Village Farms International, Inc. (VFF) Q1 2021 Earnings Call Transcript

Village Farms International, Inc. (VFF 8.13%)
Q1 2021 Earnings Call
May 10, 2021, 8:30 a.m. ET

Contents:

• Prepared Remarks
• Questions and Answers
• Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Village Farms International's first-quarter 2021 financial results conference call. This morning Village Farms issued a news release reporting its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021. That news release along with the company's financial statement are available on the company's website at villagefarms.com under the Investors heading.

Please note that today's call is being broadcast live over the internet and will be archived for both replay by telephone and via the Internet beginning approximately one hour following completion of the call. Details of how to access the replays are available in yesterday's news release. Before we begin, let me remind you that forward-looking statements may be made today during or after the formal part of the conference call. Certain material assumptions were applied in providing these statements, many of which are beyond our control.

These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. A summary of these underlying assumptions, risks, and uncertainties is contained in the company's various securities filing with the SEC and Canadian regulators, including its Form 10-K, MD&A for the year ended March 31, 2021, which are available on SEDAR and EDGAR. These forward-looking statements are made as of today's date and except as required by applicable security law -- securities law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any such statements. I'd now like to turn the call over to Michael DeGiglio, chief financial officer of Village Firms International.

Please go ahead, Mr. DeGiglio.

Mike DeGiglio -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, James. Good morning, everyone. With me for today's call is Village Farms Chief Financial Officer Steve Ruffini. This morning, I'll spend a few minutes highlighting the key takeaways for the quarter, and then Steve will review the financial results, and I'll return with some concluding thoughts, and then we'll open the call to questions.

Onto the quarter. So, Q1 was a solid start for 2021 for Pure Sunfarms, most notably retail branded sales which is the core focus of the business increased 20% sequentially and marks our third consecutive quarter of 20% or greater sequential growth. That's 115% increase in our retail branded sales over the last three quarters. And when we factor in the fewer numbers of selling days in Q1 as compared to Q4, our sequential retail branded sales growth was actually 23%.

We would have been pleased with the Q1 growth in a normal market environment, but we view this performance as [Audio gap] encouraging given the softness in the Canadian retail sales in Q1 due to the impact of pandemic-related lockdowns across much of Canada. Clearly, Pure Sunfarms has excellent momentum that's being driven by the right marketing strategy and the successful execution of that strategy, specifically high-quality premium products that customers want at an everyday price. And I want to note that that includes our large-format offerings, which includes our highest-quality strains in the large format. Secondly, innovation and continued enhancement of our product offerings such as our new and unique Blueberry Kush Strain which has been a great performer right out of the gate.

Next is expansion into new categories building on the success of our dried flower products and a reputation for proactive SKU management to meet the demands of the provincial [Audio gap]. This is an excess to balancing capacity, the right strains, and the right inventory levels. Pure Sunfarms was again the top-selling dried flower brand with the Ontario cannabis store in Q1, as it actually was for the month of April, which is a great start to the second [Audio gap]. And by the way, it has been since our retail launch in October 2019.

That's a period now of 17 months in duration, almost a year and a half. I will again remind you that Ontario continues to be the only provincial distributor from which we directly receive market share data. Other third-party data is available. However, we prefer to share publicly only that which we know to be 100% reliable and accurate.

We wish we were able to get that same data from the other provinces and can share it with the audience. Sales of our cannabis 2.0 products, which we launched in the second half of last year were relatively flat in Q1. So, more in line with the broader Canadian market performance. Although that's still very early days for us, our 2.0 products are off to a slower start than we would like.

The 2.0 market is a fair bit different from the dried flower market. It's a congested space with more producers that are specializing in that segment of the market. The Pure Sunfarms team has a specific focus on this part of the business and our goal remains to be the No. 1 or No.

2 brand in every category that we are in, including 2.0 categories and I have every confidence in the team to get us there. Let me remind you that we are now in categories that comprise 90% of the sales in Canada. That said, dried flowers still by far and away, the largest product category in Canada. And it still is in more mature markets such as Colorado that are several years more developed than Canada.

I want to take the opportunity here to touch on the consistent brand performance of Pure Sunfarms to date as well. There exists a perception that due to the inability to market and advertise, it is not possible to build a brand in Canada. But we clearly disagree and we think our track record of market share performance proves this out. You know, as you know, our brand is more than a name or logo, it's how the customer perceives that name or logo, what the customer associates with the name or logo.

It's what drives repeat purchases of existing products and entices purchases of new products based on previous experience with that brand. And we believe our track record of leading market share performance over the long term is a reflection of a real brand, the Pure Sunfarms brand, the brand that equates to a premium-quality product at an everyday price. Still, we are not resting on our laurels. The market is evolving, customer preferences are evolving, and the Pure Sunfarms team remains laser-focused on continuing to elevate its already-premium-level quality, develop new processes to enhance our products, and new products that will continue to resonate with our customers.

Case in point, our high THC Pink Kush Strain, which was a follow-on offering after our initial product launch was the best-selling dried cannabis strain within the OCS in the first quarter of this year. We believe 2021 is the year of high potency and we look forward to building on this success with new offerings. Noted a moment ago, it has been from Day 1 our overriding focus at Pure Sunfarms to drive retail branded strategy sales. Our goal remains to capture the full 20% or more of the retail market.

Non-branded or wholesale sales are something that we look at from both a strategic and opportunistic perspective. It is by no means our objective to sell as much wholesales as we can each quarter. In fact, we have done in previous quarters. During Q1, we made the decision to turn down a number of potential non-branded sales to other LPs.

Any wholesale sales need to be more than just profitable, it needs to meet a profitability threshold and it needs to make sense within the contents of our retail branded strategy. Our retail brand and our retail customers always take priority. Still, the wholesale market as I indicated on the last call had, continued to be sluggish and missed what appears to be an inventory glut with too many players in the industry. With too much low-potency, low-grade, and old inventory, and many dealing with the impact of the provincial SKU rationalizations.

As a result and per our expectations, non-branded sales for Q1 declined from Q4. But 84% of our Q1 sales were retail branded sales, up from 69% in Q4. But this is by design far more than as a reflection of the weakness in the wholesale market. Again, this quarter, Pure Sunfarms generated positive adjusted EBITDA of CA$3.1 million, our 10th consecutive quarter -- 10th consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA, continuing our track record of positive adjusted EBITDA in every quarter since we commenced sales.

And that goes way back to before we even received our retail license. We were selling only to the wholesale market. That's quite an accomplishment for Pure Sunfarms. We continue to be prudent and manage our inventories, which continue to be at healthy levels, and we're essentially unchanged from the end of Q4.

As I noted on our past calls, we proactively scale back production during the summer of last year to align output with the Canadian market environment. It's our objective to produce only what we can sell and then, as I mentioned earlier, to sell as much of that as we can through our retail branded channel. So, Delta 3 is operating in full production and we continue to prepare for the start-up of cultivation at Delta 2 in the third quarter, which will increase our production capability up to 50% from current levels by the end of this year with plans to double capacity from current levels in the second half of [Audio gap]. And that is not a decision made in isolation, we have done so in consultation with the provincial distributors based on their forecasts and buying plans.

As many of you know, Ontario has been rapidly opening new stores and now has more than [Audio gap] locations which now makes it the largest retail network in the country. While still small on a per capita basis, these new outlets are clearly contributing to sales as evidenced by Ontario market expanding slightly from January to February, while the three other largest provincial markets contracted by 9% to 10% lower. Ontario has a target of more than 1,000, so as by year-end it is well on track and we are poised to benefit accordingly. I would like to again publicly acknowledge the best-in-class management team and operational teams at Pure Sunfarms led by Mandesh Dosanjh on their outstanding accomplishments.

So, to our produce business, Q1 was a strong quarter operationally. We saw 14% year-over-year increase in production volumes, combined with a decrease in production cost at Village Farms-owned Texas facility, and improved utilization of our transportation handling costs. However, the pricing environment of tomato market has swung from one extreme to the other as elevated prices of last year due to high at-home demand during quarantine have given way to one of the lowest pricing periods with tomatoes, specifically the commodity tomatoes like tomatoes-on-the-vine and beefsteak varieties that we've seen in the past 10 years. As we saw, although volumes were up driving a 9% year-over-year increase in produce sales, growth suggested EBITDA was down 50% year on year.

With the opening of the U.S. restaurant and travel industry amid the lifting of the pandemic restrictions, foot traffic at U.S. grocery stores had decreased significantly, while at the same time overall industry supply is up. I'm very encouraged by the operating performance in Q1, which bodes well when pricing environment eventually normalizes.

So, all in all, Q1 was a solid start to this year. Pure Sunfarms continues to execute on plan with strong momentum and retail branded sales positioning itself very nicely for sustainable long-term growth. The Canadian market is still in the early rounds with 15-round boxing match on its way to becoming an $8 billion or $8 billion-plus market at retail. And we think our performance today positions us very well to capture a sizable portion of that market and to do so profitably.

I will talk about this more in a few minutes, but now I'd like to turn the call over to Steve to walk through our financial results. Steve.

Steve Ruffini -- Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Mike. Just to reiterate, our 2021 Q1 results reflect the full quarter of Pure Sunfarms results. Whereas when comparing our consolidated results to Q1 2020, Pure Sunfarms was not consolidated. As such, sales, cost of sales, and SG&A have changed significantly year on year.

To simplify the comparison of Pure Sunfarms results, as we've done in the past, we showed that Pure Sunfarms results for Q1 2021, Q4 2020, and Q1 2020 on a stand-alone basis in our press release. With the addition of a full quarter of Pure Sunfarms, we have begun segment reporting in 2021. Our segment -- our operating segments are produce, cannabis, clean energy, and corporate. Most of which are related to being a public company and have historically been included inside the produce division.

I also want to note again, as I did last quarter, that our results for Pure Sunfarms reflect the noncash impact of the write-up of inventory to its net realizable value upon the acquisition of all of Pure Sunfarms last November. That impact was a $2.8 million or CA$3.5 million increase in our cost of sales in Q1 2021 compared to $3.3 million and a CA$4.2 million write-up in our cost of goods sold in Q4 2020. This effectively meant that, from accounting perspective, a portion of our Q1 sales and our Q4 sales had a zero gross margin as they were written up to the fair market value on the acquisition date. But I also need to remind the audience that offsetting this was a $23.6 million statutory gain we realized upon the acquisition of Pure Sunfarms in Q4 2020 on the books at Village Farms.

With respect to what's remaining, there is a little less than $1 million U.S. of increase in the fair market value left on our Pure Sunfarms inventory. So, we're about through with the inventory write-up. Consolidated sales were 52.4 million, which was compared to 34.9 million, which was comprised of 34.9 million of produce sales and $17.4 million, or CA$22.1 million in net sales at Pure Sunfarms.

This compares to 32.1 million of consolidated sales in Q1 2020, which was essentially all produce sales. While our year-on-year increase in sales of 63% was driven by the addition of Pure Sunfarms, total sales year on year increased 9% due to the increased production from our Texas greenhouse facilities, as well as additional third-party partner supply of tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. While our produce volume was up and our actual -- as Mike mentioned, our actual year-on-year cost of production were down, the pricing environment is much different in 2021, which was not totally unexpected. And Mike's already giving you the reasons for that.

Turning to Pure Sunfarms. Q1 sales $17.4 million, CA$22.1 million, which were up 23% from Q1 2020. And we're essentially flat to Q4 2020 sales. The year-on-year increase was driven by our continued growth in branded sales.

Q1 2021 being the third consecutive quarter of over 20% growth in the sales channel. Our success in branded sales continues to be our focus and execution on flower. In Q1 2021, our large format skews, especially our single-strain, large-format skews outperformed our expectations. While Q1 had some headwinds such as out of stocks and fewer delivery windows due to operational issues at the provincial wards, we were able to increase our market share and drive flower in Q1 2021 and also saw a nice increase in April of this year.

With respect to nonbranded or, as some call it, wholesale sales, as we have stated in the past, this sales channel activity is lumpy. Nonbranded sales, no surprise to us, were impacted, as Mike mentioned in his comments, with respect to SKU rationalization. The decrease in our gross margin in Q1 2021, our gross margin percentage in 2021 of 29% was a decrease from our gross margin of 39% in Q4 of 2020. This was driven by a higher precentage of large-format versus small-format dried flower, as well as high-margin gross margin nonbranded sales we had in Q4 of 2020, in particular, with some high CBD strains that did not reoccur in the first quarter of 2021.

So the market should not presume that all nonbranded sales are not at good strong margins. In some instances, they're actually very strong. Just as nonbranded sales are lumpy, so as the gross margin driven by market dynamics with respect to those sales. SG&A for Q1 2021 for Pure Sunfarms was $4 million, CA$5 million, was down from $4.5 million, CA$5.9 million in Q4 2020 due to the fact of not incurring any bad debt write-offs in 2021.

We had one -- the only one that had historically in Q4 2020, as well as we had some incremental one-off Q4 cost with respect to our ERP system. Our SG&A cost in Q1 2021 were up 56% from Q1 2020 due to higher year-on-year addition of new staff and sales and marketing costs related to our branded sales. Share compensation expense of 1.1 million for Pure Sunfarms is due to the achievement of certain performance criteria by Pure Sunfarms management in Q1, as well as the issuance of Village Farms stock options to the key management team, key management members of Pure Sunfarms in recognition of their success to date. Jumping to our balance sheet, we ended the quarter with 136 million of cash and had bank debt of 66 million for a net cash balance of 70 million.

Over the last two quarters, we have renewed all of our bank facilities, both in produce and cannabis on a very -- on very attractive terms. So we're in a very -- we are very comfortable with our capital position today. Our produce business, historically, has negative cash flow in Q1 as we ramp up our Delta 1 facility, and Pure Sunfarms in Q1 was also ramping up the Delta 3 facility to full-scale production, as Mike mentioned in his comments. So with respect to [Technical difficulty] ongoing cash flow from operations, we expect that to improve in the following quarters throughout 2021.

And we are well-positioned to fund our operations. Our capex for 2021 and 2022, as well as after looking at M&A opportunities, as well as alternative [Technical difficulty] to further enhance our results and operations. With that, I will turn it back over to Mike.

Mike DeGiglio -- Chief Executive Officer

Hey, thanks, Steve. So concluding here on my closing comments before we take some questions, as we look ahead to 2021, we believe it's shaping up to be another year of steady progress and execution on our strategy based on large-scale, high-growth opportunities for the near term, medium, and long term. As we have been throughout a 30-year plus history, we will be prudently optimistic. It is a opportunistic -- I'm sorry.

I'm optimistic as well. It is a year of building on the tremendous success of Pure Sunfarms today, taking Pure Sunfarms to the next level of success, revenue growth, and profitability. And we do expect to continue to capture more of our proportionate share of the growth in the Canadian market, as I mentioned. Our model for consistent, sustainable profitability has been [Technical difficulty] and our significant [Technical difficulty] scale over the next year will propel this to new level as we capture more of the [Technical difficulty] profit pool.

Medium-term, we'll continue to be optimistic about the evolution of the regulatory environment [Technical difficulty] we are being patient, prudent, and strategic to ensure responsible investment in the right way at the right time. The US is clearly a massive opportunity, but it's also a long-term opportunity. Using my boxing metaphor from early on, the bell to start the match is barely rung in the USA. We are aggressively working behind the scenes, continuing to evaluate the breadth of opportunities from our seat here in the United States to be prepared regardless of how this plays out.

We want to remind you that in Canada, Pure Sunfarms entered the branded retail market, at least, [Technical difficulty] year after any of the other [Technical difficulty] players, being a later entrant, it allowed us to create a winning business plan and the most profitable business model at Pure Sunfarms, and we think that same dynamic is setting up in a U.S. market as well because, in fact, we think it is likely that the U.S. market will look very different than it does today upon full legalization, and that will give new entrants to market a significant advantage. Because of how the regulatory environment unfolds, we are preparing with multiple parallel strategies that will bring us to bear our deep experience, including now our success in Canada, our organizational strength, and one of the largest greenhouse footprints in the USA.

Again, over 6 million square feet in some of the best growing areas in the continental U.S. For the longer term, we are planning to see to leverage our cannabis success and leadership beyond North America to strategically targeted markets where there's high-growth opportunities in these international markets, again, through efficient capital investment. And we believe our foundation in Canada, especially, cultivation expertise positions us well for success. As I noted on our last call, we increased our investment in our Asia-Pacific partner, Altum, earlier this year to 12%, which is indicative of both the progress and our increased confidence in the opportunity here.

Before I open the call to questions, I want to touch on one important topic that has long been a part of our DNA here at Village Farms, one that in these heady days of early days of cannabis industry, we haven't spent much time talking about and that is sustainable agricultural practices. Controlled environment greenhouse growing is by far the most sustainable form of agriculture period. We are now the oldest operating greenhouse produce company in the United States with over 30 years behind us. And in this responsible way of growing, just to reiterate, we don't use soil, so there is no soil erosion depletion of nutrients.

We can grow 30 to 40 times more yield per acre than a field grower. We recirculate water, meaning 86% less water usage than outdoor growing. And no leaching into the groundwater whatsoever. We capture our CO2 from our boilers and put it back into our greenhouses, which the plants convert to oxygen, meaning not just a neutral carbon footprint but a negative carbon footprint.

All of this has long been a foundational principle of our produce operations which now has enabled us to lead the cannabis industry in this regard where their cultivation practices are identical. It's something we're quite proud of, not only because of the positive environmental and social implications but also because we know it makes us better, more profitable operators. With that, we'll turn it over to any questions that anyone has. Operator James?

Questions & Answers:

Operator

And we will now take questions from analysts only. [Operator instructions] And our first question comes from the line of Doug Cooper with Beacon Securities. Go ahead, please. Your line is open.

Doug Cooper -- Beacon Securities -- Analyst

Hi. Good morning, guys. Just a couple things for me. I just first want to start with -- on the gross margin, just want to make sure I'm clear, Steve.

So that reported gross margin, 29%, is that inclusive of the inventory write-up that you talked about?

Steve Ruffini -- Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, we backed that out. So that's the true gross margin.

Doug Cooper -- Beacon Securities -- Analyst

OK.

Steve Ruffini -- Chief Financial Officer

That's why our gross margin is less.

Doug Cooper -- Beacon Securities -- Analyst

OK, and that includes some cost of sales in there, correct? So if I take the 22.1 times 0.29, G&A was 5 million in the quarter?

Steve Ruffini -- Chief Financial Officer

Yup.

Doug Cooper -- Beacon Securities -- Analyst

So excluding cost of sales that are included in the gross margin, you're upwards of 30 -- mid-30s with this. Is that right?

Steve Ruffini -- Chief Financial Officer

No, the 29% we've added back the inventory.

Doug Cooper -- Beacon Securities -- Analyst

The inventory, but not the -- there's still -- there's no depreciation of the fixed assets in that number, correct?

Steve Ruffini -- Chief Financial Officer

Correct. Yes. Yes. We always -- we've always-- both in produce and cannabis, we always include depreciation as part of cost of sales.

Doug Cooper -- Beacon Securities -- Analyst

OK.

Steve Ruffini -- Chief Financial Officer

Capital is not free.

Doug Cooper -- Beacon Securities -- Analyst

Yeah. Can you give us an idea of sort of what the pricing environment is like and maybe just what percentage large format-wise of your flower sales in the quarter?

Steve Ruffini -- Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, I mean, with respect to the pricing environment, there was no change in our pricing. I mean, pricing does vary based on the strain. And obviously, based on format. But quarter-on-quarter sequentially, there was a zero change in our part.

I can't speak to the overall marketplace and what other people are experiencing. But with respect to us, it was -- excuse that I did look at, you know, was exactly the same. With respect to the breakdown for the quarter between large format and small format, the large format was roughly let's say 60% of our flower sales and small format was 40%.

Doug Cooper -- Beacon Securities -- Analyst

Yeah. Can you give us an idea what the pricing differential between those two is on a per gram basis?

Steve Ruffini -- Chief Financial Officer

Again, it's based on the strain. It varies.

Doug Cooper -- Beacon Securities -- Analyst

OK. Longer term, when you get more production in, you get more economies to scale, what would your long-term EBITDA or gross margin targets be? What should we'd be thinking about for a longer-term perspective assuming pricing remains where it is?

Steve Ruffini -- Chief Financial Officer

Well, I mean --

Mike DeGiglio -- Chief Executive Officer

There's a lot of variables, Doug. I mean, who's going to be in the marketplace? That's one thing. It's still too many players. So I think long term, we have to look at who are the survivors? That's going to be a big impact as well.

So, you know, I think -- we think it'll get better but, you know, we're forecasting we'll stay pretty steady because, again, our pricing is based on what the pricing for the gray market is regardless of anyone else. And as that changes, then maybe pricing will increase going forward.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Aaron Grey with Alliance. Go ahead, please. Your line is open.

Aaron Grey -- Alliance Global Partners -- Analyst

Good morning. Thanks for the questions. Great to see the continued growth on the flower side quarter over quarter. So I want to specifically kind of speak to Ontario where you guys continue to outperform.

I'm just curious, as we see more stores roll out in the province, particularly after it seems to normalize from COVID hopefully soon. Can you speak to how you're working to ensure Pure Sunfarms has the appropriate shelf space to continue or maintain gaining share and as these incremental stores come online? Thanks.

Mike DeGiglio -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, I think while we're well-positioned for that. I mean, some of the -- besides the lockdown at the consumer level and the stay-at-home orders, especially in Ontario, that's affected commerce in such that the distribution centers are maybe not operating at full capacity for the same reasons. Store rollouts as well. So as I said in my remarks, we've been in contact, and our future growth is based on the confidence we have in discussing that with the provincial distributors.

So we feel very solid about gaining more market share as it gets back to normal whenever that may occur in Canada.

Aaron Grey -- Alliance Global Partners -- Analyst

All right. Great. Thanks for that color. And then second question for me is just on the 2.0 products.

Michael, you know, you mentioned, you know, it's not quarter over quarter, you mentioned that, you know, you're hoping they'd be a little bit better yourself and spoke to kind of a different competitive environment with more producers that are specializing in that part the market I think is what you said. So just curious because you've had such great efforts in terms of, you know, your 1.0 flower products on the Pure Sunfarm brands. How are you looking to kind of potentially leverage that with 2.0 products or what are your plans to hopefully improve your performance in the category to perform better to where you would like to expect? Thanks.

Mike DeGiglio -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. Well, the team at Pure Sunfarms, as I said, they're very focused on it. They're in a war room mode right now as they say and looking at those products. But again, I want to remind everybody, you know, we didn't roll any of those until the later part of last year.

So we're not even approaching, you know, a full year. And again, we're at 90%, 92% of the approved products from Health Canada, just not in confectionary or average. We think those markets still are quite small and have to be proven out. Not that we won't be at some point if we think there's going to be traction there.

But within the other 2.0 products, yeah, we're focused on increasing that market share. We think some clarity coming out of Health Canada will help that position, and I won't comment more on that. But also, you know, we think we've put like our gummies, we put that against anyone with all fresh fruit and the taste and I think potency. You know, we have a lot more strains coming on with higher potency.

It seems to be what the market is really looking for. So I think a combination of all those attributes. Because the high potency will translate into some of the derivative products as well. And we'd just keep hammering away.

But that's the best color I can give you at this point.

Aaron Grey -- Alliance Global Partners -- Analyst

All right. Great. Thanks for that color. Appreciate it.

I'll jump back in the queue.

Mike DeGiglio -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Rahul Sarugaser with Raymond James. Go ahead, please. Your line is open.

Rahul Sarugaser -- Raymond James -- Analyst

Good morning, Mike and Steve. Thanks for answering my questions and congrats on the strong quarter. Just wanted to -- you know, both of you brought up the inventory write-ups. I just wanted to get a little more clarity here.

So it looks like that write-up for the quarter was -- that noncash write-up was around 2.9 million. So if we add that back, it was actually effectively correct that on the reported EBITDA of 0.4 million. That would actually be an EBITDA of around 3.3. Is that right?

Mike DeGiglio -- Chief Executive Officer

Clarify -- what was that question again, Rahul? I wasn't -- you broke up there.

Rahul Sarugaser -- Raymond James -- Analyst

I'll repeat that. So given that the noncash write-up of inventory on the consolidation, given that, you know -- and also that the adjusted -- reported adjusted EBITDA was 0.4 million. So if we correct for that, the corrected adjusted EBITDA number would be equals to 3.3 million. Is that right?

Steve Ruffini -- Chief Financial Officer

No. We've added in that already.

Rahul Sarugaser -- Raymond James -- Analyst

You have added it back. OK. Great. And then in terms of the 20% quarter over quarter growth in retail sales.

Now, we've seen many of your peers showing declining quarter-over-quarter growth. So, you know, can you give us a little more color, Mike, potentially on how Pure Sunfarms be able to drive that while much of the sector is showing a decline?

Mike DeGiglio -- Chief Executive Officer

Well, I mean, I kind of said in my mark -- remarks, Rahul. I think that, one, the execution by Pure Sunfarms and the quality of the products at the price point we have is just driving. That's been our model from day one. That's been our strategy.

We've never wavered from when we entered the market that we need to -- that price point, we have to have -- you know, I think it's -- everything we produce is a premium quality and I think people talk about premium and value. It's nothing value -- our high format, large format rather is made up of 100% of our top-selling strains. It's not secondary product or anything. So we just discount it because it's a high volume sale.

So, you know, if you go into Costco and buy, you know, four pounds of olives, you're going to get a better price than go into a regular grocery where you buy a can of olives. And I think that sometimes gets misconstrued. Maybe some in the market want that to be misconstrued that it has to do with the premium versus nonpremium product. That's anything from truth.

And I think that's resonated because even in today's pandemic times in Canada where people want a good deal on a large format, you could see that drove 50%, 60% of our sales in the first quarter. If it wasn't premium product, it wouldn't be there. And I can't speak for what others are doing, but, you know, we saw the data where there was a client with everybody and we just think it has to do it our quality strains, our execution that's driving it. And that's why I said we're very proud of that execution of the team and we think we've got it pretty right so far.

Steve Ruffini -- Chief Financial Officer

Yeah. Well, 75% of our large-format sales were the single strain. So that's what's moving the needle. Because of our quality, we're able to do that.

Mike DeGiglio -- Chief Executive Officer

And of course, because of our cost of the production as well. I just wanted to make that clear. We couldn't do it and be profitable if we didn't have low-cost production we did and the scale.

Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Eric Des Lauriers with Craig-Hallum Capital. Go ahead, please. Your line is open.

Eric Des Lauriers -- Craig-Hallum Capital Group -- Analyst

OK. Great. Thanks for taking my questions, guys, and congrats again on the steady execution here. I was wondering if you could talk a bit more about the dynamic between retail and wholesale channels.

Because provincial buyers are becoming more prudent with their inventory purchases, presumably, that would benefit you guys with the No. 1 retail brand. But I'm wondering if you could talk a bit more about how that's impacting your wholesale buyers. You mentioned a profitability threshold.

Just worrying if you can sort of elaborate a bit on how these changing purchasing dynamics as the provincial level are impacting your wholesale customers. Thanks.

Mike DeGiglio -- Chief Executive Officer

You know I can't speak for others that we sell but if I was to put myself in and in that environment and I do, I look at it that in order to compete at the retail level and if you're not being able to cultivate your own product that meets that quality that -- and what the market wants that's to say in terms of freshness, quality, and potency at a profit, you know, then you have to go out and buy products from competitors, so to speak. However, if you have to compete with the price points that are out there not just Pure Sunfarms but as I said, price points were set by the grey market and are, to a large degree, that you have to be able to purchase at a low-enough price to then be able to purchase bulk at a low-enough price then package it label it and do all the things you need to do sell it make a profit and be competitive. And I think that's, you know, that's a hard row to hoe up in Canada, so to speak. So you know, that's why we're really not focused on it but we're not going to just sell it at a price it doesn't make sense.

The other thing is as the market is demanding higher potency, you know, that's first and foremost for us. And of course, others would want that higher potency and, you know, there's a limit to what that is and we're going to lower our inventory levels for future quarters beyond what we think is prudent to meet retail customers demand. So there's a lot that goes into it and that's why we say it's very strategic and, you know, we're much more -- we call it unbranded sales because there is a portion of that -- those sales that are going to maybe life asset, model players that are strategic and are willing to pay us a higher price because they have a branded situation as opposed to maybe other LPs and I won't elaborate more but I hope that helps.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Scott Fortune with ROTH Capital Partners. Go ahead, please. Your line is open.

Scott Fortune -- ROTH Capital Partners -- Analyst

Yeah. Good morning and thanks for taking the questions. I want to call out some of the other provinces and just with respect, you bring in more production starting in the third quarter from the Delta 2 facility. How much of this is driven from Ontario or have some of the new provinces? I know you're not in Quebec or some of the other provinces' opportunities going forward here for you guys.

Mike DeGiglio -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, well, within our plans we did this year include Quebec, of course, we're working hard on it. We would love to be in Quebec, but we want to be realistic with the timing of that. But you know, I think one of the drivers for Ontario was just the aggressive rollout now. They're really on a fast track or rolling out of the stores.

We didn't see that much in the other provincial areas. So I think post lockdown, that those provincial areas will continue to add retail stores which will help. But I would say outside of Quebec, you know, Ontario is a big driver but so is British Columbia and so is Alberta. And keep in mind that our Delta 2 facility like our Delta 3 has 16 grow rooms.

So as we brought -- bring on eight by the end of the year, you know, we could vary that down to seven, increase it to nine, to 12 until we get to full capacity. And that's something that we're doing, you know, every month as we rationalize the increase in capacity. Again, as I mentioned in my comments, we're not going to produce but we can't sell and have huge inventory levels, that just doesn't make sense. But we have complete flexibility and, as I said, Scott, last summer, we brought down production very low to align with what the market was and what our specific sales were.

So I think that formula for managing that is is solid for us.

Scott Fortune -- ROTH Capital Partners -- Analyst

OK. I appreciate the color and just kind of a follow-up, maybe Steve can help. What is the capex for this kind of target for the year? And then on that note, what about additional international initiatives going into Europe? Pertinent to -- I know you guys are looking at thinking EU GMP certified, say, from our standpoint.l Do you have any color on kind of European timing or initiatives over there?

Mike DeGiglio -- Chief Executive Officer

Well, I'll answer the second point and I'll turn to Steve on the capex. So we have been aggressively working on the European theater. We, you know, the pandemic has affected things there. It's a highly regulated market.

We definitely want to be engaged in it but we don't feel pressured to move forward just for the sake of announcing it without the right strategy, which clearly going to leverage up the strengths that have proven ourselves in Canada just like we are in the U.S. for the EU. We're watching it very clearly what the penetration rates of medicinal are of the other states. So we're being patient as well.

As far as the Netherlands, we're not out yet. We've been working on that. The coffee shop experiment there -- can't say much more about that. And then, you know, in the Asia-Pacific region, as we mentioned, we're gearing up there and we should hopefully have our EU GMP certification by August, September this year.

We're ramping up now to start to commence high THC sales out of Pure Sunfarms for the medicinal market in Australia. We think we'll be shipping product this year to start and ramping up our programs in Australia. As well as supporting our team in their continued penetration into Hong Kong and working on Japan now and, of course, other markets for the future. So those are the two areas internationally that we're very focused on.

But I do want to say that No. 1 is the USA, as I mentioned. You know, we just still want to be very clear on how the USA is going to go forward. We don't want to deploy capital that would be a sunk-cost type of investment down the road as things change in that environment.

So --

Steve Ruffini -- Chief Financial Officer

And, Scott, with respect to capex, remaining capex for the rest of the year's between $22 million and $25 million between produce and cannabis for the rest of this year. Much of -- the west half of Delta 2 is completed. It's waiting for Health Canada's seal of approval. And the rest is capex for the year is partially the east half of Delta 2, as well as enhancements to our operations both with cannabis and with produce.

Scott Fortune -- ROTH Capital Partners -- Analyst

Thank you for the color.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Rahul Sarugaser with Raymond James. Go ahead, please. Your line is open.

Rahul Sarugaser -- Raymond James -- Analyst

Thanks. Thanks, Mike and Steve. Just one quick follow-up question. There have been quite a few movements in the Texas legislature and given the significant assets that you have in Texas, are there any thoughts you can share in terms of how those legislative changes that are -- or potential legislative changes may impact how you guys look at the states or the U.S.?

Steve Ruffini -- Chief Financial Officer

Well, Steve here. We're hoping that the state would move more aggressively into medicinal. Yes, the House did pass a bill but their definition of medicinal was to increase the THC to 5%, which is still really low particularly for patients. So it doesn't really necessarily assist a lot of the people that need higher THC, it is unfortunate.

That being said, the Senate hasn't even -- essentially, they've recognized the House bill, but they haven't even assigned it to a committee yet and time is running out. So at this stage, we don't -- the state move. But you know, things could change over the next two weeks. You know, ultimately what we believe may happen, like Texas itself, isn't going to move but the Texas Constitution forces that to follow federal law.

So if the federal government will be schedule cannabis, which Schumer and others in the federal government have certainly been hinting toward, then Texas will have to move, so which is fine. So maybe the Texas legislature will be forced to catch up with the times. So ultimately, Texas is a very busy friendly state, as we stated, cannabis, particularly where we're located in West Texas is great growing climates, and we believe Texas will get on board kicking and screaming maybe but they'll get on board with the rest of the United States. Hopefully, next year, at the latest.

Mike DeGiglio -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. And I would just say, yeah, we're a little bit disappointed. You know, we've been operating there for a quarter-century or more and it was a slow start on hemp in Texas. So maybe this legislative session happened.

As Steve said, the entry will be the federal. But the other side of the coin is nobody's there. So when it goes, we will go aggressively, either way, whether it's Texas first or the federal government first. And I think, at some point, you know, when you really look at the northern country, Canada, and southern country, Mexico, they are all legalizing as well as you'll see the state of Texas at some point, that just need to make a -- be patient, we hope in the right way.

So that's part of being patient, Rahul.

Rahul Sarugaser -- Raymond James -- Analyst

Indeed. Great. Thank you for taking my questions.

Mike DeGiglio -- Chief Executive Officer

Thanks.

Operator

And there are no further questions in queue. At this time, I'd like to turn the call back over to Mr. DeGiglio.

Mike DeGiglio -- Chief Executive Officer

OK. Thanks, James. And thanks once again, everyone, for joining us today. Thanks for your continued interest and support of Village Farms and we certainly look forward to speaking with you again on our next call.

Have a good day.

Operator

[Operator signoff]

Duration: 49 minutes

Call participants:

Mike DeGiglio -- Chief Executive Officer

Steve Ruffini -- Chief Financial Officer

Doug Cooper -- Beacon Securities -- Analyst

Aaron Grey -- Alliance Global Partners -- Analyst

Rahul Sarugaser -- Raymond James -- Analyst

Eric Des Lauriers -- Craig-Hallum Capital Group -- Analyst

Scott Fortune -- ROTH Capital Partners -- Analyst

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