Jamieson Wellness Inc

TSX:JWEL

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q1

[Operator]

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the Jamieson Wellness conference call to discuss the financial results for the first quarter of 2024. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that the reproduction of this call in whole or in part is not permitted without written authorization from the company. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded.

On the call today from management are Mike Pilato, President and Chief Executive Officer and Chris Snowden, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary. Before I turn the call over to Mr. Pilato, please note that the press release covering the company's first quarter results was issued this afternoon, and a copy of the press release can be found in the Investor Relations section on the company's website. Please note that the prepared remarks which will follow contain forward-looking statements, and management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions. These statements do not guarantee future performance, and therefore, undue reliance should not be based upon them. We refer you to all risk factors contained in Jamieson's press release issued this afternoon and in filings with the Canadian securities administrators for a more detailed discussion of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projections and any forward-looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly correct or update the forward-looking statements made during the presentation to reflect future events or circumstances, except as it may be required under applicable security laws.

Finally, we would like to remind listeners that the company may refer to certain non-IFRS financial measures during this teleconference. A reconciliation of these non-IFRS financial measures was included with the company's press release issued earlier today. Also, please note that unless otherwise stated, all figures discussed today are in Canadian dollars and are occasionally rounded to the U.S. million. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Pilato to get started. Thank you. Please go ahead, sir.

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Thank you, Ena, and good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking the time to join us today. I'll begin with some comments on our Q1 performance, our key markets and our strategic growth initiatives. Then Chris will provide a detailed review of the financials and outlook before I wrap up and we open the call for questions.

Our first quarter revenue came in as anticipated across all our business units. Consumer consumption remains strong in our key markets as we continue to invest in our growing U.S. and China businesses while strategically managing the impact of our five-week labor interruption earlier this year which had an impact on our international Canadian and Strategic Partners businesses. Despite the temporary impact of this labor interruption, our branded revenue increased by 7%, exceeding our expectations due to continued strength in China, which grew 120% or 80% on a pro forma basis and in the U.S., where we drove 37% growth.

As a result of the labor interruption, revenue in our Canadian and international business units temporarily declined as expected by 15% and 17%, respectively. Shipments in these business units shifted to Q2 and our original expectations for the front half of the year and full year guidance still hold.

In our home market of Canada, consumption continued to be strong and significantly outpaced shipments and market growth as we prioritize on-shelf availability, leveraging a mix of in-channel and internal inventory and continue to expand our leadership position. In prioritizing Jamieson brand shipments and due to the previously announced transition out of a customer contract, as expected, strategic partner revenue was $16 million lower in this quarter versus the same quarter last year.

With all of these moving pieces, we managed through. Total consolidated revenue came in at the high end of our expectations at $128 million or 6.4% lower than Q1 of 2024. These results reflect the resiliency of our diversified business model, a validation of our expansion strategy and the dedication of our team to maintaining focus. The strategic actions that have begun to transform our business and significantly elevate our global presence helped to offset temporary challenges in other areas of the business. Despite shipment pressures, consumer demand and our exceptional brands remain strong. Consumers continue to be engaged in the category.

In China, our 80% pro forma growth was driven by the strong demand of Chinese consumers for our brands and our investments in brand awareness, including our highly successful Chinese New Year campaign, featuring out-of-home advertising, a robust PR campaign and social influencer support. In the U.S., our 37% growth in Q1 was also driven by continued consumer demand for our brand, along with new innovation and our continued investment in marketing and e-commerce. From a profitability perspective, consolidated normalized gross profit margins increased slightly over prior year, excluding the impact of the labor interruption due to the higher mix of branded sales.

As anticipated, revenue in the quarter grew at a faster rate than adjusted EBITDA, which at $16.1 million was 34% lower versus a year ago and at the high end of our expectations. This reflects the impact of the labor interruption with Canada, International and strategic partner shipments shifting into Q2 and ongoing investments in capabilities and brand building activities in the U.S. and China. We entered 2024 in a position of strength, and our latest results continue to illustrate the power of our platform and the effectiveness of our strategy for driving profitable, sustainable growth.

In Q1, we continued to deliver strong growth rates in the U.S. and China in both shipments and consumption. And in Canada and key international markets, we saw strong consumption growth despite the shift in shipments from Q1 to Q2 due to the labor interruption. Our strategy is working to ensure we profitably grow and drive scale in our new markets, while ensuring our home market of Canada remains strong, grows and expands its leadership position.

In summary, we executed [two planned] in Q1, performing in line with the upper end of our expectations. Our combined Q1 results and Q2 guidance, which Chris will speak to later, account for a shift in shipments due to the labor stoppage and we are anticipating front half branded revenue growth of between 11% to 15%. Our strategic growth initiatives are continuing to gain traction, and we remain confident in our outlook for the balance of 2024.

I want to thank the entire Jamieson team for their hard work, dedication and passion for helping advance our purpose of inspiring better lives every day and for delivering another solid quarter. With that, I'm going to turn the call over to Chris to discuss the first quarter results in more detail. Chris, over to you.

[Christopher Snowden, executive]

Thank you, Mike, and good afternoon, everyone. In the first quarter, consolidated revenue was $128 million, 6.4% lower due to the labor interruption, a shift in volume into the second quarter and the wind down of a previously discussed strategic partner contract. These headwinds were offset by the expansion of our Youtheory brand across the U.S. and the acceleration of our growth in China.

As a result, Jamieson brand revenue increased by 6.7% to $115.3 million, while our strategic partner revenue was almost 56% lower in the quarter. Breaking this down. Revenue in Canada was 14.7% lower than the prior year's first quarter, reflecting the labor disruption as we prioritized on-shelf availability and drew down inventory in channel and shifted some shipments into the second quarter.

Consumer engagement within VMS remains high. As a result, consumer consumption remained strong at the top of our full year growth expectations while significantly outpacing shipments in both units and dollars in the quarter. Growth in the U.S. or our Youtheory segment was strong at 37%, contributing $30.4 million in branded revenue driven by our investments in brand equity and continued success in innovation, including our reformulated turmeric [SKU] and our recently launched Ocean-Friendly Omega product.

In China, our increased investment in brand equity and awareness drove strong demand, while our new social e-commerce marketing drove trial. In China, we reported revenue growth of 126.4% or 80.2% on a pro forma basis, factoring the timing of our distributor acquisition in the prior year.

In our International business unit as a result of the labor disruption and as anticipated, revenue declined by 17.2%. During the quarter, we have prioritized shipments by market, ensuring availability, while we shifted some volume of shipments into the second quarter.

As expected, revenue in our Strategic Partners segment decreased to $12.7 million, reflecting the wind down of a customer contract and our prioritization of branded production throughout the first quarter due to our labor disruption. Adjusting for incremental labor relations costs associated with the labor disruption, normalized gross profit decreased by $2.5 million, while normalized gross profit margin increased slightly by some 50 basis points due to a higher mix of branded sales.

Within the Jamieson Brands segment, gross profit came in at $41.1 million or 35.7% of sales. Margins were $2.7 million lower year-over-year. On a normalized basis, gross profit grew slightly, while margin of 38.5% was 200 basis points lower, reflecting the impact of lower volumes and reduced efficiencies as well as the timing of price increases in Canada, which will positively impact results beginning in the second quarter.

Gross profit in the Strategic Partners segment decreased by $3.1 million to $1.7 million, and gross profit margin decreased by 350 basis points, impacted by customer mix, lower volume and plant utilization. SG&A expenses increased by $7.2 million compared to the prior year. The 22% increase primarily reflects our investment in brand equity, which included support for our product innovation and product launches in the U.S., such as our Ocean-Friendly Omega and increased social selling to drive brand awareness in China through the use of [influencers] and campaigns tailored towards the Chinese market. Specific costs in Q1 include $3 million related to our IT system implementation expenses and $1.7 million tied to the labor relations and other related fees.

First quarter operating income was $13.2 million lower year-over-year as a result of the factors discussed, including the investment in SG&A and marketing. On a normalized basis, first quarter operating income was $8.7 million and adjusted EBITDA decreased to $16.1 million, reflecting primarily the investments made to drive brand awareness in China and in the U.S. and the lower shipments due to the five-week labor stoppage in Q1.

Adjusted net earnings in Q1 was $3.9 million, excluding specified costs and foreign exchange and the resulting adjusted earnings per diluted common share was $0.09. A reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net earnings is provided in today's press release announcing the first quarter results.

Turning to the balance sheet and cash flow. We generated cash from operations before working capital considerations of $4.6 million, lower to the timing factors impacting volumes and higher levels of investment to build our brands in the U.S. and China. Cash invested in working capital increased by $6.8 million in the quarter, driven by the timing of accounts receivable collections and changes in payables during the quarter.

In the quarter, we invested $1.4 million in property, plant and equipment. We repurchased $1 million in Jamieson stock, approximately 30,000 common shares and distributed approximately $7.8 million in dividends. We ended the quarter with approximately $193.9 million in cash and available revolving credit facilities. Based on our cash position and forecast, we have announced a dividend of $0.19 per common share or approximately $8 million in aggregate. The dividend will be paid on June 14, 2024, to common shareholders of record at the close of business on May 31, 2024.

Now turning to guidance. Consumer consumption continues to be strong globally, and we are maintaining our previous expectations with most of our strategic growth pillars in the United States and in Canada and China. In Canada, consumer consumption continues to outpace shipments while retailers have begun to build back some inventory. We are maintaining our previous disclosed guidance for full year Fiscal 2024 and expect the following for the second quarter. Consolidated revenue in the range of $178 million to $188 million, an increase of 6% to 12%. A 14% to 21% increase in revenue in Jamieson Brands segment to approximately $152 million to $162 million, a decrease of 20% to 30% in revenue in our Strategic Partners segment, reflecting our transition out of the customer contract and the timing of orders.

Adjusted EBITDA to range from $29 million to $33 million. This reflects investments to drive brand awareness and growth in the U.S. and China and shipment timing in Canada International impact now resolved work stoppage in our Windsor tablet and manufacturing facility in Q1.

And with that, I'll turn the call back to Mike for closing comments.

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Thanks, Chris. Before we go to questions, I want to reiterate that the expected anomalies in our Q1 results will continue normalizing through the remainder of 2024. This is an exciting time in Jamieson's evolution, and I could not be more proud of our team. I hope from today's call, you take away the following: the category has never been stronger. Consumer consumption globally is strong. Health and wellness continues to be a growing trend worldwide, and we are well positioned to meet consumer needs with our portfolio of growing brands. Our global expansion strategy is yielding expected benefits in positioning us as a global leader with a diversified portfolio of products and geographies.

And as I indicated last quarter, the time to invest in the U.S. and China is now and our investments in brand building, awareness and innovation are driving increased demand and accelerated growth across these markets. And we see a profitable growth trajectory ahead in the back half of 2024 and beyond. We have further opportunities to improve efficiencies and take certain costs out of the business, and the cash generated from the business will be reinvested in the most accretive opportunities.

As we move down the path to becoming a leading global health and wellness company, we are confident we have the operational, strategic and financial wherewithal to make it happen and create value for all stakeholders.

With that, we will now go to Q&A.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of George Doumet from Scotiabank.

[George Doumet, analyst]

Yes, Mike and Chris, last quarter, you did mention some modest trade down activity in Canada. Mike, can you talk a little bit about how that's trending? Has it been stable? Has it ticked down? Any commentary regarding the consumer?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Yes. Thanks, George. No, we did not indicate any trade down in Canada last quarter. Nor have we in any quarter. What we indicated was we do see channel shifting happening as consumers look to channels like club and e-commerce to where they can find some value. But we are not seeing trading down across the categories, and we have seen strong consumption in the category -- I'm sorry, in Canada, in the quarter with actually dollar consumption outpacing unit consumption but both being very strong. So, I have not seen any trade down and have not indicated that in the past, so apologies if that came off that way or if it was communicated that way.

[George Doumet, analyst]

No, my apologies. I appreciate the clarification there. I want to talk a little bit about Jamieson Canada. The revenue midpoint for the year growth is 6%. I think we came in at 15% down. Can you talk a little bit about how you would expect the cadence throughout the year? I think there was mid-single-digit pricing in the back half. But can you maybe talk -- can you walk us through that, those building blocks to get to that, please?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Yes, absolutely. So, we did indicate last quarter that we expected some decline in the quarter based on the work stoppage and some transitioning to shipments into Q2. We are expecting -- and you can see that in our total branded guidance, but we are expecting good strong double-digit growth in Q2 in Canada and then continued accelerated growth into the back half behind both our price increase that is now fully accepted in market as well as continued growth on a unit consumption basis into the back half of the year.

[George Doumet, analyst]

And just to confirm we're looking to put through mid-single-digit pricing in the second half.

[Michael Pilato, executive]

We put the pricing in. It was effective around middle of April, and now you'll see some of that impact in Q2.

[George Doumet, analyst]

Okay. Just one last one for me. In general, like how do you see inventory levels trending in Canada as well?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Yes. So, we now have hit a new baseline of inventory in Canada. We feel we are through all of the burning in Q1. We did indicate that we expected a little more burn in Q1. And then, of course, we had the labor disruption which accelerated that. In Q2 and onwards, we are now in a position of strength from an inventory perspective. We actually see a little inventory built back in Q2 to make up for some of the trends -- some of the delay in shipments from Q1 into Q2. And following through the rest of the year, you should see shipments and consumption closely aligned to each other and to historical patterns.

[Operator]

And your next question comes from the line of Derek Lessard from TD Cowen.

[Derek Lessard, analyst]

I just -- there was some -- it seems like there was a bit of a subtle change in the language in the MD&A regarding the inventory. I think last quarter, you called out retailers this quarter, you're calling them distributors. Is there any difference?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

No. There's no -- I mean, we do have two different types of customers we sell to. We have retailers and then some of our business goes through distributors. It's just who we sell to and who we ship to. In last year's numbers, it was more a retail perspective. In Q1, we anticipated some more burn at the distributor level as they now account for where the retailers have gone. So that now has cycled through the system. And as I talked about in the last question, we're back to a baseline of inventory that we think is where it will land. And from here, we will rebuild a bit in Q2 based on the labor disruption shifting of shipments and more closely aligned to consumption and historical patterns on an ongoing basis from there.

[Derek Lessard, analyst]

Okay. That's fair. And just switching gears to the U.S. segment. You called it out as being exceptional; well above your 13% to 20% guide. So, I guess could you, one, give us some of the drivers behind that strength there, new channel penetration or new innovation? And two, I'm just curious about the conservatism on the guide for the rest -- like you maintained your guidance for the rest of the year despite the strong Q1 showing.

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Yes. There's some timing issue quarter-for-quarter, especially when you talk innovation. So, we're holding to our guidance on the year. We still believe and have confidence in our innovation plan, our marketing plan, our distribution plan and everything moving forward. If you go back a year ago, and you remember we went through that transition of a new innovation, a new formula into market. That really impacted Q2. And this year, we had a new innovation ship in Q1. So, you just got a little bit of timing lumpiness from an innovation perspective over Q1 and Q2. But the full year guide on the year, we feel pretty confident in. We've got a lot of great plans going on and a lot of momentum in the U.S. right now.

[Christopher Snowden, executive]

Sorry, the other thing to remember, Derek, is that on a volume basis, Q1 is relatively low. So, in spite the 37% being impressive from a total dollar perspective, it wouldn't be an average quarter from a total improvement perspective.

[Operator]

And your next question comes from the line of Stephen MacLeod from BMO Capital Markets.

[Stephen MacLeod, analyst]

I just wanted to ask a little bit about -- you talked in the Canadian business about strong consumption trends. Just wondering if you can break that down between dollars and volumes and maybe just with respect to the price increase that you put in. That may muddy things, but I just wanted to get a sense of kind of where we are on those two items.

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Yes. So, Q1 would have had no pricing impact in it. All the pricing that we put into the Canadian market would be effective around mid-April into May, you'll start to see it impact -- or sorry, be in the marketplace. When you talk consumption in Q1, we continue to see strong consumption. We saw high single digits in units and very -- just touching double digits in dollars in the quarter.

[Stephen MacLeod, analyst]

Great. Thanks, Mike. And then just thinking about the China business and maybe just pulling on the string here a little bit. You talked a little about a seasonal DTC impact. Just curious kind of what that is. And then you also had strong growth in China on a pro forma and reported basis. Just wondering if you can talk a little bit about some of the drivers in that market and some of the changes that you've seen since the partnership or the partnership with DTC -- or sorry, not DTC, the -- your partner in China.

[Michael Pilato, executive]

What was the first part of that at question? You did say DTC, I just want to make sure we got the first part of that question.

[Stephen MacLeod, analyst]

Yes. Well, you talked a little bit about the seasonal effect of DTC, direct-to-consumer sales under the own distribution model being the key driver of growth.

[Christopher Snowden, executive]

Yes. I think we're talking about the fact that we acquired our distributor in the second -- at the beginning of the second quarter last year. So, you've got two things affecting the statutory increase at 120%. One is the difference between our sell-in price in China and our sellout. So that takes you from the 80% pro forma growth, which is like-for-like year-over-year to the marked-up sellout price in China in the first quarter. So, if you're doing like-for-like, it's 80% growth in Q1.

[Stephen MacLeod, analyst]

Okay. Right. Okay. No, that makes sense. And then the second part of my question was just going to be around sort of what are some of the drivers you're seeing, particularly post your partnership?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Yes. I mean, we continue to see our strategy working in China and the acceleration of our investment in capabilities and demand generation working. We had some strong promotions in the quarter, most notably around Chinese New Year, which really drew in a new set of consumers that wanted to try the brand. We continue to see an expansion of some distribution into some key retailers in Mainland China and really have taken advantage of some of the, I would say, transition of consumers to what we call social commerce and really looking to social commerce as a platform of which to try new products and buy new products. And some of our increased investment has gone there, and we've seen great success with our partners on that side of the business.

From a GCP perspective, they continue to sit side by side with us strategically. They continue to help us in market make connections and understand what the Chinese consumer is looking for and continue to really be great partners that work with us on a weekly by weekly and quarterly basis from a JV perspective.

[Operator]

And your next question comes from the line of John Zamparo from CIBC.

[John Zamparo, analyst]

I wanted to start on the investments in China and the U.S. I wonder if you can quantify what you've spent so far and what the cadence of those investments will be through the year?

[Christopher Snowden, executive]

So, we talked about increases in the quarter from a fixed cost perspective of -- just a second here. Yes, 22% or $7.2 million. Those investments were fairly evenly split between comping the infrastructure in China and incremental marketing both in U.S. and in China. And that will be more heavily weighted to the first half versus the second half, which is why you see the guide in terms of the second quarter EBITDA being between $29 million and $33 million.

[John Zamparo, analyst]

Okay. That's helpful. Sticking with -- sticking with those two countries, I wonder if you could talk about how margins are trending in the U.S. and China. And I suppose you look at it more from a gross margin perspective, given you're investing in those two. But is there any color you can give on how margins are performing in your growth countries?

[Christopher Snowden, executive]

I think we're still very confident in our guide from a full year margin perspective. We do have the kind of noise in the system with respect to the labor disruption, reduced volume in terms of our anticipated lower inventory and lower production in the year as we match up shipments and consumption in Fiscal 2025. But all in all, you're seeing efficiency with reduced strategic partner impact the Strategic Partners segment. And then you're seeing a little bit of mix and volume impact the brand segment.

[John Zamparo, analyst]

Okay. And just one more. Can you remind us the contingent consideration you have for Youtheory, is that entirely based on EBITDA? Or is that partly based on sales?

[Christopher Snowden, executive]

It's entirely based on EBITDA. Sorry, on the other point is with pricing going into Q2 on margins, you'll see better margins from a branded segment perspective beginning in Q2 going forward.

[Operator]

And your next question comes from the line of Justin Keywood from Stifel.

[Justin Keywood, analyst]

Just on the general barometer for consumer spending on VMS. Have you seen any risk of trading down just as consumers continue to get squeezed with high inflation?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

No. Justin, we don't see any indication of trade down in any of our major markets. We have not seen any through the course of the last -- through 2023, we haven't in Q1. Again, we continue to see some channel shifting where consumers are looking for value, either through e-commerce or moving to club or moving to even the discount manners of a grocery, of a grocer. However, for us, it doesn't matter to us. We're priced in a way that the margins are pretty neutral no matter where they go, and we continue to watch the channel shift, but they're not brand shifting or trading down in any way. We continue to outpace market growth in our major markets. We continue to pick up share. And as I indicated earlier, in Canada, we actually saw dollar consumption outpace unit consumption on the quarter.

[Justin Keywood, analyst]

Okay. Good to hear. And then on capital allocation, we saw the share buyback a bit active in Q1. Wondering if there's any particular amount that's earmarked for the buyback or potential M&A or just general investments?

[Christopher Snowden, executive]

The $1 million spent in the quarter was just the tailwind of the rest of that 1 million shares that we committed to buying in the fourth quarter in Fiscal 2023. Just based on the seasonal cycle, we will be investing cash in working capital in the business for Q1 and Q2, and we'll assess repurchases as we get closer to Q3 and Q4 when we would operationally generate cash.

[Justin Keywood, analyst]

And potential M&A, is that a near-term situation or more medium and longer term?

[Christopher Snowden, executive]

We are focused on organic growth priorities this year and have no immediate plans for acquisition, but we do obviously assess any opportunities as they come up.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from the line of Tania Armstrong-Whitworth from Canaccord Genuity.

[Tania Gonsalves, analyst]

Congrats on the strong quarter. Firstly, just on the U.S. market. I'm wondering if you started selling some of your JWEL [SKUs] into that market and if they're contributing a material amount of cross sales revenue yet?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

We have a couple of formulas right now, Tania, that we've launched into the U.S. I would say they're not contributing anything materially at this point. We'll continue to look for opportunities to maximize our manufacturing network and our formulas in the long term. Right now, though we have a couple, and we'll continue to look for opportunities to do more.

[Tania Gonsalves, analyst]

Okay. Great. And then in the China market, you touched on this briefly, but can you kind of stratify where the growth is coming from, whether it be brick-and-mortar domestic e-commerce, your cross-border sales? And I'm trying to get a sense of like a lot of that -- Costco, for instance, is building out quite quickly in China. Are you -- I know you were working with them at one point. Is a lot of your growth coming just from one vertical, or is it kind of broadly dispersed?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Our growth is broadly dispersed, but a majority of the business and growth in the highest growth channel in China today continues to be cross-border e-commerce. So, we continue to invest there. We have a very large portfolio there between 150 and 200 products. We actually launched five new products there in Q1. We continue to see that channel outpacing the growth in the category across the country, and we are outpacing then the growth from that channel that is being driven. But we do continue to grow across all the verticals, including brick-and-mortar distribution, and most notably, what you've called out, which is club growth.

[Tania Gonsalves, analyst]

And then if I could just sneak one last one in. I noticed the labor relations costs just had an adjustment that came into EBITDA. Just to make sure that's a onetime thing that will continue on in Q2, correct?

[Christopher Snowden, executive]

There's a little bit of incremental cost that we will realize in the second quarter, but that will be -- everything is directly as a strike and ensuring our customers get back in stock as quickly as possible. So very little left to come.

[Operator]

And your next question comes from the line of Zachary Evershed from National Bank Financial.

[Zachary Evershed, analyst]

I just wanted to compare to older sales and marketing and digital marketing, what are the return metrics like on the investment in social commerce?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Well, there -- I mean it's really hard to do a comparable of the two. I mean social commerce is really e-commerce just through a different form of different platforms. So, you would compare that more towards an e-commerce payback than a traditional marketing payback. The beautiful thing about digital marketing and e-commerce promotion and marketing is that you have an instant payback. Everything operates in the moment. You spend a dollar, you see what it returns, and you can adjust your plans as you go. Where you see things working, you can accelerate spend and where you see things not returning how you anticipated, you can pull back.

So, our team is constantly adjusting that algorithm of spend to make sure that we're taking advantage of the highest ROI apertures and programs and even campaigns, right? We could run a campaign digitally that outperforms the same aperture with a different communication plan, and we want to ramp the one up that overperforms and underperformed. So, it's a really fluid metric that we have a team of people, especially in China, that just monitor that all day and all night or just tweaking up and down based on what's working. So, they're really hard to compare the two.

I mean traditional marketing would have more of a longer-term ROI. It's more brand building. It's more equity building that takes a little longer, whereas the digital side of things, you can monitor pretty instantly.

[Zachary Evershed, analyst]

That's really interesting. And then I guess, building on that point and following up on how fast you're rolling out the strategy in China. Any update on if the competition is heating up and what's next for you there?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

No. I mean the competition is the competition in China. It is not heating up from where it's been over the last, call it, six quarters, eight quarters. We haven't seen any material change in what competition is doing. What's next is really to continue focusing on the strategy we have. I mean we came out of 2023 with a lot of momentum, growing, accelerating our growth quarter after quarter. You see another accelerated -- acceleration of growth here in Q1. We'll now be focused on Q2 and the big June promotions in China and then into Q3 and Q4 with the 11/11 promotion. So, we're very, very focused on executing what the plan is. It is working and ensuring that we invest in the capabilities and the marketing programs that we see working and ensure that we are manufacturing the product and getting it to China in a timely manner to fill that demand.

[Operator]

And your last question comes from the line of Stephen MacLeod from BMO Capital Markets.

[Stephen MacLeod, analyst]

Just one follow-up here, just a subtle nuance in the MD&A. I noticed you didn't have the 2025 guidance in there, specifically as a bullet. And I'm just curious is that still the guidance that you're sticking to? I assume so, but just wanted to confirm.

[Christopher Snowden, executive]

Yes. So, we just -- we wanted to make sure that people recognize that, that was a onetime thing. Obviously, statutorily, if that guidance had changed, we would have to restate that expectation. So, we still will do that guidance today.

[Operator]

Thank you. And that concludes our question-and-answer session. Thank you all for participating. You may all disconnect.