TORONTO — Organigram Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: OGI) (TSX: OGI),a leading licensed producer of cannabis, announced its results for the first quarter ended December 31, 2023.
“We certainly kicked off fiscal 2024 with a bang”, said Beena Goldenberg, Chief Executive Officer. “By closing the first tranche of our $124.6 million follow-on investment from BAT shortly after quarter end, we have removed a significant amount of risk from our business while enhancing the key competitive advantages that our team worked diligently to put into place in Fiscal 2023. We can now fully leverage our world-class facilities, market leadership in several categories, and cutting-edge research and development capabilities to increase Organigram’s reach both within the Canadian market and beyond.”
Canadian Recreational Market Introduction Highlights
As an industry leader and pure-play cannabis company, Organigram remains committed to delivering consumer focused innovations and products to the Canadian market. Q1 Fiscal 2024 saw the introduction of 22 new SKUs to the market for Organigram. Some notable highlights include:
- Holy Mountain Ultra Jean G (28g) – A new sour sativa in a 1 oz. bag
- SHRED Dartz Dessert Storm tube-style pre-rolls – A new flavour in 10 x 0.4g tube-style pre-rolls
- SHRED X Mother Pucker Peach Rip-Strip Hash – A new Rip-Strip flavour packed with peach
- Holy Smokes Purple Punch Out! tube-style pre-rolls – A new strain boasting up to 26% THC
- Trailblazer Hustle n’ Haze THCV pre-rolls – The first pre-roll high in THCV blended with THC
Research and Product Development
Product Development Collaboration (“PDC”) and Centre of Excellence (“CoE”)
Organigram and BAT continue to work together through their PDC on new workstreams to develop innovative technologies in the edible, vape and beverage categories in addition to new disruptive inhalation formats aimed at addressing the biggest consumer pain points that exist in the category today. Organigram is preparing to deliver new products in these spaces and the launch priority includes gummies which will feature a new nano-emulsion technology
The PDC has completed pharmacokinetic studies regarding the onset and half-life of nano-emulsion gummies, and is now analyzing results to substantiate claims
Follow-on Strategic Investment from BAT and creation of the Jupiter Investment Pool
In March of 2021, BAT invested ~$221 million into Organigram which has served to propel product innovations resulting from CoE at Organigram’s Moncton facility
On November 6, 2023 Organigram announced a $124.6 million follow-on investment from BAT and the creation of Jupiter, a strategic investment pool designed to expand Organigram’s geographic footprint and capitalize on emerging growth opportunities
In January 2024, Organigram shareholders voted to approve the $124.6 million investment from BAT and the Company completed the first of three tranches of the investment for proceeds of $41.5 million
Strategic Investment in Green Tank Technologies Corp. (“Greentank”)
In Fiscal 2023, Organigram announced that it had entered into a product purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with Greentank, a leading vaporization technology company, and a subscription agreement with Greentank’s parent company, Weekend Holdings Corp. (“WHC”). The Purchase Agreement provides Organigram with an exclusivity period in Canada for the new technology incorporated into 510 vape cartridges (along with other formats) for use with cannabis, including the development of a custom all-in-one device that will be proprietary to Organigram.
Subsequent to quarter end, the first Greentank enabled vapes shipped to market
Strategic Investment in Phylos
On May 25, 2023, Organigram announced its first strategic U.S. investment in Phylos, a cannabis genetics company and provider of production ready seeds, based in Portland, Oregon, to initiate a wide-ranging technical and commercial relationship in Canada. Under the terms of the agreement, Organigram will advance up to US $8 million to Phylos in three tranches structured as a secured convertible loan
In November 2023, due to the achievement of THCV concentration and aroma specific milestones for F1 seeds, Organigram advanced the second tranche of US$2.75 million to Phylos for a total current investment of US$6.0 million in senior secured convertible loans
In Q1 Fiscal 2024, the Company completed planting its first seed-based production grow room
International
In Q1 Fiscal 2024, the Company reported international shipments totaling $1.0 million to Australia
Subsequent to quarter end, the Company completed its first export to the German medical market
The Company is evaluating international expansion opportunities propelled by the Jupiter strategic investment pool resulting from BAT’s $124.6 million strategic investment announced in November 2023
Liquidity and Capital Resources
On December 31, 2023, the Company had unrestricted cash of $41.8 million and restricted cash of $12.8 million for a total of $54.6 million
In January 2024, Organigram closed the first of three tranches from BAT’s follow-on $124.6 million strategic investment for proceeds of $41.5 million. 50% of the first tranche will be allocated to general corporate purposes and 50% will be allocated toward Jupiter
Key Financial Results for the First Quarter 2024
Net revenue
Compared to the prior period, net revenue decreased 16% to $36.5 million, from $43.3 million in Q1 Fiscal 2023. The decrease was primarily due to a reduction in international revenue and medical sales
Cost of sales
Q1 Fiscal 2024 cost of sales decreased to $26.9 million, from $31.6 million in Q1 Fiscal 2023, primarily due to lower sales including decreased international sales and lower cultivation and post-harvest costs
Gross margin before fair value changes to biological assets, inventories sold, and other charges
Q1 Fiscal 2024 margin declined to $9.5 million from $11.7 million in Q1 Fiscal 2023, negatively impacted in the quarter by lower net revenue, and $1.7 million in inventory provisions versus $1.1 million in the same prior year period
Adjusted gross margin
Q1 Fiscal 2024 adjusted gross margin was $11.2 million, or 31% of net revenue, compared to $12.8 million, or 30%, in Q1 Fiscal 2023. The increase in the adjusted gross margin rate was primarily due to a decrease in depreciation
Adjusted gross margin improved sequentially to 31% from 17% in Q4 Fiscal 2023
Selling, general & administrative (SG&A) expenses
Q1 Fiscal 2024 SG&A expenses increased to $16.5 million from $15.7 million in Q1 Fiscal 2023. The increase in expenses was primarily due to higher foreign exchange losses on foreign-currency denominated receivables and higher professional fees related to the BAT investment
Net (Loss) Income
Q1 Fiscal 2024 net loss was $(15.8) million compared to a net income of $5.3 million in Q1 Fiscal 2023 as a result of lower gross margin due to the change in fair value of biological assets
Adjusted EBITDA
Q1 Fiscal 2024 Adjusted EBITDA was $0.1 million compared to $5.6 million adjusted EBITDA in Q1 Fiscal 2023. The decline is primarily attributed to lower international shipments, and higher SG&A expenses
Adjusted EBITDA improved sequentially by $2.5 million from $(2.4) million in Q4 Fiscal 2023
Net cash (used in) provided by operating activities before working capital changes
Q1 Fiscal 2024 net cash provided by operating activities was $7.7 million, compared to $3.5 million cash provided in Q1 Fiscal 2023, which was primarily due to favorable changes in working capital, partially offset by lower Adjusted EBITDA
“Our results for the first quarter of Fiscal 2024 demonstrate improvements on multiple fronts,” added Greg Guyatt, Chief Financial Officer. “Our improved adjusted gross margin and Adjusted EBITDA on a sequential quarter-over-quarter basis were driven by the refinement of newly enhanced production processes for ready-to-consume products resulting from the $29 million in facility enhancements we completed in Fiscal 2023, the highly successful reintroduction of our patented Edison JOLTS to the market, and improved margin profiles in several product categories. In December 2023, we had a record breaking month in shipped recreational sales, stemming from consistent market share gains throughout Q1 Fiscal 2024.”
Non-IFRS Financial Measures
This news release refers to certain financial and operational performance measures (including adjusted gross margin, adjusted gross margin %, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow) that are not defined by and do not have a standardized meaning under International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. Non-IFRS financial measures are used by management to assess the financial and operational performance of the Company. The Company believes that these non-IFRS financial measures, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, enable investors to evaluate the Company’s operating results, underlying performance and prospects in a similar manner to the Company’s management. As there are no standardized methods of calculating these non-IFRS measures, the Company’s approaches may differ from those used by others, and accordingly, the use of these measures may not be directly comparable. Accordingly, these non-IFRS measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.
Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS measure that the Company defines as net income (loss) before: financing costs, net of investment income; income tax expense (recovery); depreciation, amortization, reversal of/or impairment, normalization of depreciation add-back due to changes in depreciable assets resulting from impairment charges, (gain) loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment (per the statement of cash flows); share-based compensation (per the statement of cash flows); share of loss (gain) from investments in associates and impairment loss (recovery) from loan receivable; change in fair value of contingent consideration; change in fair value of derivative liabilities; expenditures incurred in connection with research and development activities (net of depreciation); unrealized (gain) loss on changes in fair value of biological assets; realized fair value on inventories sold and other inventory charges; provisions (recoveries) and net realizable value adjustment related to inventory and biological assets; government subsidies and insurance recoveries; legal provisions (recoveries); incremental fair value component of inventories sold from acquisitions; ERP implementation costs; transaction costs; and share issuance costs. Adjusted EBITDA is intended to provide a proxy for the Company’s operating cash flow and derives expectations of future financial performance for the Company, and excludes adjustments that are not reflective of current operating results.
Adjusted gross margin is a non-IFRS measure that the Company defines as net revenue less cost of sales, before the effects of (i) unrealized gain (loss) on changes in fair value of biological assets; (ii) realized fair value on inventories sold and other inventory charges; (iii) provisions (recoveries) of inventories and biological assets; (iv) provisions to net realizable value; (v) realized fair value on inventories sold from acquisitions.
Adjusted gross margin percentage is a non-IFRS measure that the Company calculates by dividing adjusted gross margin by net revenue.
Management believes that this adjusted gross margin and adjusted gross margin percentage both provide useful information to assess the profitability of our operations as it represents the normalized gross margin generated from operations and excludes the effects of non-cash fair value adjustments on inventories and biological assets, which are required by IFRS.
The most directly comparable measure to adjusted EBITDA, calculated in accordance with IFRS is net income (loss) and beginning on page 6 of this press release is a reconciliation to such measure. The most directly comparable measure to adjusted gross margin calculated in accordance with IFRS is gross margin before fair value adjustments and beginning on page 7 of this press release is a reconciliation to such measure.
Free cash flows is a non-IFRS financial performance measure that deducts capital expenditures from net cash provided by or used in operating activities. The Company believes this to be a useful indicator of its ability to operate without reliance on additional borrowing or usage of existing cash.
Free cash flows is intended to provide additional information only and does not have any standardized definition under IFRS and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Free cash flows is not necessarily indicative of operating profit or cash flow from operations as determined under IFRS. Other companies may calculate this measure differently.
About Organigram Holdings Inc.
Organigram Holdings Inc. is a NASDAQ Global Select Market and TSX listed company whose wholly-owned subsidiary, Organigram Inc., is a licensed producers of cannabis and cannabis-derived products in Canada.
Organigram is focused on producing high-quality, indoor-grown cannabis for patients and adult recreational consumers in Canada, as well as developing international business partnerships to extend the Company’s global footprint. Organigram has also developed a portfolio of legal adult-use recreational cannabis brands, including Edison, Holy Mountain, Big Bag O’ Buds, SHRED, Monjour and Trailblazer. Organigram operates facilities in Moncton, New Brunswick and Lac-Supérieur, Québec, with a dedicated manufacturing facility in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Company is regulated by the Cannabis Act and the Cannabis Regulations (Canada).
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking information. Forward-looking information, in general, can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “outlook”, “objective”, “may”, “will”, “could”, “would”, “might”, “expect”, “intend”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “plan”, “continue”, “budget”, “schedule” or “forecast” or similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. They include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, and the Company’s objectives, goals, strategies, beliefs, intentions, plans, estimates, forecasts, projections and outlook, including statements relating to the Company’s future performance, the Company’s positioning to capture additional market share and sales including international sales, expectations for consumer demand, expected increase in SKUs, expected improvement to gross margins before fair value changes to biological assets and inventories, expectations regarding adjusted gross margins, adjusted EBITDA and net revenue in Fiscal 2024 and beyond, the Company’s ability to generate consistent free cash flow from operations, expectations regarding cultivation capacity, the Company’s plans and objectives including around the CoE, availability and sources of any future financing including satisfaction of closing conditions for future tranches of the BAT follow-on investment, EU-GMP certification, availability of cost efficiency opportunities, expectations around lower product cultivation costs, the ability to achieve economies of scale and ramp up cultivation, expectations pertaining to the increase of automation and reduction in reliance on manual labour, expectations around the launch of higher margin dried flower strains, expectations around market and consumer demand and other patterns related to existing, new and planned product forms; timing for launch of new product forms, ability of those new product forms to capture sales and market share, estimates around incremental sales and more generally estimates or predictions of actions of customers, suppliers, partners, distributors, competitors or regulatory authorities; continuation of shipments to existing and prospective international jurisdictions and customers, statements regarding the future of the Canadian and international cannabis markets and, statements regarding the Company’s future economic performance. These statements are not historical facts but instead represent management beliefs regarding future events, many of which, by their nature are inherently uncertain and beyond management control. Forward-looking information has been based on the Company’s current expectations about future events.
This news release contains information concerning our industry and the markets in which we operate, including our market position and market share, which is based on information from independent third-party sources. Although we believe these sources to be generally reliable, market and industry data is inherently imprecise, subject to interpretation and cannot be verified with complete certainty due to limits on the availability and reliability of raw data, the voluntary nature of the data gathering process, and other limitations and uncertainties inherent in any statistical survey or data collection process. We have not independently verified any third-party information contained herein.
Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectations. These risks, uncertainties and factors include: general economic factors; receipt of regulatory approvals, consents, and/or final determinations, and any conditions imposed upon same and the timing thereof; the Company’s ability to meet regulatory criteria which may be subject to change; change in regulation including restrictions on sale of new product forms; timing for federal legalization of cannabis in the U.S. and changing regulatory conditions including internationally; imposition of tariffs or duties in international markets, including Israel; change in stock exchange listing practices and ability to continue to meet minimum listing requirements from time to time; the Company’s ability to manage costs, timing and conditions to receiving any required testing results and certifications; results of final testing of new products; changes in governmental plans including those related to methods of distribution and timing and timing and nature of sales and product returns; customer buying patterns and consumer preferences not being as predicted given this is a new and emerging market; material weaknesses identified in the Company’s internal controls over financial reporting; the completion of regulatory processes and registrations including for new products and forms; market demand and acceptance of new products and forms; unforeseen construction or delivery delays including of equipment and commissioning; increases to expected costs; competitive and industry conditions; change in customer buying patterns; and changes in crop yields and potency. These and other risk factors are disclosed in the Company’s documents filed from time to time under the Company’s issuer profile on the Canadian Securities Administrators’ System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (“SEDAR+”) at www.sedarplus.com and reports and other information filed with or furnished to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) from time to time on the SEC’s Electronic Document Gathering and Retrieval System (“EDGAR”) at www.sec.gov, including the Company’s most recent management discussion and analysis (“MD&A”) and annual information form. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Forward looking information is subject to risks and uncertainties that are addressed in the “Risk Factors” section of the MD&A dated February 13, 2024 and there can be no assurance whatsoever that these events will occur.
