Mama's Creations, Inc. (MAMA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to MamaMancini's First Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, the call is being recorded. On our call today is MamaMancini's Chairman and CEO, Carl Wolf; President and COO, Matthew Brown; CFO, Larry Morgenstein; and Greg Falesnik, Managing Director of MZ North America, MamaMancini's Investor Relations firm. I would now like to turn the conference over to Greg to read the disclaimer about forward-looking statements.

Thank you, operator. Before we get started, I'll read the disclaimer about forward-looking statements. This conference call may contain, in addition to historical information, forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws regarding MamaMancini's. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements that express the company's intentions, beliefs, expectations, strategies, predictions or any other statements relating to its future earnings, activities, events or conditions. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the company's business based in part on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may vary and are likely to differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements due to numerous factors discussed from time to time in this report and other documents, which the company files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, such statements could be affected by risks and uncertainties related to factors beyond the company's control. Matters that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, among other factors, the loss of key management personnel, availability of capital and any major litigation regarding the company. In addition, this conference call contains time-sensitive information that reflects management's best analysis only as of the date and time of this conference call. The company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events, information or circumstances that arise after the date of this conference call. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Carl Wolf, the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Carl, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Greg, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. I'd like to welcome you to our first quarter 2021 financial results conference call. The first quarter of fiscal 2021 was a record quarter highlighted by revenue and net income growth as we aggressively market our products nationwide as well as the expansion of our product line. To that end, we're very pleased with our progress with sales increasing 51% to a record $11.1 million and net income increasing 154% to a record $0.9 million in the first quarter. This growth was driven by new placements, effective merchandising and continued success of our multichannel marketing efforts as well as some short-term higher volume due to COVID. Sales were very strong in the club store network and in packaged products, while sales in the fresh deli and hot bar were negatively affected. The fresh deli and hot bar business is recovering slowly, and we expect to be back to normal levels in late summer. Overall, sales and margins were very positive. Because of COVID, there were a few new product placements in the quarter, but we now are stepping up activity as commerce is returning back to normal. We expect a number of new placements to occur late summer and fall, continuing our sales momentum. Our activity on foodservice, export to Canada, convenience stores, college channel, direct-to-consumer a la Amazon Fresh, et cetera, and Beyond Meat products were halted due to COVID. We now are beginning this activity again and expect to see significant progress later in the year. Our projections for the year have been altered to reflect this but overall appear very strong for the year with our existing base and new customers in supermarkets and club stores. We expect a record year in sales and earnings, with the second quarter strong compared to prior year, but without the onetime COVID-related sales for the first quarter. However, we caution that with today's continually evolving macroeconomic accurate -- macroeconomics accurate forecasting, the future can be difficult. Our successful multipronged marketing efforts include radio campaign, social media efforts and continued work with QVC. I'd like to touch on a few of these. We continue to see success in our SiriusXM Radio advertising campaigns as evidenced by the launch of 6 campaigns in calendar 2019. We launched a major new 11-week campaign in May of this year. The SiriusXM platform will distribute an estimated 4,000 MamaMancini's commercials on all major talk and news channels reaching over 75 million customers, an avenue which we have found is a cost-effective way to drive sales across various geographic locations with current and new customers of our products. On the social media side of things, we continue to maintain a robust reach, engaging new customers and encouraging repeat purchases. To date, we have 300,000 likes and can geo-target likely consumers who live within 5 miles of specific retail locations. As an example, we are presently using this meeting to introduce our new Pasta Bowls at public supermarkets in the Southeast. Our QVC efforts have seen notable success with Dan Mancini's live pitches driving impressive sales on their platform. We have recently increased our on-air presence notably and have seen an encouraging growth as a result. As many of you are aware, QVC is the world's largest direct-to-consumer marketer and is available in over 100 million homes throughout the United States. In the month of April, QVC sold over $1 million of MamaMancini's products, a record. COVID-19 was a challenge for the company, but we were able to efficiently run our operations without a closedown. Fortunately, we were able to install safety measures significantly before our peers, which we believed help mitigate the effects. In February, we initiated an operational review through 15/16 consultants and added senior management with the hiring of Steven Burns as Executive Vice President this quarter. Later in the call, Matt Brown will speak about results of this endeavor as well as the implementation of the NetSuite program later this year. We also dealt with higher beef pricing in the final weeks of the quarter, which continued into May and early June. We've been able to raise our prices and plant efficiencies have allowed us to weather margin erosion satisfactorily. Beef prices are expected to moderate in the next few weeks, and we expect margins to continue to improve. Now before going further, I'd now like to turn the call over to Larry Morgenstein, our Chief Financial Officer, to walk through some key financial details from the first quarter of 2021. Larry?

Thank you, Carl. Revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2021 increased 51% to a record $11.1 million compared to $7.4 million in the same year ago quarter. The company was able to increase its sales to new customers as well as existing customer base. Gross profit increased 57% to $3.7 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2021 compared to $2.4 million in the same year ago quarter. Gross profit as a percentage of revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2021 totaled 34% as compared to 32% in the same year ago quarter. Gross margin increased due to higher plant operations and efficiency and a change in product mix. Note that gross profit was negatively impacted by higher beef prices in the quarter as well, which we expect to subside in the next month. Operating expenses totaled $2.8 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2021 compared to $1.9 million in the same year ago quarter. Operating expenses increased primarily due to increases in freight, commissions related mainly to higher sales and professional fees related to increased Investor Relations initiatives. Net income for the first quarter of fiscal 2021 grew significantly to a record $0.906 million or $0.03 per share as compared to net income of $0.356 million or $0.01 a share in the same year ago quarter. The increase in net income was primarily attributed to an increase in sales of 51%, increased gross margin as a percentage of sales of 34% and a 32% decrease in operational expenses as a percentage of sales, in addition to a decrease in interest expenses. Cash and cash equivalents totaled $1.8 million as of April 30, 2020, as compared to $0.4 million as of January 31, 2020. The cash balance included $330,000 of PPP loan, which was returned in early May. We have also paid down our 5-year $2.5 million term loan note with M&T Bank to just $317,000, further strengthening our balance sheet. We do not anticipate raising additional capital and are confident that the cash on hand is sufficient to sustain operations as we grow. Finally, before wrapping up the financial section, I want to touch on our improved current ratio, which at April 30, 2020, stands at 1.52 as compared to 1.33 at April 30, 2019. That completes my comments, and I'd now like to turn over the call to Matt Brown, our President and Chief Operating Officer. Matt?

Thanks, Larry. Fiscal Q1 2021 will forever be remembered as the COVID-19 quarter. As the world changed around us, so did many manufacturing operations. As an essential manufacturer during this time, our plant managed to not only work through the pandemic but to do so with record revenue and net income. COVID-19 forced us to change our operation during this quarter with regards to a number of key areas. With regards to personnel, we were able to achieve record production with less personnel in our production rooms. A portion of this was due to the success of key automation acquisitions during fiscal Q4 2020 that went into full operation in fiscal Q1 2021. On the flip side, we increased personnel with regards to COVID-19 safety. We hired full-time temperature checkers and a full-time sanitation crew that focused solely on the cleanliness of the plant, i.e., door handles, countertops and food contact surfaces, to name a few. With regards to product mix, Carl alluded to it earlier. However, it's worth mentioning again that while our fresh and deli -- fresh deli and hot bar production saw a slowdown during the quarter, the need for club store assembly products as well as our retail package product line was in high demand and required the plant to adjust scheduling to better handle this swing in product mix. With regards to implementation of the NetSuite ERP managerial financial system, the pandemic shifted our focus for a few months while we drew our attention to the needs of our customers. We are now back to working on transitioning of this new system and expect it will go live by November. We have implemented some short-term strategies to gain efficiencies in the area of production, scheduling and logistics but expect to fully see results once we make the full transition to NetSuite. The plant made 2 strategic moves prior to COVID hitting us. The first was bringing in the consulting team of 15/16, a leading industry consulting firm. Through their initial efforts, we were able to shift some personnel hours, in turn, saving us a few points against our cost of goods. In addition, they were able to source a much needed position, a mechanical maintenance manager. This individual has been critical in keeping our machinery functioning at full capacity. This has drastically reduced our unscheduled downtime and has helped increase overall production. The second move was the hire of Steve Burns, our Executive Vice President. Steve has been in the position of Lead Director on the Board of Directors, and we are pleased that he's offered to lend his expertise in the area of finance, logistics and production as we continue to strive towards greater efficiency and profitability in the plant. Steve had the difficult task of starting during a challenging quarter but has been a key player in the market success that was achieved in fiscal Q1 2021. Steve continues to work with the NetSuite team on getting us up and running, in addition to helping capitalize on opportunities to grow our QVC business with stronger margins. Raw materials saw the biggest fluctuation during the quarter as our ground beef prices increased significantly with the challenges of the beef processing industry during this pandemic. As Carl mentioned, we were able to eventually adjust for this and increase our prices of our finished goods to our customers. The plant does expect to see a turnaround in these inflated prices over the course of the next month and hope that initial savings in labor from the 15/16 exercise that we've experienced, coupled by a return to the normal raw material pricing, will greatly increase the plant's profitability. We are also working with Steve and with the 15/16 consultants on a redesign of our packaging room process with modest investments in key equipment to achieve dramatic efficiencies. And at this point, I will turn the call back over to Carl for some final notes before wrapping the call up for Q&A. Carl?

Thank you, Larry and Matt. As I noted in my opening remarks, we continue to execute on all fronts and have laid the foundation for an incredible year. I am proud of the progress we have made in the first quarter and would like to thank our talented employees for their continued execution, enabling our sustained growth in a changing world. We look forward to continued revenue growth and margin expansion throughout the year, creating sustainable value for our shareholders as we approach a potential uplisting in late 2020 or early 2021. With that, I'll turn it over to the operator for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question today comes from Howard Halpern with the Taglich Brothers.

Congratulation, Carl and guys. A great quarter. Great quarter.

Thank you.

In the press release, you talked about you had a spike in new customers, grocery store customers. Is there going to be an increase in some promotional activity to try to retain a portion of those new customers?

The customers in the grocery store area were mainly existing customers or an expansion of our line, so we do not see a dramatic need for additional promotional activity.

Okay. And I guess in last week's webinar, you did talk about, I guess, like direct-to-consumer and starting up again, I guess, or starting Amazon Fresh Direct. Is that going to be a profit center or more of a marketing tool or some combination of the 2?

Everything with us is a profit center. It will not be as profitable in the start-up period. But eventually, everything has to be a profit center in our company.

Okay. And in terms of -- and I think you had talked about it being sometime maybe in August, but how do you envision -- with everything opening up again in August and beyond, are you going to be able to get in or piggyback with the foodservice organizations as they begin to redeploy into their end customers? Is -- are you targeting one specific area to get that launched?

Well, we like the Italian food pizza salient shop sector. However, we do not have major sales projections for the remainder of this year in foodservice. It takes a long time and really put us back to start again. So we should see some modest business, but I really -- we really don't have it in our projections as of now.

Okay. And Beyond Meat, is that also just being delayed by the cost...

Time frame.

Okay. And a little bit on the financial side because I saw it in the 10-Q. How many warrants do you have left outstanding? And depending on the mix, how much money could that bring in later on this year?

So there's approximately, I think, $3.3 million -- actually, at this point, $3.2 million warrants at $1. So then we'd bring in, if they were all exercised, $3.2 million. And then we have warrants at $1.50, which would be, I think, another $2.4 million, which would be another $3.6 million, if -- assuming the stock was high enough, so $3.6 million. So combined, ideally speaking, we're bringing in around $6 million.

Okay. And one final one about -- as you continually make the improvements in the plant, approximately, what is your estimate for CapEx expense for the year?

CapEx expense should be around $400,000 to $500,000, and that is handled through financing through M&T Bank, for the most part, at very favorable rates.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from [ David Schneider ], a private investor.

My question is that as your balance sheet has improved dramatically, let's say, over the past 18 months as you achieved GAAP profitability and net income and also free cash flow, are there some potential customers that are now willing to talk to you that wouldn't, let's say, about a year ago or so now that you've proved that you're -- you've got staying power and you're growing? Maybe...

I'd like to say yes, but that has not been our issue. Our balance sheet has not been a concern of our customers.

Our next question comes from Bernard Girma with DigiTech Strategy.

Carl, first of all, congratulation on the quarter. You've scored them, every numbers. And we got that $10 million quarter, which we'd been looking for, for a while.

Thank you.

So -- and by the way, I also appreciate having the conference call not at 6:00 in the morning for us on the West Coast. I'm sure Greg will appreciate that, too. But -- since he is my neighbor. Anyway, can you expand a little bit more on the exchange upgrade? You've just touched it for 2 words at the end of your presentation. I didn't quite catch when you want to do it, what exchange are you looking for and is it the same thing...

We would be looking at NASDAQ. If that occurs, we think we'll have net worth requirements, and we'll have to see what the stock price is at that time to meet those requirements as well. The advice we're getting from a significant number of people is that it will enhance the marketability of our shares and valuation.

Yes, of course. Yes. So you're looking at the beginning of next year, you said.

Either later this year or the beginning of next year.

Okay. We are halfway through Q2. Can you give us any visibility on the quarter? I mean are we...

We really don't like -- we really don't give guidance on until later in the quarter. I think in the call script, we said that we would have a very significantly positive quarter vis-à-vis last year, continuing the momentum that we have.

I keep trying to ask you the same question every time on that, and you always had the same answer so...

Not even Howard Halpern, who was the first questioner from Taglich Brothers. He's been diligently doing market research on the company. So you may want to look at his numbers.

Okay. One last question. The performance of Beyond Meat, how -- can you expand a little bit more on that?

Well, it started slower than we had hoped: one was getting the first orders; and then, two, COVID hit right in the middle of it. So we're -- we have a business on it, but it really hasn't hit the level we had hoped to yet. We're fully investing in expanding this. We have a number of programs, college programs, promotions and offerings to supermarket chains and, of course, QVC. So we're not...

Do you have any contractual -- sorry.

Any contractual -- excuse me?

Contractual obligation under the contract?

No. No.

Okay. Like do you have a target that you need to reach to at any point?

No. No.

Okay. Well, that's all I really have. And again, congratulations for the quarter.

Our next question comes from [ Fred Orr ], a private investor.

Just quickly, you had talked about some orders going up into Canada but, of course, has been delayed by the virus pandemic. Are conditions such now that those orders could move forward this quarter? Or are we still stymied by trying to wait...

We're going to wait another month or so. I think we need another month or so before we really have a chance to look at it. We have intended orders, small orders, with the first ones starting in April, and they're put on hold.

Okay. And just one more question. You seem pretty confident about a continued margin improvement, even though this quarter looks like it's going to bear a full 3 months of higher beef prices. Is that -- am I interpreting your comments correctly that you are still looking for sequentially up gross margin this quarter?

We're hopeful of higher gross margins this quarter. It's just a little too early to tell. Beef prices are backing down, already starting to back down, and we believe that the basis of the higher prices was, one, a partial induced run through the media. So everybody -- consumers bought -- stocked up, supermarkets, retailers stocked up. So you had a pull right through -- plus you add in a real problem that a number of plants weren't producing either through an actual case of coronavirus or preventative measures that slowed the plant down. It's interesting, in the height of all this, steer prices were very, very low. So if you could produce cuts of meat, you could buy the steers at extremely low prices and then get extremely high prices in the marketplace.

Opportunity that would integrate by your own herd.

Our next question comes from [ David Schneider ], a private investor.

Yes. As you know, besides being an owner of your stock and of the product, and I think your stock price would double if you could just sell the sauce separately because I drink it for breakfast. But all kidding aside, actually, have you thought about selling your sauce separately?

We are in the process of doing that shortly.

Okay. Okay. So that's a very good thing. And the other thing that I noticed is your cash collection cycle is really extremely admirable. It's in the single digits from 1 quarter to the next. And I'm just wondering, it's a very tight ship. And how in the world do you manage that?

We watch it very carefully.

Yes.

We know -- we're able to get into our major customers' portals and watch kind of the cash flow. If we see any issues happening, we can file -- we can do that early.

Okay. All right. Well, everybody who I tell to try the product, they love it and they end up being a shareholder. So I appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you, David.

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the call back over to Carl Wolf for any closing remarks.

Thank you. As a final note, once COVID-19 subsides, we will continue to be active in attending top investor conferences and investor non-deal roadshows, marketings on both coasts of the U.S. In the meantime, we will continue with our efforts on a virtual basis. If interested in scheduling a meeting with management when we are in your region, please reach out to our IR firm, MZ Group, to arrange. Thank you again for joining us today. We look forward to continuing to update you on our progress. Thank you very much.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.