12/7/2020

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you need to press star one on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star zero. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, D. Sean Hyder, Chief Financial Officer. Thank you. Please go ahead.

speaker
D. Sean Hyder
Chief Financial Officer

Thank you. Good afternoon and welcome, everyone. Today I'm joined by our CEO, Tom Lynch. and COO, Tim Bosley. On today's call, management will provide prepared remarks, and then we will open the call to your question. Earlier today, we issued a press release announcing first quarter fiscal 2021 results for the period ending September 26, 2020. The press release, along with our financial statements and DNA, are available on the company's website and filed on both EDGAR and CDAR. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that the comments on today's call will include forward-looking statements, which by their nature involve estimates, projections, goals, forecasts, and assumptions, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statement. Forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, the business and operations of MedMen, our plans for new stores, our financial and operational expectations, and our expectations as to future sources of funding. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of the conference call and should not be relied upon as predictions of future events. Additional information about the material factors and assumptions forming the basis of forward-looking statements and risk factors are provided in the company's report filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian securities regulators, including the company's press release which was issued earlier today and is available under the company's profile on both EDGAR and CETA. During today's conference call, MedMen will refer to certain non-GAAP measures that do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP, such as EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, and corporate SG&A, which are defined in the earnings press release we issued earlier today. Reconciliations to GAAP measures are contained in the press release and our MD&A. Please note, all financial information is provided in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated. Now with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Tom.

speaker
Tom Lynch
Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, everyone, for joining us this afternoon. We hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during these unprecedented times. On the call today, we'll review our first quarter, provide an update on the company's turnaround progress, including recent operational initiatives, and then discuss our financial performance for the first quarter. From a macro perspective, this past election season saw still more jurisdictions join the growing chorus of states that have legalized adult use of medical cannabis. Additionally, a full 67% of the country, a bipartisan majority, now support legalization. And we saw the historic passage of the Moore Act in the House of Representatives just last week. We're optimistic that 2021 will continue to bring good news for the cannabis industry and will continue to work towards a world where cannabis is legal and regulated. In addition to states legalizing adult use of medical cannabis, we're excited about the local progress in our core market in California, where several new cities that are in close proximity to our existing footprint approved cannabis measures. This week, we're also pleased to announce the addition of Tracy McCork to our executive team as our new chief revenue officer. She will lead the omnichannel marketing strategy, as well as the company's buying, merchandising, and business intelligence efforts. A leader in pioneering customer experience management for over 20 years, Tracy has developed in-store and online sales, product and marketing strategies for leading brands, including Skechers, Guess, Murad, President of Hollywood, and most recently, Zappos.com. Her unique experience and success in customer targeting and retention will be invaluable to MedMen as we move into this next chapter of our business. Tracy is a tremendous hire for MedMen, and it speaks volumes to not only where MedMen is as a company right now, but the exponential potential for our company in the future. Our ability to attract and retain exceptional talent will continue to be a differentiator for MedMen against our competitors. With that, let's jump into discussing our fiscal first quarter, which was a transformative one for the business across a number of fronts and puts us ahead of schedule with respect to our turnaround plan. The primary goal of the turnaround plan was to improve the financial profile of the business, particularly in our core retail business. While we made significant progress over the past six months, external factors such as COVID and the rioting which led to store closures last quarter impacted the timing of achieving our turnaround milestones. This quarter was a much different story for us and surpassed even our internal expectations. We were excited to announce that during our first quarter, we generated $36 million in revenue, representing a 30% increase from the previous quarter, driven by a strong quarter in California where revenues grew by 34%. In addition to growing revenue, we were able to see the fruits of all the hard work with respect to our optimization efforts. Our retail gross margin surpassed 54%, and while we're not quite there yet on the company-wide positive adjusted EBITDA, we're able to achieve a $12 million improvement from last quarter, bringing our adjusted EBITDA loss to approximately $12 million, the best quarter ever for the company. This is also the first quarter in which we achieved positive cash flow after tax across our retail footprint, a significant milestone for the team. In addition to optimizing our retail model, right-sizing our corporate infrastructure was the next biggest task. At its peak, the company's corporate-related SG&A was approximately $160 million. Over the past several quarters, we've continued to chip away at that, and I'm excited to announce that our corporate SG&A this quarter was just over $40 million. We've done all of this while improving overall efficiency, upgrading talent across the organization, and maintaining our growth prospects. The next big priority was to strengthen the balance sheet of the company by first deferring as many cash commitments as possible, and then attracting capital from both new and existing capital partners. During the quarter, we executed lender and landlord support agreements to defer $32 million in interest and rent over the next 12 months, while also modifying certain covenants for additional flexibility. Further evidence of the belief our capital partners have in the long-term value of the business. The next step was to raise additional funds. During the quarter, we announced $20 million in new financing commitments across a few different facilities. Our investors later upsized this commitment to $26 million because of the positive developments during the quarter. While there is still work to be done on strengthening our cash position, we believe we are more investable than ever with a true line of sight to profitability. Lastly, while this is a turnaround situation that requires a standard turnaround playbook of right-sizing the cost structure, eliminating liabilities, and narrowing down the focus of the company. The most exciting part about this role for me is being able to evolve the turnaround story into a growth one. We've been able to build the most recognized brand in the industry. And while we've had to hit pause on new store openings and expansions into new markets, We are well positioned to begin planning for an acceleration of growth in existing markets such as California and Florida, where we have a number of high-profile stores set to open over the next 12 months, as well as new markets like Massachusetts, where we have some of the best locations in the state. We're pleased with how much we've been able to execute in a short amount of time and also understand the urgency in which our shareholders and capital partners expect us to turn the company around. We take this responsibility extremely seriously, and I appreciate the patience. I look forward to continuing leading this company through the next chapter and will continue to share updates as they develop. With that, I will hand it over to Tim Bossidy, our COO, for operational highlights.

Disclaimer

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