The Cannabist Company Holdings Inc. (CBSTQ) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Columbia Care Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference to your host Ms. Lee Ann Evans, Senior Vice President of Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon and thank you for joining Columbia Care's Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. With me today are Nicholas Vita, our Chief Executive Officer; David Hart, our Chief Operating Officer; Derek Watson, our Chief Financial Officer; and Jesse Channon, our Chief Growth Officer. Earlier today, we issued a press release reporting our third quarter 2022 results, which we also filed to be applicable Canadian Securities Regulatory Authorities on SEDAR and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on EDGAR. A copy of this release is available on the investors section of our corporate website, where you'll also be able to access a replay of this call for up to 30 days. Please note that the remarks we make today regarding future expectations, plans and prospects for the company, including statements relating to the Cresco Labs transactions constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. Securities Laws. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, which we disclose in more detail in the risk factors section of our annual Form 10-K dated March 31, 2022, as filed with applicable regulatory authorities and in subsequent securities filing. We remind you that any forward-looking statements represent our views as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. While we may update any such forward-looking statements in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so except as otherwise required by applicable law. Also, please note that on today's call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures such as adjusted EBITDA. These measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Columbia Care considers certain non-GAAP measures to be meaningful indicators of the performance of this business in addition to but not as a substitute for our GAAP results. A reconciliation of such non-GAAP financial measures to their nearest comparable GAAP measures is included in our press release issued earlier today. With that, I will turn the call over to Nicholas Vita to get us started. Nick?

Thank you, Lee. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining the call. The financial results of the third quarter demonstrate once again the value of the embedded growth in our strategic footprint and the operational excellence we've developed as we capitalize on the transition to adult use in emerging markets and as we work to perfect our operations in more mature states. From the beginning, we recognized that markets would mature and experience different points in their lifecycles at various times. In Q3, we had some markets like New Jersey that were up over 75% sequential in revenue, while others such as Maryland showed sequential declines. It was our decision to develop a diverse national platform that has enabled us to hedge these natural market cycles. In another challenging environment, we achieved solid sequential top line growth and stand out profitability improvements with revenue increasing 2.4% sequentially to $133 million in the quarter and adjusted EBITDA improving 74.5% over Q2 to $21 million. Our adjusted EBITDA margin improved approximately 650 basis points over last quarter. We continue to drive growth in our emerging markets such as New Jersey, Virginia and West Virginia, 2 of which are now among our top 5 markets by revenue and EBITDA. As we discussed last quarter, we continue to leverage our expanding scale while also implementing proactive strategies in mature markets as they mature and rationalize. As David will discuss in a few minutes, we have executed upon our plan and have shown material improvement in both our California and Colorado operations in the space of 1 quarter, which is one of the reasons we achieved this 74.5% sequential improvement in adjusted EBITDA in Q3 versus Q2. Another reason for the surge in profitability is our concerted effort to capture efficiencies and drive costs out of our system and the receptivity of our products in the wholesale market. As we discussed last quarter, we made tactical investments in our infrastructure and cultivation operations that have significantly lowered the production costs for both harvested flower and packaged products. Across our national footprint, trimmed flower cost per gram has continued to trend downwards and in Q3 was the lowest we've seen in 7 quarters. Meanwhile, flower quality has consistently and materially improved. These improvements and enhanced capabilities have enabled us to introduce new phenotypes and optimize them to their full potential. As has been shown in every market condition, there is a direct correlation between product quality and pricing. During prior earnings calls, we stated that we expected to see the positive impact of the capital investments we made in the back half of 2022 and that benefit has begun to materialize. We made significant progress on those initiatives during Q3 and is reflected in our financial results. And it has positively impacted both our momentum and our cash flow. David and his team have worked tenaciously to drive efficiencies across our operations and modulate production as needed to address supply-demand issues market-by-market. These strategic decisions to prioritize quality production and efficiency, combined with the heightened efforts to manage costs we face persistent headwinds have generated results. 16 of our 17 markets generated positive EBITDA in the quarter. Our smallest market by revenue, Missouri, was the outlier. Despite revenue increasing more than 30% sequentially, driven by the growth of our wholesale operations, price compression impacted margins. Strong execution at the operating level and significant improvement in profitability is even more remarkable given the challenging environment that we are operating in. Consumers remain under pressure due to macroeconomic headwinds and we've seen basket sizes declining as a result. We are fortunate to have house brands that provide consumers with selection and value while supporting gross margins as well as high-growth markets that provide meaningful upside and potential to revenue and profitability. In Q3, our in-house flower brands made up over 60% of flower sales at Columbia Care locations, complemented by steady to improving foot traffic. Derek will give you an update on our outlook in a few moments. But suffice it to say, strong execution continues to drive growth on both the top and bottom line. Columbia Care is well-positioned today in recently transitioned markets such as New Jersey and soon-to-be transition markets such as New York and Virginia. And as of last week, the newest states to approve adult-use via a vote of referendum, Maryland and Missouri. I'm extremely proud of the Columbia Care team and our ability to grow profitability, particularly in this demanding environment. Before turning the call over to Derek, allow me to give you an update on our merger with Cresco Labs. Recall that both companies will be divesting certain assets as we work through the regulatory approval phase ahead of closing our transaction, which is anticipated around the end of Q1 2023. I'm very pleased to note that on November 4, we had our first divestiture announcement as we will divest assets in New York, Illinois and Massachusetts to an entity owned and controlled by Sean Combs, who is creating the largest Black-owned cannabis company in the world. Total consideration of the transaction is an amount up to $185 million. And it is expected to close concurrently with the closing of the Columbia Care acquisition by Cresco Labs. This is a major step in closing our merger. We continue to work towards finalizing the remaining asset sale agreements and are making progress as we work through the regulatory approval process. As you've heard me say before, the current economic environment and the opportunities afforded to Columbia Care and Cresco by our combined scale reaffirm our decision to merge. Together, we have access to both mature and emerging markets. We will have market-leading retail and wholesale operations. We will have one of, if not the strongest brand portfolio and we will have highly efficient operations. And finally, we will have the best of both organizations to successfully execute on the growth strategy and lead the cannabis industry. With that, I will now turn the call over to Derek to review our financial results and outlook in more detail. Derek?

Thank you, Nick, and good afternoon, everyone. I'll provide a summary of the key financial results for the third quarter, discuss our outlook for the rest of this year and briefly address the status of the Cresco transaction. Revenue in the third quarter was $132.7 million, an increase of 2.4% sequentially and 0.3% year-over-year when compared with Q3 of 2021. The sequential increase was driven by continued growth in several of our emerging markets, including New Jersey, Virginia and West Virginia as well as improvements in California and Colorado, both markets that had experienced revenue declines in Q2. Sequential growth was achieved in spite of a decline in average basket size in the majority of our markets, a reflection of the continuing economic challenges facing our customer base. There were no new retail locations added in the third quarter, though we have since opened up our fifth retail location in Virginia. In Q3, our retail revenue was up a little less than 1% sequentially, while wholesale revenue increased 14% sequentially and represented 16.5% of total revenue in the quarter. The stabilization and operating improvements we expected to see in California and Colorado have also begun to materialize and David will discuss both of these markets in detail. Adjusted gross profit for the third quarter increased sequentially to $56.9 million, up from $55.1 million in Q2, resulting in an adjusted gross margin of 43%, flat with Q2. Adjusted EBITDA of $21 million was up more than 74% from the second quarter, reflecting the impact of maintaining our gross margins as revenue increased and our cost reduction initiatives, particularly in SG&A, where expenses decreased 3% sequentially. At a market level, New Jersey and Colorado demonstrated the largest sequential increase in EBITDA on a dollar basis, continuing the trend for New Jersey and reversing last quarter's decline in Colorado. We ended the quarter with $50 million in cash. We'll continue our cost management discipline and a focus on preserving cash and deploying capital efficiently. We also want to remind investors that we strengthened our capital structure with a private placement of $185 million in 9.5% notes in February prior to market volatility and rising interest rates. Capital expenditures in the quarter were approximately $11.9 million, down from $29.1 million in the second quarter and in line with our forecast of around $20 million for the entire second half of 2022. Our spending is focused on supporting planned store openings in Virginia and cultivation projects on the East Coast. Regarding the Cresco transaction and as Nick mentioned, we're pleased to have made our first and significant divestiture announcements for the Illinois, Massachusetts and New York markets. We're progressing with negotiations in the remaining markets of Florida, Maryland and Ohio, where divestitures are required. And we'll make further announcements as soon as we're able to. Turning to our outlook for the balance of this year. Reflecting the continued economic headwinds and our Q3 performance, we expect to see flat to low-single-digit revenue growth in the fourth quarter. From an EBITDA perspective, we're encouraged by the impact of our profit improvement initiatives and expect to see another sequential increase in EBITDA, maintaining our margins in the mid to high teens in the fourth quarter. As usual, this outlook does not assume any changes in the regulatory environment in any of our markets. With that, let me turn the call over to David to cover operational highlights. David?

Thank you, Derek. For the next few minutes, I will highlight important operational developments during the third quarter, particularly in our top markets. On a revenue basis, our top 5 markets alphabetically were California, Colorado, New Jersey, Ohio and Virginia. On an adjusted EBITDA basis, our top 5 markets were Colorado, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. I want to highlight that New Jersey and Virginia are both now in the top 5, and West Virginia grew -- revenue grew 20% sequentially, all encouraging sign of what's to come for our emerging markets. At the company level, as Nick mentioned, the continued improvement in cultivation productivity and efficiency has led to the declining trend in cost per gram of trimmed flower with Q3 costs decreasing approximately 5% sequentially to reach the lowest level in 7 quarters. Our brand growth has continued with success in the third quarter, including launching the very first pre-rolls in the New York market under our seed and strain line, its 14th market, launching our premium award-winning 777 in Pennsylvania, its 10th market. Classix brand launched a disposable vape and is now available in 14 markets. Subsequent to the quarter close, launching a new cannabis infused edibles brand called Hedy in 6 markets. Now to discuss some markets in more detail. In California, the market stabilized as we expected. During the quarter, we achieved an improvement in flower quality resulting from our relentless focus on improving operational efficiencies across the state. We also made supply chain and operational changes to improve margins. This allowed us to continue to produce extremely high-quality products with exceptional yields and potency results. Specifically, we are averaging potency of 30% THC with some strains testing over 36% THC and 38% TAC. We also experienced significant competitive pricing pressure for manufacturing goods, bulk and packaged flower due to market saturation and the economic climate. It still saw sequential improvement thanks in part to improved price discipline in our wholesale business and improved retail gross margin. In Colorado, we saw some pricing stability in the market compared to last quarter that was largely due to our improved product offering. There's also less market instability, which we anticipated. On the manufacturing front, we ramped up our production to account for store needs due to the initial success of our growth strategy, which includes the launch of new products; Amber Cartridges, Hedy Gummies and Distillate Cartridges. We expect to have substantial inventory of these products in our stores later this month and we'll be introducing gummies and other products in Q4. Usable flower and grams per square foot in Colorado were up more than 110% compared to Q3 2021 as evidence of the improvement in our cultivation operations. During the quarter, we had our first harvest from the second cultivation facility in New Jersey with total capacity of 70,000 square feet as we worked on establishing new and enhanced existing wholesale relationships. We are currently working with multiple new license winners to create future wholesale opportunities for Columbia Care. In Q3, New Jersey revenue increased 74% sequentially with our 2 active dispensaries being some of the best performers in our portfolio. We also launched multiple new SKUs and product line extensions, including Press ODTs, Press 2.0, Hedy, Amber, Dablicators and more. As demand increases, we will be able to scale our operations at the second cultivation facility and take advantage of the growing wholesale opportunity. Turning to Ohio. Our product mix was a sales catalyst and significantly improved our market -- our position in the market. We completed our Mt. Orab cultivation expansion in Q2, which in Q3 allowed us to introduce 10 new cultivars and 2 new brands. We expect more than 70 new dispensaries to open in Ohio by mid-February of 2023, which will provide additional wholesale opportunities. In Virginia, we saw the benefits of our completed Portsmouth facility expansion at the end of Q2 2022, which has allowed us to increase our harvest by 4x. Looking forward, we still have room to expand our current garden as demand increases. Additionally, automated flower packaging has significantly increased throughput of flower production, fueling efficiencies and capability for wholesale. Also, a regulatory change on July 1 to expand patient access by simplifying medical card processing proved to be a tailwind in the quarter by increasing traffic in our dispensaries. Additionally, we opened a new dispensary last week in Carytown bringing our active total in Virginia to 5. We have 7 additional locations in development in the state to create the market-leading footprint of 12. In Pennsylvania, we were more dynamic with our pricing in Q3, which made us more competitive. We also launched Classix. Headwinds included wholesale pricing pressure, strong illicit market and lower active patient counts. Despite these headwinds, we continue to drive scale at our Saxton facility that will enable a more price competitive position in the wholesale market. To summarize, I'm pleased with the continued efficiencies that we are building into our operations, the progress we have made on increasing yields and potency and the strong operational execution at both the manufacturing and dispensary locations. I will now turn the call back to Nick and we will take your questions.

Thank you, David. We look forward to taking your questions. Operator, can you please open the line?

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Aaron Grey of Alliance.

Nice to see the profitability improvement. So I want to focus on Colorado for a second. You talked about that market improving. So that was great to see over the quarter. Just want to get some color in terms of your outlook there. It sounds like things are continuing there with the 4Q guide. But specifically regarding [indiscernible] in the wholesale market there, I know just in years past, there's been some volatility. So I'd love to hear more in terms of how you think the sustainability of that market having improved might be able to persist for the next couple of quarters?

Sure. Thanks, Aaron. Let me turn this over to David Hart and then follow up with any gaps.

Sure. Thanks for the question. So I think in Colorado, we continue to be, I mean, frankly, focused on our supply chain throughout the state. We are seeing an improvement in our market share at the retail level on a month-over-month and quarter-over-quarter basis. And so we're -- I mean, arguably hyper-focused on making sure we're being fully stocked in our stores, both with third-party products that matter. But as importantly, if not more importantly, putting more of our internally derived product on the shelf with -- I think we'd highlighted new brand introductions and improved yields out of our steel location. In the wholesale market, we -- I think there's probably been historically more volatility from a price point perspective in Colorado than most of the other adult-use markets. And so while many, I think, are looking for continued price declines, I think it's largely going to be dependent on total canopy in the state over the next several quarters. And so I think, thankfully, we're hyper-focused on our internal supply chain. We are active in the wholesale market. But for -- I would say, for the next quarter or 2, we are going to be hyper-focused on putting the products on the shelf to drive back foot traffic into our stores and continue to take retail market share. So I think your guess is probably as good as anybody's as it looks 24 months out or 12 months out. But I do think, historically, you've seen canopy flex up and down in aggregate in that state more pronounced, more embedded volatility than most other markets. And I would anticipate that to be the same on a go-forward basis.

Yes. Aaron, the only thing I would say is that just piggybacking on something that David said, a lot of the dynamics that we've talked about over the past couple of quarters, which is you've seen people selling inventory to generate cash flow rather than profits. You've seen a lot of smaller players having a difficult time staying open. That natural rationalization in the market cycle, I think, is really taking hold and we're starting to see that. And that's good news because it means that if you're the incumbent coming out of that cycle, you'll end up being very strong. So we're cautiously optimistic. And I think that the way we couch it to sort of the Street is all we were looking for is stability for the rest of the year, which I think we've gotten. And in that environment with the improvements we've made in the infrastructure, we ought to be able to sort of reverse the course that we saw in the first half of the year.

Okay, great. And then second for me on New Jersey, and I see sales up 74% quarter-over-quarter. Just curious in terms of the incremental capacity you guys had to come on in Vineland, how much of that is now online? Do you have any plans to expand that further today? And then to further grow that wholesale opportunity within the market, do you need more stores to open? Or is there more wholesale opportunities within the existing stores? I know a lot of them are burdened today.

Sure. This is David. In New Jersey, we're sort of into the Phase 1 of the build-out of that second location in Vineland. We can easily turn on incremental canopy as the market matures. And so we're being very focused on looking at the outlook for incremental third-party doors to open. I think everybody is eagerly waiting for that to come onboard in the first half of next year. So there continues to be incremental opportunity with the existing players in the marketplace, for sure, just given the organic growth in the New Jersey adult-use program. But I think there's a next level of incremental foot traffic that's going to come online as doors open. You see that basically in any market, particularly one that's a new adult-use market. So I think everybody is focused on that incremental door opening event in Q1 and Q2 of next year. And building on-shelf recognition for your brand is going to be a key for anybody who wants to be a real wholesaler in the state of New Jersey, so hyper-focused on it. But we have -- the outlook for the 2023, which I obviously haven't provided yet. But we have the ability to flex into that footprint. We built it to be purpose-driven so that we can quickly add canopy as we anticipate new stores coming online. And we can see that ramp in the wholesale opportunity as well as our third location in the state.

Our next question comes from the line of Vivien Azer of Cowen.

I'll echo Aaron's comments that the profitability improvement was certainly nice to see. My first question is on Virginia. You guys have been really clear about what next steps are in terms of store openings. But I'm just curious whether the outcome of the ballot initiatives in Maryland has pivoted your changing at all? Or is that something that you guys were expecting and that was fully baked into the Virginia plan?

So we're obviously very enthusiastic about the Maryland sort of outcome and we expected it. It was one of those rare moments when you actually do have confidence in the political outcome of -- and the voter will. The Maryland and Virginia may be next door to one another, but they are very distant in terms of market. There -- I think that what it does is it actually puts pressure on Virginia to follow through with its sort of long-term plan. And as we think about it, it's always been our expectation that Maryland would transition first. We're well-positioned in Maryland to take advantage of that transition. Maryland and Virginia markets are extremely different, just like D.C. is different than Maryland. But I think that as a regional player and as the dominant player in the Mid-Atlantic, it's very good because it sets the tone for the competitive nature of the states and how they generate tax revenues. So we're cautiously optimistic that it actually sort of furthers the sort of a long-term agenda we have in Virginia. It definitely supports the thesis for Maryland. And we think that it's -- the way it was handled, whether it's done through legislative action or through voter referendums, either outcome is always a positive in the eyes of the markets that we're in. But let me turn it over to David to see if he has any views.

Vivien, the only thing I would add is Virginia clearly is underserved from a door perspective. So we need all the existing operators to open all the allowable doors because that's every time we've opened a door even in our 2 regions from Richmond and below and to the shore, we've seen incremental patient counts in the region. So I think that's certainly a tailwind heading into 2023 as we -- hopefully, everybody, but we're certainly focused on getting the remaining doors open. So that's a positive tailwind for us in addition to the wholesale opportunity.

Certainly. That's really helpful. And just pivoting to Pennsylvania, I think you and your peers have been really clear that there's one, sustained price deflation. But 2, it's a byproduct of the fact that everyone has expanded their cultivation footprint in anticipation of adult-use to be sure under the legacy paradigm, it didn't seem really all that feasible given the control of the state assembly. Just curious, whether you're more optimistic on Pennsylvania given last week's vote?

I think that we are -- we continue to remain constructive on Pennsylvania. But it's not something that we're expecting any enormous changes in the very, very near term. I think what we are seeing though is a lot of discipline coming into the market and a lot of rationalization coming into the market. And some of those natural market dynamics are pressuring some of the less sort of capable players in a way that benefits the more capable players. And so if we had to sort of describe the -- our response to the Pennsylvania and the way to really take sort of full advantage of the market opportunity there, it's through the combination with Cresco, right? So having very, very high-scale, high-quality manufacturing and one of the best distribution channels, proprietary distribution channels, I think, is at least a competitive equalizer, if not an advantage. And now that we're one step closer to that combination, I think we'll be able to realize that more effectively. As it stands, we still have construction ongoing at Saxton. We at Columbia Care as a stand-alone business only has 3 dispensaries and that's a very tough place to be when you're under-scaled in a competitive market, it's not great. So our future and our faith in Pennsylvania does not depend upon sort of a radical political outcome. If it happens, it's asymmetric to the upside. If it doesn't, we still have something that no one else has, which is the benefits of this combination that's going to be very, very near term. And I think we'll have a profound effect not only on profitability, but efficiency.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Scott Fortune of ROTH.

This is Nick, on for Scott. Just looking for some more color on New York. You just rolled out the pre-roll there. Wondering how you look at that state kind of ahead of the closing with Cresco? And just kind of the recent news around maybe a pay-to-play structure imposed by the state for the MSOs, just kind of your sense on the regulatory side there and how you think it will play out?

So it's actually more unpredictable now than it had been even before the election cycle really ramped up. And I say that because I think Governor Hochul had a little bit of a scare in the sort of the runner-up. And that's good for us because what it means is that the state, which has had a significant loss of business and population is looking at the commercial opportunities within its own portfolio. And cannabis is obviously one of those, a fairly substantial one of those. So for us and for Cresco, I mean, we certainly don't want to speak out of turn here, but we think that this is going to be one of the best growth markets in the world. We think it's one of the largest -- already, one of the largest cannabis markets in the world. And we think that the opportunity to combine forces and actually leverage one another's best assets in that environment is going to be an enormous benefit. The addition of the Combs sort of organization is also incredibly powerful because one of the biggest criticisms that we receive in every market is that the industry doesn't have sufficient diversity to justify the type of attention that we'd like to have. And so being able to sit down at the table with the Combs organization and their entire footprint in not only in New York, but elsewhere, I think adds as an element of sophistication and an element of sort of very direct sort of, let's call it, strategic decision-making that was partially in response to the demands of not only the policymakers, but also the regulators. And so we heard what they were saying. We heard what they wanted. We wanted the same thing. We were aligned. We found what we think is one of the best groups potential candidates anywhere to sort of partner with these assets. And we're very excited about it because it creates a very, very different discussion and dynamic with the regulators and with the policymakers. So there are a lot of different rumors and a lot of different structures flowing around right now. I think it would be disingenuous for me to say I know exactly what the state of New York is going to come up with. But we're cautiously optimistic that whatever it is, is in New York's best interest. And what's in New York's best interests is in the best interests of the communities we serve and therefore, our own interests. So we don't really have a sort of a disconnect in terms of the sort of the lens through which we see these opportunities. But let me turn it over to David and see if he has anything to add.

Yes, the only thing I would add here is as we continue to work through our location, our Riverhead location out of Long Island and see improved quality, not only in biomass, but also just in the quality of the material. There is a market in New York that is that we introduced the pre-rolls as an example at a lower price-point, there is velocity there. So we remain cautiously optimistic about the future in the near term in New York. The timing, I think, is anybody's guess, is very hard. But we continue to be headed down in terms of our execution to be prepared for when incremental competition and new dispensary social equity dispensaries come online so that we can be one of the partners available to put our brands on the shelf.

I'm showing no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Nicholas Vita for any closing remarks.

Great. Thank you, operator. Well, thank you, everybody, for your time today. We look forward to speaking with all of you in due course and feel free to reach out with any other questions. Have a great day.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.