Medicine Man Tech Inc

Good afternoon, my name is Ina and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Swaziland's 4th Quarter and Full Year 2023 Conference Call. Onlines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. Following their prepared remarks, management will take questions submitted via the weblink found on Swaziland's Investor Relations website and in the earnings press release. I would now like to hand the conference over to the company's external head of investor relations, Shanman Suri with Elevate IR. Sir, please go ahead.

Good afternoon and welcome to Schwoz's fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings conference call. Joining me on the call are Forrest Hoffmaster, interim chief executive officer and chief financial officer, and Justin Dye, chairman of the board. The company will begin with prepared remarks, and then we will open the call for Q&A. I would like to remind you that management's prepared remarks and answers to your submitted questions may contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements regarding federal and state legislation and regulation, Schwoz's future results of operations and financial position, and Schwoz's business strategy and plans and objectives for future operations. Such forward-looking statements may be preceded by the words plan, will, may, continue, anticipate, become, build, develop, expect, believe, poise, project, approximate, could, potential, or similar expressions as they relate to Schwoz. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events, results, performance, or achievements to differ from those anticipated by Schwoz at this time. Additional information concerning factors that could cause events, results, performance, or achievements to differ materially is available in Schwoz's earnings release made available before this call and available on Schwoz's investor relations website, and in Schwoz's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2023, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 27th, 2024. In addition, other information is more fully described in Schwoz's public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which can be reviewed at www.sec.gov or on cedar.com or on the company's investor relations websites. Also, Schwoz may discuss non-GAAP financial measures during today's call. A reconciliation of the differences between the non-GAAP financial measures discussed during the call and with the most directly comparable GAAP measure can be found in Schwoz's earnings press release made available before this call and available on Schwoz's investor relations website. I would now like to turn the call over to the company's chairman of the board, Justin Dye, for opening remarks. Justin?

Thank you, Sean. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss our financial and operating results for the fourth quarter and full year 2023. As many of you are aware, cannabis operators across the country have been contending with increased competition and pricing pressure. Our markets were not immune to these challenges. In Colorado, there were roughly 690 active adult use licenses as of year end. which is up from the prior year, competing in a market that declined approximately 15% year over year during the fourth quarter. While competition remains strong, I'm proud of our team, outperforming the Colorado market during the quarter with high single-digit sales growth compared to the prior year, demonstrating our ability to thrive in challenging retail environments. In New Mexico, the proliferation of new licenses has continued to outpace market growth. And although the illicit market in New Mexico has been pervasive, the state's regulatory body has increased their license enforcement in recent months, as well as upgraded the severity of illicit market sales from a misdemeanor to a felony charge. Their efforts have resulted in an increase in store closures, and we expect this trend to continue throughout 2024. We've always prided ourselves on being good stewards of capital while striving for operational excellence in our markets. This has been the driving force behind our solid adjusted EBITDA margins and consistent cash flow generation. Our mindset remains unchanged as we continue to navigate the prolonged challenges in Colorado, New Mexico, while improving our capabilities become even more competitive. We are optimistic about federal reform in the near to medium term, and are poised to benefit in the long term. In the meantime, we are committed to operating our business and driving profitable growth without the benefit of rescheduling or safer. Before I pass the call over to Forrest, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge his appointment to interim CEO. I've worked with Forrest for the past six years from our time at New Seasons Market, where he successfully led the company through one of the most disruptive periods in retail grocery industry. With Forrest as CEO, he implemented a focused growth and cost optimization program, which enabled the company to grow EBITDA by over 30% in two years. I'm confident that with Forrest's proven track record and deep retail expertise, we have the right leader in place to see us through this period and execute on our growth and profitability objectives. Forrest, over to you.