Cronos Group Inc.

Good morning, my name is Josh and I will be your conference operator today. I would like to welcome everyone to Kronos 2023, fourth quarter and full year earnings conference call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Shane Laidlaw, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Josh. And thank you for joining us today to review Kronos' 2023 fourth quarter and full year financial and business performance. Today, I am joined by our chairman president and CEO, Mike Gornstein and our CFO, James Holm. Kronos issued a news release announcing our financial results this morning, which is filed on our EDGAR and CDAR profiles. This information as well as the prepared remarks will also be posted on our website under Investor Relations. This information presented during this call is preliminary and subject to change until the company's audited consolidated financial statements are filed with the SEC, which we anticipate occurring later today. Before I turn the call over to Mike, let me remind you that we may make forward looking statements and refer to non-GAAP financial measures during this call. These forward looking statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations are detailed in our earnings materials and our SEC filings that are available on our website, which any forward looking statements made during this call are qualified in their entirety. Information about non-GAAP financial measures, including reconciliations to US GAAP, can also be found in our earnings materials that are available on our website. Lastly, we will be making statements regarding market share information throughout this conference call, and unless otherwise stated, all market share data is provided by HiFire. We will now make prepared remarks and then we will move to a question and answer session. With that, I'll pass it over to Kronos' Chairman, President, and CEO, Mike Gorenstein.

Thank you, Shane, and good morning, everyone. As we reflect on 2023, I'm incredibly proud of everyone at Kronos as we have successfully steered our company through a variety of transformational changes. In addition to our products winning in the market, we have positioned Kronos well to capitalize on opportunities in 2024. We captured 30 million in operating expense savings in 2023, which exceeded our previously stated target of 20 to 25 million. Following the 5 million overachievement savings in 2023, we anticipate saving incremental 5 to 10 million in 2024. We extended our USCVD operations to focus on adult use products, and we entered into a sale leaseback agreement for our Peace Naturals campus and Stainer that we anticipate receiving 17 million for. And we wound down operations at our Winnipeg facility, which is currently listed for sale. These changes culminated in significant cashflow improvement and we stayed laser focused on organic growth. We grew the spinach brand to be the number two brand by market share in Canada, propelled by number one rankings in the flower and edible categories. We launched the Lord Jones brand in Canada, opened two international markets, Germany and Australia, and continue to navigate our business through the war in Israel. Our cash and equivalent balance increased by approximately 22 million from Q3 to roughly 862 million, driven by operating expense reductions, increased interest income, and improvements in working capital. Chronos has the strongest balance sheet in the cannabis industry, and we continue to manage our capital responsibly, while maintaining our ability to launch innovative borderless products and creating a blueprint for selling into other cannabis markets as they open up. Starting with our growing international business, we continued ramping up with our German distribution partner, CanSativa, a leading distributor of medical cannabis in Germany. CanSativa has a network of approximately 2000 pharmacies that currently supply around 300,000 patients in Germany's medical market. Our Peace Naturals flowers products have quickly gained patient attention and loyalty, which has elevated Peace Naturals to be a leading brand in the German market, led by winning genetics from our in-house screening program, such as GMO Cookies and Wedding Cake. Within weeks of launching, our GMO Cookies Flowers Q achieved a leading position by market share in Germany. Re-entering the German market was a significant milestone for Kronos, and we look forward to expanding our reach and brand awareness with the help of CanSativa. On Friday, Germany's chief legislative body approved a cannabis bill that opens up the cannabis market in Germany, including no longer classifying cannabis as a narcotic. This change allows us to more effectively market the patients and unlock the significant runway of growth in the market. We believe Kronos is well positioned with a leading distributor and -in-class genetics to capitalize on the growth fueled by potential legislative changes. Turning to Australia, we continue to work with our partner, Vitora Health, of which Kronos owns approximately 10% of the common shares. Supplying the Australian market, which has grown significantly in the past three years, reaching approximately 200 million retail sales in 2023, according to BDS Analytics, is another accomplishment Kronos worked towards achieving in the back half of 2023. We look forward to working closely with our partners at Vitora to provide patients with high-quality cannabis products. Our German and Australian market entrances were a positive way to cap off the back half of 2023 and are expected to be growth drivers for us in 2024. Kronos will continue to look for additional international growth opportunities as 2024 progresses and new markets open and evolve. We have a leading flower-green program and an innovation pipeline winning in the Canadian market, which we're eager to bring to a broader subset of patients and consumers globally. Moving to Israel, despite the challenges of the war, our Israel colleagues have shown incredible resilience and resolve. They continue to push the business forward despite the war, geopolitical climate, and market issues. Powered by our genetic breeding program, Peace Naturals continues to be a leading brand in market, with skews such as GMO and wedding cake leading the pack. These genetics are repeatedly proving to be winners as we enter new markets. In early January, we launched a new brand called Lit. Lit has a differentiated marketing positioning with a more approachable price point while maintaining the quality that's become synonymous with our existing products and markets. Following stagnant patient growth count for most of 2023, the market experienced a rebound in growth in the fourth quarter, providing a positive tailwind for the industry. This coincides with the regulator, the IKAR, reviewing an overhaul of cannabis regulations that would gradually improve ease of access for patients by moving to a prescription model and moving cannabis to a first line treatment option for doctors treating certain disease indications. The growing patient count, which now exceeds 140,000, coupled with potentially regulatory reform, can unlock growth for the industry and we are well positioned to take advantage of it. Turning to Canada, during the fourth quarter, we continued to execute our plan to create a robust offering of borderless products highlighted by new launches and strong market performance. Our spinach brand closed 2023 as the number one ranked flower brand in Canada with a .9% market share in the fourth quarter, up from the fourth ranked brand in 2022. This achievement is the culmination of years of genetic breeding, R&D investment, and best in class cultivation at scale with our JV Chronoscroco, which has separated our products from the field. Capping the leading position in flower around that strong year of growth and innovation for the spinach product portfolio, which is ranked the second best selling cannabis brand in Canada across all categories as December 2023. In the edible category, spinach edibles accounted for .2% of the market's retail sales in the fourth quarter, remaining the market leader in edible. We have an incredible product that continues to launch a new flavor profile in cannabinoid blends. The perfect example of a borderless scalable product. In total, we have four edible products in the top 15 market share ranks. The spinach brand also recently launched its strawberry kiwi 5 to 1 CBD THC sour gummies. These gummies were designed to compete with other CBD 4 edible products, seeing success in market, and the 10 pack offers a chance for these lower THC edibles to be shared among friends. Earlier this month, our Lord Jones brand launched Chocolate Fusions, an exciting first entry into the chocolate edibles category. Qoros' newest edible innovation was developed and designed by an expert team of culinary chefs, food scientists, and leaders in cannabis product development. The bite-sized Chocolate Fusions feature a dynamic multi-texture experience, combining a soft and chewy center, crunch inclusions, and an outer layer of rich creamy chocolate that delivers a decadent sweet treat for adult consumers. We believe Chocolate Fusions are a category defining product that will expand the chocolate segment. Chocolate Fusions deliver on what adult consumers have come to expect from our brand. Truly differentiated, consistent, and high quality products that introduce new and unexpected ways to consume and experience cannabis. We look forward to growing the Lord Jones brand in Canada and building a bold premium portfolio that shapes the future of what is possible in cannabis innovation. Turning to vapes, I'm really excited about our efforts and the success we're seeing in this category. We climbed into number three market share positioning, growing to .7% of the market in Q4. We've done a lot of work on our vape portfolio in the past year, and it's great to see these strong results in the market. In 2024, we'll continue to evolve the vape category by providing consumers with slater forward profiles and rarer cannabinoid combinations, such as our new 1.2 gram format, which was a large driver of the games in the quarter. In January 2024, we launched Lord Jones Live Resin Vapes in two different hardware options. The lineup features versatile sizes, including a half gram trial size and the convenience of an -in-one device, and a one gram stock-up size of the 510 thread cartridge, catering to both enthusiasts and those new to the category. Crafted with a discerning cannabis consumer in mind, these products embody a commitment to excellence, offering an unmatched combination of curated strains, pure live resin, and high quality hardware. I'm incredibly proud of these new products, and we see them helping us penetrate more of the vape category in 2024. We also continue to improve and drive innovation through our spinach pre-roll portfolio, with several new and used products, including Pink Lemonade, Peach Punch, and Strawberry Slurricade. Year over year, our pre-roll retail sales grew by 137% in fourth quarter. In Q4, we added a Spinach Fields Full Tilt THCV pre-roll to our infused pre-roll lineup. This pre-roll offers a boosted and elevated high due to THC and THCV blend, and complements our existing THCV vape and gummy products. In the fourth quarter, we launched the Lord Jones Icewater Hash Fusion pre-rolls. The popularity of hash products in premium pre-rolls is increasing amongst adult consumers. Icewater Hash is the most popular solvent-less infusion, and is the second most popular infusion overall in the pre-roll category. These pre-rolls are crafted with an optimized ratio of premium high-potency flour and complimentary solvent-less icewater hash, which preserves the buds' natural terpenes, fitted with a reusable ceramic tip to help cool the smoke. These new products have been extensively researched and sensory tested to deliver a smoother experience featuring bold flavors. Both the white Tahoe and Cosmic Kush strains of our Lord Jones infused pre-rolls are selling well in the Alberta and BC markets. We're excited to see additional growth when the pre-rolls become available more widely in Canada throughout this year. With our award-winning pre-rolls and strong position in dried flour, we know it can continue to grow in this category under both our Lord Jones and spinach brands through innovations and quality product offerings. Turning to our Canadian Cultivation Joint venture, GroCo's performance in cultivation continues to be strong. GroCo reported to us preliminary unannounced revenue of approximately 6.6 million from non-Chronos customers in the fourth quarter. Additionally, the credit facility that Chronos previously provided GroCo currently has 69.8 million outstanding following the principal repayments of 5.6 million by GroCo in 2023. In addition, GroCo made interest payments of 10.3 million in 2023. The solid financial performance of GroCo yielding equity pickup, interest payments, and loan payback to Chronos is a vital component of our overall financial picture. Turning to the U.S. market, we're pleased to hear of increased momentum to reclassify cannabis. Regardless of the specifics of how federal regulation and commercialization of cannabis products evolve, rescheduling would be an important step in the right direction for U.S. cannabis, and we hope to see continued momentum in 2024. This year's successes have resulted in significant operating expense savings and a substantial improvement in cash flow, which better positions us to assemble a portfolio of borderless products with strategic infrastructure and global partnerships. Our long-term strategy to invest in branded innovation and stay asset light is working, and we're just getting started. The combination of these efforts and an industry-leading balance sheet set us up well to execute in any market. With that, I'd like to pass it on to James to take you through our financials.

Thanks, Mike, and good morning, everyone. I will now review our full year 2023 results at a high level before getting into the details of the fourth quarter. In 2023, we increased net revenue 1% year over year to 87.2 million, with strong performance in Canada and commencement of sales to Germany and Australia balanced by a slowdown in Israel. Constant currency consolidated net revenue increased 6% to 91.7 million. Total operating expenses declined by 30 million versus the prior year, adjusted EBITDA improved by 12% to negative 61 million, and operating cash flow improved by 46 million to negative 43 million. I will now review our fourth quarter 2023 results in relation to the prior year period. The company reported consolidated net revenue of 23.9 million, a 9% increase from the prior year. Constant currency consolidated net revenue increased by 11% to 24.5 million. The revenue increase is primarily driven by higher cannabis flower sales in Canada and cannabis shipments to Germany and Australia, partially offset by lower cannabis flower sales in Israel due to the war and competitive activity and an adverse price mix in the Canadian cannabis flower category, driving increased excise tax payments as a percentage of revenue. Gross profit in the fourth quarter was 1.9 million, equating to an 8% gross margin, representing a 0.7 million improvement from the prior year period. The increase is primarily driven by higher sales in Canada and continued supply chain optimization. Looking at the margin for the full year, we had been performing well in the first nine months, highlighted by a steady margin profile between 15 and 16% through the third quarter. Unfortunately, due to both the war in Israel and increased competitive activity, margins were negatively impacted. As we look into 2024 with a more streamlined operational footprint, we are working to further optimize our supply chain and add automation to our production processes to increase throughput and drive costs out of the system, which should improve margins throughout the year. We anticipate that as we move through 2024, we will recover from the fourth quarter performance and build upon the success we had in the first nine months of 2023. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter was negative 14.8 million, representing a 4.2 million improvement from the prior year. The improvement was primarily driven by a decline in general and administrative and research and development expenses and improvement in gross profits. Following the increase to our operating expense savings goal to 20 to 25 million in Q2, 2023, we are pleased to share that we surpassed the high end of the range by 5 million, achieving 30 million in operating expense savings. Due to the overachievement in savings in 2023, we're adjusting our 2024 savings projections to deliver an incremental five to 10 million. Turning to the balance sheet, the company ended the quarter with approximately 862 million in cash and short-term investment, which is up by about 22 million from the third quarter. In addition to delivering on operational efficiencies and maximizing the return on our cash, we received an interest payment on our GrowCo senior secured loan of 1.9 million and a principal repayment of 1.4 million for total cash paid by GrowCo to Kronos of 3.3 million in Q4. In total for 2023, we received 10.3 million in interest payments and 5.6 million in principal payments. Having the best balance sheet in the cannabis industry enables us to take calculated strategic bets while we remain steadfastly focused on reducing cash flow. Moving to the cash flow statement, cash flow from operations was positive, approximately 16.8 million representing a substantial improvement. And free cash flow defined as operating cash flow left capex was positive 15 million, another great achievement. We have many wins to point to, market share gains, OPEX reduction, cash balance optimization and improving cash flow from operations. And we are reaffirming our guidance that we anticipate the net change in cash defined as the sum of cash and cash equivalent and short-term investments to be positive in 2024. Looking back on these improvements, I share in Mike's confidence in the trajectory of the business and our preparedness for entry in the new markets as they become available. With that, I'll turn it back to Mike.

Thank you, James. 2023 was an impressive

year for Kronos. We continue to transform our business and adapt it to where our industry is today. Our brands are winning globally, thanks to all the hard work from our employees to bring best in class, portals products to market. Our spinach brand is the number two brand overall and holds number one positions in both flower and edible. We launched Lord Jones in Canada by returning the brand to its cannabis roots with a suite of innovative and high quality products. And we can't wait to continue to build. Before getting into questions, I wanna level set what is under the Kronos umbrella and where things stand today. We closed the year with approximately 862 million in cash and short-term investments and zero debt. We generated over 14 million interest income in Q4 and we anticipate generating approximately 40 to 50 million in interest income in 2024. In Canada, our spinach brand is the second most popular brand. We brought the Lord Jones brand to the Canadian adult use cannabis market with products we know can win. We have a leading medical brand, Peace Naturals in Israel, which posted 21.1 million in net revenue in 2023. In the fourth quarter of 2023, we shipped cannabis to Germany and Australia, extending our global reach. We have a .9% stake in Pharmacans, one of the largest US MSOs currently on our books for 26 million. We own 50% of the equity in Kronos GroCo, which is profitable. And GroCo paid us 15.9 million in principal and interest payments in 2023. We have an approximate 10% stake in Vitora, the leading medical cannabis company in Australia on our books for 9.6 million. And finally, we have an exclusive partnership with Altria on a global basis. We've stabilized our cash balance and drastically improved our cash growth trajectory, making us one of the best positioned cannabis companies to take advantage of new market growth opportunities. We're heading into this new fiscal year energized and ready to take Kronos to its next chapter. With that, I'll open the line for questions.

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up.

One moment for questions. Our first question comes from John

Zamparo with CIBC Capital Markets. You may proceed.

Thank you, good morning. I wanted to start on gross margin. You mentioned some of the reasons that that was lower in the quarter versus Q3. I wonder if you could rank order those and then are the initiatives that you identified for next year about automation and a few other items, is the benefit of that included in your cost savings target for 24 or would that be incremental to it?

Thanks, John. So we showed steady results in the first nine months of the year with gross margin ranging between 15 and 16%. Looking beyond the inventory write downs, we showed steady improvement kind of throughout the year, right with the exception of Q4. Unfortunately, due to the war in Israel and the increased competitive activity, those margins were negatively affected. We do anticipate that as we move through 2024, we'll recover from that fourth quarter performance and build upon the success we had in the first nine months. Positive impacts to our gross margin in the quarter will continue to be our cannabis extract category that carry a higher margin profile and benefit from lower cannabis biomass costs as we continue to leverage our joint venture with GrowCo and improve fixed cost absorption in our Canadian supply chain as we continue to grow the business and further optimize our supply chain costs. Further, the announced exit of our Winnipeg facility is also anticipated to drive additional cog saving in 2024, contributing to the five to 10 million in savings target for 24. And then John, as you alluded, there's some additional opportunity that we're driving automation into the supply chain. And so some of that is baked in. There's additional potential upside as well throughout the year.

Got it, okay, that's helpful. And then two parts, my second question. I would love to get your thoughts on each of Australia and Germany, in particular how it relates to Kronos. Australia is seemingly interesting to a lot of different LPs. It's becoming more crowded. Do you think that market has sustainability in terms of its growth or the barriers to entry that would prevent further participants from joining? And on Germany, what upside do you think Kronos has given you use the distributor model with respect to the recent change in legislation? Thank you.

Sure, thanks John. So I think when you look at the Australian and German market, last year they were similar sizes with the Australian market being a little larger. And you see pretty similar barriers with other international markets just in terms of having the type of supply chain and kind of what you need to make sure you get products across the border and meet really tight specs. For us, similar to other markets, what's gonna really matter is having great genetics and making sure that those genetics are grown very well. So what's propelled us to lead in Israel and Canada and Germany is what we expect will allow us to succeed there. As far as growth relative to Germany, I think just given the country size, I wouldn't expect it to continue to outpace Germany, but I do think they're still runway ahead. Germany, we already expected there to be growth, but a week ago having the vote to change the way that cannabis is treated, it is a bill that opened up the cannabis market and it's no longer classified as narcotic. And I think that's really significant because while people may talk about the adult use or compassion clubs and what that might mean, really for us what this means is we are allowed to now effectively market medical cannabis. And that's a significant change. So I expect a lot of growth in Germany. I think from international market perspective, that's what the story should be over the

next year. That's great, thank you very much. Thank you.

One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Bill Kirk with Roth MKM. You may proceed.

Hey, good morning everyone. So increased competitive activity was noted as a margin headwind. Were there specific formats or provinces where you saw that increased competitive activity?

Yeah, so thanks for the question. I'd say overall, right, we experienced competition across the board. Mainly what we were alluding to there was competition in Israel driven by the war. And so a lot of the competitors are essentially dealing with the same problems that we are today. There are supply chain issues there. Thankfully our facility was not directly impacted and we have an extremely resilient workforce there. And so we've done a lot to stabilize and continue to produce and make sure we're providing our best in class products to the end consumer. We do experience a little bit of competition in Canada as well. But I think in Canada, you're seeing that, even in spite of the competition, right, we are number one in flour, number one in edible, number three in vape, and number eight in pre-roll and steadily increasing. So we feel very confident in our portfolio and in the products and innovation that we're bringing to market.

And then if I could follow up on Germany, why would the changes in Germany help grow the medical market rather than if cannabis isn't a narcotic, why wouldn't the, call it the adult use, unstructured adult use market take share from the current medical market? Could you help me kind of figure that, think about that a little bit?

Sure, that's a great question. If you compare how cannabis has been treated in Europe versus North America, it's completely different. When you think about medical cannabis in the US, it's not really going through a pharmaceutical-like system. And in Germany, it has truly been treated like a narcotic. And so extremely, extremely restrictive marketing regime. Changing that and allowing you to actually go communicate with the benefits of having a superior product art to patients, I think is a game changer. And the adult use program that people talk about in Germany isn't really a commercial adult use program. You're not able to have the same type of infrastructure you have in Canada or Germany. There's not actual legal adult use sales. It's really just lessening the penalties of an illicit adult use market. And I think with that, you won't expect to see quality product coming out, improved access to quality product. So it'll bifurcate this sort of illicit market with a premium medical market. And you layer the ability to advertise the market on top of that. I think it's funneled people toward premium product.

That was great, thanks Mike.

Thank you. And as a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone. One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Yewon Kang with Canaccord Genuity, you may proceed.

Hi, good morning, this is Yewon Kang on behalf of NAPBotomy. Thank you for the question. I just wanted to drill down on the gross margin question just a little bit more. Want to ask in relation to the relatively stable adjust with the loss that you guys saw this quarter. Could it be perhaps that there was some kind of reclassification of certain expenses between operating expenses and costs that led to a drop off in the gross margin profile, but a stable adjust with the loss this quarter, thanks.

Yeah, thanks for the question. So as we mentioned, it really was predominantly driven by Israel and the increased competitive activity there due to the war, and then some inventory write down related to that. So that's really the main driver.

Okay, got it. In terms of Lord Jones launch, I know the launch was only a couple of months ago, but could you just comment on maybe the initial reaction from the consumers that you're seeing across Canada and what the bartenders are saying about the brand?

Sure, thanks. Yeah, I think it's been very positive. As you mentioned, it's been limited in terms of the size of the launch so far, but we wanted to take a very tailored and cautious approach. But when we look at distribution, we're seeing reorders, we're seeing strong demand, specifically the hash infused pre-rolls, we're seeing the top of the category. So we're very excited about that. And a lot of anticipation, I think especially given the success we've had in Sours for chocolate fusions, which we really expect to be a crown jewel portfolio and something that can not just define the category, but push the overall chocolate category forward to where we think it should be, it sits within Edible.

Thank you. And this concludes the conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.