High Tide Inc. (NASDAQ:HITI) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Scott Fortune: Thanks. I appreciate the color, and I’ll jump back in the queue.

Operator: Our first question today comes from Frederico Gomes from ATB Capital. Your line is now open.

Frederico Gomes: Hi. Thank you. Good morning, Raj and Rahim. Congrats on a great quarter, and thanks for taking my questions. My first question is on the cash flow side. You obviously — you had a good year. You generated positive cash from operations. And I think, Rahim, you mentioned this a little bit in terms of free cash flow. I know that you might be approaching that, but any more color on when you think that could happen? It’s pretty clear that you are reducing your burn in your improvement of business. But any guidance you could provide us to when you think you can reach that? Thank you.

Rahim Kanji: Thanks, Frederico. We’ve had a great momentum this year, moving towards a free cash flow position. Our Q4 cash flow from operations before working capital was $3.5 million, and our core — Q4 cash flow from changes in working capital was $4.8 million. So Q4 total cash flow from operations, including working capital, we were able to generate $8.3 million. If you look at the whole — if we look at the whole year of 2022, cash flow from operations before working capital was $9.1 million, better than 2021 of $7.1 million. And our cash flow from changes in working capital was negative $4.6 million, better than 2021 of $9.9 million. If you look at our total cash flow for the year from operations, including working capital, we ended the year with $4.5 million, better than 2021 of negative $2.8 million.

Our free cash flow was $4.6 million negative in 2022, which is a huge improvement from negative $13.5 million in 2021. So things are definitely trending in the right direction.

Frederico Gomes: Okay. Thanks for that. And in terms of your margins, your gross margins were pretty stable this quarter, even though you had a higher mix of sales from retail in Canada, which is a lower margin than . So could you comment on that dynamic? What should we expect in terms of gross margins for this year? And what is the opportunity that you see for potential margin increases in Canadian retail? Thank you.

Rahim Kanji: Yes, sure. So our consolidated gross margins have stabilized over the last three quarters. Our CBD margins have come down given the environment. But more importantly, our brick-and-mortar gross margins have been ticking steadily higher, maintaining that balance. Looking ahead, we think we can increase margins by slowly increasing prices in certain markets, and other initiatives are gaining steam, such as our lead program, white label program, and introduction of seeds and implementing fast tender across all our locations.

Frederico Gomes: Okay. I appreciate it, and I’ll hop back in the queue. Thank you.

Rahim Kanji: Thanks, Frederico.

Operator: Our first question today comes from Matt Bottomley from Canaccord Genuity. Your line is now open.

Unidentified Analyst: Hi there. This is for Matt Bottomley. Congrats on the quarter, and thanks for taking our question. So I just have a quick question regarding the Cabana ELITE program. I know it’s only been two months since the program launched, but could you provide some color on how the program has been rolling out so far, and what kind of expectations you have for the program’s ramp up in fiscal 2023, and what kind of drivers you have in place for — to support the growth of the program over time? Thanks.