MediPharm Labs Corp.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the MediPharm Labs first quarter 2022 financial results conference call. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. Before we begin, please note the following caution respecting forward-looking statements, which is made on behalf of MediPharm Labs and all of its representatives on this call. The statements made on this call will contain forward-looking information that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from a conclusion, forecast or projection in the forward-looking information. Certain material factors or assumptions were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection as reflected in the forward-looking information. Additional information about the material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the conclusions, forecasts or projections in the forward-looking information and the material factors or assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection as reflected in the forward-looking information are contained in MetaPharm Labs filings with the Canadian and provincial security regulators, which are available on the CDAR website at cdar.com. I will now pass the call to David Pittock, CEO of MetaPharm.

Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for MetaFarm's 2022 Financial Results Conference Call. Joining me on the call today are Keith Strong, MetaFarm's President, and Greg Hunter, the company's CFO. I joined MetaFarm as CEO in late April, subsequent to Q1. Since joining, I've been spending my time listening to and speaking with different stakeholders. As an outsider until recently, one of the first questions I'm inevitably asked is, Why move to Medifarm, given the state of the overall cannabis space today? My short answer is that throughout my career in the pharma and medtech spaces, I've been able to help companies manage through challenging transformative periods. I see a real opportunity for Medifarm to be one of the big winners in the space. The company's not there right now, but the raw ingredients are. Medifarm's facilities, regulatory approach, quality processes, and product lines provide a unique platform in the industry. Its more medical pharma approach positions the company well to succeed in the emerging global medical cannabis markets. The GMP licenses, Dell license, and international sales presence allow for compelling growth opportunities and pharma partnership opportunities not available to most of our industry peers. While I am new to this sector, I've been following medical cannabis and the industry very closely in my former pharmaceutical life. I'm here because I believe that MetaFarm Labs is one of the most pharma-like cannabis companies in North America. The entire industry, including MetaFarm, has many challenges ahead. However, I believe MetaFarm is well-positioned to succeed given their unique regulatory licensing capabilities, their opportunity pipeline, their existing global network, and their strong cash position. I'm confident we can turn this company into a value creation engine for shareholders. The team has made solid incremental improvements on financial regulatory approvals and sales. However, in the past six quarters, MetaFarm's financial performance has remained essentially flat. The flat results somewhat hide progress in the move from a largely B2B business to focusing on our more profitable self-owned brands. But we need to move faster. We're committed to speeding up our strong pipeline of organic growth opportunities and but we will now also be focused on prudent, strategic, and opportunistic M&A growth opportunities. I have reviewed the company's organic growth pipelines, both domestically and internationally, and it gives me good confidence for the future. We have many channels in different countries that the company has worked on opening that are primed and ready to deliver after years of regulatory investment. We are focused on international deals, where we're more uniquely positioned due to our licensure status to drive revenue and now, most importantly, profitability. And going forward, M&A activity will form an important part of accelerating our sales and profit growth. Over the next several months, we expect the M&A opportunity set to expand as weaker players continue to come under cash flow and profit pressure. But I want to be clear as we talk about M&A. We will be prudent. We will preserve financial flexibility. We will feel the synergy in spaces where we have demonstrated the right to win. We will be both strategic and opportunistic, and we will be ready to successfully execute and integrate. Medifarm is in a strong position to participate as the industry consolidates and to continue to build our leadership in the more specialty medical and wellness segments. We are virtually debt-free, one of the best cash positions amongst our peers. We're fully built out with unencumbered assets and a team hungry to grow. With a solid balance sheet, MetaFarm has the strength to execute deals that will be accretive both in the short term and over the long term. The company needs top-line growth to better leverage its current infrastructure, and we are very focused on getting MetaFarm to profitability as quickly as possible. I've had the privilege to participate in several company transformations over the years. These transformations have required significant growth through M&A, successful product launches in new and existing markets, profitability improvement programs focused on costs, pricing, and right-sizing footprints. I look forward to applying many of these learnings to the challenges and opportunities we face at MetaFarm. We will be squarely focused on growth, profitability, and driving shareholder value. I will now pass the call over to Keith. Thanks, David.