AYR Wellness Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results

FY 2023 Revenue up 10% to $463.6 Million, Excluding Discontinued Operations

FY 2023 GAAP Loss from Operations Improved to $37.2 Million, Excluding Discontinued Operations

FY 2023 Adjusted EBITDA¹ up 51% to $114.0 Million, with Adjusted EBITDA Margin of 25%

Completed Plan of Arrangement Transactions, Including Extending the Maturity of all of its Senior Notes and Certain Other Debt by Two Years, in February 2024

MIAMI, March 13, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AYR Wellness Inc. (CSE: AYR.A, OTCQX: AYRWF) (“AYR” or the “Company”), a leading vertically integrated U.S. multi-state cannabis operator, is reporting financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2023. Unless otherwise noted, all results are presented in U.S. dollars.

David Goubert, President & CEO of AYR, said, “2023 was a transformational year for AYR as we executed on our financial and operational goals — growing revenue, enhancing profitability, and strengthening our balance sheet. We grew revenue 10%, grew Adjusted EBITDA by 51%, expanded Adjusted EBITDA margins to 25%, and generated positive cash flow from operations for 2023. Additionally, in February 2024, we completed the deferral or retirement of nearly $400 million of debt maturities and now have a clear financial runway to focus on our optimization efforts as we look to capitalize on multiple industry catalysts ahead.

“The conversion from medical-only to adult-use sales is one of the most significant, proven revenue drivers in any given cannabis market. Currently, only 15 of AYR’s 91 dispensaries operate in adult-use markets, and we are positioning our assets in Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio to take full advantage of anticipated adult-use transitions. We will not need to materially increase our fixed cost base in these states and expect to generate meaningful operating leverage as revenue growth accelerates in these markets. We remain focused on improving our product quality and consistency, along with our CPG brand portfolio, as we further establish the AYR retail brand and build customer loyalty. With an improved balance sheet, optimized cost structure and impending industry catalysts, we believe AYR is well-positioned to drive sustainable, profitable growth for years to come.”

Fourth Quarter Financial Summary (excludes results from AZ for all periods) ($ in millions, excl. margin items)

Full Year 2023 Financial Summary (excludes results from AZ for all periods) ($ in millions, excl. margin items)

^{1 Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are non-GAAP measures, and accordingly are not standardized measures and may not be comparable to similar measures used by other companies. See Definition and Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures below. For a reconciliation of Operating Loss to Adjusted EBITDA as well as Gross Profit to Adjusted Gross Profit, see the reconciliation tables appended to this release.
2 Based on market conditions at the time, including the impact of price compression, the Company incurred a non-cash goodwill impairment charge in 2022 of $118M (excludes AZ), reducing the carrying value of goodwill across all reporting units.}

Fourth Quarter and Recent Highlights

• Retail/Brand Updates
  • Opened two new dispensaries in Florida during the fourth quarter, bringing AYR’s total footprint to 64 dispensaries across the state.
  • Opened three dispensaries in Ohio in the Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Dayton metropolitan areas via the Company’s support relationship. AYR has the future rights to ownership of all three dispensaries, subject to regulatory approval.
  • Relaunched our flagship cannabis brand, kynd, through the ‘Season of Kyndness’ initiative, a campaign designed to spread positive impact and connection during the holiday season through hyperlocal charitable giving.
• Corporate Updates
  • In February 2024, we completed the plan of arrangement transactions, including the retirement or deferral of the maturity of all of the Company’s Senior Notes due 2024 and certain other debt totaling nearly $400 million by two years to 2026.
  • Raised approximately $40 million of gross proceeds in new capital through the issuance of $50 million of additional Senior Notes maturing in December 2026.
  • Issued approximately 29 million SVS Shares to 2024 Senior Noteholders, approximately 5 million SVS Shares to the party backstopping the new $40M capital raise, and approximately 23 million Anti-Dilutive Warrants (CSE: AYR.WT.U). These warrants, which are exercisable at $2.12 per share, have two years to expiration and their exercise is expected to result in approximately $50 million in proceeds for the Company.
  • Announced that Jared Cohen will be joining AYR’s board of directors subject to the receipt of state cannabis regulatory approvals.
    

Full Year 2023 Highlights

• Added 10 dispensaries across AYR’s footprint, bringing the Company’s total dispensary count to 90 stores.
• Established a vertical presence in Ohio by entering into options to acquire three Ohio dispensary licenses.
• Announced mutual termination of AYR’s proposed acquisition of the equity interests of Gentle Ventures, LLC d/b/a Dispensary 33, and certain of its affiliates that collectively own and operate two licensed retail dispensaries in Chicago, Illinois.
• Closed the sale of Blue Camo, LLC which comprised the Company’s Arizona business, to AZ Goat, LLC, a group consisting primarily of the former owners of Blue Camo, which included $20 million in cash, and an elimination of $22.5 million in seller notes.
• Appointed David Goubert as Chief Executive Officer and George DeNardo as Chief Operating Officer.
• Closed the acquisition of Tahoe Hydroponics, an award-winning cultivator and one of Nevada’s top producers of high-quality cannabis flower.
• Completed re-brand of full fleet of Florida stores to AYR Cannabis Dispensary.
• Generated $24.4 million of operating cash flow from continuing operations in 2023.

Financing and Capital Structure

The Company deployed $7.5 million of capital expenditures in Q4 and approximately $28 million for FY 2023, which was an improvement from the Company’s guidance of $30 million for the full year.

AYR ended the year with a cash balance of $50.8 million. Subsequent to the plan of arrangement transactions which closed on February 7, 2024 and including the pro-forma addition of $40 million in gross proceeds of new capital, the Company had a pro-forma working capital position as of year-end of $30 million.

As of February 28, 2024, the Company had approximately 136 million fully diluted shares outstanding based on a treasury method calculation as of that date (excluding the 2.9 million out of the money warrants expiring in May 2024 and treasury shares).ⁱ

Outlook

The Company anticipates revenue in Q1 2024 to range from flat to modest growth compared to Q4 2023, with a continuation of achieving the Company’s targets of 25% Adjusted EBITDA margin. The Company expects gradual improvement from the residual impact of cultivation challenges in Florida, while continuing to build wholesale revenues. AYR expects to further ramp revenue, adjusted EBITDA and operating cash flow later this year.

Conference Call

Ayr management will host a conference call, followed by a question-and-answer period.

Date: Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Time: 8:30 a.m. ET
Toll-free dial-in number: (800) 319-4610
International dial-in number: (604) 638-5340
Conference ID: 10023064
Webcast: https://services.choruscall.ca/links/ayrwellness2023q4.html

Please dial into the conference call 5-10 minutes prior to the start time. An operator will register your name and organization. If you have any difficulty connecting with the conference call, please contact the Company’s investor relations team at ir@ayrwellness.com.

The conference will be broadcast live and available for replay here.

A telephonic replay of the conference call will also be available for one month until end of day Saturday, April 13, 2024.

Toll-free replay number: (855) 669-9658
International replay number: (412) 317-0088
Replay ID: 0710

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ⁱ Includes pending M&A and excludes Ayr granted but unvested service-based LTIP shares totaling 5.2 million.

Financial Statements

Certain financial information reported in this news release is extracted from AYR’s Consolidated Financial Statements and MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2023. Ayr files its financial statements and MD&A on SEDAR+ and with the SEC. All financial information contained in this news release is qualified in its entirety by reference to such financial statements and MD&A.

Definition and Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures

The Company reports certain non-GAAP measures that are used to evaluate the performance of its businesses and the performance of their respective segments, as well as to manage their capital structures. As non-GAAP measures generally do not have a standardized meaning, they may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Securities regulators require such measures to be clearly defined and reconciled with their most comparable GAAP measures.

Rather, these are provided as additional information to complement those GAAP measures by providing further understanding of the results of the operations of the Company from management’s perspective. Accordingly, these measures should not be considered in isolation, nor as a substitute for analysis of the Company’s financial information reported under GAAP. Non-GAAP measures used to analyze the performance of the Company’s businesses include “Adjusted EBITDA” and “Adjusted Gross Profit.”

The Company believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding the Company’s performances and may be useful to investors because they allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in its financial and operational decision-making. These financial measures are intended to provide investors with supplemental measures of the Company’s operating performances and thus highlight trends in the Company’s core businesses that may not otherwise be apparent when solely relying on the GAAP measures.

Adjusted EBITDA

“Adjusted EBITDA” represents (loss) income from operations, as reported under GAAP, before interest and tax, adjusted to exclude non-core costs, other non-cash items, including depreciation and amortization, and further adjusted to remove non-cash stock-based compensation, impairment expense, the accounting for the incremental costs to acquire cannabis inventory in a business combination, acquisition related costs, and start up costs.

Adjusted Gross Profit

“Adjusted Gross Profit” represents gross profit, as reported, adjusted to exclude the accounting for the incremental costs to acquire cannabis inventory in a business combination, interest, depreciation and amortization and start-up costs.

A reconciliation of how Ayr calculates Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Gross Profit is provided in the tables appended below. Additional reconciliations of Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Gross Profit and other disclosures concerning non-GAAP measures are provided in our MD&A for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2023.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this MD&A are forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including, but not limited to, those statements relating to the Company and its financial capacity and availability of capital and other statements that are not historical facts. These statements are based upon certain material factors, assumptions, and analyses that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection, including experience of the Company, as applicable, and perception of historical trends, current conditions, and expected future developments, as well as other factors that are believed to be reasonable in the circumstances. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of presenting information about management’s current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. These statements may include, without limitation, statements regarding the operations, business, financial condition, expected financial results, performance, prospects, opportunities, priorities, targets, goals, ongoing objectives, strategies, and outlook of the Company. Forward-looking statements are often identified by the words “may”, “would”, “could”, “should”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “project”, “expect”, “target”, “continue”, “forecast”, “design”, “goal” or negative versions thereof and other similar expressions.

Forward-looking estimates and assumptions involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. While Ayr believes there is a reasonable basis for these assumptions, such estimates may not be met. These estimates represent forward-looking information. Actual results may vary and differ materially from the estimates.

Assumptions and Risks

Forward-looking information in this release is subject to the assumptions and risks as described in our MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Additional Information

For more information about the Company’s Q4 and full year 2023 operations and outlook, please view AYR’s corporate presentation posted in the Investors section of the Company’s website at www.ayrwellness.com.

About AYR Wellness Inc.

AYR Wellness is a vertically integrated, U.S. multi-state cannabis business. The Company operates simultaneously as a retailer with 90+ licensed dispensaries and a house of cannabis CPG brands.

AYR is committed to delivering high-quality cannabis products to its patients and customers while acting as a Force for Good for its team members and the communities that the Company serves. For more information, please visit www.ayrwellness.com.

Company Contact:

Jon DeCourcey
Head of Investor Relations
T: (786) 885-0397
Email: ir@ayrwellness.com

Media Contact:

Robert Vanisko
VP, Public Engagement
T: (786) 885-0397
Email: comms@ayrwellness.com

Investor Relations Contact:

Sean Mansouri, CFA
Elevate IR
T: (786) 885-0397
Email: ir@ayrwellness.com

Released March 13, 2024