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spk01: Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to the Jameson Wellness Conference Call to discuss the financial results for the first quarter of 2024. At this time, all participants are in a lesson-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and also session, and instructions will be given at that time. Please be advised that the reproduction of this call in whole or in part is not permitted without treatment authorization from the company. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. On the call today for management are Mike Pilato, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Chris Noden, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary. Before I turn the call over to Mr. Pilato, please note that the press release covering the company's first quarter results was issued this afternoon, and a copy of the press release can be found in the investor relations section on the company's website. Please note that the prepared remarks, which will follow contain forward-looking statements and management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions. These statements do not guarantee future performance, and therefore, a journal line should not be placed upon them. We refer you to all risk factors contained in Jameson's press release issued this afternoon and in compliance with the Canadian Securities Administrators for a more detailed discussion of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projections and any forward-looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly correct or update the forward-looking statements made during the presentation to reflect future events or circumstances, except as it may be required under applicable security laws. Finally, we would like to remind listeners that the company may refer to certain non-IFRS financial measures during this dollar conference. A reconciliation of these non-IFRS financial measures was included with the company's press release issued earlier today. Also, please note that unless otherwise stated, all figures discussed today are in Canadian dollars and are occasionally rounded to the nearest million. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Pellato to get started. Thank you, please go ahead, sir.
spk08: Thank you, Ina, and good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking the time to join us today. I'll begin with some comments on our Q1 performance, our key markets, and our strategic growth initiatives. Then Chris will provide a detailed review of the financials and outlook before I wrap up and we open the call for questions. Our first quarter revenue came in as anticipated across all our business units. Consumer consumption remains strong in our key markets as we continue to invest in our growing U.S. and China businesses, while strategically managing the impact of our five-week labor interruption earlier this year, which had an impact on our international, Canadian, and strategic partners' businesses. Despite the temporary impact of this labor interruption, our branded revenue increased by 7%, exceeding our expectations due to continued strength in China, which grew 120%, or 80%, on a pro-forma basis, and in the U.S., where we drove 37% growth. As a result of the labor interruption, revenue in our Canadian and international business units temporarily declined, as expected, by 15 and 17%, respectively. Shipments in these business units shifted to Q2 and our original expectations for the front half of the year and full-year guidance still hold. In our home market of Canada, consumption continued to be strong and significantly outpaced shipments and market growth, as we prioritized on-shelf availability, leveraging a mix of in-channel and internal inventory, and continued to expand our leadership position. In prioritizing Jameson Brands shipments and due to the previously announced transition out of a customer contract, as expected, strategic partner revenue was $16 million lower this quarter versus the same quarter last year. With all of these moving pieces we managed through, total consolidated revenue came in at the high end of our expectations, at $128 million, or .4% lower than Q1 of 2024. These results reflect the resiliency of our diversified business model, a validation of our expansion strategy and the dedication of our team to maintaining focus. The strategic actions that have begun to transform our business and significantly elevate our global presence help to offset temporary challenges in other areas of the business. Despite shipment pressures, consumer demand and our exceptional brands remain strong. Consumers continue to be engaged in the category. In China, our 80% pro forma growth was driven by the strong demand of Chinese consumers for our brand and our investments in brand awareness, including our highly successful Chinese New Year campaign, featuring out of home advertising, a robust PR campaign and social influencer support. In the US, our 37% growth in Q1 was also driven by continued consumer demand for our brand, along with new innovation and our continued investment in marketing and e-commerce. From a profitability perspective, consolidated normalized gross profit margins increased slightly over prior year, excluding the impact of the labor interruption due to the higher mix of branded sales. As anticipated, revenue in the quarter grew at a faster rate than adjusted EBITDA, which at $16.1 million was 34% lower versus a year ago and at the high end of our expectation. This reflects the impact of the labor interruption with Canada, international and strategic partnership and shifting into Q2 and ongoing investments in capabilities and brand building activities in the US and China. We entered 2024 in a position of strength and our latest results continue to illustrate the power of our platform and the effectiveness of our strategy for driving profitable, sustainable growth. In Q1, we continue to deliver strong growth rates in the US and China in both shipments and consumption and in Canada and key international markets, we saw strong consumption growth despite the shift in shipments from Q1 to Q2 due to the labor interruption. Our strategy is working to ensure we profitably grow and drive scale in our new markets while ensuring our home market of Canada remains strong, grows and expands its leadership position. In summary, we executed two plan in Q1, performing in line with the upper end of our expectations. Our combined Q1 results in Q2 guidance, which Chris will speak to later, account for a shift in shipments due to the labor stoppage and we are anticipating front half branded revenue growth of between 11 to 15%. Our strategic growth initiatives are continuing to gain traction and we remain confident in our outlook for the balance of 2024. I wanna thank the entire Jameson team for their hard work, dedication and passion for helping advance our purpose of inspiring better lives every day and for delivering another solid quarter. With that, I'm going to turn the call over to Chris to discuss the first quarter results in more detail. Chris, over to you.
spk03: Thank you, Mike and good afternoon, everyone. In the first quarter, consolidated revenue was $128 million, .4% lower due to the labor interruption, a shift in volume into the second quarter and the wind down of a previously discussed strategic partner contract. These headwinds were offset by the expansion of our U3 brand across the UF and the acceleration of our growth in China. As a result, Jameson brand revenue increased by .7% to $115.3 million, while our strategic partner revenue was almost 56% lower in the quarter. Breaking this down, revenue in Canada was .7% lower than the prior year's first quarter, reflecting the labor disruption as you prioritized on shelf availability and drew down inventory and channel and shifted some shipments into the second quarter. Consumer engagement within VMS remains high. As a result, consumer consumption remains strong at the top of our full year growth expectations while significantly outpacing shipments in both units and dollars in the quarter. Growth in the US or our youth theory segment was strong at 37%, contributing $30.4 million in branded revenue, driven by our investments in brand equity and continued success and innovation, including our reformulated -ex-cute and our recently launched ocean-friendly omega product. In China, our increased investment in brand equity and awareness drove strong demand while our new social e-commerce marketing drove trial. In China, we reported revenue growth of .4% or .2% on a pro forma basis, factoring in the timing of our distributor acquisition in the prior year. In our international business unit, as a result of the labor disruption and as anticipated, revenue declined by 17.2%. During the quarter, we prioritized shipments by market, ensuring availability, while we shifted some volume of shipments into the second quarter. As expected, revenue in our strategic partner segment decreased to $12.7 million, reflecting the wind down of a customer contract and our prioritization of branded production throughout the first quarter due to our labor disruption. Adjusting for incremental labor relations costs associated with the labor disruption, normalized gross profit decreased by $2.5 million, while normalized gross profit margin increased slightly by some 50 basis points due to a higher mix of branded sales. Within the Jameson brand segment, gross profit came in at $41.1 million or .7% of sales. Margins were 2.7 million lower year over year. On a normalized basis, gross profit grew slightly, while margin of .5% was 200 basis points lower, reflecting the impact of lower volumes and reduced efficiencies, as well as the timing of price increases in Canada, which will positively impact results beginning in the second quarter. Gross profit in the strategic partner segment decreased by $3.1 million to $1.7 million, and gross profit margin decreased by 350 basis points, impacted by customer mix, lower volume, and plant utilization. SG&A expenses increased by 7.2 million compared to the prior year. The 22% increase primarily reflects our investment in brand equity, which included support for our product innovation and product launches in the US, such as our ocean-friendly Omega. And increased social selling to drive brand awareness in China through the use of influres and campaigns tailored towards the Chinese market. Specific costs in Q1 include $3 million related to our IT system implementation expenses, and $1.7 million tied to the labor relations and other related fees. First quarter operating income was $13.2 million lower year over year as a result of the factors discussed, including the investment in SG&A and marketing. On a normalized basis, first quarter operating income was $8.7 million, and adjusted dividend decreased to $16.1 million, reflecting primarily the investments made to drive brand awareness in China and in the US, and the lower shipments due to the five-week labor stoppage in Q1. Adjusted net earnings in Q1 was $3.9 million, excluding specified costs and foreign exchange. And the resulting adjustment earnings per diluted common share was nine cents. A reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net earnings is provided in today's press release, announcing the first quarter results. Turning to the balance sheet and cash flow, we generated cash from operations before working capital considerations of $4.6 million, lowered to the timing factors impacting volumes and higher levels of investment to build our brands in the US and China. Cash invested in working capital increased by $6.8 million in the quarter, driven by the timing of accounts receivable collections and changes in payables during the quarter. In the quarter, we invested $1.4 million in property, plant, and equipment. We repurchased $1 million in Jameson stock, approximately 30,000 common shares, and distributed approximately $7.8 million in dividends. We ended the quarter with approximately $193.9 million in cash at available revolving credit facilities. Based on our cash position and forecast, we have announced a dividend of 19 cents per common share, or approximately $8 million in aggregate. The dividend will be paid on June 14th, 2024, to common shareholders of record at the close of business on May 31st, 2024. Now turning to guides. Consumer consumption continues to be strong globally, and we are maintaining our previous expectations with most of our strategic growth pillars in the United States and China. In Canada, consumer consumption continues to outpace shipments, while retailers have begun to build back some inventory. We're maintaining our previous disclosed guidance for full year fiscal 2024, and expect the following for the second quarter. Consolidated revenue in the range of $178 to $188 million, an increase of 6 to 12%. A 14 to 21% increase in revenue in Jameson brand segment to approximately 152 to $162 million. A decrease of 20 to 30% in revenue in our strategic partner segment, reflecting our transition out of the customer contract and the timing of orders. Adjusted EBITDA to range from 29 to $33 million. This reflects investments to drive brand awareness and growth in the US and China, and shipment timing in Canada's international impact. Now resolved, work stoppage in our Windsor tablet and manufacturing facility in Q1. And with that, I'll turn the call back to Mike for closing comments.
spk08: Thanks, Chris. Before we go to questions, I wanna reiterate that the expected anomalies in our Q1 results will continue normalizing through the remainder of 2024. This is an exciting time in Jameson's evolution, and I could not be more proud of our team. I hope from today's call, you take away the following. The category has never been stronger. Consumer consumption globally is strong. Health and wellness continues to be a growing trend worldwide, and we are well positioned to meet consumer needs with our portfolio of growing brands. Our global expansion strategy is yielding the expected benefits and positioning us as a global leader with a diversified portfolio of products and geographies. And as I indicated last quarter, the time to invest in the US and China is now, and our investments in brand building, awareness, and innovation are driving increased demand and accelerated growth across these markets. And we see a profitable growth trajectory ahead in the back half of 2024 and beyond. We have further opportunities to improve efficiencies and take certain costs out of the business, and the cash generated from the business will be reinvested in the most accretive opportunities. As we move down the path to becoming a leading global health and wellness company, we are confident we have the operational, strategic, and financial wherewithal to make it happen and create value for all stakeholders. With that, we will now go to Q&A.
spk01: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press star followed by the one on your telephone keypad. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised, and should you wish to cancel your request, please press star followed by the two. If you are using a speakerphone, please leave the handset before pressing any keys. One moment please for your first question.
spk00: Your
spk01: first question comes from the line of George Dumit from Scotiabank. Please go ahead.
spk06: Yeah, I'm Michael and Chris. Last quarter you did mention some modest trade down activity in Canada. I'm like, can you talk a little bit about how that's trending? Has it been stable? Has it ticked down? Any commentary regarding to consumer? Thanks.
spk08: Yeah, thanks George. No, we did not indicate any trade down in Canada last quarter, nor have we in any of the previous sessions in any quarter. What we indicated was we do see channel shifting happening as consumers look to channels like club and e-commerce to where they can find some value, but we are not seeing trading down across the category. And we have seen strong consumption in the category, sorry, in Canada in the quarter with actually dollar consumption outpacing unit consumption, but both being very strong. So have not seen any trade down and have not indicated that in the past. So apologies if that came off that way, if it was communicated that way.
spk06: No, my apologies. I appreciate the clarification there. I wanna talk a little bit about Jameson Canada. The revenue midpoint for the year growth is 6%. I think we came in at 15 down. Can you talk a little bit about how you would expect the cadence throughout the year? I think there's mid single digit pricing in the back half, but can you maybe talk, can you walk us through that, those building blocks to get to that place?
spk08: Yeah, absolutely. So we did indicate last quarter that we expected some decline in the quarter based on the work stoppage and some transitioning to shipments into Q2. We are expecting, and you can see it in our total branded guidance, but we are expecting good, strong, double digit growth in Q2 in Canada, and then continued accelerated growth into the back half behind both our price increase that is now fully accepted in market, as well as continued growth on a unit consumption basis in the back half of the year.
spk06: And just to confirm, we're still looking to put through a mid single digit pricing in the second half?
spk08: We put the pricing in. It was effective around middle of April, and now you'll see some of that impact in Q2.
spk06: Okay, just one last one for me in general, like how are you seeing inventory levels trending in Canada as well?
spk08: Yeah, so we now have hit a new baseline of inventory in Canada. We feel we are through all of the burning in Q1. We did indicate that we expected a little more burning Q1, and then of course we had the labor disruption which accelerated that. In Q2 and onwards, we are now in a position of strength from an inventory perspective. We actually see a little inventory built back in Q2 to make up for some of the delay in shipments from Q1 into Q2. And following through the rest of the year, you should see shipments and consumption closely aligned to each other and to historical patterns.
spk11: Great, I appreciate it. Thanks for your answers. No problem, thank you.
spk01: Thank you, and your next question comes from the line of Derek Lizard from TD Cohen. Please go ahead.
spk07: Yeah, good afternoon, guys. It seems like there was a bit of a subtle change in the language and the MDNA regarding the inventory. I think last quarter you called out retailers. This quarter you're calling them distributors. Is there any difference?
spk08: No, there's no, I mean, we do have two different types of customers we sell to. We have retailers, and then some of our business goes through distributors. It's just who we sell to and who we ship to. In last year's numbers, it was more a retail perspective. In Q1, we anticipated some more burn at the distributor level as they now account for where the retailers have gone. So that now has cycled through the system. And as I talked about in the last question, we're back to a baseline of inventory that we think is where it will land. And from here, we will rebuild a bit in Q2 based on the labor disruption shifting of shipments and more closely aligned to consumption and historical patterns on an ongoing basis from there.
spk07: Okay, that's fair. And just switching gears to the US segment, you called it out as being exceptional, well above your 13 to 20% guide. So I guess, could you, one, give us some of the drivers behind that strength there, new channel penetration or new innovation? And two, I'm just curious about the conservatism on the guide for the rest, like you maintained your guidance for the rest of the year despite the strong Q1 showing.
spk08: Yeah, there's some timing issue quarter for quarter, especially when you talk innovation. So we're holding to our guidance on the year. We still believe and have confidence in our innovation plan, our marketing plan, our distribution plan and everything moving forward. If you go back a year ago and you remember we went through that transition of a new innovation, a new formula into market, that really impacted Q2. And this year we had a new innovation ship in Q1. So you just got a little bit of timing, a lumpiness from an innovation perspective over Q1 and Q2. But the full year guide on the year, we feel pretty confident in. We've got a lot of great plans going on and a lot of momentum in the US right now.
spk09: Okay, thanks
spk03: Mike. Sorry, the other thing to remember Derek is that on a volume basis, Q1 is relatively low. So in spite the 37% being impressive, from a total dollar perspective, it wouldn't be an average quarter from
spk11: a total improvement perspective. Okay, thanks Chris.
spk01: Thank you and your next question comes from the line of Stephen McLeod from BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
spk12: Great, thank you. Good evening guys.
spk11: Good evening.
spk12: Just wanted to ask a little bit about, you talked in the Canadian business about strong consumption trends. Just wondering if you can break that down between dollars and volumes and maybe just with respect to the price increase that you put in. That may muddy things, but I just wanted to get a sense just kind of where we are on those two items.
spk08: Yeah, so Q1 would have had no pricing impact in it. All the pricing that we put into the Canadian market would be effective around mid April into May. You'll start to see it impact the, or sorry, be in the marketplace. When you talk consumption in Q1, we continue to see strong consumption. We saw high single digits in units and very, just touching double digits
spk11: in dollars in the quarter.
spk10: Great, thanks Mike.
spk12: And then just thinking about the China business and maybe just pulling on the string there a little bit. You talked a little bit about a seasonal DTC impact. Just curious kind of what that is. And then you also had strong growth in China on a pro forma and reported basis. Just wondering if you can talk a little bit about some of the drivers in that market and some of the changes that you've seen since the partnership or the partnership with DTC, or sorry, not DTC, your partner in China. Thank you. What was the
spk08: first part of that question? You did say DTC. I just wanna make sure we got the first part of that question.
spk12: Yeah, well, you talked a little bit about the seasonal impact of DTC direct to consumer sales under the own distribution model being a key driver of growth.
spk03: Yeah, I think we're talking about the fact that we acquired our distributor at the beginning of the second quarter last year. So you've got two things affecting the statutory increase at 120%. One is the difference between our sell in price in China and our sell out. So that takes you from the 80% pro forma growth, which is like for like year over year to the marked up sell out price in China in the first quarter. So if you're doing like for like, it's 80% growth in Q1.
spk12: Okay, right. Okay, now that makes sense. Thanks for clarifying that. And then the second part of my question was just gonna be around sort of what are some of the drivers you're seeing, particularly post your partnership?
spk08: Yeah, I mean, we continue to see our strategy working in China and the acceleration of our investment and capabilities and demand generation working. We had some strong promotions in the quarter, most notably around Chinese New Year, which really drew in a new set of consumers that want to try the brand. We continue to see an expansion of some distribution into some key retailers in mainland China and really have taken advantage of some of the, I would say, transition of consumers to what we call social commerce and really looking to social commerce as a platform of which to try new products and buy new products. And some of our increased investment has gone there and we've seen great success with our partners on that side of the business. From a GCP perspective, they continue to sit side by side with us strategically. They continue to help us in market, make connections and understand what the Chinese consumer is looking for and continue to really be great partners that work with us on a weekly, bi-weekly and quarterly basis from a JV perspective.
spk10: That's great, thanks. I appreciate the color guys.
spk11: No problem.
spk01: Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of John Zempiro from CIBC. Please go ahead.
spk09: Thanks, good evening. I wanted to start on the investments in China and the US. I wonder if you can quantify what you've spent so far and what the cadence of those investments will be through the year.
spk03: So we talked about increases in the quarter from a fixed cost perspective of, just a second here. Yeah, 22% or $7.2 million. Those investments were fairly evenly split between comping the infrastructure in China and incremental marketing both in US and in China. And that will be more heavily weighted to the first half versus the second half, which is why you see the guide in terms of second quarter, EBITDA being between 29 and $33 million.
spk09: Okay, that's helpful. Sticking with those two countries, I wonder if you could talk about how margins are trending in the US and China. And I suppose you look at it more from a gross margin perspective, given your investing in those two, but is there any color you can give on how margins are performing in your growth countries?
spk03: I think we're still very confident in our guide from a full year margin perspective. We do have the kind of noise in the system with respect to the labor disruption, reduced volume in terms of our anticipated lower inventory and lower production in the year as we match up shipments and consumption in fiscal 2025. But all in all, you're seeing efficiency with reduced strategic partner impact the strategic partner segment. And then you're seeing a little bit of mix and volume impact the brand segment.
spk09: Okay, thank you. And just one more, can you remind us the contingent consideration you have for youth theory? Is that entirely based on EBITDA or is that partly based on sales?
spk03: It's entirely based on EBITDA. Sorry, the other point is with pricing going into Q2 on margins, you'll see better margins from a branded segment perspective beginning in Q2 going forward.
spk09: Understood, okay. I'll pass it on, thanks very much. Thank you.
spk01: Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Justin Keywood from CFO, please go ahead.
spk02: Thanks, just on the general barometer for consumer spending on VMS, have you seen any risk of trading down just as consumers continue to get squeezed with high inflation?
spk08: No, Justin, we don't see any indication of trade down in any of our major markets. We have not seen any through the course of the last, you know, through 2023, we haven't in Q1. Again, we continue to see some channel shifting where consumers are looking for value either through e-commerce or moving to club or moving to even the discount banners of a grocer. However, for us, it doesn't matter to us. We're priced in a way that the margins are pretty neutral no matter where they go. And we continue to watch them channel shift but they're not brand shifting or trading down in any way. We continue to outpace market growth in our major markets. We continue to pick up share. And as I indicated earlier in Canada, we actually saw dollar consumption outpace unit consumption on the quarter.
spk02: Okay, good to hear. And then on capital allocation, we saw the share buyback a bit active in Q1. Wondering if there's any particular amount that's earmarked for the buyback or potential M&A or just general investments.
spk03: The million dollars spent in the quarter was just the tail on of the rest of that million shares that we committed to buying in the fourth quarter in fiscal 2023. Just based on the seasonal cycle, we will be investing cash in working capital and the business for Q1 and Q2. And we'll assess repurchases as we get closer to Q3 and Q4 when we would operationally generate cash.
spk02: And potential M&A, is that a near term situation or more medium and longer term?
spk03: We are focused on organic growth priorities this year and have no immediate plans for acquisition. But we do obviously assess any opportunities that they come up.
spk02: Thank you for taking my questions.
spk03: Thank you Justin.
spk01: Thank you, once again, should you have a question, please press start and the number one on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from the line of Tanya Armstrong-Whitworth from KanaContinuity. Please go ahead.
spk05: Hi guys, thanks for taking my questions and congrats on the strong quarter. Firstly here, just on the US market, I'm wondering if you've started selling some of your J-Well cues into that market and if they're contributing the material amount of cross sales revenue yet?
spk08: We have a couple formulas right now, Tanya, that we've launched into the US. I would say they're not contributing anything materially at this point. We'll continue to look for opportunities to maximize our manufacturing network and our formulas in the long term. Right now though we have a couple and we'll continue to look for opportunities to do more.
spk05: Okay, great. And then in the China market, you touched on this briefly, but can you kind of stratify where the growth is coming from, whether it be brick and mortar, domestic e-commerce, your cross border sales, and try to get a sense of like, a lot of that, like Costco for instance is building out quite quickly in China. I know you were working with them at one point. Is a lot of your growth coming just from one vertical or is it kind of broadly dispersed?
spk08: Our growth is broadly dispersed, but a majority of the business and growth and the highest growth channel in China today continues to be cross border e-commerce. So we continue to invest there. We have a very large portfolio there between 150 and 200 products. We actually launched five new products there in Q1. We continue to see that channel outpacing the growth in the category across the country. And we are outpacing then the growth from that channel that is being driven. But we do continue to grow across all the verticals, including brick and mortar distribution and most notably what you've called out, which is club growth.
spk05: And then if I could just sneak one last one in. I noticed the labor relations cost just that adjustment that came into EBITDA, just to make sure that's a one-time thing that will continue on in Q2, correct?
spk03: There's a little bit of incremental cost that we will realize in the second quarter, but that will be everything is directly in the strike and ensuring our customers get back in stock as quickly as possible. So very little left
spk11: to come.
spk05: Okay, excellent. Thank you very much,
spk11: guys. Thank you.
spk01: Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Zachary Ebershed from National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.
spk04: Good evening, everyone. And thanks for taking my questions.
spk11: Hello.
spk04: Just wanted to compare to older styles of marketing and digital marketing. What are the return metrics like on the investment in social commerce?
spk11: Well, I mean, it's really hard to do
spk08: a comparable of the two. I mean, social commerce is really e-commerce just through a different form of a different platform. So you would compare that more towards an e-commerce payback than a traditional marketing payback. The beautiful thing about digital marketing and e-commerce promotion and marketing is that you have an instant payback. Everything operates in the moment. You spend a dollar, you see what it returns, and you can adjust your plans as you go. Where you see things working, you can accelerate spend, and where you see things not returning how you anticipated, you can pull back. So our team is constantly adjusting that algorithm of spend to make sure that we're taking advantage of the highest ROI apertures and programs. And even campaigns, right? We could run a campaign digitally that outperforms the same aperture with a different communication plan. And we want to ramp the one up that overperforms and underperforms. So it's a really fluid metric that we have a team of people, especially in China, that just monitor that all day all night and are just tweaking up and down based on what's working. So they're really hard to compare the two. I mean, traditional marketing would have more of a longer term ROI. It's more brand building. It's more equity building that takes a little longer, whereas the digital side of things you can monitor pretty instantly.
spk04: That's really interesting. Thank you. And then I guess building on that point and following up on how fast you're rolling up the strategy in China. Any update on if the competition is heating up and what's next for you there?
spk08: No, I mean, the competition is the competition in China. It is not heating up from where it's been over the last call. It's, you know, six quarters, eight quarters. We haven't seen any material change in what competition is doing. What's next is really to continue focusing on the strategy we have. I mean, we came out of 2023 with a lot of momentum accelerating our growth quarter after quarter. You see another acceleration of growth here in Q1. We'll now be focused on Q2 and the big June promotions in China and then into Q3 and Q4 with the 11-11 promotions. So we're very, very focused on executing what the plan is. It is working and ensuring that we invest in the capabilities and the marketing programs that we see working and ensure that we are manufacturing the product and getting it to China in a timely manner to fill that demand.
spk04: Great, Coler. Thanks. I'll turn it over.
spk11: Thank you.
spk01: Thank you. And your last question comes in the line of Stephen McLeod from BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
spk12: Thank you. Good. You guys just want one follow-up here. Just a subtle nuance in the MD&A. I noticed you didn't have the 2025 guidance in there specifically as a bullet. And I'm just curious, is that still guidance that you're sticking to? I assume so, but just wanted to confirm.
spk03: Yeah, so we just, we wanted to make sure people recognize that that was a one-time thing. Obviously, statutorily, if that guidance had changed, we would have to restate that expectation. So we still hold to that guidance today.
spk10: Perfect. Okay, great. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
spk11: Thanks, Steve. Thanks, Steve.
spk01: Thank you. And that concludes our question and answer session. Thank you all for participating. You may all disconnect.
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