Verano Holdings Corp. (PNK:VRNOF) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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George Archos: Like we said in the call, it’s going very well. It’s beating our internal expectations were for customers that have come on board. We’re not giving specific guidance yet on how many customers have entered into the program but we might do that in the future.

Mike Reagan: Okay. And then just a quick follow-up on that, I guess, help us understand how the accounting is going to work for that like when someone gives you 200,000 bucks to join the program today is that revenue or is that like a deferred revenue that’s an amortized as they purchase the product overtime or something?

George Archos: Yeah. So the — the way the revenue flows through is amortized over time and then to the extent that the customers’ using the credit side comes through at the time of purchase within those stores.

Mike Reagan: Got it. Okay great. Thanks a lot.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Ty Collin from Eight Capital. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Ty Collins: Hey. Good morning. Thanks for the question. George, I wanted to follow-up on your remarks from earlier in the call about your pessimism I guess about uplift in on the back of the rescheduling news. And if you could share any details of your conversations with some of the exchanges today and maybe why you’re a little pessimistic on that especially given one of your peers kind of came out after the rescheduling news. And I mentioned that they had some constructive conversations with the exchanges. So you have maybe what makes you a little bit more pessimistic. And on the other hand do you think SAFE Banking is something that that gets the exchanges across the line of rescheduling doesn’t? Thanks.

George Archos: Thanks, Ty. I am going to change your wording a little bit. I’m going to call it more realistic versus pessimistic. We haven’t been more optimistic about cannabis than we did than we have been today, right? So many great things going on, but at the same time we’re also realistic about what’s going to happen on the uplifting is something that will definitely happen. I don’t think it happens immediately or the rescheduling. I think some other things that have to happen with it which we feel optimistic we’ll just we don’t think the time is going to be exactly the same. Darren, can clarify further on the dynamics there, but we feel very good about where we’re at and where we’re at.

Darren Weiss: Yes. Thanks George and thanks for the question Ty. Look at the end of the day, as you might imagine, we’re having the same conversations with the exchanges. The fact remains that it’s pretty clear that Schedule 3 in and of itself is not going to be sufficient most likely depending of course on the rules and what the DOJ does. But we are optimistic in the long-term that we’re going to get there of course and that this momentum is significant. But as George said, we want to be realistic and not set to set expectations and in a place that’s not in line with reality at this point in time.

Aaron Miles: And Ty, this is Aaron. I just want to add one more thing and George mentioned this on the call, but to reiterate the positioning of a senior exchange listing that we have on the CBO Canada, like we’re not going to make guesses at timing. We’re going to position ourselves when those opportunities open up. So, if the exchanges move much faster we hope they do we will be ready. And that was really part of the big reason of the move that we made in CBO Canada.

Ty Collin: Got it. Okay. Appreciate all that color there. And then just for my follow-up. So, a lot of helpful commentary around what you’re planning to do and invest in Florida ahead of adult use, obviously, very important to make those investments ahead of such a huge opportunity. But maybe just to take a bit of an angle on that questioning, how do you think about you know kind of hedging your investments there in the event that adult use doesn’t go the way that we all hope it does. How do you think of managing that risk of that kind of building out more than what you need for a medical-only market?

George Archos: Well, first one unlike a lot of our peers we own the real estate and we’ll continue to do that. So, owning the real estate gives us leverage for the future and the market continues to grow. Fortunately for us we’re at a stage where we have to continue to add capacity regardless of what happens with adult use. So, it’s an investment we’d be making anyway, although it might be a little bit larger we’ll be in very good shape. So, we’ll have the facilities to be able to grow if for some reason and we don’t anticipate this whatsoever that the vote doesn’t go our way, we’ll be able to cease construction and keep it where it’s at. So, we feel very good about what we’re doing and what we’re planning on spending for the year and moving forward into adult-use transition.

Ty Collin: Great. Thanks for the questions.

Operator: We have no further questions. I would like to turn the call back over to Verano CEO, George Archos for closing remarks.

George Archos: Thank you everyone for your time this morning. Have a wonderful day and we’ll see you next quarter.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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