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Operator
The conference will begin shortly. To raise and lower your hand during Q&A, you can dial star.
Lawrence
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's conference call to discuss iPower's financial results for its fiscal second quarter 2023 ending December 31st, 2022. Joining us today are iPower's chairman and CEO, Mr. Lawrence Tan, and the company's CFO, Mr. Kevin Vassily. Mr. Vassily, you may begin.
Lawrence Tan
Thank you, Operator, and good afternoon, everyone. By now, everyone should have access to our fiscal second quarter earnings press release, which was issued earlier today at approximately 4 or 5 p.m. Eastern Time. The release is available in the investor relations section of our website at meetipower.com. This call will also be available for webcast replay on our website. Following our prepared remarks, we'll open the call for your questions. Before I introduce Lawrence, I'd like to remind listeners that certain comments made on this conference call and webcast are considered forward-looking statements under the Private Securities and Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain known and unknown risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are also subject to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in the company's filings with the SEC. Do not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements which are being made only as of the date of this call. Except as required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revisions to forward-looking statements. With that, I'd like to now turn the call over to iPower's Chairman and CEO, Lawrence Tan. Lawrence?
Lawrence
Thank you, Kevin, and good afternoon, everyone. We generated a double-digit revenue growth during our fiscal second quarter as we strategically leaned into sales and marketing to offload access inventory buildup over recent quarters. The top-line growth was led by our in-house products, which demonstrates the consistent, strong demand for iPower's extensive and evolving product portfolio. Throughout the quarter, we continued to grow and diversify our product portfolio with non-hydroponics offerings. A few of our most notable products were within the shelving, office, and pet categories, which continue to receive strong customer feedback. Although hydroponics is becoming a smaller portion of our business today, It remains an important category, and we will continue to invest appropriately as the market evolves. The growth and diversification of our product catalog has stemmed from our investment in R&D. Moving forward, we will continue to invest in the development of new innovative products to create high-value offerings for both our customers and channel partners. This consistent growth of our portfolio will ensure our customers receive industry-leading products that they can trust, and we expect to continue rolling out new products throughout calendar 2023. Earlier in 2022, we made the strategic decision to stockpile inventory in anticipation of both residual supply chain headwinds and increased demand for our in-house products. This ensured that we had consistent availability of our fast-moving products for both our customers and channel partners. As a result, we accumulated a heavy inventory position and had to pick up additional short-term warehousing space, which impacted our margins. As we closed out the calendar year, we began to experience a shift in the supply chain environment As freight and shipping costs began to stabilize, returning to pre-COVID levels, with an improved supply chain, we no longer need to carry this higher level of inventory and currently leaned into sales and marketing to offload excess inventory. This decision enabled us to improve our working capital and eliminate the extra warehousing space and the higher costs associated with it. We expect these actions coupled with our continued revenue growth to drive improvements to our bottom line in the quarters ahead. In calendar 2022, we begun the process of revamping our image to better showcase the core iPower business alongside our increasingly diverse product portfolio outside the traditional hydroponics. I'm happy to report that we officially completed this strategic initiative last month, which included a new company logo, website, color scheme, and other marketing related items. Together, these new design elements will help instill a new brand identity to position and guide our company's image moving forward. In addition, it will unify our various non-hydro related products and services to create a more seamless experience for our customers as we scale both domestically and internationally. As we look to the back half of our fiscal 2023, we expect to continue benefiting from the improved supply chain environment and elimination of elevated short-term warehousing expenses. With freight and shipping costs back to pre-COVID levels, we plan to more efficiently allocate capital towards inventory purchases while mindfully managing our operating expenses. Between these tailwinds and the continuing strong demand for iPower products, we are well positioned to deliver another period of strong growth and profitability in 2023. I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Kevin Vesely, to take you through our financial results in more detail. Kevin?
Lawrence Tan
Thanks, Lawrence. Fiscal Q2 was another period of solid growth for iPower. Total revenue was up 12% to $19.3 million compared to $17.1 million in the year-ago period, driven by strong demand for our in-house product portfolio, including shelving, office, and pet products, as well as hydroponics. Gross profit in the fiscal second quarter increased 5% to $8 million compared with $7.6 million in the year-ago quarter. As a percentage of revenue, gross margin was 41.4% compared to 44.1% in the year-ago quarter, with the decrease in gross margin primarily driven by increased freight charges as well as channel and product category mix. Total operating expense for fiscal Q2 was $12.1 million compared to $6.1 million for the same period in fiscal 2022. As Lawrence mentioned, the increase in operating expense was primarily driven by higher selling, fulfillment, and marking costs related to the sale of the inventory buildup that we saw. We still have some excess inventory to offload in fiscal Q3. However, we expect operating costs to normalize thereafter along with improved working capital. We no longer have to carry higher loads of inventory. and the incremental warehouse expenses. Net loss attributable to iPower in the fiscal second quarter was 3.3 million or 11 cents per share compared to net income of 0.8 million or 3 cents per share for the same period in fiscal 2022. The decrease in our bottom line was primarily driven by the aforementioned higher selling, fulfillment, and marketing costs. Looking at our cash flow, We generated more than $7.7 million of cash from operations during the quarter compared to a $7 million cash burn in the year-ago period, reflecting the improvements we've made to our working capital. Moving to the balance sheet, cash and cash equivalents were $4 million at December 31, 2022, compared to $1.8 million on June 30, 2022. As of December 31st, 2022, total debt stood at $12.2 million compared to $16 million as of June 30, 2022. The decrease was driven by our decision to pay down a significant portion of debt given the freed up working capital related to inventory. As a result, our net debt position was reduced 42% to $8.2 million compared to $14.2 million at June 30, 2022. As Lawrence mentioned earlier, with the normalization of the supply chain, we've seen freight and shipping costs return to pre-COVID levels, as well as shipping times. When coupled with lower inventory levels and the elimination of our excess warehousing costs, we expect to significantly reduce operating expenses as we exit our fiscal year. Looking ahead, We continue to plan on improving our working capital position, focus on driving growth, and improving profitability as we provide our customers with a diverse range of high-quality home and garden products. With that, we conclude our prepared remarks, and we'll now open it up for questions. Operator?
Lawrence
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star 11 on your telephone. Again, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star 11. One moment, please. One moment. Our first question comes from the line of Scott Fortune of Roth. Your line is open.
Scott Fortune
Thank you for the questions this afternoon. Real quick, focusing on top line a little bit here, can you provide a little more color on the top line growth? I know it's up year over year, 12 percent, but down. On a quarterly basis, can you help us understand the seasonality or the slowdown in hydro and non-hydro segments, kind of what's driving the growth or where the flow and growth quarter comes from. And then just to follow up on that, are you seeing consumer weakness a little bit here across the board? And can you provide an additional color from your commercial hydro business side and ongoing weakness and potential turn on the hydro side? anywhere time near here as far as the potential inflection for the hydro side growth to turn positively from that standpoint. Sorry, lost air, but just a little bit more on the top line growth and where you're seeing the growth and the weakness per se.
Lawrence Tan
Right. So, I'll start, and Lawrence, you can jump in at any point.
Scott Fortune
Sure.
Lawrence Tan
We've talked a little bit in the past about the typical seasonality in the business. In the years leading up to calendar year 2021, the December quarter and then the beginning of the March quarter represented low season for us. That was the seasonal pattern. I think what we saw last year seemed to defy seasonality a bit. So I think from the standpoint of how our revenues have historically tracked quarter to quarter versus quarter over quarter, the December quarter is a bit of a low season for us. In that context, I don't think what we saw in December was that surprising. I will say, though, that our channel partners have slowed their ordering a little bit. I think they, like a lot of people who were in the broader home and garden categories, are finding ways to work through inventory. And so there was some slowing for some of our wholesale ordering. But I think from a kind of seasonal pattern standpoint, I don't think what we saw was kind of out of the ordinary. From the standpoint of kind of consumer weaknesses, Lawrence, maybe you can kind of chime in here. I don't think we've seen anything meaningfully weak. I think the the general tenors is one of supply chains finding a way to deal with higher levels of inventory, but there still seems to be reasonable consumer demand out there. Lawrence, I don't know if you have anything else to add there.
Lawrence
Yeah, the consumers, they don't stop buying, even though there's a, you know, slow down the economy. I think our products are mostly known as like a valued products. And these are more kind of like utility heartline products where people needed it. They do need it. So it's actually somewhat beneficial to these kinds of mid tier products as they provide the best value to the auto for consumers. So I don't see us. So down there, As for hydroponics, we maintained our position. I need to look at the data, but I think we get more market share now on the hydroponics side online. So that part is growing, but slowly. Most of the growth are contributed by other products. So, yeah.
Lawrence Tan
And then I think, Scott, you asked about commercial. Well, I think it's hard for us to see from our online orders whether or not a purchaser is really commercial or not. Our offline commercial business is a very small part of our business right now, and I don't think the demand environment there has changed in any meaningful way. It still is. still limping along. I mean, the good news for us is that it's become such a small part of our business that it's not having, you know, really meaningful impact.
Lawrence
Yeah, that's correct. That's correct.
Scott Fortune
No, and I appreciate the color there. Thanks for in-depth there. And then just no mention, the follow-up on the progress. I know slow progress adding potentially a big box partner here. You're looking at potentially do it by the end of the fiscal year here. Can you provide any updates or color around timing of that opportunity kind of in the near term for big box partners moving forward?
Lawrence
We got into some of the channels, you know, we started, there are progress there and we start to make sales on some of the online platform. But that's just the first step to get the product into stores. But we made some progress there. So things are moving. It just takes some time.
Scott Fortune
Got it. Okay. I will jump back. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks, Scott.
Lawrence
Thank you. Again, ladies and gentlemen, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star 11 on your telephone. Again, to ask a question, please press star 11. Our next question comes from the line of Michael Baker of DA Davidson. Again, Michael Baker, your line is open.
Operator
Okay, thanks. Yeah, I just wanted to ask about, you know, what should we expect in the next few quarters? First of all, Lawrence, I think you said 2023 will be profitable, so you weren't profitable, you know, this quarter, but did I understand that right? Do you plan on being profitable on the net income line for fiscal 2023. And then maybe to help us get there, you know, gross margins down close to 300 basis points. How much of that was from supply chain, which seems like it's getting better, and how much was from mix? And then on the SG&A, up $6 million. How much of that was this incremental marketing that's going to go away? So in other words, help us understand what the margins might look like in the next couple quarters. How much of what happened this quarter was because of things that aren't going to occur, or at least are, you know, partially behind us for the next two quarters. Thanks.
Lawrence Tan
Right. Let me take a few of those, and Lawrence, again, I'll have you kind of jump in. First, I don't think that we said full year fiscal 2023 would be profitable.
Operator
Sales and profits in 2023 is what I heard. Sales growth and profits in 2023. But maybe I heard it wrong.
Lawrence Tan
I think maybe the better way to kind of characterize that is that we expect, uh, that we can return to profitability in fiscal 2023. Uh, so the trajectory will get us there. Um, we hope by the end of, uh, the run rate of profitability by the end of 2023, but not profitable for the year. Correct. Correct. I mean, uh, you know, without giving specific guidance, I think, you know, the math would make the full year, you know, extraordinarily hard. That's what I thought. That's why I asked. Yes. I'm glad you did. So from a gross margin perspective, it was a combination. I think we've talked about this in the past. You know, given that we have a catalog of, you know, in excess of 20,000 SKUs, our in-house products We've got 6,000 SKUs. There's a distribution of gross margins in that product. They're not uniform across every product. And so what products sell in any given quarter influences that. A big piece of the incremental 300 basis point decline, however, was the shipping costs. So the inventory... that we purchased over the summer in anticipation not only of a pretty important product ramp with Amazon, but because of what felt like really dislocated and in some ways panicked supply chains and container availability is still flowing through the income statement in in this December quarter. That stuff is starting to work through. And in fact, one of the kind of strategic initiatives we took was to push as much of that out the door as possible in this quarter. So that inventory that we hold now carries the much, much lower freight costs. And we're talking container costs that are four to five times lower than they were previously. in the March to June timeframe of last year. So, you know, that is, that is going to ease for us, which should improve gross margins on the sales and marketing side.
Operator
Go ahead. Well, let me just say, Kevin, that was, that was all clear from the, from the remarks. I guess what I'm asking is, can you help us with a quantification of that, of the 270 base points or whatever it was, you said a significant portion. So is it, is it half was mixed and half was the supply chain stuff that'll get better? Is it, More than half is at most, you know, and any, if I'm not going to give us a forward projection, I'm just asking in the second quarter, how much was from everything you described about the supply chain? And then we can make our judgment as to, you know, what that'll look like going forward.
Lawrence Tan
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think I would say that at least 75% of it came from, uh, from the, uh, shipping in, in container costs and the other 25 was mixed. Yeah. Okay.
Operator
And then same question on the SG&A, about $6 million increase, how much was from what found like incremental marketing to push the product, which presumably is, you know, mostly behind you now?
Lawrence Tan
Yeah, I would say almost all of that increase was that there's some impact on sales and marketing from, you know, from channel. But our channel... our channel mix being, you know, different programs with our, our primary channel partner fluctuate quarter to quarter anyways. And it's where we get demand is pretty hard to forecast. Um, but the big chunk of that, you know, at least 80% of that, uh, that incremental came from, uh, intentional sales marketing promotion that we did to push that higher cost inventory out the door.
Operator
Understood. And am I correct in saying that a lot of that, now that the inventory is coming down, is behind you?
Lawrence Tan
Lawrence, maybe you have a better sense of how much more we need to do on that front, but we've done a significant amount of it.
Lawrence
By December, we accomplished 50% of our goal. So we're on the way there.
Operator
So you're 50% through, so still have some to go. Yeah, we still have... You shouldn't assume that all that incremental $6 million will go away because you still have some that you're working through.
Lawrence
The promotions cost won't be as much for the remaining half of the inventory that we want to get out of the door. but it will not all go away. But most part of the six million will not be there. We no longer plan to play as aggressive as what we did when we're facing a higher total inventory pressure. But now, even though we only, we did like halfway through get through the inventory, but our pressure is a lot lower now. So we won't run as aggressive campaigns as what we did before.
Operator
Very clear. I appreciate the caller. Thanks.
Lawrence
Thank you. That does conclude the Q&A portion. I would like to turn the call back over to Kevin Vassily for any closing remarks.
Lawrence Tan
Okay. Thank you, Operator. I want to thank everyone for joining us today. And we look forward to speaking with you again a little bit later this spring. Thanks so much.
Lawrence
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.
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