This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.
spk08: Good afternoon and welcome to Green Thumb's second quarter 2022 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the conclusion of formal remarks. During the question and answer session, we would ask for a limit of one question per person. As a reminder, a live audio webcast of the call is available on the investor relations section of Green Thumb's website and will be archived for replay. I'd like to remind everyone that today's call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Shannon Weaver, Director of Internal Communications. Please go ahead.
spk13: Thank you, Betsy. Good afternoon, and welcome to Green Thumb's second quarter 2022 earnings call. I'm here today with founder and CEO, Ben Kozler, and Chief Financial Officer, Anthony Georgiadis. Today's discussion and responses to questions may include forward-looking statements which are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from these statements. These risks and uncertainties are detailed in the earnings press release issued today, along with the reports filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian Securities Regulator. including the 2021 annual report filed on Form 10-K. This report, along with today's earnings release, can be found under the Investors section of our website. Greensum assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this call. Throughout the discussion, Greensum will refer to non-GAAP financial measures, including EBITDA and adjusted operating EBITDA. A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is included in our earnings press release and FDC and CEDAR filings. Please note all financial information is provided in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated. Thanks, everyone, and now here's Ben.
spk06: Thank you, Shannon. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining our second quarter conference call. We reported another quarter of solid results which feels particularly good given the current economic environment. Revenue increased 15% year-over-year and 5% quarter-over-quarter to $254 million. We had positive gap net income for the eighth consecutive quarter of $24 million, or $0.10 per diluted share. That's $0.22 per share so far to 2022. We posted adjusted operating EBITDA of $79 million, or 31% of revenue for the quarter, and $146 million year-to-date. Finally, our cash flow from operations is positive $40 million year-to-date. Before I get into more details about the quarter, it's important to acknowledge the challenging market conditions that are putting macro pressure on the economy and consumers. While the market will continue to fluctuate based on various economic factors, doesn't change the fact that cannabis is a growth industry with strong demand tailwinds. As we sit here today, the cannabis market is at a run rate north of $26 billion. In fact, last quarter was the largest quarter of revenue for legal cannabis in the U.S. at over $6.6 billion. Yet, it is still illegal to purchase cannabis for adult use in more than half of the states in America. The transition to adult use in key markets presents massive growth potential. We've had the opportunity to watch that movie in real time this quarter in New Jersey, with Rhode Island and Connecticut coming later this year to markets where green thumb is well positioned to serve the pent up demand. In the second quarter, we had a greater than 300 basis point improvement EBITDA margin versus last quarter, bringing us back above the 30% level. Gross margin was 49.5%, which represents an improvement over the first quarter when normalized for reallocation of certain expenses. Our cash flow from operations was negative for the first time in 10 quarters at minus 15.4 million. However, this was not a surprise for us and something we knew was coming. There were three key drivers. First, two large cash tax payments in the second quarter compared to zero in Q1. Second, inventory bills primarily in Maryland and Ohio And finally, the timing of 2021 compensation bonuses for our team. I think it's helpful to reiterate the tax schedule for U.S. corporations. Tax estimates are due on the 15th of the month in April, June, September, and December. Therefore, we had two payments this quarter, which totaled $65 million to Uncle Sam. Section 280E of our tax code is our current reality, and we take the position of paying taxes in full and on time. we have trained ourselves to think of free cash flow in an after-tax or no-path way. Given the nature of the cannabis industry, the punitive tax code, and the fickle capital markets, we continue to be focused on cash at Green Thumb. We believe operating cash flow is the best measure of a company's financial and operational health, and we're not alone. With the prospects of a bear market and recession, we've noted Wall Street is paying close attention to the fundamental attributes of a business, such as cash flow, balance sheet, and earnings quality, all of which support a company's health and ability to weather whatever comes its way. When you're out of cash, you're out of options, and optionality is very important to us, regardless of any volatile external environment over which we have little or no control. What we can control is our capital allocation decisions and our balance sheet, both of which are strong competitive advantages and why we constantly evaluate our business to ensure we are operating as efficiently as possible. We ended the second quarter with $312 million in current assets, including cash and cash equivalents of $145 million, which supports our ongoing financial and operational health. In June, we strengthened our balance sheet with the innovative industrial properties funding, and in July, we extended the maturity date of our debt until April 2025. These were easy decisions for the benefit of shareholders, and again, buys us optionality. From where I sit, I'm bullish on the enormous market opportunity ahead and feel confident that we have the firepower, strong brands, and team to ride the green wave as the industry doubles, triples, and eventually reaches $100 billion in the U.S. How we get there remains fluid, as there are a number of factors that will impact timing. As I mentioned at the beginning, current market conditions and especially high inflation are putting pressure on consumers across all sectors. On top of that, pricing in cannabis products can vary tremendously across markets. at any time in ways that are difficult to predict, pricing pressure may disrupt an individual market. That is why we have built a diversified portfolio of states with large vertical optionality which provides some insulation for near-term volatility that we're seeing in certain markets. We know that the American consumer is demanding this product for well-being. We see it every day in our stores across the country. In addition, We have major tailwinds coming as new markets turn on adult use sales. We are putting capital into markets that will generate strong returns, but there may be unexpected challenges along the way. New York is a great example of a state that has created a lot of excitement up front, but has regulations that have created more questions than answers. As such, we've tempered our near-term expectations for New York, but even so, are well-positioned in this market and will be patient New Jersey, on the other hand, began adult sales on April 21st, and in the first 30 days, there were $24 million of cannabis sold across just 12 open retail stores in the state. Estimates indicate a $2 billion market in the next few years, which is 7x the current run rate. Connecticut and Rhode Island should launch adult use sales later this year, and DreamThumb is well positioned in both. And in Illinois... Our home state and largest market, we are seeing some positive action. After two and a half years of frustration, social equity licenses are now being awarded, and we expect to see the beginning of new stores opening later this year. This should provide greater accessibility to well-being through cannabis, more diverse and equitable participation in the industry, and an overall lift in the Illinois market. We believe more than doubling of the store base will grow the overall market, even if there is price and pressure.
spk09: In our newer markets, we're seeing good momentum.
spk06: In Minnesota, we opened our sixth retail store located in Mankato this past April, and contributed our first day profits to Habitat Minnesota, whose mission is to bring people together to build homes, community, and hope. With this new store, we have 77 retail locations across the nation. On the product front, we're excited to offer edibles to Minnesota patients for the first time as of August 1st, and we saw very strong demand. a good sign of things to come. In Virginia, patients are no longer required to have a medical cannabis card issued by the Virginia Board of Pharmacy as of July 1st. The lifting of this restriction is a big win for medical patients in the Commonwealth, and we have seen demand tick up. And in 2024, adult-use retail sales are expected to begin, which is another growth opportunity given the state's population of almost 9 million people. On the federal front, We are not holding our breath for cannabis legalization. Our extremely partisan Congress seems blind to the will of the people, which according to a 2021 Pew Research study found 91% of U.S. adults are on board with cannabis legalization in some fashion. Despite the noise, we're doing what we do best, keeping our heads down on execution and our eyes on the prize. There are too many catalysts for growth to get distracted, and we're in a great position to benefit from some key tailwinds. Before I turn the call over to Anthony, I want to touch on our consumer packaged goods business. As you know, we are committed to growing indoor, high-quality flour under the Rhythm brand. Paying attention to the plant is one of the most critical things that we do. It's not easy and never entirely predictable. The quality and efficacy of the plant is fundamental to a safe and satisfying user experience, and that continues to be our focus. We are proud that Rhythm continues to be a leading U.S. brand according to BDSA data. We are excited to bring our authentic brands like Bebo, Rhythm, Dog Walkers, and Incredibles to more Americans. We've also leaned into the expansion of one of our value brands called And Shine, which has seen tremendous growth, particularly in vape and flour. We remain laser focused on serving consumer needs and look at brand currency as a fundamental catalyst for growth. Now, I'll turn the call over to Anthony for his financial report, and I'll come back with a few closing remarks. Anthony?
spk07: Thanks, Ben, and good afternoon, everyone. As you just heard, the company posted a respectable second quarter, generating $254 million of top-line net revenue and just under $79 million of adjusted operating EBTA. Total net revenue increased $11.7 million over the previous quarter, with gross CPG revenue remaining flat and gross retail revenue increasing approximately $20 million. As previously highlighted, the difference between gross and net is intercompany revenue. And the company sold approximately 9 million more in product to itself in Q2 versus Q1. During the quarter, the company generated gross margins of 49.5%, 120 basis point decline over Q1. This decline was primarily driven by the company's decision to allocate a portion of its SG&A expenses into its cost of goods. resulting in a closer alignment of management's view of the business with its gap reporting. The allocation negatively impacted Q2 gross margins by approximately 150 basis points, but had no impact on adjusted operating EBITDA margins. Generally speaking, pricing headwinds in Maryland, Nevada, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, along with inflationary cost pressures, were neutralized by strong performance in New Jersey and elsewhere. On the SG&A side, excluding depreciation, amortization, one-time transaction costs, and stock-based comp, our normalized SG&A for Q2 was $57 million, an approximate $1 million increase over Q1, or 2.5%. Please note that the company has taken steps to limit its SG&A spend through the rest of the year. None of these expenses, along with its $800K and other income, company generated approximately $24 million in net income, or $0.10 a share, our eighth consecutive quarter of positive earnings per share for the business. Moving to our balance sheet, the company ended the quarter with $145 million of cash. In late June, we drew down an additional $55 million of funds via our Danville sale lease backward by IP. As previously disclosed, the terms and costs of this capital was negotiated last week late last year, which allowed the company to avoid the increase in capital costs our industry and the broader US environment has experienced since then. During Q2, we invested approximately $69 million in gross capex, when including the spend associated with our sale leafbacks, as the company continued to make investments into its infrastructure in New Jersey, Virginia, New York, and Florida. We anticipate these investments to drive substantial returns for shareholders in the coming years. In addition, the company paid $65 million in cash taxes, which brought our year-to-date cash flow from operations down to $40 million. As Ben mentioned, the company is current on its tax bill. Subsequent to quarter end, at zero cost, the company exercised its right to extend the maturity of its senior credit facility for one year until April 2025. another positive move for shareholders. Net-net, our conservative balance sheet combined with our strong operating performance should help all our shareholders sleep well during these uncertain times. We remain incredibly bullish about the long-term macroeconomic impact cannabis will have on this country, as well as the brands, strategic platforms, and distribution capabilities we've built over the last eight years. Last quarter, I left you all with a few simple comments. As a reminder, they were the following. One, tune out the noise. Two, be the consumer. Three, watch our cash. And four, be ready to be opportunistic when others are fearful. While these still hold true today, the consumer remains our North Star, as our ultimate success will be determined by how well we address the consumer via differentiated and unique products. fun part is our team of approximately 4,000 strong eats our own cooking and knows we all play a pivotal role in helping Green Thumb achieve this goal. In closing, as the end of summer approaches, we can't help but think about what's brewing in the Northeast. Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York, it's your time to make history, and we'll be right there with you. Back to you, Ben.
spk06: Thank you, Anthony. One of the most important aspects of our culture is giving back to our communities. There is so much work needed to help repair the damage caused by the war on drugs, and this is a passion point amongst our team. We continue to invest in this space through our Good Green program, which supports nonprofits working in black and brown communities impacted by the war on drugs. In June, we opened our third round of Good Green grant applications, and are on track to donate more than $1 million by the end of this year. I'm proud of what this industry has achieved thus far. We are making positive contributions in so many ways. According to Leafly's job report, 428,000 full-time equivalent jobs are supported by legal cannabis as of January 2022. The industry created an average of 280 new jobs per day last year. In 2021, states earned over $3.7 billion in tax revenue from recreational cannabis. That's economic value creation in action. We believe the great American growth story is alive and well. Americans are continuing to choose cannabis for well-being. Given the potential of the cannabis industry, I know it's frustrating when the market sentiment turns negative. But as I've said before, we're playing a long game, one that requires patience and discipline to reach big rewards. And at Green Thumb, we are confident in our strategy, we believe in our brands, and we are committed to promoting well-being through the power of cannabis for the American people.
spk09: Now, we'll open the call to questions. Operator?
spk08: We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touch-tone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the key. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, Please press star, then two. Please limit yourself to one question. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. The first question today comes from Vivian Adler with Calum. Please go ahead.
spk11: Hi, good evening.
spk09: Hi, Vivian.
spk11: So top line, better than we expected. I think broadly better than everyone expected. I'm just curious how it came in relative to your internal expectations, Ben and Anthony. And just on an underlying basis, any key call-outs? I know states are idiosyncratic, but for core markets, any key states that were better or worse than you had expected? Thank you.
spk06: Yeah, thanks for the question, Vivian. Good one. I think... On the margin, as expected, maybe better, a little better than where we were two weeks, four weeks into the quarter where we would have predicted. In terms of a state-by-state breakdown, the hero of the portfolio is New Jersey with the turn on. Materials step up and we continue to like where that market is going. It continues to grow and it needs more stores. It's going to be continued growth. We've seen that movie before.
spk09: That would be the call out on the upside. Thank you.
spk08: The next question comes from Matt McGinley with Needham. Please go ahead.
spk19: Thank you. Your retail business did great this quarter, but the CPG sales to external customers dropped around 12% quarter over quarter. And before that your CPG business really hadn't grown at all in over a year. So does that drop in revenue more reflective of price compression or are you losing shelf space in retail? I guess bigger picture, if that CPG segment is smaller or just less profitable than you may have envisioned in the past, does it still make sense to deploy so much capital into cultivation and production?
spk07: Hey, Matt. Anthony here. I'll take that. Look, it's a great question. Look, I think if you zoom out, what's happening in a number of these markets is that as they become more competitive, the verticality is increasing. And so, you know, what I would tell you is that we've made a conscious decision to push more of our wholesale goods through our own retail kind of channels. And that's by choice and by design. And that's one of the ways that we've kind of combated some of the pricing compression that we've seen in some of these markets. You know, in terms of losing shelf space, I think it's a little premature to say that because I think that, you know, we're not alone in what we're doing.
spk09: This is pretty widespread throughout the industry at this point.
spk08: The next question comes from Andrew Parthenow with Steeple. Please go ahead.
spk15: Good evening. Thanks for taking my questions and congrats on the quarter. Talking about capital allocation, your balance sheet is among the least levered in the industry. Are you thinking about the opportunity to potentially raise more debt capital and accelerate organic capex investments given your uh a lot of a lot of catalysts rec conversions and and minnesota as well uh ahead or are you thinking about potentially more m a giving where the market is headed just thinking about you know how do you how do you prioritize your capital allocation and if you could give any detail on on states as well could be useful. Thanks.
spk06: That's great. Thanks, Andrew. I'll take this, Ben. In terms of the second part first, in terms of M&A, it's really the same script here. Everything's really on the table, but we're very measured, pretty disciplined, and the current investment in the business, especially with equity prices, make the bar on M&A so much higher. So we're highly biased to invest in the business. We like the CapEx plan that we have. We continue to examine it constantly. confident with where the money is going where it's been where it's going places like New York Virginia Florida Minnesota and that's in the plan don't feel like getting more levered don't really use our peer set as a measure for where we gain comfort we really look at our own cash and want to sleep well on what we have going here we like where our debt and our balance sheet is but we're very excited about the growth coming from those places where we're putting capital in the future and And we're really measuring ourselves on the return on that invested capital and what that will produce for shareholders. And as we look out to those states, those are big population states with major catalysts for growth. They're like highly immature, underdeveloped, early part of the growth curve. So that's the best place we can put shareholder dollars to build that capacity. And to the last question, it doesn't mean we're making less stuff. It's just where we're selling it, how it shows up on the income statement, and at what margins. So we like the CapEx plan and don't particularly have appetite to accelerate it.
spk09: We want to get it right. The next question comes from Spencer Hennis with Wolf Research.
spk08: Please go ahead.
spk18: Great. Thanks for the question. I just wanted to zoom in on New Jersey for a minute. Could you talk about the cadence of sales in New Jersey during the quarter? And as we look to the second half, are you confident that you'll be able to get the product you need for your New Jersey stores?
spk07: Hey, Spencer. Anthony here. You know, look, it's a great question. The market just turned on, right? So we're, you know, getting close to four months into this, I guess three and a half, or I guess a little over four at this point. It's still very early. I'll tell you that we have not seen any major supply issues up to this point. We are selling a lot of our own product. That's one of the reasons, you know, why you saw kind of the CPG revenue do what it did. And, you know, I think the operators, from what we can tell, have got decent trade going and feel pretty good about where things stand from an inventory perspective. So, you know, it's hard to say where it goes from here, but I'll tell you at this point, we feel pretty good. Obviously, additional capacity is being built out. There'll be more stores that open. Um, a number of us are building out additional capacity to kind of support that. And, uh, right now we're just taking it one day at a time, but I'd say so far so good.
spk21: Okay, great. Thank you.
spk08: The next question comes from Eric Dave Laurie with Craig Callum. Please go ahead.
spk17: Great. Thank you for taking my question. Um, bit of a follow up to, uh, Matt's question here on the wholesale market here. I'm just wondering if you could talk a bit more about the volume dynamics within the wholesale market. Others are certainly increasing vertical sales as well in response to pricing. I'm just wondering if you're seeing any real volume changes in that wholesale market or if it's really kind of just a price dynamic here. And then sort of within volumes in general, are you noticing any difference between premium and value products as other companies are also sort of increasing their mix of vertical products, just sort of wondering how the dynamics are changing for that remaining third-party branded shelf space. Thank you.
spk06: Sure. Yeah, this is Ben. I can take a crack at it. It's a good question. I think you're seeing the business, right? We're not seeing a material downtick in units or anything like that. As Anthony mentioned, you know, we're seeing other – it depends on – it's a very per-state situation. So in a place like Massachusetts, where you've seen over – whatever, four years it's been since it's been going, and there was a backup at the CCC, and then all of a sudden all the applications came in, a year goes by, and a lot of the independent operators can go vertical based on the regulatory environment there. So I think it's really a per-state play on those units, but we're not worried about the unit count. In terms of the trade-down, yeah, we're seeing strength in the value segment where consumers are pressured at home or in the power bill or the cable bill or whatever the case may be, There's not a net decrease in the demand for cannabis. We see trade down into value orientation, larger serving size, larger units in order to get more product at a cheaper per unit price.
spk09: And that's reflective in the data and BDS and other things sort of across the market. Thank you. Sure.
spk08: The next question comes from Ty Collin with Eight Capital. Please go ahead.
spk12: Hey, thanks for taking my question. Maybe just a follow up to the last question there. You know, obviously, we are in a challenging economic environment, consumers starting to tighten their belts. How would you kind of characterize the risk of consumers actually returning to the illicit market to seek, you know, to seek out lower prices? I'm thinking particularly in markets, like Illinois, New Jersey, where prices or taxes remain relatively high. Are you seeing any of that go on today?
spk06: It's a good question. It's something we talk about a lot. At the end of the day, we don't feel like the legal market product price is that much of a premium. You're paying for branded product, you've got test results, you know the ingredients, you have the safety, and yet there's product at all kinds of different price points in different illegal markets in different places. So in general, sometimes thinking, hey, the illegal market is much cheaper than the legal market isn't totally accurate. It's not the case in places like New York or other places. It kind of depends where you're accessing it, where that product's coming from, California, Colorado, Oklahoma being often the top three states. But we don't see the trade-down from legal to illegal as a major factor here. You know, you take a place like Illinois, there's real-time data. We saw 136 million in sales in July, second best month ever, growth over June. So we don't see consumers shying away from this product.
spk09: Thanks, Ben. Sure.
spk08: The next question comes from Camilla Lyon with CTIG. Please go ahead.
spk16: Thanks. Good afternoon, everyone. And nice results here in a tough environment. Can you help us think about the margin differential, if there is one, when thinking about the value brand and the value end of the portfolio that's seemingly gaining more traction in the environment that we're in? And it may be any offset that you have or are thinking about from the production side as it relates to maybe automation or greater efficiencies that you can drive to maintain the overall margin structure of the business.
spk07: Hey Camilo, Anthony here. Great question. I would say, you know, if you zoom out, there really isn't a material difference in margin when you go from premium to kind of value. Now, you know, obviously as, you know, as we saw some changes, we made some adjustments on the wholesale production side to kind of, you know, to really reflect the decrease in price. And that's why really on the value side, you see kind of larger format sizes and whatnot. But, you know, when we unpack the data, you know, we have not seen a material difference between, you know, products that sell at premium versus products that sell at value, at least at the current time. Now, you know, that's not always consistent market to market. It can vary by market based off of, supply and demand within that market. You know, for us, our focus is high into our premium. I think if we were in the greenhouse game or something else, probably, you know, someone may give a different answer. But from our side, you know, our value is still as good if not better than someone else's kind of premium if they're growing under glass. So we just haven't seen an impact yet on the business.
spk16: That's really helpful. Thank you, Anthony. And if I could follow up with one more. You mentioned that there should be, or you're expecting to have more limited spending throughout the rest of the year. Can you help us quantify how that should look and maybe the areas that you plan on reducing that spend?
spk07: Sure. Yeah, I mean, look, that's really targeted towards, you know, SG&A. And so, you know, we've taken, as I said in my prepared remarks, we've taken steps to kind of curtail that growth You know, we do anticipate kind of minimal growth from here through the end of the year. But again, it's very focused on SG&A. And our real focus is just making sure that we don't see any negative inverse leverage on the SG&A line relative to revenue. We want to continue to be able to drive solid operating leverage. And so, you know, we continue to watch that line very, very closely.
spk16: Understood. Best of luck. Thank you.
spk08: Thanks. As a reminder, please limit yourself to one question. The next question comes from Aaron Gray with Alliance Global Partners. Please go ahead.
spk10: Hi, good evening, Anna. Thank you for the question. So just looking at some factors like pricing pressure in some key markets, more difficult capital market environment, particularly for small operators, and then operators selling more products in-house to insulate for margin pressure, how do you think that might drive some potential forced shakeout for some of those operators that might not be vertical in these markets and aren't able to access capital. So how do you think that might impact the competitive environment as some of the larger, more vertical players, you know, insulate themselves and those without might find themselves, you know, a harder time selling their product? Do you feel like that might impact the competitive environment for some more rationalization on the pricing or for some shakeout being accelerated, particularly if there might not be some change at the federal level in terms of the safe act or otherwise? We'd love to get your comments here on that. Thanks.
spk06: Yeah, Aaron, it's a great question that we talk about a lot because, you know, that's the great question. That's going to determine kind of where the returns on capital go. How long in a capital environment, especially with the stress in the overall market, will capital go into something to lose money? It's unclear, but some of the working dynamics in the industry, particularly the tax structure, lack of verticality, access to expensive capital, make a startup business in cannabis much different than it was five years ago. And you need to look no place other than Massachusetts to see what's happening to some of the new grows and what that return on capital looks like. With the delay in the regulatory, we can explain that one out. We'll have to see what happens. But we're here watching. We feel very good about our position. I'm not sure what will go on. But we like what we can do for shareholders. We like the optionality. And we feel good about our balance sheet and our cash. We're certainly not wishing any ill will on anybody. But as supply overgrows, price comes down, margin pressure increases, taxes don't change, cash gets tight.
spk09: We've seen the movie before, and so we're watching carefully. All right, great. Thanks. Thank you.
spk08: The next question comes from Scott Fortune with Roth Capital. Please go ahead.
spk02: Good afternoon. Thanks for the questions. Real quick, on the retail side, sequentially, what metrics drove those recent traffic, you know, uptick, or the more normalized seasonality that you saw? And how do you kind of see seasonality kind of going forward here? And are you viewing overall transactions coming from kind of the new consumers, you know, primarily from New Jersey or, you know, a little bit from the existing patient and consumer side of the thing? And just kind of to follow up on the pricing stabilization, are we starting to see the reset in some of these state markets on the pricing side or still lots of pressure there?
spk07: Hey, Scott. Anthony here. Another great question. So let's just zoom out. Holistically, what we saw throughout the quarter was more transactions and a slightly lower ticket. That's across the aggregate portfolio. I think your comment about where is the growth coming from? And look, the reality is we continue to see new people enter the space each and every day. It's something we're tracking closely. And there's very few markets where, if any, where we're not seeing that when we analyze the data. Now, you know, where is pricing, you know, within each of these markets? Again, this comes back to a market, this is on a market-to-market basis. I would say that we have seen some stabilization in some places and in others, there's probably still some room to go. You know, this quarter, Maryland kind of popped on our radar as a new market that's starting to experience some compression. We're watching that close. You know, on the flip side of that, you know, you have to question how much lower pricing is going to go in perhaps a place like Nevada. But, you know, look, we're still in the early chapters of this book. It's hard to really kind of predict the future, and time will tell.
spk09: Thanks for the color.
spk08: The next question comes from Howard Penny with HedgeEye. Please go ahead.
spk03: All right. Thanks very much, Pat. I was wondering if you might be able to expand on your comments on New York and what you're seeing and why you're holding out less hope. Thanks.
spk06: Sure. Thanks, Howard. New York's a tricky one. It's a complex environment, and as the regulators and the rules have taken shape, Originally, we thought timing for the regulated program and sort of the legacy ROs would be the beginning of 2023. We think there's going to be a first start by the hemp community, the hemp operations. So the clarity on that remains a little bit tricky. And the rules and the tenor rules and everything is a little bit slow to come out. So where we thought it would be ready to start with the store is built. We haven't seen that go. We've seen the regulators take a pretty proactive approach. strong play with an active government that's building stores and setting up a different kind of program than we've seen anywhere else. And lastly, and a different topic, is a robust, unenforced, rampant, illegal market that looks like California, or really, LA. It rhymes with LA. It's not the same, but anybody who's walked in Manhattan, didn't know what went on in college, was that cannabis is legal because you can buy it in stores, you can buy it in trucks, you can buy it from ice cream salesmen, and it's everywhere. So all those give us a moment for pause. We're still active in Warwick. We continue with the project. We believe in the loop we have and the project we're going to build, but the vastness of our expectations is tempered in the near term.
spk09: Thank you.
spk08: The next question comes from Michael Ladry with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.
spk20: Thank you. Good evening. Hey, Michael. Just wanted to follow up on capacity. I know you usually don't get into too many specifics, but I think around late in the second quarter, you would have had some additions coming. Can you just help us understand how to think about the second half and how much lift that might give and just some idea of maybe help us not get carried away with what to expect, but just some thoughts about what that could do to give a boost?
spk07: Sure, Michael Anthony here. So let's rewind a little bit. So we recently completed expansions in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, and a small one in Maryland. You know, in terms of the benefit that we're going to see from those assets, it really comes down to a state-by-state basis. And PA, let's start there. That's a situation where we're not anticipating really any growth in that business until we see edibles or adult use. Ohio, we've got the benefit of the incremental kind of stores that were just awarded. We think those are operational Q1, Q2 of next year. Between now and then, since we didn't have flour on the market, we'll see some small incremental growth, but we're late to the party there, so it's going to take some time to build out those sales channels. New Jersey, you know, look, we started to see the benefit in Q2, and obviously, you know, we're pushing a lot of that product to our retail stores. And in Maryland, it's a similar story to PA with regard to adult use. You've got a medical market that is a bit stagnant, and, you know, the real near-term catalyst is going to be adult use. You know, where we see kind of near-term growth really comes down to Rhode Island and Connecticut. When those turn on for adult use, we're nicely positioned in both And that's really where, you know, as we look ahead, we anticipate seeing some growth.
spk09: Okay, that's helpful, Culler. Thank you.
spk08: The next question comes from Matt Bottomley with Canaccord. Please go ahead.
spk04: Yeah, good evening, all. Thanks for taking the questions. Just wanted to pivot back to New Jersey and just wondering if you can give any, Culler, you know, not really guidance-related or anything like that, but just on the, I guess, the ability for growth just given, you know, limited retail. And from what I understand, you know, the wholesale channels are pretty competitive in that most people are putting as much as they can through their own stores. So is there any ability to increase overall contribution from that state going into Q3 here in wholesale channels, or do you think it's more or less what your stores can pump out given, you know, initial demand in that market?
spk06: Thanks, Matt. It's Ben. Good question. I would say it's a combo of both, but there's not a step function coming until new retail channels open. So we've seen a major step up with the end of April, May, June as we get our sea legs, and now you're starting to see incremental up and to the right as the whole state, I don't think we get direct monthly numbers, but as the whole state starts to incrementally grow. So it'll be a balanced growth, and I would say as stores start to grow revenue, that doesn't mean it's all just vertical growth. and there's no opportunity for more wholesale sales. As we look at our store, we think the same thing. Growth comes, make up a number, 10%. We're buying a lot from others as part of that 10% growth, and I think the same would be true of our customers on the B2B side. So we see the whole thing rising as this market grows. But the next step function is certainly more retail channels for the dense population that has an extreme amount of demand, 5 to 7x where we currently are now.
spk09: Thanks, Ben. Thanks, Matt.
spk08: The next question comes from Patrick Mulville with Bass Tech Capital. Please go ahead.
spk05: All right. Thanks for taking my question. Just wanted to ask what you're seeing in regards to brand development. And if we take Rhythm, for example, are you seeing the brand outperform relative to some of its competitors in the wholesale channel?
spk06: Sure. Thanks, Patrick. It's Ben. Short answer is yes. We believe in the power of the brand. We see consumers relating to the brand, especially if some of these products differentiate from others on the shelf. There's not a massive national marketing campaign, and awareness remains low. So the focus of a lot of it is brand awareness and building loyalty. And in flour, with Rhythm, with where you're talking, and the core product is flour, you build that loyalty over time every time you open the jar with high-quality flour. So as both of us mentioned, that focus on the indoor environment, on the genetics, on the techniques, on the cure, the grow, and the jar remained paramount for us to build that rhythm. We see it there. We see it in Bebo.
spk09: And we're excited about the brands.
spk08: The next question comes from Daniel Togenski, who's a private investor. Please go ahead.
spk01: Hi, thank you very much for taking my question, and congrats on the quarter. Very great. I have a quick question regarding your press release for May 2021, where Green Thumb and Cookies partnered together to open up a Cookies on the Strip retail location. We all know that the Cookies brand has an enormous cult following, product quality is top-notch, and I can't take anything away from your own products, dog walkers, and rhythm, et cetera, but may ask if you can provide some insight into your current relationship with Cookies and if Green Thumb has any – if you're looking to expand partnerships in Nevada or any other market going forward with the Cookies brand. Thank you in advance.
spk06: Sure. Thanks, Daniel. Good question. Yes, we did open Cookies on this trip. The relationship is strong, good, close relationship with Barnard Parker and the whole team over there. as they build up their infrastructure really nationally and particularly internationally. The growth that we see with the cookies site has more to do with on-prem and as Nevada grows, we've seen a lot of pressure in Nevada. We're not actively looking at new states on a licensing agreement with them. They have their growth potential. We're big fans. We're big fans of the product. But we like what we've done in Las Vegas. It remains a big tourist destination. We feel like we have upside opportunity as we expand that real estate.
spk09: as the program expands in Nevada.
spk08: Our next question comes from Valerie Quintana from The Spirit. Please go ahead.
spk00: Thank you. It's pretty timely. I was just going to ask if your plans include expanding to the southwest states. And it sounds like no.
spk06: Southwest states? I think you said southwest?
spk00: Yes, in the southwest, New Mexico, Arizona?
spk06: I mean, you know, short answer is everything's on the table. We're looking at it. We obviously have studied Arizona with the transition there. But we would prefer to be making bets in states that are early on in their curve, that are immature and patient consumer penetration, and that that market hasn't developed. We can get a much larger return on our capital going to a place like, you know, a new state like Virginia or Minnesota versus a state like Arizona. Even if on paper Arizona's a $2 billion market, and Minnesota's $100 million market, we're more likely to bet on a Minnesota given those dynamics than an Arizona.
spk09: Not because of Southwest, Southeast, just a return on capital potential based on the population.
spk08: This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Ben Kobler for any closing remarks.
spk09: Thanks, everybody, for joining. Look forward to updating you again this fall. Enjoy the rest of your summer.
spk08: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.
Disclaimer