $8.4 million we reported in the first fiscal quarter of 2023. This $8.3 million increase is primarily due to the transformational pivot in our advertising strategy, which we kicked off in September of 2023. The success of our celebrity endorsement strategy resulted in a $6.7 million increase in direct-to-customer revenues through our website and Amazon compared to the prior year period. We also experienced year-over-year growth throughout all of our business segments. Gross profit for Q1 2024 was $9.6 million or 58% of net revenue compared to $5.2 million for Q1 of 2023. The increase in gross profit was a result of the increase in sales. Operating expenses for Q1 2024 were $9.8 million, compared to $7.2 million for Q1 2023. The increase in operating expenses was primarily driven by an increase in marketing spend as part of the company's new celebrity endorsement and television advertising strategy, and also, of course, by an increase in variable expenses, which increase with sales volume. This quarter was profitable. Net income for Q1 2024 was $17,000 compared to a net loss of approximately $2.2 million for Q1 2023. This very significant improvement in net income was primarily due to the increase in sales associated with the new marketing campaigns. Adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP metric for Q1 2024, totaled $1.2 million compared to negative EBITDA $0.6 million for Q1 of 2023. Under the balance sheet, cash and cash equivalents on February 29, 2024 totaled $24.2 million compared to $20.5 million on November 30, 2023. Inventory on February 29, 2024 totaled $12.1 million compared to $13.9 million on November 30, 2023. and the company has no current debt. That concludes my prepared remarks and I'll now turn it back to Brian.