Marimed Inc

Thank you for standing by. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Meramed Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to turn the conference over to Tim Rasmussen, VP of Retail Operations for Meramed. The floor is yours.

Hello and good morning, everyone. I'm Tim Rasmussen, Vice President of Retail at Meramed. I joined the company three years ago following several decades leading the national and regional operations of several successful retail chains and other industries. I've never worked with a team as passionate and committed as the retail group here at Meramed. They are the heart and soul of why we're able to deliver exceptional service at Thrive Stores. And I'm honored to call them my teammates. I'm also honored to kick off today's 2026 second quarter earnings call. Joining the call today are Jon Levine, our chief executive officer, Mario Pinho, our chief financial officer, and Ryan Crandall, our chief commercial officer. This call will be archived on our investor relations website and contains forward looking statements. Any actual events or results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements and are subject to various risks and uncertainties. A discussion of some of these risks is in the risk factor section of our 10K and 10Qs available on our website. Any forward-looking statements reflect management's expectations as of today, and we assume no obligation to update them unless required by law. Additionally, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures which are reconciled in our earnings release. I will now turn the call over to Jon for his second quarter overview.

Thanks, Tim, and good morning, everyone. The second quarter represented meaningful progress for Merrimet. Revenue increased in both our wholesale and retail businesses, both sequentially and year over year, resulting in the highest quarterly revenue in our history. We also delivered a strong sequential increase in adjusted EBITDA and once again generated positive cash flow from operations. I'm very encouraged by these results, but I am even more encouraged by how we achieved them. The cannabis industry remains highly competitive and price compression continues across many markets. Against that backdrop, Our team remains focused on the things we can control. Operational discipline, product innovation and quality, customer experience, and thoughtful capital allocation. Those priorities help produce stronger financial performance during the quarter and have positioned us well for the future. Our balance sheet remains healthy. Our brands continue to resonate with consumers, and our operating model gives us flexibility to respond quickly as markets and new opportunities evolve. It's our ability to execute that differentiates Merriman. When Ryan provides his summary on our performance across each area of our operations, you'll see that the results were not driven by one product or one market. They reflected continued improvement across many parts of the organization from cultivation and manufacturing to wholesale, retail, and marketing. When each aspect of the business experiences improved performance, the positive results tend to follow. Looking ahead, we will build on this quarter's results by staying focused on implementing our expand the brand growth strategy. centered on building a leading cannabis consumer product company that owns top selling national brands in the most popular categories. To achieve that goal, we will continue investing in product innovation while broadening our depth in existing states. We will also continue to look for opportunities to enter new markets through capital light In Ohio, construction of our new Columbus dispensary remains on schedule, and we expect that location to begin contributing to revenue later this year. Adding this second dispensary in one of the country's fastest-growing adult-use markets represents another important step in expanding our retail footprint. In Massachusetts, the recent increase in dispensary ownership limits creates additional opportunities in our home state. As always, we'll evaluate those opportunities carefully and remain disciplined in how we deploy capital. Our planned launch in New York remains on schedule, and we continue to expect our brands to enter that market during the first half of 2027. The performance of our brands continues generating interest from operators in other states as well. We're engaged in discussion regarding additional opportunities where we believe our portfolio can create value for both our company and future partners. The strength of our licensing strategy ultimately begins with consumer demand. Operators want brands that consumers already recognize and seek out. That's exactly what we're continuing to build. Sales of our products portfolio outperform the industry across our core states. While we continue to execute our plans effectively and efficiently, we also keep a close eye on what's happening in Washington. There is positive momentum behind additional cannabis reform following the spring's rescheduling of medical cannabis. The potential rescheduling of recreational cannabis, the implementation of 280E tax relief, and the broader banking reform, all these potential catalysts would significantly improve the operating environment of our industry. And we are positioned to capitalize on any of those new opportunities if and when they emerge. We anticipate incremental clarity on all of them by the end of the year. To be clear, though, our innovation, brand portfolio, operation model, healthy balance sheet, and tremendous team continue to position us for long-term, sustainable value creation. I will now turn it over to Ryan.