Morning, welcome to Nova Cannabis first quarter 2022 financial results conference call. Yesterday, Nova issued a press release announcing their financial results for first quarter ended on March 31st, 2022. This press release is available on the company's website at novacannabis.ca and filed on SEDAR as well. The webcast replay of the conference call will also be available on the Nova website. Presenting on this morning's call, we have Marcie Kiziak, Chief Executive Officer. Financial Officer. Before we start, certain matters discussed in today's conference call or answers that may be given to questions could constitute forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated. Risk factors that could affect results are detailed in the company's financial reports and other public filings that are made available on SEDAR. Figures mentioned are in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise indicated. Then we'll move on to analyst questions. I would now like to turn the call over to Marcie Kiziak. Good morning. Thank you for joining Nova Cannabis' first quarter 2022 earnings call. This is an exciting time in the growth and evolution of Nova Cannabis. Prior to taking on the CEO role at Nova, I was the company's Chief Operating Officer, where we launched and rapidly expanded the Value Buds brand and retail footprint as a public company. Today, we are one of the largest and fastest-growing cannabis retailers in Canada, with a relationship with Sundial Growers, a vertically integrated leader in the cannabis industry. Since its inception, Nova has stayed laser-focused on a simple, yet powerful mission to deliver everyday low prices to cannabis consumers. We've successfully executed this vision and our thesis on the Canadian cannabis market and its core consumers is proving out in our financial performance. Sales for the first quarter of 2022 were CAD 49.8 million, representing a growth of 171% year-over-year. Our relative outperformance reflects the market share gains that we continue to see across the Value Buds store network. During the first quarter, we added four stores in Ontario, and since the closing of the Sundial- Alcanna acquisition, we've added two more stores to bring our total store count to 80. When you set out to disrupt an industry as we did with Value Buds, a competitive response is expected. We are starting to see more retail closures and further consolidation in the retail landscape, which is precisely what our model was designed to withstand. Rationalization is healthy for our industry and aligns perfectly with the next phase in our strategy. As we enter this key transition point in the cycle, we've built a solid foundation to start to improve gross margin and store profitability. Cam will speak more about this progress as he discusses the financial results, but today, we are operating profitably at the store level. At the corporate level, excluding the one-time costs associated with the closing of the Sundial-Alcanna transaction, we generated CAD 1.4 million in positive operating profit before depreciation, impairment, and other costs in the first quarter. Building on this foundation and balancing growth with the greater profitability and cash flow generation is a key priority for Nova in 2022. Being deeply focused and disciplined in how we operate is a competitive advantage that is deeply embedded in how we do business. It starts with the master services agreement that we had with Alcanna, which is now with Sundial, and it extends to the additional synergies at the storefront level and support our relationship with Sundial will bring. With the completion of the Sundial-Alcanna transaction, we agreed to sell Nova's retail operations in Ontario with Spiritleaf Ontario to accommodate the AGCO's retail ownership limits for licensed cannabis producers. We have a buyback option to repurchase these Ontario stores at the original purchase price of CAD 11 million should the regulations change. Spiritleaf Ontario will operate these Ontario retail stores under the Value Buds banner. We will receive brand licensing and service revenue from these stores. Having a well-capitalized cannabis-focused partner as our majority shareholder is a tremendous asset for Nova's growth prospects going forward. Sundial has already committed additional capital to Nova by increasing the maximum available under its revolving credit facility from CAD 5 million to CAD 10 million. We'll be deploying capital in 2022 to extend our market leadership position in Alberta and expand the Value Buds banner in Ontario. We plan to add another 12 stores this year. In sum, we believe the first quarter shows the strength and durability of our retail footprint, as well as the path to greater profitability. Now, with Sundial as our majority shareholder, we have all the same benefits of our previous relationship with Alcanna, but we gain an industry partner with assets across the cannabis value chain that can help to accelerate our strategy and expand our horizons. We look forward to sharing more about our plans and progress in the upcoming quarters. With that, I'll now turn it over to Cam to discuss the financials. Thank you, Marcie, and good morning, everyone. I am thrilled to join the Nova team and look forward to exciting times ahead. With that, I would like to turn to a review of Nova's first quarter 2022 financial results. I would like to remind everyone that all amounts discussed today are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated. Certain of the quarterly comparisons I will be referencing are to the fourth quarter of 2021, as sequential quarterly comparisons may provide additional context considering Nova's rapid growth and expansion over the past four quarters. In the first quarter of 2022, as Marcie highlighted, sales increased 171% compared to the first quarter of 2021 to CAD 49.8 million compared to CAD 18.4 million in the prior year. This increase is primarily due to the 27 retail cannabis stores that were open since December 30th, 2020. The 19 stores acquired late in the first quarter of 2021 as part of the business combination with YSS Corp. and Alcanna, and increased sales from stores that were rebranded to the Value Buds discount banner from Nova Cannabis YSS and Sweet Tree at various times throughout 2021. First quarter sales represented a 4.6% increase over the previous quarter. Value Buds stores are among the most productive in the country, and we believe this far exceeds the average revenue per store for competing stores in the provinces in which we operate. Gross margins for the period was CAD 9.4 million, up CAD 4.6 million, or 95%, from CAD 4.8 million for the same period in the prior year. The gross margin as a percent of sales was 18.8% for the period, compared to 26% in the first quarter of 2021. During the comparative period for 2021, the stores were operated under the Nova Cannabis YSS and Sweet Tree banners with a different operating pricing and margin strategy than in the first quarter of 2022, when sales came primarily from the stores converted to the Value Buds discount banner. The first quarter gross margin represented an 11.3% increase from the previous quarter. The higher gross margin is due to Value Buds' strategy to sell good cannabis more affordably to its consumers. Operating loss before depreciation, impairment, and other costs for the three months ended March 31, 2022, was CAD 200,000, compared to CAD 100,000 in the first quarter of 2021. Included in this quarter's loss were CAD 1.6 million of costs that were incurred as a result of the closing of the Sundial- Alcanna transaction that impacted Nova relating to directors insurance, severance, accelerated share-based payment expense, and legal fees. Excluding these expenses, Nova would have recorded an operating profit before depreciation, impairment, and other costs of CAD 1.4 million. The increased profit before depreciation, impairment, and other costs is primarily a result of the increase in sales and gross margin for the three months ended March 31st, 2022. For the three months ended March 31st, 2022, the company recorded a net loss of CAD 3.5 million, compared to CAD 2.2 million net loss for the first quarter in 2021, including the previously mentioned costs that were incurred because of the closing of the Sundial- Alcanna transaction. Excluding these expenses, Nova would have recorded a net loss of CAD 1.9 million. Now turning to liquidity and capital resources. For the three months ended March 31st, 2022, cash used in operating activities was CAD 5.9 million, a CAD 3.4 million increase from the CAD 2.5 million cash used in operating activities for the same period in the prior year. The increase in cash used is primarily related to an increased net change in non-cash working capital in the current period, primarily due to prepayments for inventory near quarter end and an increase in transaction costs relating to the completion of the Sundial- Alcanna transaction. During the first quarter, cash used in investing activities was CAD 2.9 million, a CAD 2.4 million increase from the CAD 0.5 million cash used in investing activities for the same period in the prior year. The increase in cash used is primarily related to purchases of property and equipment in the current period associated with the construction and opening of new stores in the first quarter of 2022 and the construction of additional stores to be opened in the second quarter. In the current quarter, cash provided by financing activities was CAD 3.2 million, compared to the CAD 39.4 million provided by financing activities for the same period in the prior year. The CAD 36.2 million increase in cash provided is primarily related to the CAD 37.1 million provided by issuing common shares in the prior period, offset by proceeds from our revolving credit facility in the current period. As Marcie mentioned, Nova has an uncommitted revolving credit facility with Alcanna Inc., now a subsidiary of Sundial Growers. On May 2nd, 2022, Nova and Sundial agreed to increase the aggregate principal amount of the credit facility to CAD 10 million. As at May 9th, 2022, CAD 4.5 million is outstanding on the credit facility. Balancing growth with greater profitability and cash flow generation is a key priority for Nova in 2022. I'd like to turn the call back to the operator for analyst questions. Thank you. Thank you. We will now begin the analyst question and answer session. To join the question queue you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. Please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. We will pause for a moment as callers join the queue. The first, from Ty Collin with Eight Capital. Please go ahead. Hi. Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my question, and congrats, Marcie and Cam, on the new roles within Nova. Looks like another pretty impressive quarter here from a profitability perspective. I'm just wondering if you could provide a little more color on what drove the sequential gross margin improvement in the quarter. Was that primarily from higher data sales, or did four-wall margins actually improve? Thanks for the question, Ty. I'd say it's a couple of things, but primarily it's just being really focused on watching how our consumers are shopping, making sure we're making the right decisions. Keeping a pretty close eye on consumer behavior. Keeping a good eye on what customers are looking for and figuring out how to best manage the margins for those products. That for sure. Secondly, absolutely data program. Got it. Thanks for that. The follow-up, I appreciate the comments in terms of what you're seeing out there in the retail landscape. Just wondering if you could tell us, I guess, what you're seeing now in terms of available M&A opportunities and valuation expectations, and whether we should expect to see M&A ratchet up later this year, and whether M&A would be incremental to those 12 new stores that you mentioned earlier in the call? Yeah, I think I'm absolutely working at a lot of M&A activity, and I think we will continue to. I think we've been pretty open about that in terms of what we expect to see with consolidation and rationalization in the markets. Keeping a close eye on that, but with anything else, it has to make sense. Keeping a good eye on where we've been focused in the past, which really is real estate, making sure we're making good decisions, and in the right markets. That's really where we'd be focused on M&A work. Sorry, what was the second part of your question? I'm just wondering if M&A would be incremental to the 12 new stores that you mentioned earlier in the call that you're planning on opening, or those 12 stores just as organic? Yeah. Those 12 stores are organic, and then, otherwise it would be what makes sense in terms of the M&A. Got it. Okay. Just if I could sneak in one more. Marcie, do you see the inflationary environment today as a tailwind for Nova, the way it has been for other value-oriented retailers so far? Does anything in your data tell you that customers are trading down or starting to price shop a little more than previously? It's a good question. The big strategy that we leaned into and the value strategy that we've been leaning to has certainly been successful. I think that speaks to part of your question. Absolutely. I think that we've done a really good job of understanding how our target consumers are shopping. The answer is yes. I think that we've done a really good job of addressing that, and we're quite proactive on addressing that. Great. That's it for me. Thanks for taking my questions and congrats on the great quarter. Thanks, Ty. The next question is from Frederico Gomes with ATB Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. My first question is about Ontario. You guys have your stores in the province. In your MD&A, you mentioned there was no change in accounting control of the store. Just curious, can you provide more color on how we should look at revenue coming from those stores going forward, as well as the expansion of Value Buds in Ontario. Thank you. Yeah, thanks for the question. I'll let Cam take the question, but I don't think there's no difference, really, in terms of how the accounting is handled, but I'll let Cam take that one. That's right, Marcie. From an accounting point of view, Frederico, nothing has changed. We'll continue to report 100% of the revenue and gross margin from the Ontario stores. Legally, we do not own the stores. However, for accounting purposes, we're deemed to control the stores, and so therefore, we consolidate them 100%. Continue to. We did not have a disposition and a reacquisition. It's just continuity of accounting. Okay. Thank you. On the second part of the question about expansion of Value Buds in Ontario. Is the question, are there going to be continued stores open in Ontario? Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. We're going to continue to see some more stores open this year. I think we're going to see 11 more open, or sorry, nine more open in Ontario that are committed this year. Okay. Thank you. My second question is just on the strategic aspect of your relationship with Sundial. Obviously, you mentioned potential access to capital to fund your expansion. Just curious, what sort of changes or differentiation does that partnership with Sundial bring to your product mix, as well as your product label strategy, maybe you gain access to some better deals than other retailers. Could you talk to that? Thanks for the question. We're excited to have Sundial in the fold. It's a great Alberta story and a great Alberta product, excited to have them in the fold. They've also got some great products in the market and some really good innovation. Excited to see it back in our stores, and so far it's performing well. As we've always been, we're a house of brands, we're bringing in complementary products to the commitment we've always made to having a house of brands. With respect to private label, absolutely something that we're looking at. We had spent a good amount of time on it last year, took a bit of a pause as a result of the transaction, and now getting back after it. Okay. Thank you. My last question is on your sales per store. You mentioned that you're probably one of the leaders in the metric here in Canada. Just curious on whether you see opportunities for expansion sales per store in 2022, or would you say that most of your growth this year will come from new store openings? Thank you. As we continue to see the market consolidate and more rationalization at the retail level, I imagine what we expect that we'll see an increase of lift come simply by having fewer competitors in the market. I think we'll see that, also with 12 new stores coming into the market over the course of the year. Okay. Appreciate it. [I'll go back to queue]. The next question is from Pablo Zuanic with Cantor Fitzgerald. Please go ahead. Hi, this is Matthew Baker on for Pablo. Thank you for taking our questions. With several other retailers talking about pursuing a discount strategy, what would you say makes your pricing strategy more unique and also more or less sustainable? Thanks for the question. There's a couple of things. Again, as I said earlier, we're really focused on making sure that the pricing makes sense. For us, we've tried that. I've said often that we're looking to try to bring people in from the illicit market, and so our product mix, and the way that we price our products is really reflective of that. I think that's the strategy that we continue to follow. Also, our in-store experience is also a differentiator for us. We try to, again, meet our customer where they are and understand who our customer is. Try really hard to make sure that we've got an experience that makes sense for them, and in some cases, that's highly transactional. We make the experience as easy as possible for them. It's really great stuff. Thank you. For our second question, will there be any strategic coordination with Spiritleaf retail business or Sundial? That's a great question. At Value Buds, we've always said that we weren't trying to be all things to all people. Rather, we were trying to make an impact in a market that hadn't previously been served. With the addition of the Spiritleaf stores, it becomes the ability to be more things to more people, and really coordinate and figure out the right ways to position both of those banners. Great, just one last follow-up. Maybe this is a question for Sundial, will Nova remain listed given the parent company, Alcanna, will be part of Sundial? If so, why? Thank you. Yeah. We'll defer that question to Sundial. All right. Thanks. As there are no further questions, this concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.