Lftd Partners Inc

Welcome to Lifted Partners second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. This call is being recorded. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. If you have joined via webcast and would like to ask a question during this presentation, please click on the ask a question box on the left side of your screen, type in your question and hit submit. Teleconference participants, please hit star one on your telephone keypad to ask a question. I will now hand the conference over to Jerry Jacobs, the Chairman and CEO of Lifted Partners, Inc. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and welcome to Lifted Partners' earnings conference call to discuss the second quarter of 2024. Our earnings press release and financial statements for the second quarter 2024 have been filed with the SEC, and links to both can be found on our website, www.lftdpartners.com. On today's call, we will share some comments on our quarter performance, and we will answer some questions at the end of the call. A replay of this call will be available for an extended period of time, accessible through the investor section of our website. Here's the safe harbor notice. Some of the statements that we will make today regarding our business operations and financial performance, including words such as may, might, would, should, could, potentially, hope, believe, expect, project, similar verbiage are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, so listeners should not place undue reliance upon such statements. For more information, please refer to the risk factors discussed in our most recent Form 10-K filed with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. I'd like to highlight some of the factors that have been impacting our business, some for the better and some for the worse, over the past few months. An enormous amount of time, effort, and expense over the past seven months culminated in the very well-received relaunch of Lifted Maid's base business of intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid products under the Herb brand at Champs Vegas, the industry's biggest trade show, at the end of July. Later in this call, Nick will describe this relaunch as well as a major new direct-to-retailers push that has begun starting in Texas and the engagement of one of the cannabis industry's top marketing firms to help grow Lifted Maid's direct-to-consumer online marketing efforts. We are also committed to diversifying Lifted Maid's product offerings beyond hemp-derived products. During the past two months, Lifted Maid has launched two exciting new hemp-free brands, Mielos and Rebel Energy Gummy. Under Mielos, we've launched various health and wellness gummies, and Rebel Energy Gummy is designed to compete with energy drinks such as Red Bull. And both Mielos and Rebel Energy Gummy can be sold nationwide without legal restrictions. Nick will discuss these two new products and their rollout later in this call. We also want to diversify our business outside Lifted Made. We have been engaged in a number of discussions regarding potential acquisitions, both within and outside the hemp industry. These discussions are ongoing and at this point in time are including a discussion with a fund that has expressed an interest in potentially backing acquisitions by lifted partners. No assurance can be given that these discussions will be successfully concluded. Complicating these efforts to diversify our business is the fact that intoxicating hemp-derived products continue to be under regulatory attack at both the federal and state levels. A reauthorization of the so-called Farm Bill is currently being discussed in Washington, D.C., and it is uncertain what language will be included in the final legislation. In addition, prohibition of or tighter regulation of intoxicating hemp-derived products continues has been adopted or proposed in many states, such as Missouri, most recently. These regulatory and state regulatory challenges are material risks to Lifted Maid's business and are continuing to require us to expend substantial management time, effort, and money in regard to lobbying efforts. At this point in time, I will turn the presentation over to Nick Warrender, our Vice Chairman and Chief Operations Officer, and the founder and CEO of our wholly owned subsidiary, LiftedMade.

Thank you, Jerry, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to provide some information regarding some exciting developments and updates regarding Lifted. After seven months of work along with one of the top creative firms in the world at Champs-Pagas, biggest industry show, we launched the newest iteration of our best-selling brand, Herb, featuring a fly-high theme. This brand-new suite of products, formulations, technology, and branding for us has set a new benchmark in the cannabis industry. A leading industry blogger recently wrote, quote, the Herb booth at this year's CHAMP show was one of the most impressive installations, showcasing the brand's creativity and innovation. Their marketing and product teams deserve a huge shout out for their fantastic execution of the Fly High theme. Visitors received a boarding pass to enter their makeshift airplane, complete with a high mall catalog paying homage to the Sky Mall. Each product in the new line cleverly featured a takeoff time indicating when you can expect to feel the effects and a flight time for the duration of the experience. I'm excited to try these new products once they're available to the general public. ERB's attention to detail and unique approach made their booth the highlight of the show. We're using two major initiatives to intentionally push this relaunch for ERB in a way that is intended to significantly increase our direct-to-retailer and direct-to-consumer online sales. To increase our direct-to-retailer sales, we're building a 15-person team, boots on the ground. We'll be meeting face-to-face with hundreds of vape shops in an intensive city-by-city push, starting in Houston this month and then continuing on to other metro areas. And to increase our direct-to-consumer online sales, we're engaging what we believe is the country's best online cannabis marketing firm to accelerate ERB's already good SEO but other online marketing efforts. We are hopeful that these two marketing initiatives will significantly expand our sales volumes and profit margins and make us less reliant on just distributors. We also have high hopes for two new hemp-free brands, Milos and Rebel Energy Gummies. The popularity of health and wellness products have also soared nationally. Our Milos brand is focused around fitness, focus, sleep, and relaxation. Milos will be the first nutraceutical gummy brand leveraging the power of botanical terpenes with well-known other natural ingredients. There are an increasing number of scientific studies being conducted on the benefits of terpenes. Most recently, a federal-funded study suggested that terpenes could be potentially therapeutic for chronic neuropathic pain. Energy products like Red Bull, Monster, Five Hour Energy have become a massive sales category at grocery and convenience store chains. Red Bull Energy Gummy offers consumers equivalent energy boosts at a lower cost with only three grams of sugar and only 13 calories per serving or two gummies. Rebel gummies include caffeine, taurine, vitamin B3, 6, and 12. The Rebel gummies are sold in pouches containing eight gummies, which each pouch is containing the equivalent of four energy drinks. These two new non-hemp brands are very important for Lyfted because many large grocery and convenience store chains are not equipped or interested in handling products used that are illegal in some states. They want products that can be brought into their distribution centers and shipped all over the country without worrying about violating state and potential local laws. At this point, I will turn the presentation over to Jake Jacobs, our President and Chief Financial Officer.