hydroponic Archives - Green Market Report

Adam JacksonAugust 3, 2022
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6min01

Hydrofarm Holdings Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: HYFM) stock plunged by 28% in early trading to lately sell at roughly $2.35 after the hydroponic company reported declining sales following the market close on Tuesday. Hydrofarm said it is looking to shave down its costs and restructure as deflated earnings continue to tap its pockets.

The manufacturer and distributor of hydroponics equipment and supplies for controlled environment agriculture, the company released a preliminary unaudited financial report card for its second quarter ending June 30, 2022.

Hydrofarm posted estimated net sales of $96.0 million to $97.5 million, versus $133.8 million for the same period last year, representing a dip of approximately 28% calculated using the midpoint of the range. This also missed the Yahoo Finance average analyst estimate for revenues of $126 million.

Losses Build

The net loss is expected to range between $210.4 million and $200.4 million, versus a net income of $2.3 million in the same period last year. The net loss range includes estimated non-cash expenses of $189.6 million in goodwill impairment and $10.2 million in inventory reserve recorded at the end of the second quarter.  The company said that declining valuation trends within the industry and in the broader market “adversely impacted the company’s market valuation since its last quarterly report and triggered a full evaluation of the goodwill arising from prior acquisitions.”

The company also posted estimated adjusted EBITDA losses in the range of $8.4 million to $6.9 million, versus a $16.2 million gain in the same period last year.  It attributes the losses to lower net sales and falling gross profit margins — as well as higher labor and freight costs.

“We took positive steps during the second quarter to lower our cost structure and maintained a solid liquidity position,” CEO Bill Toler said. “However, the hydroponics industry recession in the U.S. and Canada continued to alter normal seasonal patterns and impacted our results. While we experienced encouraging results in March and April, sales trends weakened in the second half of the second quarter, disrupting our expected sales mix and resulting in net sales, net loss and Adjusted EBITDA below our internal expectations for the full quarter.”

The company said it has $27.4 million in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash, an aggregate principal amount of debt outstanding of $126.7 million – including $0 drawn on the company’s revolving credit facility, approximately $124.4 million in principal balance on its Term Loan and approximately $2.4 million in finance leases and other debt.

Toler continued, “Through our team’s net working capital management, we increased our cash position, lowered our net debt and maintained a solid liquidity position during the second quarter. Our team has also enacted additional expense-cutting measures, to further reduce our costs. When coupled with our prior cost savings actions, we estimate that we have reduced our costs by approximately $14.0 million on an annualized basis.”

Hydrofarm also has $15.3 million in contingent payments and can borrow around $71 million capacity under its revolving credit agreement. The company lowered its net debt by approximately $14.1 million during the second quarter by improving its working capital position and controlling costs. The company said it was in compliance with all debt covenants at the end of the period.

“Sales trends in July suggest that the overall industry continues to face headwinds and that typical seasonal patterns may not apply for the duration of this year,” Toler said. “For these reasons, we are revising downward our estimates for the remainder of the year. While we expect the industry to return to growth in the future, as highly populated states in the Eastern U.S. actively implement adult-use cannabis legislation and more mature states in the Western U.S. normalize, predicting the exact timing of a return to historical growth remains a challenge for the industry.

As a result, he said, “we will continue to focus on further cost-saving opportunities and liquidity actions to ensure that our leadership position in the hydroponics industry strengthens during this industry downturn.”

Lowered Outlook

With the new guidance, Hydrofarm expects approximately $330.0 million to $347.0 million in net sales “combined with some further reduction to account for the holiday-shortened months in the fourth quarter.” In October 2021, Hydrofarm lowered its outlook from a range of $565 million to $590 million of net sales to approximately $470 million to $490 million – a sign of just how bad sales have plunged.

The company — whose president stepped down in June — also said that it incurred severance costs during the period as it cut part of its workforce “to optimize our cost structure.”


Debra BorchardtFebruary 15, 2022
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4min00

Hydroponic equipment company iPower Inc. (Nasdaq: IPW) reported its financial results for its fiscal second quarter ended December 31, 2021, with total revenue increasing 52% to $17.1 million. iPower said that the increase was driven by greater in-house product sales and strong demand for ventilation products. The company reported that its net income increased 39% to $0.8 million or $0.03 per share.

“Our fiscal second quarter marked our strongest period of year-over-year revenue growth since completing our IPO last year,” said Lawrence Tan, CEO of iPower. “We are beginning to realize the benefits of continuously rolling out new high-demand, in-house branded products. During the quarter, our in-house product sales increased approximately 72% from the year ago quarter and accounted for approximately 87% of revenue—a company record. These increases demonstrate how well our products are resonating with consumers. In addition, our ability to deliver these products on a timely basis despite global supply chain headwinds provides an important asset to our channel partners.”

The company also reported that the gross profit in the fiscal second quarter of 2022 increased 53% to $7.6 million compared to $4.9 million for the same quarter in fiscal 2021. As a percentage of revenue, the gross margin was 44.1% compared to 44.0% in the year-ago quarter. This small increase in gross margin was driven by a greater mix of in-house product sales partially offset by higher freight and input costs.

“Over the past few months, we have also executed on multiple key growth initiatives, including the launch of our first in-house nutrient line, Flourish™, as well as our initial expansion into Europe through the UK and Germany. Although both initiatives are in their infancy, we believe they present compelling new avenues to drive growth and increase market share.”

iPower noted that the total operating expenses in the fiscal second quarter were $6.4 million compared to $4.1 million for the same period in fiscal 2021. As a percentage of revenue, operating expenses were 37.5% compared to 36.4% in the year-ago quarter. The increase was driven by higher sales volumes, increased advertising to support the launch of new products, as well as increased headcount for new channel sales.

iPower CFO Kevin Vassily added, “We are continuing to navigate the volatile supply chain environment, which has not materially improved since our last quarterly report despite signs of recovery last fall. We plan to continue mitigating the cost volatility through our diversified network of partners and continue to expect fiscal 2022 to be another strong year of growth and execution for iPower.”

Cash and cash equivalents were $1.0 million at December 31, 2021, compared to $6.7 million on June 30, 2021. The decrease was attributed to the timing of accounts receivables with the company’s largest channel partner and is not an indication of any other business or operating trend. Total long-term debt as of December 31, 2021, was $7.4 million compared to $0.5 million as of June 30, 2021. The increase was attributable to increased working capital expenses.


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