Jamieson Wellness Inc

TSX:JWEL

Earnings Call Analysis

Strong Q2 for Jamieson with robust growth in key markets

In Q2 2024, Jamieson Wellness saw a 10% revenue increase to $185 million, driven by 17% growth in its branded segment. China led with a staggering 107% growth, attributed to a highly successful promotional campaign. Canadian revenue also grew by over 10%, bolstered by new product innovations. Despite a 16.3% decline in the Strategic Partners segment, overall gross profit margins improved by 190 basis points. The company remains confident in meeting its full-year guidance, projecting Q3 revenue of $167-$177 million. Additionally, Jamieson increased its quarterly dividend by 11% due to a strong cash position.

Strong Revenue Growth Amid Market Challenges

In the second quarter, the company achieved consolidated revenue of $184.8 million, a commendable increase of 10.3% compared to the previous year. This growth predominantly stemmed from the Jamieson Brands segment, which saw a robust revenue uptick of 17.2%, culminating in $155.8 million for the quarter. However, the Strategic Partners segment experienced a decline in revenue, dropping 16.3% to $29 million, reflecting the expected closure of a previous customer contract.

Solid Performance in Key Markets

Regionally, Canada reported a revenue growth of 10.1%, driven by strong consumer consumption and successful product innovations. Notably, the 'youtheory' brand observed a slight growth of 5.6% in revenue, buoyed by heightened consumer demand. Meanwhile, shipments to China surged impressively by 106.6% on a constant currency basis due to aggressive marketing and promotional strategies.

Operating and Financial Metrics Show Improvement

The company's consolidated gross profit margin improved significantly, up by 250 basis points to reach 35.2%. This improvement was primarily attributed to substantial growth in branded sales, particularly from the Jamieson Brand business segment. Adjusted EBITDA stood at nearly $32 million, reflecting an increment of $0.5 million, driven by higher sales volume and pricing. Despite these positive trends, SG&A expenses saw a rise of 25.9%, reaching $43.9 million, largely due to ongoing investments aimed at brand growth and market expansions.

Dividend Increase Signals Confidence

Reflecting its solid financial position, the company announced an 11% increase in its quarterly dividend, bringing the payout to $0.21 per share. This increase is expected to reward shareholders, demonstrating the company's committed approach to returning value while maintaining growth.

Guidance Maintained for Future Growth

Looking forward, the company has preserved its guidance for the remainder of fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2025. For the third quarter, it anticipates consolidated revenue to range between $167 million to $177 million, reflecting an expected growth of 10% to 17%. Specifically, the Jamieson Brands segment is projected to grow by 14% to 20%, translating to approximately $147 million to $155 million in revenue. Despite foreseeing potential revenue decline in the Strategic Partners segment, the overall outlook remains optimistic.

Investment in Innovation and Branding

Investment in marketing and brand development continues to be a priority, especially in emerging markets like China. The management anticipates that their sustained investment strategies will amplify brand awareness even further. Plans to enhance the youtheory product offerings in China are underway, with initial tests being conducted to gauge market response. This aligns with the company's strategic vision to scale operations in new territories while solidifying its position in existing ones.

Consumer Demand and Market Positioning

The management expressed confidence about the ongoing consumer demand for their products globally, emphasizing the effective implementation of promotional activities, particularly in China. The company's strategies have reinforced market share growth, with the potential to expand significantly in the evolving health and wellness sector.

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q2

[Operator]

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

On the call today from the 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 a press release covering the company's second quarter financial results was issued this afternoon, and a copy of that 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 placed upon them.

We refer you to all risk factors contained in Jamieson's press release issued this afternoon in filing 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 securities 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 nearest million.

I will now turn the call over to Mr. Pilato to get started. Please go ahead, sir.

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Thank you, Matthew, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for taking the time to join us on the call today. I'll begin with some high-level comments on our Q2 performance and highlight the key activities that contributed to our growth. Then Chris will share a detailed review of the financials before I wrap up and open the floor for questions.

In the second quarter, we continued to execute our growth strategy and leverage our global platform to deliver consolidated revenue of $185 million, an increase of 10% over prior year. We drove growth across all of our branded business units resulted in branded revenue growth of over 17% in the quarter, led by our China business with growth of over 107% on a constant currency basis. Q2 of 2024 was our most successful promotional quarter to date in China, with programs in June significantly outpacing market growth. We continue to invest in marketing as planned as our brand, marketing and demand-generating activities continue to resonate with our target consumer and growth continues across domestic and cross-border e-commerce segments.

In Canada, revenue grew by more than 10% in Q2 as consumer consumption remains strong and several innovations gained traction in the market, including our recently reformulated 100% complete multivitamins and 6 new gummy products, building on our #1 dummy position in Canada. Orders impacted by the Q1 labor disruption that were shipped in Q2 as expected, also contributed to growth. Demand for our youtheory brand continues to increase. Youtheory revenue in the quarter grew by nearly 6%, reflecting this demand. But keeping in mind that this is comping Q2 of 2023, which included the initial fill of our new tumor product. In the first half of this year, youtheory is up nearly 17% and on track to meet our full year expectations.

Jamieson International revenue increased by more than 34% in Q2 as several product innovations, including a B12 complex and an Omega tumor product exceeded our expectations in a few key growth markets. Growth in the quarter was also impacted by the movement of some shipments into Q2 as a result of the Q1 labor disruption. In prioritizing Jamieson brand shipments and due to the previously announced transition out of a customer contract, as expected, strategic partner revenue was $5.6 million lower this quarter versus the same quarter last year.

From a profitability perspective, consolidated normalized gross profit margins increased by 190 basis points as we drove significant growth in branded sales in the quarter and have a lower proportion of revenue coming from our Strategic Partners business.

Adjusted EBITDA increased by $0.5 million to nearly $32 million in Q2, reflecting higher revenues and profit, but continuing to be offset by our continued investment strategy in China. In summary, we are exactly where we anticipated we would be as we reach the halfway point of the year. Our businesses in the U.S. and China are growing strong as our investment strategy in these countries continues and consumers respond with increased demand. The phasing of our marketing plans impact the timing of our adjusted EBITDA growth, which remains on track to meet our outlook for the year.

Shipments in both Canada and international have returned to normal after the Q1 labor disruption and are driving growth, along with innovation and continued increased consumer consumption. As a result of our strong position today, we are also announcing an 11% increase to our quarterly dividend, which Chris will speak to in more detail shortly. As we head into the second half of the year, we remain focused on executing our remaining marketing, innovation and promotional activities, delivering on our full year guidance and ensuring that we continue to deliver our company purpose of inspiring better lives every day.

With that, I will turn the call over to Chris to discuss our second quarter results in more details. Chris, over to you.

[Christopher Snowden, executive]

Thank you, Mike, and good afternoon. In the second quarter, consolidated revenue increased by 10.3% to $184.8 million. This growth was driven by Jamieson Brands segment and continued strong consumer demand, resulting in an increase of 17.2% to $155.8 million of revenue in the quarter. In our Strategic Partners segment, as we continue to cycle against the closeout of a previous customer contract, revenue was $29 million in the quarter, an anticipated decline of 16.3%.

A few more details on our branded segment are as follows: Canada revenue increased by 10.1% in the second quarter, driven by strong consumer consumption, pricing and the shift of revenue from the first quarter into the second quarter due to the labor disruption. Youtheory revenue increased 5.6% in the quarter, reflecting increased consumer demand, partially offset by the initial fill of tumor innovation in the prior year.

China shipments grew 106.6% compared with the prior quarter on a constant currency basis, driven by our marketing investment to drive brand equity, awareness and a highly successful promotional program in June. Jamieson International revenue increased by 34.3% on a constant currency basis, driven by innovation and the timing shift in revenue due to the label disruption in the previous quarter.

Consolidated gross profit increased by $10.2 million to $65 million in the second quarter, while normalized gross profit increased by $9.4 million, mainly driven by higher revenues and increased margins. Consolidated gross profit margin increased by 250 basis points to 35.2% in the quarter, while normalized consolidated gross profit margins increased by 190 basis points. Margin improved due to the significant growth in Jamieson brand sales and a lower proportion of strategic partner revenues.

In the Jamieson Brands segment, gross profit increased by $11.6 million, while normalized gross profit increased by $10.8 million, mainly driven by revenue growth and higher margins. Gross profit margin in the Jamieson Brand segment increased by 190 basis points, while normalized gross profit margin increased by 130 basis points to 40.4%, mainly driven by significant volume growth in China.

In our Strategic Partners segment, gross profit margin decreased by 190 basis points to 12.9%, impacted by lower volumes and customer mix. In Q2, SG&A up $43.9 million reflected an increase of 25.9%. Excluding the impact of specified costs, SG&A expenses increased by $8.5 million, mainly driven by $9.8 million in investment to grow our brands as we continue to prioritize our global expansion initiatives. These costs were partially offset by $1.3 million in other SG&A expenses due to the timing of variable compensation costs.

Specified costs of $4.1 million in the quarter were largely comprised of $3.4 million of IT system implementation costs. Operating income in the second quarter increased by $0.8 million, driven by higher gross profit and partially offset by the timing of investments in SG&A. On a normalized basis, operating income increased by $0.6 million and adjusted EBITDA increased by $0.5 million to $31.6 million, reflecting the impact of higher sales volume and pricing, partially offset by higher investments in marketing and infrastructure. Adjusted net earnings in the quarter was $14.7 million or $1 million higher than Q2 2023. A reconciliation of our adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net earnings is provided in today's press release announcing our second quarter results.

Now turning to the balance sheet and cash flow. In Q2, we generated cash from operations before working capital considerations of $17.1 million, $4.4 million higher mainly due to higher gross profit margins. Cash invested in working capital increased by $9.3 million due to the timing of accounts receivable collections partially offset by a drawdown in our inventories. In Q2, we distributed $7.9 million in dividends and ended the quarter with $190.1 million in cash and available revolving and swing line facilities.

Based on our strong cash position and forecasts, we have announced a dividend of $0.21 per common share or approximately $8.8 million in aggregate. This represents a $0.02 or 11% increase compared to the second quarter dividend in the prior year. This dividend will be paid on September 13, 2024, to common shareholders of record at the close of business of August 30, 2024.

Now turning to guidance. All of our business units are continuing to perform as expected, as consumer consumption globally remains very strong. We maintain our previous guidance disclosed for the full year of fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2025. With respect to the third quarter, we expect the following: consolidated revenue to range between $167 million and $177 million, an increase of 10% to 17%. Revenue in the Jamieson Brands segment is expected to increase by 14% to 20% or approximately $147 million to $155 million. Revenue in the Strategic Partners segment is expected to decline up to 10%, reflecting our transition away from the customer contract with a new business anticipated to begin shipping in the fourth quarter, adjusted EBITDA to range between $31 million to $34 million, broadly reflecting increased shipments, product innovation and strong continued consumption, offset by investments to drive brand awareness and growth in both the U.S. and China.

With that, I will turn the call back to Mike for closing comments. Mr. Pilato?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Thanks, Chris. Before we go to questions, I want to reiterate that we are exactly where we anticipated we would be as we enter Q3. We are energized by the continued consumer demand for our products globally and the strong performance of our investment strategy in the U.S. and China that is driving growth in those 2 key markets. I'm thankful and proud of our global team for their dedication to our company, our consumers and our promise to drive value for all stakeholders.

Now I'm going to turn it back to Matthew for Q&A.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Our comes from Derek Lessard of TD Cowen.

[Derek Lessard, analyst]

Mike and Chris, good to hear from you. Maybe I just want to start on the press release. You talked about expanding the company's market leadership position in Canada. Just wondering if you can maybe add some color to that and maybe give some details as well around maybe the point-of-sales data that you're seeing?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Yes thanks for the question. Yes, we continue to grow our market share here in Canada. We talked about it for the last few quarters. We talked about it again here in -- we're starting in Q2 now to see continued consumption growth. Dollars in the mid-single-digit range, units in the low single-digit range and outpacing market at those levels. The one thing I would note is we did see a little bit of promotional shift from Q2 a year ago into Q3. A couple of retailers shifted a couple of promotions. So that would be impacting those. But we do continue to see strong consumer demand, strong consumption across many channels, many categories and continue to expand our market leadership. So we're quite pleased with it.

[Derek Lessard, analyst]

And then maybe just switching gears. In your prepared remarks, you did say the -- that you had one of the most successful promotional campaigns in China. Could you just maybe highlight some of the details there and what that entailed?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Yes. So if you look at China and you look at that promotional window, it's called the 6.18 promotional window. We saw category growth coming in, in like low double-digit range. Our business was growing at triple digits during that period. It really was just the investment that we put into the market, focused on a few key promotional windows, really some of our marketing, are promotional activities, focusing on working with some of the key cross-border e-commerce platforms and e-commerce platforms to drive up those rankings and pick up market share in that period. The strategy that the team started to put into place in the 11/11 promotional window back in November when we saw some strong results, and they were trying to new promotional activities. They were testing some things out, and they were seeing success. They brought that forward into the June 18 promotion and really were able to drive us forward in a big way. I mean we really could not be happier and more proud of the team in China and the work they did through the quarter and through that promotional window.

[Operator]

And your next question comes from Ty Collin of Eight Capital.

[Ty Collin, analyst]

I'm going to stick on China for my first one. I'm curious if you have any data on customer loyalty or stickiness in China, particularly on the newer cohorts of customers you're bringing in with the elevated promo spend there. You're obviously having a lot of success bringing in new consumers. I'm just curious what your degree of confidence is that they remain with the brand.

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Yes. I mean we're quite confident, Ty. We do have data that we measure historically that tells us that the Chinese consumer that resonates with the Jamieson brand does have a high repeat rate does come back to our brand once we drive trial. And really, it comes down to products, right? When you develop good products that are efficacious and high quality and they delight the consumer, that traditionally will bring back the consumer. So we're quite confident that we continue to do that in a good way. The other thing I would say is the consumer that we're targeting is a more affluent consumer. They are looking for more premium priced foreign brands and they're looking for high-quality brands that are efficacious. And when they come into our brand and they buy that and they're happy to buy that and it works and it resonates. That's where you see high loyalty rates. So we feel pretty good about what we see historically. As far as the consumers that have come in, in the last 12, 16 weeks, we'll continue to measure that looking forward as we get longer term out.

[Ty Collin, analyst]

And then can you maybe just touch on how your different U.S. sales channels are performing relative to one another? And maybe just give a bit of an update on your efforts to get deeper in the food, drug, mass channel in particular?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Yes. I mean we continue to grow distribution and see good POS across the board. A lot of it is innovation driven as we put new innovations in the marketplace like Ocean friendly Omega and a few other products that have come into the market over the last year and you improve tumor, things like that. What I would say is that our club channel does continue to grow. We have expanded distribution into some key club customers that maybe didn't have full distribution or any distribution prior to us taking over. We continue to see growth in POS growth and distribution growth around innovation in some key retailers that we're keen on growing in the U.S. Like we've talked about many times, we're not looking to enter every retailer in the U.S. We're very focused right now on where our key target demographic is and where we think that they're shopping. And we are making continued progress there in growing those channels in the POS there. And then, of course, in e-com, we continue to focus on our e-com business and continue to drive ourselves up those rankings and become a bigger piece of the e-commerce world with our brands.

[Operator]

And your next question comes from Tom Callaghan of RBC Capital Markets.

[Tom Callaghan, analyst]

Maybe just first one for me is shifting gears to the strategic partner side, but just if you can provide an update there with respect to initiatives to backfill the business there come from last year. I think the release did mention some new business into Q4. So just kind of some updated thinking there?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Yes. I mean we continue to work with multiple opportunities across the world to fill that gap. We have had some success to date. We will continue to work through the second half of the year to get contracts in place. So that's the expectation for 2025 are finalized. We have lots of irons in the fire. Tom. I was at a conference last week meeting with 4 potential future customers. There's action on all of those are moving forward as well as many others that we have in the hopper. So we're quite confident in it. I think we also reiterated our 2025 numbers today and in those numbers have what we expect for strategic partners in them. And in there is the growth back to where we were prior. So we feel pretty good about it. Nothing concrete that we would be prepared to put out there today, but lots of progress, some contracts signed and similar coming.

[Tom Callaghan, analyst]

Maybe a second one for me is just on GLP-1, I know it's still super early days there, but anything incremental to share since last quarter? I know you mentioned there was some conversations not going with certain partners on that front.

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Yes. We continue to work towards a late year launch probably early Q4, maybe late Q3 right now, it's looking like we have a couple of retailers lined up that want to go to market with it, run some -- a couple are running and test a couple of months to launch. So we're quite bullish on getting the product out to the market. Again, we're not putting a lot of, I would say, bullishness in what we expect from the product right now because it's so new, we just don't know. It's like a test right now and see where it goes. But it will be in market. And of course, we will launch it on e-commerce channels as well as soon as it gets to the market. So continue to have regular dialogue with retailers continue to plan for an e-commerce launch. And I imagine when we are speaking next time, we'll be able to talk a little bit more about those products.

[Tom Callaghan, analyst]

And maybe just a quick follow-up on that. Based on that, then, there's nothing really baked into guidance in terms of contribution from this perspective, right?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

I mean it's very small in what we have. We have an innovation bucket in the guidance that we put in for youtheory. So that would be a portion of that innovation bucket, but extremely, extremely small. And there's nothing material that would impact our results for the year on anything negatively if it didn't happen.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] And your next question comes from Justin Keywood of Stifel.

[Justin Keywood, analyst]

Nice to see the results. Just circling back on China. I'm wondering if there's a way to describe the potential for that segment, just given the high growth that we saw in the quarter, but it's still relatively small as far as market share in a large market. I believe it's around $30 billion. So if there's a way to look at the market share potential or maybe another way just to try to gauge that growth going forward?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Yes. I mean China is off a very hard place to read market share from data in the market. It's a very fragmented country, obviously, with lots of different platforms and different retailers. It's not like a Nielsen there where you can buy data like you can in North America. What I would say is this, Justin, we've talked about this quite often. It's not about what share can we reach in China at this point. This is about how do we take a business that 2 years ago was $30 million guided this year to between, I think, $80 million and $92 million. How do we take that over the next 12 months above $100 million? And then how do we really drive that business to scale to be as large or larger than our Canadian business over time. We have strong long-range plans put in place that we put out into the marketplace back when we did our strategy update in May that says, we expect that business once we get through this year of investment to grow 25% to 35% a year, where we can accelerate, we will. We're all about just getting that business to scale with speed and the share that comes along with that would be what we expect.

[Justin Keywood, analyst]

And then I believe there was some commentary of potentially launching youtheory products or SKUs in China. If there's any update around that initiative.

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Yes. We talked about launching in Q2 in a very small test platform. We are in the midst of that test right now. It is literally like early, early days into that launch. Everything right now looks to be to our expectations. But again, I remind everyone, our expectations are quite small as we get through this test and see what the longer-range plan is here for youtheory in China.

[Justin Keywood, analyst]

And would the youtheory be launched within Costco or would it be more of a broad strategy?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

There is a 2-pronged strategy in China. One prong is a bit of retail distribution. One prong is e-commerce with a very small subset of platforms that we're testing with. And from there, we'll determine where we go.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from [indiscernible] of BMO Capital Markets.

[Unknown Analyst]

To start on the brand side, just on the domestic. Are you able to unpack the 10% revenue increase you saw in Q2 between pricing, underlying volume growth and then the benefit received from the delayed Q1 shipments?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

Yes. So I would think of it this way, [ Devin ]. So units was low single-digit consumption growth. Again, we had a little bit of promotional shift out of the quarter. So low single-digit -- low single-digit unit growth, mid-single-digit dollar growth, which incorporated some of the pricing that we put into the market in the very, I'd say, middle to the later stages of the quarter as it got to market. And then I would say mid-single-digit growth from the shift from Q1 into Q2.

[Unknown Analyst]

And then maybe just on the mid-single-digit price increases that you guys were putting in later in the quarter. Are you seeing any change in consumer behavior, whether that be in the areas of the shopping or the products that they're purchasing?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

We are not seeing any changes right now. We are continuing to see the changes we've talked about for I'd say, the last year to 18 months, which is the continued shift to channels where the consumer can find value. So into the discount banners at grocery into the club channel, into e-com channels where they're looking for value and looking for value purchase. But we're not seeing anything from a brand perspective, shifting away or anything like we talked about, our consumption is up. It's up above market. We're growing share, and we continue to track it into Q3 and feel good about where we're going.

[Unknown Analyst]

And then maybe just one final one on your inventory levels. down sequentially as well as on a year-over-year basis. How are you thinking about a potential build in the second half of the year?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

So seasonally, we will peak inventory at the end of Q3. So there'll be an investment in Q3 and then cash flow from inventory into Q4. In totality in fiscal 2024, we will generate cash from inventory, and that offsets our normalized trajectory from a working capital investment perspective. If you remember, early in the year in our guidance, we guided approximately $20 million investment in total working capital for fiscal 2024.

[Operator]

And your last question comes from Zachary Evershed of National Bank Financial.

[Zachary Evershed, analyst]

So maybe another question on inventory. I guess as China is growing by leaps and bounds. That's a pretty long supply line. Do you think that will have an impact in 2020 and over the long term?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

You'll -- we will grow working capital there in line with revenues, but it is a smaller base. So -- and when you look at the turnover from a receivable perspective, it's actually clicker on the receivable side. So longer inventory much quicker on the receivable side. So the other bit of offset. But net-net, yes, there will be some drag on the growth of that business. We're expecting to offset that with greater efficiency both in Canada and the U.S.

[Zachary Evershed, analyst]

And then last one for me. Q2 EBITDA flat year-over-year Q3 guidance looking for a slight uptick, at least some heavy lifting for Q4 for full year guidance. Can you remind us the -- of the set of drivers behind that expansion?

[Michael Pilato, executive]

It really is a timing of our promotional and marketing activity. And when that -- when those dollars are planned to be spent in year. So we are not at all concerned by the expectation for EBITDA growth to be primarily in the fourth quarter. When you look at the size of the fourth quarter, both from a revenue and EBITDA perspective, it's probably a little heavier than prior years, but not completely inconsistent with our normal seasonal trends.

[Operator]

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