Avenir Wellness Solutions Reports Fourth Quarter 2023 Results

New Initiatives Showing Encouraging Results

SHERMAN OAKS, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 17, 2024 / Avenir Wellness Solutions, Inc. (OTCQB:AVRW) ("Avenir" or the "Company"), a proprietary broad platform technology and wellness company, today announced results for the fourth fiscal quarter ended December 30, 2023.

Key financial highlights for the fourth quarter included the following:

Net revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023 increased to $1.1 million from the same period in 2022 by $0.2 million, or 11.7%, and also increased sequentially from Q3 2023 by $43 thousand, or 4.4%. Overall growth was lower than expected due to the continued delay in receiving the expected remainder of the asset sale proceeds to be used for advertising and marketing to drive sales. The quarter did, however, benefit from a new relationship with leading online and beauty subscription box retailer, FabFitFun.

Gross margin increased 407 basis points year over year in the fourth quarter of 2023 due to improved working capital management offset in part by a higher proportion of sales coming from our wholesale channel of distribution with its lower margins than our higher-margin direct-to-consumer sales channel.

Gross margin for the third quarter of 2023 decreased sequentially from the second quarter of 2023 by 26 basis points due to a shift in sales channel mix with a higher proportion of wholesale sales to Amazon and FabFitFun which resulted in shipments of approximately $0.3 million.

Cost containment initiatives led to a favorable impact on SG&A expenses (excluding non-cash charges) for the fourth quarter with a decrease of $357 thousand in 2023 compared to 2022 driven by decreased spend on advertising and promotion of $325 thousand lower overhead by $32 thousand.

Net operating loss from continuing operations (excluding non-cash charges) improved by $0.9 million in 2023.

"Our products continue to maintain sales levels which is encouraging given that we have been unable to fully execute on our marketing initiatives pending receipt of the balance of the proceeds from the July 2022 asset sale. As mentioned in our third quarter earnings announcement, the proceeds from the July 2022 asset sale allow us to invest in the future of the Company, but the delay in receiving the balance of the proceeds continued to have an impact on our operating performance. We expect accelerating sales will reaffirm the improving overall trajectory of the business. Further, our margin expansion initiatives continue to deliver results with improvement from third quarter, and we continue our overall cost containment initiatives to further reduce SG&A expenses and to maximize operating leverage.