GrowGeneration Corp.

Hello, and welcome to Grow Generation's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. My name is Joanna. I will be coordinating your call today. Following prepared remarks, we will open the call to questions from analysts with instructions to be given at that time. I'll now hand the call over to John Mills with ICR. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and welcome everyone to the Grow Generation's first quarter 2024 earnings results conference call. Today's call is being recorded. With us today are Darren Lampert, co-founder, chief executive officer, and Greg Sanders, chief financial officer of GrowGen Corporation. You should have access to the company's first quarter earnings press release issued after the market closed today. This information is available in the investor relations section of GrowGeneration's website at ir.growgeneration.com. Certain comments made on this call include forward-looking statements which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs concerning future events and are subject to several risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements. Please refer to today's press release and other filings with the SEC for a detailed discussion of the risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any of the forward-looking statements made today. During the call, we will use some non-GAAP financial measures as we describe business performance. The SEC filing, as well as the earnings press release, which provides reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are all available on our website. Following our prepared remarks, we will take questions from research analysts. We ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. If you have any additional questions, please re-enter the queue, and we'll take them as time allows. Now, I will turn the call over to our founder and CEO, Darren Lampert.

Darren? Thanks, John, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss our first quarter 2024 financial results. As always, I want to extend my gratitude to each one of our employees across Grow Generation for their dedication and hard work. Your commitment is fundamental and the backbone to our success. I am pleased to announce that our first quarter results were in line with our expectations, with revenue of $47.9 million and adjusted EBITDA of a $2.9 million loss. Encouragingly, our retail stores in isolation were positive on a same-store sales comp basis in the first quarter, which represents the first time we've seen a positive same-store sales comp for retail stores in nine quarters. This indicates the stabilization of sales, affirming the effectiveness of our strategic adjustments over the past two years. Our proprietary brand sales also continue to grow, supporting sequential gross margin improvement from fourth quarter 2023. Lastly, through our continued focus on cost controls, we have achieved the lowest total expense base that the company has reported in three years. Based on this quarter's results, we continue to believe that our business is strong and poised for growth. And you have seen that confidence reflected in our stock repurchase program, which we announced last quarter to help support long-term shareholder value creation. Looking ahead, our strategic focus for 2024 remains on expanding our brand portfolio, growing and broadening our customer base, and prioritizing profitability through rigorous cost control and margin expansion. I'm excited to discuss several key points today that underline our strategic direction and future growth. We continue to see accelerating adoption of our proprietary brands, including Charcor, Drip Hydro, and The Harvest Company. In the quarter, 22.6% of our total gardening and cultivation sales were generated from our proprietary brand portfolio, the highest mix in our company's history. and above the 18.8% we reported for full year 2023. We are especially excited about the early signs of momentum within our drip hydropowder nutrients, which are now in over 300 active trials with licensed cultivators around the country. We expect these trials to begin transitioning to sales and benefiting our P&L beginning late in Q2. Our margin expansion strategy continues to focus on increasing sales of higher margin proprietary products and forging close strategic relationships with key best-of-breed manufacturing partners. We are also working to develop new vertical markets with our existing offerings, including the marketing and sales of the Harvest Company line of proprietary products, which is targeting the home and edible gardening markets. Within the Harvest Company, Branded products include raised garden beds, organic seeds, and various gardening tools and accessories that are now available for sale online and in our stores. We are also actively seeking opportunities to enter the high-value greenhouse, nursery, and floriculture verticals with our proprietary products later this year. Lastly, our commitment to investing in our customer success remains unwavering. We continue to offer a complete suite of industry-leading products, competitive prices, and opportunities for financing and comprehensive inventory management and logistics solutions. Additionally, our soon-to-be-launched digital platform will enhance connectivity to our B2B portal, further empowering our customers' ability and convenience to do business with us. Now, before turning to guidance, I want to briefly mention two additional points. First, I'd like to address the significant news last week that the DEA agreed with the Health and Human Services and FDA recommendation to reschedule cannabis from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance. This critical shift in the regulatory landscape is expected to ease restrictions on cannabis research and to strengthen the cash flow and balance sheets of state legal cannabis operators by allowing them to take federal tax deductions for the business expenses. While additional steps remain and additional challenges such as litigation may arise, we ultimately expect these developments to strengthen investor sentiment and broaden market opportunities for our products as cultivators will have more capital available to invest back into their businesses, including in building new facilities and refreshing existing ones. Regarding next steps, we expect a formal announcement by the DEA soon, following which the proposal will go to the Office of Management and Budget for review and then to public comment, period, before being finalized. We are actively assessing how this regulatory change will impact our operations and strategic opportunities, and we will keep our stakeholders informed and future earnings calls as things progress. Second, continuing from our year-end discussions, we are continuing to seek opportunities to monetize our storage solution segment, MMI, which remains a leader in providing mobile shelving and racking solutions. While we do not have any news to report this quarter, should a material update become available as it relates to the MMI business, we will issue an announcement accordingly. Moving on to our guidance, we are reiterating our previously communicated guidance for full year 2024. We anticipate net revenue to be in the range of $205 million to $215 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to range from a $2 million loss to a $3 million profit. This guidance underscores our confidence in our strategic direction and the underlying strength of our business model. I'm proud of the work and effort our team has put into getting us where we are today. As we look through the balance of the year, we are optimistic that GrowGen is on a solid platform for growth in 2024 and beyond. With that, I'll turn the call over to our CFO, Greg Sanders. Greg?

Thank you, Darren, and good afternoon, everyone.

Starting with our first quarter results, GrowGeneration is pleased to report revenue at 47.9 million versus 56.8 million in the first quarter of 2023, representing a decline of approximately 16% year-over-year. On an absolute basis, this measurement includes the impact of 15 fewer retail locations. Our same-store sales for the gardening and cultivation segment in the first quarter of 2024 was 38.2 million compared to 38.6 million in 2023. representing a 1% decline to the comparable year-ago quarter. Our same-store sales metric includes e-commerce. Excluding e-commerce, retail in isolation was positive on a same-store sales comp basis for the first time since the third quarter of 2021. Our storage solutions revenue was $4.8 million for the quarter, compared to $7.7 million in the year-ago period, representing a decline of 37.9% year-over-year. While our storage solutions revenue did not perform to plan this quarter, we expect some pickup in the second and third quarters for this reporting segment. To offset, gardening and cultivation sales were higher than planned, which is an encouraging development, and in consolidation, first quarter revenue reported at the high end of guidance. Gross profit margin was 25.8% for the first quarter of 2024, a sequential improvement of approximately 230 basis points compared to our fourth quarter 2023 results. Although gross margin improved on a quarter-over-quarter basis, we observed a decline on a year-over-year basis, partially due to higher freight expense than planned, relative to costs associated with relocating inventory from store closures. Further, we observed some impact from segment reporting mix. More specifically, storage solutions, which boasts a 43% gross margin profile, reported at approximately 10% of total company sales in the first quarter, compared to an average of 14% of sales in 2023. As we look forward, we expect sequential improvements in consolidated gross margins in the second and third quarters, resulting from higher planned storage solutions revenue, as well as less impact from store closures. The company's total expense base was $21.8 million in the first quarter, compared to $23.7 million in the first quarter of 2023. Withstanding any further improvements that management executes over the remainder of 2024, this was the lowest total expense base that the company has reported since Q1 of 2021. We believe that the current cost model is sustainable going forward, and it highlights our commitment to driving a more nimble and profitable business long term. Store operating costs and other operational expenses declined to $10.6 million in the first quarter compared to $11.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. The company closed and consolidated four locations in the first quarter of 2024, of which one-time closure costs were included in our first quarter results. We believe that the closures and consolidations align our operating model to future strategic priorities and allow for stronger operating leverage. Selling, general, and administrative costs were $7.9 million in the first quarter, compared to $7.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. Within our first quarter SG&A results were a few significant non-recurring expenses, including $900,000 in severances and legal settlements and $250,000 in marketing samples, primarily attributed to the nutrient powder launch from our proprietary brand, Drip Hydro. Depreciation and amortization of intangibles was 3.7 million in the first quarter of 2024, compared to 4.1 million in the prior quarter. As it relates to income tax, with a full valuation allowance in place, we did not recognize a significant tax benefit or expense in the period. Net loss for the first quarter of 2024 was 8.8 million, or negative 14 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $6.1 million, or negative 10 cents per share, for the comparable year-ago quarter. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, the company improved net income from a net loss of $27.3 million to a net loss of $8.8 million. Adjusted EBITDA, as defined in our press release, was a loss of $2.9 million for the first quarter of 2024, compared to a loss of $1.8 million in the first quarter of 2023. The change in year-over-year performance is primarily related to a $3.9 million decline in gross profit dollars. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, the company improved adjusted EBITDA by approximately $800,000. Now moving to the balance sheet, as of March 31st, 2024, the company had total cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $61.3 million, a decrease of $3.6 million from December 31, 2023. Within working capital, inventory increased by $1.1 million, driven by first quarter bulk inventory purchases to support Q2 sales demand, for which we expect favorable seasonality. We believe that the cash position of the business is in strong health, which was evidenced by our recent announcement of the company's share repurchase program. As Darren mentioned earlier, We are reiterating our full year 2024 guidance with revenue to be between 205 and 215 million in full year adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of a $2 million loss to a positive $3 million profit. Our guidance assumes higher second and third quarter revenue from a seasonality perspective, along with stabilized improvements in our operating expense base from our strategic operating initiatives. That said, We are optimistic about the 2024 fiscal year and how our cost control initiatives have translated into the lowest expense base that we have reported in several years. Our balance sheet remains strong with a healthy cash position from which we see opportunities to deploy resources towards customer growth initiatives, product development, market expansion, and accretive pathways such as the share or purchase program to drive shareholder value. Our daily mandate remains centered on executing the business strategy to drive future growth and profitability. With that, I will turn the call back over to Darren for closing remarks.

Thank you, Greg. As we continue our journey through 2024, our commitment to operational excellence, strategic market expansion, and profitability remains unwavering. I am immensely proud of what our team has achieved, and I look forward to our continued growth and success. We remain optimistic about the future, backed by a robust business model and strategic initiatives that are set to drive our growth in the evolving market landscape. Thank you all once again for your continued support and interest in Grow Generation.

We will now take your questions. Operator?

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star followed by the one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a three-tone prompt. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys.

First question comes from Brian Nagel from Oppenheimer. Please go ahead. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Brian.

My first question, Darren, I know you talked a little bit about this in your prepared comments, but with regard to the, I guess let's just say, you know, potential reschedule here, something we've talked about for a while, but is there any, I recognize it's early and there's still a lot of unknowns, but just as you think about that, and your grow generation business. I mean, is there any parameters you can give us how we should think about, you know, the size of the potential positive or even how this would play out for grow generation?

I think the simple part is, Brian, with rescheduling, 280 egos away. And that is the tax penalty on licensed cultivators. Basically, the analysts are saying almost between $1.5 billion and $2 billion will come back to the balance sheet of the cultivators, which will go to shoring up balance sheets and also going into rebuilding facilities, updating facilities, and going out and getting new products that are coming to market. So there will be a tremendously different you know, viewed with our customers, with money coming back in. Our customers will be making money, reinvesting in their businesses. Over the last three years, you know, with Wall Street pretty much pulling funding from most of the cultivators, most of the public companies, also the large private companies, these cultivators have not been able to refresh their facilities. They haven't put money into facilities and, you know, So we've been in this place where our durable sales have been tremendously low over the last couple of years. But in the first quarter, we did see a little uptick in durables. And we are starting to see much more bidding out there. And we do believe that you will see the other part of our business, the durable side of it, start picking up. And again, everyone still is waiting. It's a waiting game out there, Brian. You know, we've been waiting 10 years since we started GrowGen. It is still, the process is not complete right now. The DEA has agreed with the Health and Human Services to reschedule, but it could be another four to six months, and that's probably as quick as it can go, and that's if litigation and other issues don't arise.

Yeah, it's very, very helpful. Second question, back to your business, but look, you've done a very nice job of streamlining the model over the past several quarters. closing stores were appropriate. So as we look at the business now from a store perspective, is the base of stores appropriate?

You know, right now we're happy with our portfolio. We probably will be closing under three stores this year. But our business has changed dramatically. We're seeing much more business to business opposed to business to consumer. We just opened up 100,000 square foot warehouse in Ohio. And as our business evolves, Our stores are both marketing tools, you know, for our private label brands and also brands of our, you know, some of our top vendors. And the stores are a place for people to go, people to go, you know, our customers to go and learn and also purchase products from us. But we believe that we can service most of our customers from our distribution centers and our largest stores around the country. So right now, we will not be investing in new stores this year. And we probably won't be in the market buying stores. Right now, GrowGen is investing in supply chain distribution or B2B portals. We're investing in our proprietary brands, which you see are growing very quickly. We're investing in our customers. We're easing credit right now. And I think we've given out more credit in the last month to customers than we have in some time. And we're investing in GrowGen. We're investing in stock repurchase plans. So I think we're starting to see different use of our capital. And we're investing in getting GrowGen into the IGC world, the lawn and garden space. So GrowGen is definitely morphing to a different kind of company over the last couple of years since you've seen the slowdown in the cannabis space.

That's very helpful. Appreciate it. Best of luck here. Thank you.

Thank you, Brian.

Thank you. The next question comes from Scott Fortune at Roth MKM. Please go ahead.

Yeah, good afternoon and thank you for the questions. Just kind of following up, you put a lot of emphasis on the proprietary products and the success of that segment moved up very nicely here in the quarter. But just want to kind of get a sense for the potential for your drip nutritional product that you're rolling out here. It sounds like a good interest from that level. And then just remind us the target of proprietary brands, which you are targeting your own brands for the overall business segment and mix. I believe it's about 30%, but where can that target potentially go here?

We believe you'll see anywhere between 30% and 40% on private label proprietary brands out of GrowGen in the future. We believe we end this year somewhere in the mid to high 20s, which is pretty aggressive, and that is dependent upon the drip launch, taking, you know, when you look at the amount of trials that we have around the country right now, those turning into sales in the future. And we do believe you start seeing those late in the second quarter. I mean, we believe that, you know, the drip powder brand could be anywhere from a $25 to $50 million business for GrowGen in the future. We will keep you posted as sales, you know, trials turn into sales.

Got it. I appreciate that. And just kind of from a geographic interest, and you mentioned stores, kind of right-sizing those, but I just want to see, you mentioned you're seeing stabilization in the market overall. But can you provide a little more color on kind of the regions or the areas outside California and Michigan still seem pretty weak there? Just a little more color on certain states that are driving the strength here and the 2Q trends as we look going forward here.

We are seeing strength in California right now, Scott, contrary to what you're hearing. We are winning a lot of new business in the California market. We're also seeing strength in Michigan right now. We're seeing considerable weakness out in Oklahoma and back east in the Maine and Massachusetts markets. But there's tremendous strength at GrowGen right now in California.

I appreciate that. I will jump back in line for you. Thanks. Thank you.

Thank you. The next question comes from Eric Delorier from Craig Howland Capital Group. Please go ahead.

Great. Thank you for taking my questions. First one is just on the proprietary brands. How to think about margins here going forward? You know, it's nice to see the increase in mix here. Obviously, margins were down year over year. So just wondering how to think about the overall margin profile of proprietary brands. And then if there's anything to comment on, you know, sort of the sub segments within that, like if drip hydro has a significantly different margin profile than some of the other proprietary brands. That'd be helpful as well, just kind of looking to get a sense of the margin profile of the proprietary brands. Thanks.

I'm going to keep it kind of basic for you, Eric. We're seeing anywhere from 40% to 50% average within our proprietary brands. You will see the highest margins coming out of the harvest company and usually the lowest margins you'll see coming out of our ion brands, which is our lighting brands, and our nutrients and cocoa, charcoal brands fall somewhere in between.

All right. That's very helpful. And then I'm wondering if you can comment a bit on some of the difference in dynamics between e-commerce revenues and brick and mortar. You called out e-commerce comps as sort of masking the positive same-store sales growth that you saw at retail. I'm just wondering how the sort of demand dynamics within those channels differ and maybe how to think about those going forward as you are investing more in B2B.

I think as you see the cannabis space turning more B2B than B2C, what we've seen with our e-commerce division is some of our larger customers that started out in the e-com division have switched over to our commercial team in some of our stores. where they get white glove service, where they're looking for credit, they're looking for account reps with more skills, opposed to just going on websites and then buying. So it's not that our e-comm division has been slow. It's just, again, it's just the mix of business is much smaller. And again, a lot of our larger customers that were, that did come in through e-comm, that shopped on e-comm, have changed over to a different division of Growjet. We have definitely pulled back expenses on our e-comm division. We pulled back on advertising. A lot of it is very price sensitive, opposed to service sensitive. So again, we will continue to monitor. We are starting to open up some B2B portals for our proprietary brands, which will go through the e-comm division. which should help drive sales through that division.

All right, great. Thank you for taking my questions. Thank you.

The next question comes from Mark Smith from Lake Street. Please go ahead.

Hi, guys. I wanted to ask first off just about inventory. You know, it came up just a little bit here, but looks good year over year. Just give us your thoughts around, you know, comfort levels and kind of the quality of your inventory today. Okay. Reg, I'm going to send that over to you.

Yeah, hey, Mark. You know, today we reported inventory at $66 million for the first quarter, which was up just incrementally to the fourth quarter, primarily due to Q2 sales demand as we look at things. As we get through the year, we see opportunities to continue to take down inventory throughout the course of the year. I mean, that might be five or ten million we're working through. more optimized model on the inventory side of things as we progress throughout the year. But we want to make sure we have the right inventory in the right locations for Q2, which is, from a seasonality perspective, our best performing quarter. So that's a little bit around inventory. And to the quality of the inventory, we still have decent reserves on what we have in place. We feel very, very comfortable with what we have from a quality standpoint and a mix perspective.

Perfect. And then second, just big picture, Darren, just as we think about kind of capital allocation, you've got a good balance sheet with good cash here, you know, how you kind of weigh and think about, you know, investing back in the business, you know, in stores or brands versus, you know, share repurchases or potentially acquisitions. Walk us through kind of how you think about capital allocation today.

Yeah, I think I started off when I answered the question from Brian Nagel, but we'd go over it again. You know, there's five different buckets that we look at right now, especially for 2024 as we go into 2025. And it's mostly organic. It's investing in GrowGen opposed to investing outside of GrowGen. You know, and our first bucket is investing in the business. That's our supply chain distribution where we just built out 100,000 square feet in Ohio. And we're just in the midst of also building up B2B portals for our proprietary brands so people can go online and purchase on our different portals. Secondly, we're investing in proprietary brands. Launches, as you saw, private label went from 18.6 last year up to 22.6 this year. We have over 300 active trials right now with DRIP. We've given out over a quarter of a million dollars of product last quarter for our DRIP launches. Also, we have a full team of salespeople for DRIP right now. We're also investing in new products coming out of Charcor. Some we believe will be in the IGC world, and also new products coming out of PowerSI and the Harvest Company. So GrowGen is spending an enormous amount of money on these product launches, developing new products that we believe will be the future of GrowGen. Thirdly, we're investing in our customers. We've increased credit to to a number of our customers right now. We're starting to invest in certain build-outs for our customers. We're opening up credit as we see the industry starting to turn. We believe the days of people waking up and deciding they want to become growers are over. The individuals that have made it through the harder parts of this market the last four years, we believe are going to be here for a long time to come and be wonderful customers of GrowGen. And we are starting to open up credit at GrowGen and bringing in new customers and also helping old customers. We're also investing in GrowGen. We just announced a $6 million share repurchase that started on April 1st. We will update Wall Street in our second quarter. It's a second quarter event, but we have been in the market buying back stock. And with that, we are always looking at acquisitions. Again, if we find something that we believe is accretive, And in the best interest of our shareholders, we will take a hard look at it. And if it's going to work for GrowGen, we're a buyer. So we are always reviewing, you know, different products, stores out there, and looking within the best interest of GrowGen. So it's that five-step process that we are looking at on a daily basis.

Excellent. Thank you.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. As a reminder, should you have any questions, please press star followed by one. Next question comes from Aaron Gray at Alliance Global. Please go ahead.

Hi, good evening, and thank you for the questions. This is Remy Smith on for Aaron Gray. So my first question, can you provide commentary on how 2Q is looking quarter to date? I know it's historically been a strong quarter for you guys. So any color, and if you're seeing a typical seasonal benefit would be helpful. Thank you.

I think the only color I can give you right now is we're reaffirming guidance for the year, which is a $2 million loss to a $3 million profit. And as you saw our first quarter EBITDA loss was 2.9 million. So we're looking for a positive back half of the year, starting in the second quarter. We also reaffirmed our revenue guidance that, you know, that was when we did 47.8 million for the first quarter. So if you took that and you times that by three, you'd see that you times it by four, we're considerably behind our guidance numbers. So we are looking for a tremendous pickup in the second quarter, third quarter, and, you know, for the remainder of the year.

Thank you. That's helpful. And then on my second question, call out pricing pressure weighing on gross margins in the quarter. Can you speak to how you're seeing pricing in the segment going forward? Do you expect it to continue to weigh on margins? and offset the benefit from increasing private label mix, or do you see this as transitory, the fact to higher gross margins in the near term?

Greg, I'm going to send that over to you.

Yeah, you know, I think when you look at the first quarter, margins improved compared to the fourth, which was a positive, but they were down year over year. And I think there was two primary drivers that I'll try to unpack. The first was storage solutions revenue, which, you know, came in less than planned. You know, for the quarter, storage solutions was about 10% of revenue. If we look at it as, you know, 14%, which is kind of where we were for the duration of 2023, that brings us up to a, you know, mid 27% gross margin profile on the business, just at the revenue levels that we were at. So that's a big lever that we're expecting continued improvement from in the second and third quarters. And the other piece is we closed, you know, six locations in the fourth quarter. and four more in the first. And with that, you get a certain amount of inventory that you have to move around the country, move from the closures to stores that are open. And those costs had an impact on our results as well. So when you factor in those different pieces, it kind of pushes us up into that 28 to 29 range. So that's kind of the area that we're looking at as we look through the duration of 2024 from a margin perspective. You know, we're hopeful that drip powders will, you know, really take off for us as we look at, you know, really Q3 and Q4. Maybe there's a small impact in the second quarter yet to be determined. Most of those, you know, trials are still ongoing throughout the country. So there's a lot of bright spots that we believe are out there right now to kind of help drive a stronger, you know, gross margin profile through the rest of the year.

Really appreciate the color there. And then my last question, if I could, if I have time. With the Canada's reform in Germany that recently occurred in April and broader legalization efforts around Europe, do you see opportunity capitalizing some of this reform? We believe there is opportunity.

We have not taken advantages as of yet, but we are actively speaking with certain distribution companies about getting some of our proprietary brands over into the European market. But again, nothing has been done as of yet.

Okay. Appreciate the call. I'll hop back in the queue. Thank you.

At this time, we have no further questions. I will turn the call back over for closing comments.

I'd like to take the opportunity to thank all our shareholders for their continued support of Grow Generation. I wish you all the best for a happy summer, and we look forward to updating you on our second quarter in August. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference for today. We thank you for participating and we ask that you please disconnect your lines.