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Village Farms International, Inc. (VFF)

Q1 2022 Earnings Call· Tue, May 10, 2022

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Village Farms International First Quarter 2022 Financial Results Conference Call. This morning, Village Farms issued a news release reporting its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2022. That news release along with the company’s financial statements, are available on the company’s website at villagefarms.com under the Investors heading. Please note that today’s call is being broadcast live over the Internet and will be achieved for replay both by telephone and via the Internet beginning approximately one hour following completion of the call. Details of how to access the replays are available in today’s news release. Before we begin, let me remind you that forward-looking statements may be made today during or after the formal part of this conference call. Certain material assumptions were applied in providing these statements, many of which are beyond our control. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements. A summary of these underlying assumptions, risks, and uncertainties is contained in the company’s various securities filings with the SEC and Canadian regulators, including its Form 10-K MD&A for the year ended December 31st, 2021 and Form 10-Q MD&A for the quarter ended March 31st, 2022, which is available on EDGAR. These forward-looking statements are made as of today’s date and except as required by applicable security laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any such statements. I would now like to turn the call over to Michael DeGiglio, Chief Executive Officer at Village Farms International. Please go ahead, Mr. DeGiglio.

Michael DeGiglio

Management

Thank you, Chris. Good morning everyone. With me for today’s first quarter is Village Farms' Chief Financial Officer, Steve Ruffini and joining us is President and CEO of Pure Sunfarms, Mandesh Dosanjh, and for the first time, our recently appointed Executive VP Corporate Affairs, Ann Gillin Lefever The first quarter of 2022 saw continued strong execution and performance from our Canadian businesses, which was unfortunately somewhat offset by the macro challenges facing Village Farms' Fresh, our Produce business. So, let me start with our Produce business. Those who have followed our quarters recently -- and for the last several years will know that a number of macro factors have impacted our Produce business, both positively and negatively since the onset of COVID. In Q1 of this year, several additional negative factors collided. First, it's been a very good growing season for the industry, both greenhouse and field-grown, which contributed to an oversupply in all of our products across the market. At the same time, inflationary pressures in freight, labor, packaging, growing inputs such as fertilizers as well as ongoing trucker shortages contributed to a very challenging cost environment. These cost increases were both profound and swift. The strong growing season actually hurt the industry. The pricing power of our customers were further strengthened by the supply/demand imbalance. We have been trying, but have not been able to realize any material pricing increases with our retailers. This is a very difficult dynamic than cannabis. Produce is a commoditized free trade market with product that ships across five to six international borders daily. As long as these inflationary pressures and oversupply continues, we will experience pressure on our Produce results. I've seen this before multiple times in the agriculture industry and we will respond. We are evaluating new initiatives, including marketing partnerships…

Steve Ruffini

Management

Thanks, Mike. First, a reminder on the timing of our acquisitions and their impact on our first quarter 2022 results. Q1 of this year reflects the full quarter's consolidation of Balanced Health Mechanicals, of which we acquired 100% partway in Q3 last year and the first quarter consolidation of ROSE LifeScience’s, which we acquired 7% in November of last year. Consolidated sales for all of Village Farms, Canadian and US cannabis and Village Farms fresh produce for the first quarter increased 34% year-over-year to $70.2 million from $52.4 million for the first quarter of 2021. The near $18 million increase was driven by higher sales from both Canadian cannabis and fresh produce, as well as the incremental contribution of US cannabis resulting from the Balanced Health acquisition. Consolidated net loss for the quarter was $6.7 million or $0.07 per share compared to a net loss of $7.4 million or $0.10 per share for the same period last year. This quarter's net loss was driven almost entirely by the very challenging macro environment for the fresh produce business. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2022 was negative $6.1 million, compared to a positive adjusted EBITDA of $400,000 in the same period last year. The EBITDA loss this quarter was driven by fresh produce, partially offset by positive EBITDA contributions from both our Canadian and US operations. Corporate costs were $2.5 million compared to $1.5 million, which was driven by incremental audit and Starbucks costs, partially due to the addition of Balanced Health and roads, as well as the expansion and support costs for our development projects, in particular, the Dutch coffee shop endeavor in the Netherlands. Looking at our individual businesses, starting with cannabis. Net sales from our combined Canadian and US cannabis operations grew 65% year-over-year to $28.8…

Michael DeGiglio

Management

Thanks, Steve. So Q1 is a solid start to a year that we believe turns the pages to Village Farms next chapter of success, as we pursue high-growth cannabinoid opportunities in North America and around the world. From my position as CEO, but also, as Williston's largest shareholder with our execution each quarter, on both, our business operations and strategy opportunity. I have more and more confidence in the future of our company to further extends our leadership in cannabis in North America and establish, a leadership position, in the international markets in which we choose to participate. 2022 promises to be a year of dramatic strategic initiatives across our businesses that will propel our growth and company in the next level. So with that, we will now open the call to questions, operator. And as the operator polls questions from our analysts, we're going to take a couple of questions that came in via e-mail from our shareholders ahead of the call.

A - Michael DeGiglio

Management

Question number one is, how is inflation impacting your overall cost? The impact of inflation in the U.S. is much greater than Canada for one labor shortages and labor costs are much more restrictive and severe in the U.S. than they are in Canada. The foreign labor program in Canada is much more superior to the one in the U.S. And of course, the transportation, we're shipping much further in the U.S. than we are in Canada. That being said, Pure Sunfarms continues to drive costs down through better growing techniques, more advanced knowledge of cannabis crops and, of course, strain development as a as industry. There's a lot of improvement there. And you can see that in our numbers. We continue to lower our costs going forward, wherein produce, the strains and varieties are much more mature hard to get an increase in yield. Growing techniques have been honed over 50 years. So that's a big difference there. Second question, are you currently selling in to go back under the Pure Sunfarms label? Our current strategy is to help ROSE to achieve the number one position in the marketplace, once that's achieved then we'll reassess Pure Sunfarms brands entering the Quebec market as well. Operator, I'll turn it over to you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Your first question comes from Aaron Grey, Alliance Global Partners. Aaron, please go ahead.

Aaron Grey

Analyst

Hi. Good morning. And thanks for the questions. And congrats on the Cookies partnership. So first question for me, just on the Canadian cannabis business, right? So I heard you guys talk about seasonality during the quarter. Retail was down about 18%. That included full quarter of rows. So I just want to get some further color, because the retail data from Hifyre does show pretty strong sales sequentially. So I wanted to know whether or not it was just some of the timing, whether or not you've seen some more improvement now quarter-to-date, because it does look like the sell-through at retail remained pretty strong, so it might have just been some of the provincial buying. So I just want to get some more color in terms of some of that seasonality you're seeing, whether or not that's picked up heading into 2Q. Thank you.

Michael DeGiglio

Management

Yes, I'll start that off and then I'll get some color from Mandesh on it. But we've reported in the past that there is seasonality, and we consistently see that each year. The difference even between the beginning of the first quarter and the end of the first quarter, show big differences as momentum was being gained. The provincial boards are all at a different level of buying, depending on how their year is ending and their inventory levels. So I think that reinforced it, Aaron, again, this year, and now we see that momentum gaining it. Mandesh, do you want to add?

Mandesh Dosanjh

Analyst

Absolutely. I think that's a great setup, Mike. And to your point, Aaron, there definitely is some buying patterns. Specifically, what we saw in British Columbia, as an example, is we had a really solid load-in of inventory in Q4, which suppressed some of our shipments in Q1. But what you did see and your commenting on that is, really strong HiFyre sell-through. So, obviously, our sales are built on the sell-in and then what you see on HiFyre sell-through. So we feel really confident on that sell-through data. And obviously, the timing of the Board isn’t going to impact any of the sell-in, which is our revenue. But, again, the momentum is great. We're seeing the share pickups, and we feel really pleased on the strategies we have in place to carry that momentum forward. And as we start to see the buying patterns normalize and stabilize over multiple quarters, we'll see that revenue pick up.

Aaron Grey

Analyst

All right. Great. Thanks very much for that color. Second question for me, right? So you guys talked about moving now to more of a house of brands versus a branded house, starting with Pure Sunfarms everyday premium. It looks like you're going to expand upon that. I know more details are to come. But just wondering if you could provide some color in terms of how you're thinking about it, versus, if particularly on the premium side, you do feel like what the current cultivation you have in the greenhouse, obviously, you've done a great job in the everyday premium. Do you guys have the capabilities to kind of move up to a more premium on the flower side, or will just maybe find that elsewhere on the cultivation, or just how you guys are kind of thinking about leveraging the current asset base to limited different pricing tiers or whether or not you look to find something externally? Thank you.

Michael DeGiglio

Management

Well, we'll answer the question the same way, I'll start it off. So, first, I want to say that we're very confident and excited about the direction. I personally am, I've been brief very extensively and the timing is perfect for us. The market's ready. We have thought about this for quite some time, and the timing couldn't be better going forward. I don't want to give too much away. So I'll let Mandesh answer the rest of that question to give you some perspective, as far as he can go.

Mandesh Dosanjh

Analyst

Thanks, Mike and I appreciate that. I definitely don't want to give too much away for the consumer base. But, Aaron, Mike alluded to, everyday premium has been the core of what Pure Sunfarms has started off with. And now the opportunity is there to think about customer segmentation and launch additional brands. So we're going to be launching actually two additional THC brands this year, one pretty imminently in the next couple of months and then one later on in the year. And based on all the work we're doing across our growing as well as our processing, I've alluded to before that we're converting our facility to full hang dry, and we're on track for that. So when you think about implementing a full hang dry on the whole plant drying when you think about implementing, hand manicuring really those premiumized processes onto the flower in addition to the fact that, we're launching close to over a dozen genetics this year across those three brands, Pure Sunfarms and the two new ones. We really feel confident in our ability now to attack various parts of the – various segments of the market that the Pure Sunfarms everyday premium was not reaching. So we're going to leave it there, and just hopefully, you can understand that we want to hold some back. But maybe I want to be very clear, our ability to attack different parts of the segment of the market, whether premium or not, we're definitely going to take advantage of that, and you're going to see some really exciting things come out of Pure Sunfarms and Canadian cannabis this year.

Aaron Grey

Analyst

All right. Great. Look forward to hearing about it. I'll jump back in the queue.

Michael DeGiglio

Management

Thanks, Aaron.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Andrew Partheniou, Stifel. Andrew, please go ahead.

Andrew Partheniou

Analyst

Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Maybe just starting off on the cannabis side of the business, could you discuss or if you could give a little bit more color on where you are with your production expansion, understanding that you mentioned you're comfortable with current production levels? And a follow-on to the question from Aaron. You mentioned that you could expect to see a rebound in sequential direct cannabis sales, where could we see this going, given where you are in your production expansion? And what's the potential here?

Michael DeGiglio

Management

Well, I'll answer the first part of that. So we just – as you know, Delta 3 went into – has been in full production now since the end of last summer. And we started the conversion for Delta 2 50% of it in production at the end of last year. So by January it's fully in production that's 1.1 million square feet. So roughly another 500,000 square feet that puts us at the $1.6 million fully in production, everything we're producing. We sell, as you know, we don't grow what we can't sell. So as Steve mentioned on his remarks, everything has been paid for, for finishing the second half of Delta 2, except the labor to just install the parts, everything is on site. And we reserve doing that, based on the delays we've seen due to COVID on our EU GMP certification. We've talked about that last time that – that was delayed probably for about 1.5 years. So we wanted to be prudent with that. Now, that we've received that and we're making headway to start our first shipments in the near future, coupled with Israel. And we started, as we said, shipping to Australia. That combined with further market share penetration in Canada and working with ROSE as well. We see our ability to gear up very quickly for another 25% increase in our current capacity over the – probably sometime in early to mid-2023. And for the second part of that, Mandesh, do you want to take that second question?

Mandesh Dosanjh

Analyst

Yeah, Mike, there's not a whole lot to add. I think you framed it up really well in that. We've always matched our supply to our demand. And given what you just talked about with the European initiatives with the ROSE business, or shipping in biomass with the expansion into other provinces. You earlier commented on the partnership with NOYA and then we just answered Aaron's question on the expanding brand capabilities. When you think about all those components coming together, we see a tremendous amount of upside and continued revenue growth. I'll flip it over to Steve if there's anything he wants to add. I know we don't give guidance, but we feel very positive on the momentum we're building within Canada and in some of these international markets. And as Mike said, we'll time the other half of Delta 2 according to our plans and how that revenue growth grows goes. But like we've said before, our revenue plans for this year, we have all the capacity that we need to achieve those targets in Delta 3.5, Delta 2. Okay. Is that good Andrew?

Andrew Partheniou

Analyst

Sorry, I was. Thank you very much for the detailed answer. And maybe moving to a more holistic view, including produce. Wondering if you could give a little bit more color on the outlook here. As you mentioned, Canadian cannabis continues to contribute positively, but it seems to be offset at a very challenging market in the Produce segment. You've been operating in this area for a very long time. And wondering what your thoughts are on when we could see some of these headwinds. And under the scenario where input cost inflation remains sticky for the remainder of the year, how you plan to combat that to return to positive gross margin.

Michael DeGiglio

Management

Well, before I don't know if I want to -- Steve some comments specifically to what we see coming up for produce in the future. But I want to take it back to sort of 10,000 feet. We've communicated back as long as 2016 that it was time to shift to the third generation of our crop selection, cut flowers to produce to cannabis. And that was the big pivot that Village Farms is going to make based on regulatory changes and legalization, both domestically and internationally. And that has gone extremely well in Canada. I think we've proved out the business model as good as anyone out there, best-in-class in taking the approach of converting existing assets and the great depth of the management team side to those assets and then adding a great management team to take it into the end zone in Canada and internationally for shipment side of Canada, I think we've done that well. So that optionality is the big enchilada for the company in the future. Now we probably sat here two years ago, looking at the political arena and felt that changes were going to happen in the U.S. quicker, if they haven't. So I think we have to keep our eye on a ball that where we're going is entering the largest potential cannabis market. Now that may not happen this year or next. It's anybody's guess. But -- and I don't often want to talk about our competitors, but when I look at the amount of tens and hundreds of millions of dollars that our competitors are spending for optionality. And there's many examples of that or just tens of millions of dollars in quarterly losses to try to hang in there. This has probably been the worst quarter we've had…

Steve Ruffini

Management

Yes. Andrew, we're not projecting or forecasting a positive EBITDA for ROSE until the fourth quarter of this year.

Andrew Partheniou

Analyst

Thank you very much for that color. I will get back in the queue.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from Pablo Zuanic, Cantor Fitzgerald. Pablo, please go ahead.

Matthew Baker

Analyst

Hi. This is Matthew Baker on for Pablo. Thank you for taking our questions. How would you characterize your performance in flower over the last 12 months in general, but more specifically in terms of your dependence on Pink Kush?

Michael DeGiglio

Management

Mandy, do you want to take that?

Mandesh Dosanjh

Analyst

Yes, absolutely. So we continue to be a top performer in the flower segment, which is the largest part, and we feel very confident in our ability to continue that. Pink Kush has been the number one selling strain since the legalization of cannabis. As of today, national market share just for that strain alone is close to 4%, which is unheard of. It's sold more than double the number two best-selling flower SKU in the industry. So it's been quite a success story. We've always maintained that we will give the consumer base products and specifically, in this case, flower products that they want and sell-through. And we definitely have seen Pink Kush skyrocket to its success last year and then start to taper off as the – as that products came on to the scene. And we've adopted -- we've added Jet Fuel Gelato, which was the number one innovation SKU in Ontario in terms of -- since it was launched in October through Q1 in terms of kilos sold of all new strains that were launched in the Ontario Cannabis store. And we continue to develop that pipeline of genetics and strains for Pure Sunfarms, for our additional brands as well as with our ROSE partnership. So we don't believe we're overly reliant upon Pink Kush. We have actually seen Pink Kush come back and actually grow over the last three months or four months, 20%, 30% kind of in share and total sales. We're going to maintain that. It's a phenomenally profitable SKU. It's a phenomenally well light SKU and is quintessentially BC, but so there's no need to pivot off that. However, with the large cultivation capacity that we have and all the new genetics that we've been trialing and experimenting, we are going to continue to keep innovating and putting on -- putting out great products for the Canadian cannabis consumer. So we don't believe there's any overreliance on Pink Kush. We feel we're absolutely right-sized to continue to be the one and only Pink Kush that consumers continue to want and go back to your time and again.

Matthew Baker

Analyst

Thank you for that answer. For our second question, what would you say is a normalized gross margin on a percentage or a per gram basis for your flower business?

Michael DeGiglio

Management

Steve?

Steve Ruffini

Management

Depending on the SKU itself, our gross margins for our pure flower, excluding pre-rolls is between 50% and 60% pretty consistently quarter-on-quarter.

Matthew Baker

Analyst

All right. And just one last follow-up. How is delisting the stock from the TSX and only having the NASDAQ listing helped you, if in any way? And maybe just remind us of the rationale of the TSX delisting? Thank you.

Michael DeGiglio

Management

Well, our short position. I'll start and give it to Steve a short position. As we monitored since January 1, has come down significantly. Canada has a naked short policy. We didn't like that and we are happy with that decision. Overall long term, we think it will play off. Steve?

Steve Ruffini

Management

Yes. The challenge – we had regulatory issues between the, let's say, NASDAQ is from a regulatory involvement in your business is regulatory light, believe it or not, for the US. And its tax is overbearing and very expensive. So, in the first quarter alone, we saved $200,000 by not being on TSX. Yes, our trading volume is down. There's no question about that, but our short positions, Mike mentioned is down substantially and we're fine with the decision we made.

Michael DeGiglio

Management

Yes. And it was hard to justify the value proposition when we're paying 4x more for TSX than NASDAQ since we were listed there. It was hard to justify that. So -- and we're all about profitability. So that was the decision and I think long term, especially tied to US legalization that will pay off for us.

Matthew Baker

Analyst

Thank you for the answer.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from Rahul Sarugaser, Raymond James. Rahul, please go ahead.

Rahul Sarugaser

Analyst

Hey Mike, Steve, Mandesh. Thanks so much as always for taking my question. Mike, you asked a lot of my question around management of the produce business as you balance that against maintaining -- maintaining those assets and providing optionality in the US. I'd just like to drill a little bit further. You mentioned those assets potentially driving about $1 billion in revenue. Could you give us a little more color in terms of how you come to that number? But also, balance that optionality against the incremental cost that you are seeing for maintaining that asset, particularly relative to the current cash position and maintaining cash burn such that you maintain sufficient liquidity through this inflationary time?

Michael DeGiglio

Management

Yes. Well, I mean, if you look at the footprint of Texas, not saying that we would convert all, but the $1 billion comes from the fact that it's 3x of the footprint that we currently are in production in Canada, if not more. So, if you do the math and we know what our projections to 2023 say in Canada are, it's easily that $1 billion same numbers. Secondly, what's really, really interesting is Texas. We've said that before, we look at it as a literate in the 49th space. If we -- our long-term plan besides -- if we look at states where we want to operate in, assuming legalization happens, I would say exit Florida at the top of list. Texas is where we have these assets. There is no competition in Texas today. It's the second most populated state in the United States are growing rapidly. And I've used this term before, when the gates open, it will be a race to who's dominant in Texas, and we see ourselves after 30 years of operating there as being a major force in Texas. And that is the most difficult state, yes, but our assets are there and it's a price we have to pay to continue. And from a cash flow perspective, yes, it will be an investment in the future. And that investment could be -- this year will probably be the greatest investment we made cash-wise. But overall, the confidence we have in our other businesses delivering positive cash flow. We've made a decision that we're willing to take that spend not to lose that ability. Keep in mind, what's made us great in Canada among the terrific job that the management team has done is the DNA tied to the asset. If we…

Rahul Sarugaser

Analyst

All fair points and thanks very much for that color, Mike. So now congratulations on the continued performance of the Canadian cannabis business, and you had talked a little bit about international. Historically, we've not seen international make much of a dent in many of your peers income, but really quite recently, we have seeing it start making a material impact. So can you give us a little more color in terms of how you're looking at international revenue playing out for the remainder of 2022?

Michael DeGiglio

Management

Well, first of all, we didn't jump into the international other than start the EU GMP process. And by the way, as I mentioned in my remarks, we took the most difficult jurisdiction countries, the most difficult jurisdiction within the country because there are different levels of EU GMP certification, especially in Germany. We are at the top of that food chain. So we can go anywhere. We've taken our time to do it right. The only greenhouse we know of that has achieved that level. And if you look at what we've been able to achieve with our everyday pricing and cost structure in Canada, and you were to interpolate that to the EU, I think we're going to be sitting in a great position based on export when it starts. And I would say that we didn't want to move into the EU till we had Canada sort of down and we feel that Canada -- we have a long way to go in Canada, but we are very confident in what we've accomplished. So, we didn't take on the EU or Israel for an export -- for the export part of our business out of Pure Sunfarms, Vancouver till we were assured we were doing it right in Canada and we are. And we hope to now start that process of exporting this year, hopefully, in the next quarter going into the third quarter, fourth quarter with both Germany to start in Israel. As you know, Switzerland now is starting a record experiment, France is starting medicinal. We think we're going to be winners by far in the EU and very excited to start that process.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from Doug Cooper, Beacon Securities. Doug, please go ahead.

Michael DeGiglio

Management

Hi Doug.

Operator

Operator

Doug, your line is open.

Doug Cooper

Analyst

Sorry about that. I was on mute, sorry about that. Thanks guys. Most of my stuff has been asked already, but maybe just Steve, if you have it or you can disclose it, what was the contribution of ROSE in the quarter of the $21.5, I guess, million of cannabis revenue in Canada, how much was ROSE?

Steve Ruffini

Management

We -- it's not how we're running the businesses, as Mandesh alluded to. There's biomass going between Pure Sunfarms and ROSE. So, that's all interrelated and one of the drivers of ROSE's success giving to -- based on the data that we see that I know Quebec does been published, but we see ourselves the number three brand in that provincial Board. So, it's hard to -- it's not how we're running the business, that’s why I'm calling Canadian cannabis. They're not too distinct separate businesses between ROSE and Pure Sunfarms.

Doug Cooper

Analyst

Okay. So, when you say top three producers, how do you quantify that? Is that through sell-through of your own brands or how do you quantify that?

Steve Ruffini

Management

Yes, sell-through.

Doug Cooper

Analyst

Okay. And that was in the quarter or that was in March, or what period was that in?

Steve Ruffini

Management

That was in the quarter.

Doug Cooper

Analyst

Okay. Just looking at the Canadian cannabis sales, just in general, at retail that are published, they're obviously down in January versus December and they were down in February versus January. So, I guess, that's the seasonality maybe you're referring to. But generally, across certain provinces such as Alberta, revenue has been essentially flat for a year now. Ontario is probably the only place that's showing growth. Maybe Mandesh, do you have any comments about how you -- if the market is not growing particularly anymore, obviously, it becomes a market share gain. So, the cookies and these other partnerships, maybe you can just talk about the strategy to gain share. And just maybe comment on the pricing environment out there, is it still continuing to decline average pricing? And that will be it for me.

Mandesh Dosanjh

Analyst

Yes. All good questions, Doug. And I'll start with your first, kind of, hypothesis. We still -- we believe very strongly in the Canadian market. We think the conversion from illicit to legal sources, we're confident in our work, and the signals we're getting from all levels of government on stamping out the illicit market, we think there's a huge opportunity there in Canada. Retail deserts still exist, when you look at British Columbia, some major municipalities as well as Ontario. We think some of those factors will definitely drive overall growth. When I look at the market and the market share gains, absolutely everything we've done with the NOYA team or the Cookies launch as we alluded to earlier in the call, are additional brands that attack customer, consumer segments that Pure Sunfarms doesn't holistically play in. Our ability for continued assortment expansion, what we're seeing now more than ever, Doug, is across the supply chain, whether it's a provincial board or a retail operator, they need consistency and reliability in the supply chain, in the product and in the pricing in order to keep winning at the retail front in a very dynamic and competitive market. And I think one of the many bright spots we have is Canadian cannabis and Pure Sunfarms as we are that reliable partner. And so what -- I always feel really confident when I walk into stores and really pleased talking to bud tenders the affinity they have for our brands, for our products. When I'm in Quebec and I see how the ROSE team is continuing to make amazing gains in that market. All of that gives us the ability to take market share -- and then on your pricing component, we continue to see competition in pricing. People are continuing to invest in pricing to their own detriment. We actually improved branded margin quarter-over-quarter, year-over-year, even as we took price reductions. I'm going to say that again, we improved branded product margins in Canadian cannabis even as we took price reductions. I think that speaks volumes to the points that Mike was making around, our ability to grow, our history in cultivation, but also the prowess we're bringing to the table on manufacturing. Reducing costs, reducing our wastage on pre-rolls, getting better efficiency in our vape lines and edible lines and some of the other components. So I believe over the next couple of quarters, you're going to still see some erratic behavior on pricing. Again, one of the reasons why we're launching two new cannabis brands to attack either side of the everyday premium segments out there. So I think pricing will be competitive. I've always said I love our levers and our ability to compete. And I think you're going to see us come out real strong with market share gains and pricing movement to attack various parts of the market. Hopefully, that answers your question, Doug. Q – Doug Cooper: Yes. Thanks, Mandesh.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from Eric Des Lauriers, Craig-Hallum Capital. Eric please go ahead. Q – Eric Des Lauriers: Great. Thanks for taking my question Could you provide a bit more color or potentially quantify some of the rebound that you're seeing either in -- from provincial buyers from kind of late Q1 into Q2 or from the spot wholesale market as well. Is there any kind of indications of how those have been trending from late Q1 into Q2, it would be great. Thanks. A – Michael DeGiglio: Sure. Mandy, take that call – I mean the question. A – Mandesh Dosanjh: Yes, you cut out there slightly the starting Eric. Are you asking about volume or pricing, sorry, can you just repeat that? Q – Eric Des Lauriers: Just overall, looking just to get a bit more color on some of the dynamics in wholesale and then from provincial buyers. You guys mentioned, obviously, that's sort of seasonally weak first part of Q1, and that's rebounded nicely at the end of the quarter and just looking for some color on how that's continued into Q2? And if you're able to quantify it all, that would be great. A – Mandesh Dosanjh: Yes. So I'll take the wholesale B2B non-branded side first, and then I'll come back into the provincial side. As Doug was actually mentioning in his question, about industry sales, I mean, they ebb and flow month-over-month as I think we're starting to getting into this cyclical quarter-over-quarter pattern you see, obviously leading in the summer and coming out very strong with everybody being a bit more social and then some of the colder months you kind of see some sales come down and be softness. We see that same flow on the non-branded wholesale…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from Scott Fortune, ROTH Capital Partners. Scott, please go ahead.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Hey, good morning. You have Nick on for Scott here. Just first question around the derivative side, it looks like the derivatives segment in Canada was off sequentially as a percent of sales. Could you just provide a little color around your growth strategy within that category and what you've seen in terms of pricing and end market demand within that segment? Thank you.

Michael DeGiglio

Management

What was the product you were talking about, Scott, because you have a lot of background noise?

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Sorry, the 2.0, the derivatives segment within Canada, just it was off sequentially as the percentage...

Michael DeGiglio

Management

Sure. Okay. Mandesh, why don't you take that call on Q4?

Mandesh Dosanjh

Analyst

Absolutely. Good question. So derivatives, meaning vapes, edibles, any of those extracted products. So, I think when you look at that space, for sure, vapes is number two, three category in sales in almost every jurisdiction. It's a very important part of the sales trajectory. And we're going to continue to put new products. We launched a new Minton few CBD Red Penn. We have some other high THC vapes coming on to the market. And it's an important part that we're going to continue to innovate, being where the consumer wants us to be at the price point, staying with edibles continuing to expand the portfolio and look at various formats and flavor profiles. When I take a step back of 2.0, and we talked about the word commoditization, it's one of the words that I think about the most when I think about the 2.0 space. And Steve alluded earlier on our flower margins and how high and strongly, are which is the largest part of the market. So derivatives, is an important part of the market. We'll continue to innovate and be there for the consumer and make sure we're offering the right assortment strategy for our Pure Sunfarms brand as well as our two new brands on THC that we're going to launch. But it's a highly commoditized space. I mean, the main input distillate is a commodity in a true sense. And I think, we're going to continue to see massive price reduction – a lot of people who are going – to lower grade biomass into extracted products. And when I look at some of our competition and the money they're losing, it's clear that – that's the bet they've made on the 2.0 space. So I think that's the way we look at the through the space, an important part to be in. We're definitely going to be flower first. But we're not going to lose focus on how we innovate and understand what the key trends are and where our product assortment needs to be in that space.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Got it. I appreciate that color. And then a follow-up for me on the US CBD side, it looks like Balanced Health was slightly off quarter-over-quarter in terms of revenue, but still profitable. Can you just provide an update on your growth strategy there within US CBD and how you're looking at potential M&A versus new SKU introductions, retail expansions, et cetera, to drive that growth? Thank you.

Michael DeGiglio

Management

Well, we're pleased with their performance. That is – we have a multipronged strategy for high THC in the US and Balanced Health is the center piece for that, as an incredible team, and we're going to utilize that organization to go much further in high THC when we can. That's aligned on a parallel track with our plans in Texas as a cultivator as well and other maybe M&A opportunities at that point. But for looking at the CBD, pure-play CBD in the US for M&A, I can tell you that, we all look at that on an ongoing basis, and there's nothing resonating. No one is making profit except, so we can tell publicly traded BHP, kudos to that team for constantly doing that. Their margins are exceptional, which means, if we see erosion in the quarter on revenue in light of the current economic times, I mean, CBD and cannabinoid products are important, but they're not eggs and milk. That may happen over the course of this inflationary period. That said, we're pretty pleased but yeah, we would look at opportunities to expand that. It's just that we love accretive deals, and we don't like to take on other people's mesh just to shut them down, which seems to be a big play in the M&A space. So we're going to be patient there. Right now, cash is king. And when we utilize our capital, we want to be very prudent and very sure we're going to win here, and it's going to be accretive. We have to compare those current opportunities in the current US market to the international opportunities as well.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Got it. I appreciate the color.

Michael DeGiglio

Management

All right. Well, thank you, operator, and thanks for everybody hanging in this long. We appreciate everyone hanging on the phone. And we look forward to reporting on our next quarter.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.