22nd Century Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:XXII) Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call August 14, 2023 8:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Matt Kreps - IR

Hugh Kinsman - CFO

John Miller - Interim CEO

Conference Call Participants

Vivien Azer - TD Cowen

Jim McIlree - Dawson James

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the 22nd Century Group Second Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Matt Kreps. Please go ahead, sir.

Matt Kreps

Thanks, Lara. Good morning, and welcome to 22nd Century's second quarter results conference call. Joining me today are John Miller, Interim CEO; and Hugh Kinsman, CFO.

Earlier today, we issued a press release announcing our results for the second quarter of 2023. The release, presentation and 10-Q are available in the Investors section of our website at xxiicentury.com. We'll start today's call with prepared remarks from John and Hugh before moving into Q&A. The Q&A will be a session with our analysts and today's call will focus on key updates to the commercial activity in our VLN tobacco and CBG hemp/cannabis business units. We will not be able to cover every aspect of the business in the time allotted for this call. If you have questions about our business not addressed in this call, you are welcome to e-mail Investor Relations using the contact information provided in today's press release.

On Slide 2, a few reminders for today's call. Some of the statements made today are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Additional information regarding these factors can be found in our annual, quarterly and other reports filed with the SEC.

During today's call, we may also discuss non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA, which we define as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization as adjusted for certain noncash and non-operating expenses. For more details on these measures, please refer to our press release issued earlier today.

And with that, I'll turn it over to John Miller beginning from Slide 3.

John Miller

Thank you, Matt, and good morning, everyone.

It is my pleasure to update you on the meaningful progress we made this past quarter and our company's path forward. I was appointed interim CEO of 22nd Century in late July, and I am grateful for this opportunity at such an important time in our history. I believe 22nd Century possesses unique assets in both the tobacco and hemp/cannabis business to create meaningful value for the company. This is what originally attracted me to 22nd Century last year, and my enthusiasm about the future has not changed.