Rubicon Organics Inc.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Rubicon Organic's second quarter, June 30th, 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded on August 17th, 2023. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time for research analysts to queue up for questions. Before we begin, I will refer you to slide two of our presentation, which contains Rubicon's caution regarding forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures. Today's presenters will be Margaret Brody, Interim CEO and CFO, and Janice Risbin, Vice President of Finance.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. Today, I'll provide an update on Rubicon Organic's performance in Q2 2023 highlighting our progress as a leader in the Canadian cannabis market. In Q2 23, we achieved record net revenue of $11.3 million for the three months ended June 30th, 23, a 28% increase from Q2 22, and $20.1 million for the six months then ended, a 44% increase compared to Q2 22. We delivered adjusted EBITDA of $1.8 million and $1.9 million for the three and six months ended June 30th, 23, an increase of $1.5 million and $3.2 million compared to the comparative periods in 2022, marking our fifth consecutive quarter of adjusted EBITDA positives. We also achieved operating cash flow of $2.4 million and $2.6 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023, delivering almost $7 million in operating cash flow over the 12 months ended June 30. We have grown our cash balance in three months by 22% to $9.3 million, and we have achieved 2% market share of flour and pre-rolls and 5% of the premium flour and pre-roll category. From a commercial perspective, we have been busy. Under Simply Bare Organic, we have launched new unique flavor-forward genetics of BC Organic Harlequin, Scotty Biscotti, and Jelly Breath. 1964 has had a raft of offerings, including Rubicon's first edibles product, where we have successfully launched 1964 live rosin gummies in Ontario, BC, and Alberta. Beyond Edibles, 1964 has launched Gelato 41 flour and rosin-infused pre-rolls under our award-winning Comatose strain, with highly anticipated Death Bubba flour rolling out right now. After purchasing the Wildflower brand last year, we are working to expand the offerings available under the brand, and now in market are the new Wildflower Extra Strength Relief Stick and the Wildflower 1-to-1 CBD-to-THC Relief Stick. One of the notable items in the second quarter was the results of an independent study of Canadian bud tenders by the Brightfield Group. Bud tenders are often cannabis connoisseurs, similar to a sommelier, and carry a lot of weight with shopper decisions. The survey results demonstrated that Rubicon's Super Premium Simply Bare Organic and Premium 1964 brands held two of the top three spots of the most recommended by bud tenders. I'm proud of the progress of our 1964 brand, which achieved national recognition after its launch in 21, achieving the number one premium brand status in Canada in April of this year. This success is a testament to the robust foundation we established with Simply Bare. It vividly illustrates the significance of bud tenders in the Canadian cannabis landscape. They recognize the quality and credibility of Simply Bare, which paves the way for a seamless introduction of our secondary brand, further solidifying their trust in the parent company's brands. And hot off the press are a few other tidbits we have just learned. Firstly, our 1964 flower was recently voted by Ontario Bud Tenders as the number one flower at the Kind Summer Fair in July. And we are happy to hear recently that a few notable cannabis associated celebrities requested our brand by name as their only flower purchase when visiting BC. We have worked tremendously hard to develop operational processes that consistently deliver, in our opinion, the best premium flour in the market, and we are pleased to see that when users are looking for a flavorful, high-quality experience, they look to Rubicon Brands. The remarkable journey of our brands, accompanied by their reputations, signals our readiness for even greater expansion. Beyond our flour business, our wildflower brand has become Canada's favorite topical product. The wildflower brand is the number one topical in Canada, with an incredible market share of almost 23%, up 38% in the three months to June 30th, as compared to the prior year. The product is targeting those consumers seeking the benefit of CBD wellness, and we are excited for the opportunity to further expand on the strong platform that Wildflower, for an everyday wellness user, you can expect to see more new products from us targeting that consumer before the end of 2023. Rubicon is focusing and readying for more growth. And in order to do this, we have set four key priorities in 23. Firstly, to optimize yield and cultivation at the Delta facility. Secondly, we seek to maximize the Canadian premium opportunity by leveraging the strength of our leading brands. Thirdly, we want to drive efficiency in processes and systems to ready for growth. And lastly, we aim to build a proud and engaged team who delivers outstanding results. Our first priority is to optimize yield and cultivation at the Delta facility. Rubicon is dedicated to providing the Canadian market with super premium quality cannabis flower products as our primary focus. As a flower-first business, we prioritize excellence in this domain and constantly strive to enhance our flower quality. We maintain an unwavering and endless commitment to continuous improvement, acknowledging that we can always push further with our quality. Rubicon's cultivation and processing teams are constantly evaluating data, looking at improvements, and trialing new genetics and methodologies to improve our products, and we believe the steady incremental improvements in our quality are demonstrated in the market with the recent drops, such as the Simply Bare Organic Flavor Forward White Rainbow Strain, which we internally believe is some of the best flower and genetic we have ever produced. In the second half, we've begun our project installing tables in the remaining compartments in the facility. The positive impact from this installation will begin to be noticed in late 23 and early into 24 crops, where there will be an up to 10% additional yield, but also an improvement on air circulation within the facility, which will lead to increased plant health and higher proportions of our highest quality grade flour. More high quality flour, in turn, provides further opportunities to strengthen and grow our highest margin Simply Bear brand. Constant improvements and refinements within our operations lead to continuous improvements in our flour quality, driven by our operational execution, which means consistency, quality in our brands. Secondly, we are seeking to maximize the Canadian premium opportunity by leveraging the strengths of our leading brands. Our goal is to optimize the gross margin per gram produced by offering customers the right genetics and product formats at an appropriate price-to-value ratio. We aim to grow the Simply Bare brand and enhance the gross profit of our other brands. As we currently face capacity limitations, we are strategically making product decisions to maximize contribution margins while meeting consumer and customer, the provinces, insights and demands. An example of our approach is the recent launch of Simply Bear's BC Organic Harlequin. Responding to a high demand gap in the market, we launched Canada's first super premium one-to-one under Simply Bear. BC Organic Harlequin has a balance ratio of 11% CBD and 8% THC, and this product has quickly demonstrated high repeat sales orders since its launch in BC. This launch proves that targeted consumer insights coupled with both high quality product and operational execution drive brand performance. Once the remaining tables are installed in our Delta facility, Rubicon will have maximized the capacity within our current facility for total flower volume. Recognizing this constraint, through the first half of 23, we have been evaluating and establishing high quality partnerships for both contract growth and co-manufacturing as an asset-light model in order to complement our own premium production and satisfy the increasing demand for our brands. This effort has been a lengthy and thorough process for Rubicon to ensure new partnerships meet our quality standards and their operations are able to deliver on the standards that our consumers have come to expect from our brands. In order to grow our brands in the Canadian marketplace, we expect to see a ramping up of supply from these partnerships beginning in Q4-23. We have taken the first steps to achieve incremental gross profit beyond our production capacity at Delta, and in April, launched 1964 single-strain live rosin edibles. This asset-like strategy has allowed us to generate additional sales and gross profit while building our 1964 brand with minimal impact on Delta's capacity. Thirdly, we want to drive efficiency in processes and systems to ready for growth. To improve efficiency, Rubicon is finalizing plans for an ERP system to begin implementation in late 2023. Though it will drive short-term, non-recurring costs, new systems will bring efficiencies going forward. Lastly, we aim to create a proud and engaged team to deliver outstanding results. At Rubicon, we place a strong emphasis on team member engagement and pride in order to ensure the delivery of a premium product while minimizing costs related to team member turnover. Additionally, we are actively seeking input across the company to refresh the Rubicon values and with an internal engagement survey as we embark on the next stage of our business. In line with our commitment to accountability, we are finalizing our third environmental, social, and governance report, which will be released in the coming months. We have been able to continue with positive trajectory of positive financial results through our three flagship brands, Simply Bare Organic, our super premium Flower First products, 1964 our premium flower first products and wildflower our wellness focus brand where we can delivered consistent high quality products that are recognized and winning with consumers we have strategically diversified our offerings to cover a wide range of formats sizes and product carriers categories with this approach allowing us to be competitive and agile regardless of the markets direction the overall cannabis market continues to grow and in 2023, coming off record legal sales totaling $4.5 billion in 2022. With an estimated 40% to 50% of consumers still purchasing in the illicit market, there is more growth yet to come. Current trends and data indicate that over the next three years, the premium market will grow by over $300 million. Our thesis, the premium market is where the profitability lies, is growing at an even faster rate than the overall market, meaning the opportunity in the part of the market where Rubicon is is significant. What we have seen this summer is a volatile Canadian cannabis market impacted by two notable trends, price compression and THC inflation. For both the total and premium market, the growth in units sold exceeds the dollars spent, indicating market price compression. We attribute this price compression to the financial strain faced by numerous competitors, compelling them to offload inventory at reduced prices to alleviate debt burdens. This scenario is anticipated to rebalance post-23 bankruptcies with excess capacity coming offline over the coming year. In essence, we regard this price compression as a transient phenomenon. The dynamic shifts in the market are influenced by short-term financial pressures, and we expect the landscape to evolve to a more balanced and favorable setting with opportunity for strong enterprises like ours in 24 and beyond. The next growing trend involves products boasting exceptionally high THC levels, capturing consumer attention. There are considerable industry doubts regarding the accuracy of these high THC claims. Despite this, many consumers still prioritize the highest advertised THC when making purchasing decisions, sidelining other quality measures. This creates an incentive for companies to emphasize maximum THC levels to drive sales. As Canadian bud tenders tend to be connoisseurs, they understand that buying a gram of weed for $3.50, which states 35% THC, is not as good as a terpene-rich, flavor-forward premium product like ours. A good proxy would be consuming straight alcohol versus a fine Napa Cabernet, two different consumption experiences. Bud tenders will play an important role in educating consumers to understand the complete flower experience. This is where the terpene-rich and full-flavored quality of what our brands bring to the holistic experience beyond THC will shine. Our approach is more similar to cookies or alien labs in the U.S. who win their famous brand appeal, not through their THC percentage, but because of the overall experience that the quality of their weed brings. Rubicon's organic cultivation delivers such an experience. As the market goes through the house cleaning of 2023, we believe that consumers are learning of Rubicon's product consistency, superior quality, and more unique full-body flavors, which are expected to drive market success of our brands to win in the premium category. While we expect both price compression and THC inflation will impact our growth in the short term, we believe much of it is due to the financial strain of companies as they move into insolvency and will rebalance in 2024. We believe that staying the course with our dedication and focus on operational execution, high-quality production towards our brands, together with new and favorite genetics and product formats, will deliver the right value equation for our consumers. This landscape of distressed assets sets the stage for us to be opportunistic in future. I will now pass the call over to Janice, who will share some specifics about the financials.

Thank you, Margaret, and good morning, everyone. Looking at our results for the most recent quarter, the company earned $11.3 million of net revenue, a 28% increase versus the same quarter prior year, and also a 28% increase versus quarter one, 2023. Turning to the growth profit line, we see continued growth year on year and expansion of our margin from 32% in quarter two, 2022 to 41% in quarter two, 2023. As we see the results of our operating leverage of higher sales over a fixed cost base, and industry low levels of product destruction and write-off. Overall, we were pleased that we are building on consistent, positive, adjusted EBITDA, marking the fifth consecutive quarter we have achieved this milestone. Looking to our balance sheet, we did have a small expected dip in cash in the first quarter, but this increased by $1.7 million to $9.3 million at the end of quarter two, with the cash generated from operating activities driven by the increased sales. As previously communicated, we expect CAPEX spend to be less than $4 million for the year, with $1.1 million having been spent up to Q2 2023. Our long-term debt bears interest at a very compelling rate of 7.5%, compared to Canadian Prime at 7.2%. This will be moving to current at the end of December 2023, and we will be exploring our refinancing options and requirements in light of our healthy cash balance. As we look at the rolling 12-month run rate, we again see consistent growth coming from our quality products in all three flagship brands and in all key regions. Our super premium brand, Simply Bare, continues to contribute to net revenue growth for the rolling 12 months. We continue with successful new strain launches such as White Rainbow and another full quarter of our infused rosin pre-rolled bean in market. With overall premium growth slowing and increased quality competition, we continuously review our Simply Bare portfolio to ensure we have a competitive product offering in market at the right price. 1964 continues to be the primary driver of the company's top line growth. Building on the success of the Simply Bare organic brand, 1964 was launched nationally in summer 2021 and has gone from strength to strength. In April of this year, 1964 was ranked as the number one premium brand in Canada. The success of the brand and reputation it has built can be attributed to the strong performance of legacy strains launched, including Comatose and more recently Gelato 41. Looking forward, we are excited to see the results from the recent launch of Death Bubba, a classic BC cultivar with deep roots in the legacy market. The company's first edibles were launched in Q2 2023 under the 1964 brand, which, although early days, are off to a great start, and we have since expanded the portfolio from two to five flavors due to demand. The launch of the 1964 live raws and edibles is a great example of identifying and working with a high quality third party partner to expand the offering of our premium brands. Wildflower continues to dominate the topical category, delivering net revenue growth, and we are excited by the potential for this brand as we expand more into the wellness sector, targeting daily use consumers. Looking at gross profit, we continue to see growth margin expansion over the rolling 12 months, from 25% in the 12 months to Q2 2022, increasing to 39% in the most recent 12 months, as we optimize our product mix and realize operating leverage on our fixed production costs. Production costs are down again in Q2 after a slight increase in Q1, as we continue to refine our growing techniques with targeted increased cultivation labor, resulting in higher quality and yields, but now also seeing the savings from our BC Hydro project. We have continued to deliver positive operating cash flow and adjusted EBITDA in Q2 2023, with these metrics improving on prior periods. Adjusted EBITDA continues to be an important measure for Rubicon, as it strips out the non-cash items in addition to the standard EBITDA calculations, such as share-based comp payments and the gains and losses from the biological assets accounting standards. which can have significant swings, as we saw between Q3 and Q4 2022. The year-on-year improvement in profitability was driven by the 28% increase in our revenue, increased throughput at the facility, and continued prudence with our spending and operating expenses. Our Q2 results have bolstered our confidence in our business plans for 2023 and set the foundation for another year of strong results for Rubicon. I would now like to turn the meeting back to Margaret to share more about the Canadian cannabis sector and Rubicon Organics.