ACRDF - Acreage Holdings Inc. (ACRGF) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Acreage Holdings, Inc. (ACRGF)

Q3 2022 Earnings Conference Call

November 8, 2022 10:00 AM

Company Participants

Peter Caldini - Chief Executive Officer

Steven Goertz - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Matt Bottomley - Canaccord Genuity

Victor Ma - Cowen

Pablo Zuanic - Cantor Fitzgerald

Remington Smith - Alliance Global Partners

Presentation

Operator

Good morning. Thank you for attending today's Acreage Holdings’ Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. My name is Megan, and I'll be your moderator today. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to pass the conference over to our host, Steve Goertz, with Acreage Holdings. Steve, please go ahead.

Steven Goertz

Good morning, everyone. And welcome to the Acreage Holdings’ Third Quarter Conference Call. Joining me today is Peter Caldini, our Chief Executive Officer. Today's call will be archived on our Investor Relations website at investors.acreageholdings.com.

Before we begin, I would like to remind listeners that today's call contains forward-looking statements subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements. Any such information and statements should be taken in conjunction with cautionary statements in our press releases and risk factor discussions in our public filings found on SEDAR and EDGAR as well as our investor website. Any forward-looking statements reflect management's expectations as of today's date, and we assume no obligation to update them other than as may be required by applicable securities law.

I will now turn the call over to Peter.

Peter Caldini

Thanks, Steve, and good morning, everyone. Over the third quarter, we once again saw a positive impact from the transformational changes we have made to our company over the past few years. Despite considerable economic and industry specific headwinds, revenue was up 28% year-over-year to $61.4 million with positive adjusted EBITDA of $8.8 million. This adjusted EBITDA performance represents a 36% increase over the third quarter of 2021 and puts us on track for two full consecutive years of positive adjusted EBITDA. Over the course of 2022, our results have undoubtedly been impacted by significant pricing pressure across several markets, placing strain on our margin profile. Additionally, inflation has had the dual impact of continuing to reduce the discretionary spending of our consumers and increasing our cost of production and operating expenditures.

Yet, despite these challenges, we are pleased to have once again delivered a solid quarter due to the strength of our core operations. I'll now provide a brief update on our core markets. In Connecticut, we have continued to experience pricing pressure, which has negatively impacted our revenue in this key market where we hold a leadership position in retail. Additionally, volume has declined as patients have decided to forego renewals of their medical cards and wait for the upcoming transition to adult use. In anticipation of this, we have begun the process of transitioning our existing three dispensaries to adult use. We were also excited to announce that subsequent to the quarter end, our social equity joint venture in Connecticut was approved for both a cultivation license and an adult use cannabis retailer license. We look forward to providing you with further updates as we build out our infrastructure in Connecticut and move towards adult use.

In Maine, the completion of the acquisition and conversion to adult use of the one remaining dispensary from our partner has led to continued solid performance. Our strong operations and our retail brands, combined with an integrated cultivation operation allowed us to continue meeting customer expectations and demand in a state that has seasonally improved revenue performance during the most important summer months. Next in Massachusetts, we have experienced intense pricing pressure, which has continued to impact revenue in this market. However, we are confident that our strong operations and the continued expansion of our high-quality brands The Botanist and Superflux provides an encouraging pathway for future growth as the market matures and pricing levels out.

In Pennsylvania, prior to this quarter, our innovative and premium products have helped insulate us to some degree against the aggressive pricing pressure that have become commonplace in this market. Unfortunately, during the third quarter of 2022, this pricing pressure began to have a negative impact on our revenue performance. Additionally, we found that many of the integrated operators in Pennsylvania have been placing a greater focus on their own internally produced brands and products at the expense of third-party brands. If we only operate as a wholesaler in Pennsylvania, we were unable to respond with similar action. Fortunately, though, our products remain very much in demand in this key wholesale market, and so we expect improve revenue performance in future periods.

In Illinois, we continue to experience steady growth, particularly within our wholesale business. And we believe that the wholesale market will open even further for us as additional dispensaries come online in the future. To aid in our growth in Illinois, we launched Botanist Vape Cartridges and Disposables as well as Superflux Cured Concentrates to build on the reputation of our key national brands. Further, our Superflux brand won the Best Vape Pens and Cartridge category in the Illinois High Times Cannabis Cup with our live resin cartridge.

In New Jersey, we have made great strides on our cultivation improvement plan. The quality of the growth has significantly improved since last quarter, and we are beginning to supply products consistent with the quality that we've expected for a premium Botanist brand in that market. Now that the quality issues are being addressed, we have turned our focus to ramping up the quantity to improve our yields and solidify our position as one of the top tier wholesalers and retailers in New Jersey. We continue to be very satisfied with the retail sales performance at our two adult use dispensaries in Egg Harbor Township and Williams town. And we look forward to operating a third adult use dispensary in New Jersey, the timing of which will be determined once we have all the necessary approvals.

In New York, we are thrilled with the growth of a whole flower sales at both retail and wholesale. Our whole flower is produced within the state strict microbial limit making Acreage one of the only producers in New York with the capability to supply non remediates whole flower in the market. Our first phase cultivation expansion in Syracuse was completed in the second quarter. And we will continue to review our network of retail dispensaries in the state to ensure that we have a solid footprint for the anticipated increase in activity that will come with the introduction of adult use.

And finally, Ohio continues to be a very strong market for us as we maintain our leadership position with our five dispensaries, which is the max in that state and a strong wholesale business. While we've seen more competition in the state recently, we are confident we will be able to maintain our leadership position and drive revenue growth through continued innovation of our core brands, the Botanist and Superflux as well as through growth in our wholesale business, as more dispensaries come online. Despite many category challenges, we have had many successes during the quarter. And we are extremely well positioned to play a leading role in our core markets thanks to our discipline growth strategy.

I will now turn the call over to Steve to discuss the financial results for the quarter in more detail. After which I will briefly discuss our US Strategic arrangement Canopy that we announced subsequent to the third quarter. We will then open the call to question. Steve?

Steven Goertz

Thank you, Peter. Revenue for the third quarter of 2022 was $61.4 million, a 28% increase compared to the third quarter of 2021 largely due to the addition of our Ohio operations, our expanded presence in Maine and the rollout of adult new sales in New Jersey. This revenue growth was somewhat offset by declines in other select markets as category headwinds and competitive pressures negatively impacted both price and volume. Additionally, total revenue for the third quarter of 2022 was in line with the second quarter of 2022. Excluding Company’s Oregon operations, which concluded at the very beginning of the quarter upon the completion of the sale of the four remaining dispensaries, revenue for the three months ending September 30, 2022, increased by 2% on a sequential basis. Retail revenue increased 57% for the quarter compared to the third quarter of 2021. While comparable store sales increased by 14%. Excluding the impact of acquisitions and divestitures, retail revenue increased by 16%. Also, revenue declined by 25% versus the comparable period in 2021.

This decrease was primarily due to price compression, and weaker than usual wholesale demand in select markets, and somewhat offset by our Ohio operations. Additionally, and as mentioned by Peter, in some of our markets, our wholesale business declined, as integrated operators focus more on their own brand, at the expense of third-party brands from other wholesale providers such as ourselves. Total gross profit for the third quarter of 2022 was $21.2 million, compared with $23.8 million for the comparable period. Gross margin during this quarter was 35%, compared to 49% in the third quarter of 2021 and 50% in the second quarter of 2022. Gross profit for the current quarter was impacted by the overall increase in costs due to inflation, combined with price compression, that is broadly impacting the industry.

Further, cost of goods sold for the third quarter of 2022 included $6.3 million of non-cash inventory adjustments as a result of excess inventory in select markets and carrying values of inventory exceeding net realizable value. Excluding these non-cash inventory adjustments, margin for the third quarter of 2022 was 45%. Overall, maintaining our historically high margins in this environment has been a challenge. Total operating expenses for the third quarter of 2022 were $37.7 million, compared to $30.3 million in the third quarter of 2021. Included an operating expense for the third quarter of 2022 was a bad debt provision of $7.2 million related to certain notes receivable amounts, where collection was considered doubtful. And included in operating expenses for the comparative period in 2021, was an impairment charge of $2.3 million related to capital assets in Sewell, New Jersey that were damaged by Hurricane Ida. Excluding these unusual non-cash items, total operating expenses increased by $2.5 million or 9% as increases in compensation in general and administrative expenses due to inflation. And the company's expanded operations are somewhat offset by reductions in equity-based compensation expense and depreciation and amortization expenses.

Excluding equity-based compensation, expenses, losses, write-downs and recoveries, impairments and depreciation and amortization expense, all of which are non-cash in nature. Total operating expenses for the three months ended September 30, 2022 increased $6 million or 30% compared to the corresponding period of fiscal 2021. Adjusted EBITDA, which excludes impairments, equity-based compensation expense, and unusual items that are not expected to recur in future periods was $8.8 million for the third quarter of 2022 compared to adjusted EBITDA of $6.5 million in the third quarter of 2021. While the expanded operations and implementation of the company's strategic plan led to year-over-year growth in adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA on sequential basis was negatively impacted by decreased pricing due to competitive pressures and increased costs due to inflation. Consolidated EBITDA for the third quarter of 2022 was a loss of $9.1 million compared to a consolidated EBITDA loss of $1.3 million in the previous year's comparable period. Last week, net loss attributable to Acreage for the quarter was $22.2 million compared to a loss of $12.3 million in the third quarter of 2021. Notably, at the beginning of the quarter, we completed the sale of our four Oregon retail dispensaries branded as Cannabis and Coke, which effectively concluded our operations in that state.

Closing with our balance sheet, we ended the quarter with 426.6 million in cash and restricted cash on hand. As of September 30, 2022, $100 million was drawn under our credit facility, which was recently amended. Under the terms of the amended facility, $25 million is available for immediate draw, but the further $25 million available in future periods under a committed accordion when certain predetermined milestones are achieved.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Peter to briefly discuss our recently announced US Strategic arrangement with Canopy.

Peter Caldini

Thanks, Steve. Two weeks ago, we announced some transformative news for Acreage, a new strategic arrangement with Canopy. Under this newly announced arrangement, Canopy would establish a US domiciled holding company in the USA to bring together the various components of Canopy’s US interest to be comprised of Acreage, Jetty and Wana. This would ultimately enable Acreage to accelerate value creation for shareholders, while continuing to solidify our position in the US cannabis market. Following a significant analysis of the arrangement, Acreage’s Board of Directors and a special committee of independent directors of Acreage were unanimous in recommending to floating shareholders that they vote in favor of the proposed floating share agreement with Canopy and the reasoning behind this comes down to the following key considerations.

The first being the timing. Moving this process forward is the next logical step for Acreage following the completion of the transformation of our operations over the last few years. We have right size the business, launched adult sales in New Jersey, are preparing for new adult sales markets in the Northeast, and have disposed of the historically unprofitable non-core states. Now is the time to accelerate our growth by completing what we have always intended to do since entering the initial plan of arrangement with Canopy. Second, we are confident this is the best value creation opportunity available to floating shareholders. By Canopy acquiring both our fixed and floating shares, the risk is reduced to our floating shareholders compared to Canopy only completing the acquisition of our fixed shares, as is allowed under the existing arrangement agreement. This 100% acquisition of Acreage by Canopy, USA will eliminate the unnecessary costs restrictions and risks associated with a minority ownership of Acreage by public shareholders while the control rests with another company.

Additionally, as a standalone publicly traded company, Acreage would need to raise capital due to the nature of our business and cash flow requirements. The ability to execute on our strategic growth plan would be affected by the difficulty and cost of obtaining capital given the challenges associated with the current environment for cannabis issuers, and the restrictions of Acreage’s ability to operate its business. Given the restrictions in the existing arrangement agreement with Canopy, we believe it is unlikely that any other party would be willing to acquire the floating shares on terms that are more favorable to our floating shareholders from a financial point of view than the proposed agreement from Canopy.

Next, by receiving Canopy shares in exchange for floating shares, the floating shareholders will have significantly increased near term liquidity, as well as equity ownership in Canopy, one of the world's largest cannabis operators. Canopy share trade an average of more than $50 million a day compared to less than $100,000 for our fixed and floating shares. And lastly, the integration of Acreage into Canopy’s US ecosystem will allow shareholders of both companies to participate in this strategic market opportunity with aligned interest. Acreage is a valuable addition to what Canopy is building and when united with Jetty and Wana will create an even stronger position ahead of federal permissibility. We are confident that this arrangement would enable Acreage to accelerate value creation for shareholders while continuing to solidify our position in the US cannabis market. This is a highly unique opportunity for shareholders to participate at the onset of Canopy USA and allow acreage to immediately leverage Canopy strategic platform as part of the leading North American branded powerhouse. Canopy USA intends to capitalize on the significant opportunity to solidify a cannabis ecosystem in the maturing US industry, which is estimated to be an over $50 billion market by 2026.

We are incredibly enthusiastic about the proposed plan to fast track the development of Canopy’s US cannabis ecosystem, and look forward to collaborating further with Jetty and Wana following closing, increase our scale, expand our reach, and pursue product innovation across the strategic platform of top tier operators. Full details on our new strategic arrangement with Canopy can be found in our press release dated October 25, 2022. We expect to hold a special meeting of Acreage shareholders in January 2023.

Before I turn the call over to questions, I want to finish by taking a moment to acknowledge the amazing work our team has done in 2022. The markets have been challenging, but our team has consistently delivered and we sincerely appreciate all our committed and passionate team members. With that, I will now have the operator open the line for questions. Operator, please go ahead.

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

Our first question comes from the line of Matt Bottomley with Canaccord Genuity.

Matt Bottomley

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the questions. Just wanted to start maybe with the Canopy USA arrangement. And I think he gave some good color in the prepared remarks as to what some of the advantages are but from a balance sheet perspective, obviously with THC still being a scheduled one, that will obviously continue to be something that wouldn't be permissible with respect to sort of sharing earnings potential. So I'm just wondering if there's any other financial benefits in the interim to consider. And then also with that arrangement can you just give us an idea of what the potential timing is on closing between Acreage one and Jetty and if there'll be any sort of cross marketing or cross branding opportunities within those entities either prior or subsequent to closing?

Steven Goertz

Yes, I think, good morning, Matt. Financial synergies directly with Canopy are probably not on the table right now given the restrictions on THC, but as part of the broader Canopy USA, by combining the entities Wana, Jetty, Acreage, there'll be opportunity to get administrative synergies as well as revenue synergies, as we leverage production assets in one entity with marketing assets, and another and administrative support for all of them together. So I expect there to be some significant revenue and cost synergies once all of it is put together, which will occur likely in the second half of 2023. Although, the timeline is still to be determined, because that's really going to be set by the regulators.

As far as working together, prior to that point in time obviously, we've got discussions with Canopy. We've had limited discussions with Wana and Jetty up till this point, it's really up to Canopy to make the introductions and get the companies working together where that's possible. You have to be careful in some respects, because until the transaction closes, we're still competitors in certain markets with certain products. So we can't be cross those lines. But where that isn't the case where there's opportunities for instance, for us to produce products under their brands and some of the markets we operate in over the next several months, I'm sure that's something we're going to be exploring.

Matt Bottomley

Yes, sorry, go ahead.

Peter Caldini

Hey, just to add a little bit more color on some of the opportunities for synergies. And now as Steve mentioned, I mean, right now we operate as independent companies and we have different objectives, and I think there's always an opportunity to collaborate, pre closing, but where I think we're really going to be driving a lot of the synergies when you look at from a revenue standpoint, I mean, there's a lot of capabilities when you look at Wana brings to the table from an edible standpoint, extraction from Jetty. And really, we can leverage those capabilities. And instead of doing it in house and then creating a portfolio strategy, with our brands, their brands, leveraging some of their technology, we can capture more market share in each of the segments, by having a broader pricing approach with the different brands, you get scale at retail. There are opportunities for them to leverage the licenses. And as Steve mentioned, there's certainly cost opportunities as well. So there's a lot that we can benefit from this ecosystem. But until it ultimately closes, we still operate as independent companies. And we'll look at ways to collaborate pre the closer.

Matt Bottomley

I understand, appreciate that. Just wanted to have one more question is more direct to the current operations of Acreage as a standalone business in New Jersey. So if you look at some of the branded market share data that would -- that we all sort of subscribe to, it seems like there's sort of three, maybe four operators that are taking a lion's share of at least branded market share in the first sort of three to six months of the market rolling out. So is that more of a function of who had capacity out of the gate? And where do you see this market falling in terms of the market leader then clearly, on their call yesterday said they had about a 30% share. Obviously, there's others that have much less than that. So just with respect to where you think this market falls in terms of how the economics will be divided by really only sort of seven or eight operators at this point, I'm just curious how you think that'll evolve in the coming quarters?

Peter Caldini

Yes, so I think we mentioned previously, and it's also in my prepared remarks, that obviously, we've addressed a number of the quality issues that we've had at our Egg Harbor facility. And I think we're now producing very high-quality product. And that's one of the issues that exist in that market. So I expect our share to increase because over the last couple of months, prior to this, we've been buying a lot of products from other players. So we expect that to increase and as also we're focusing on enhancing our quantity. I think that's going to continue to grow. So I think we are going to start picking up share from a branded standpoint. And we're going to continue to position that more in the premium segment to take advantage we think is more profitable opportunities for us.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Vivien Azer with Cowen.

Victor Ma

Hi, good morning, Peter and Steve. This is Victor Ma, on behalf of Vivien Azer. Thank you for taking the questions. So my first question is on same store sales. It's encouraging to see that these metrics improved in the quarter, but with average price is up sequentially to $109. Can you speak to some of the underlying state trends that contributed to this improvement?

Steven Goertz

Our retail performance, quite frankly, was substantially driven by New Jersey. we've got three dispensaries in New Jersey, of those two are open for adult use. The other one is still medicinal only. Given this was the first full quarter under adult use, and we didn't have that last year, very significant revenue -- retail revenue growth within New Jersey within our dispensaries. So that was a large contributor to the same store sales growth. But it wasn't limited to just that. I think we had some strong performance in Illinois, where we continue to see some growth at retail. And then in Maine, we continue to have some dispensaries that are performing relatively well. It's a different story in other markets, seeing a lot of price compression and competition in Massachusetts. You're seeing price compression in New York, and you're seeing price compression in Ohio. So in some regards, some of those are negative, but more than offset by very strong performance of New Jersey.

Victor Ma

Great, thank you for the color. And then secondly, so expectations around the time in New York seem to be getting pushed out. Being ready for the wholesale opportunities seems to continue to be a priority for the MSOs there, given the underperformance of wholesale portfolio, should wholesale be the priority that it was once considered to be?

Peter Caldini

You are asking Victor for New York.

Victor Ma

Right. So it's New York impacting kind of how you're looking at wholesale right because it seems like New York is the wholesale opportunity seems to be more immediate for the MSOs than the retail opportunity.

Peter Caldini

Yes. Okay. So yes, I mean, we think that's going to be a significant opportunity, I think there's still questions. And there's still a lot of work that has to be done from a regulatory standpoint. I think our expectation is around the back half of 2023, I think we're going to see adult use, and we'll be able to participate in that. I think that's going to be a significant market opportunity, especially from a wholesale standpoint. And as I mentioned, in the prepared remarks, I mean, we've expanded and completed phase one of our cultivation expansion, we've been able to really produce high quality product that does not require remediation, which is somewhat unique in that state, which I think is going to give us a lot of market opportunity. We're starting to build out our wholesale business today, since we've been able to produce the quality product, and it's in demand. So we're going to see that as a significant opportunity. As we mentioned before, with the cultivation, we are doing it in phases, right? Phase one, we just want to make sure, hey, how does the market shape out, we have the infrastructure of the facility. So it's very easy for us to add additional capacity, which means adding additional rooms, and we're going to see how the market evolves, and then we'll build out that capability. But we do see New York being a significant market opportunity from wholesale standpoint.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Pablo Zuanic with Cantor Fitzgerald.

Pablo Zuanic

Good morning, everyone. Look, just one question regarding the January ’23 meeting. So fine. I know management and the independent team you talked about has recommended that the holders of the floating shares accept the transaction right. But come January ’23, if I'm one of those holders, I don't know where those CGC shares that they will eventually receive will be listed. Right? They may or may not be in the NASDAQ. They may be only in the TSX. Do you think that that could have an impact on the way people decide on this transaction? And again, I'm asking you to speak on the behalf. I know it's a question for them. But that lack of clarity, does that raise any issues? And then I'll have a follow up. Thanks.

Peter Caldini

Yes, so Pablo, I’ll kick it off. I mean thanks for the question. And obviously, we're not in a position to kind of discuss Canopy’s position with the exchanges. However, I would say that there's a lot of time before it gets to that point, and a lot can happen during that time. I think as it relates to our shareholders, I think they see the benefits of this transaction in particular the potential risk, if Canopy did not acquire the floating shareholders there is significant potential for value erosion, there's very limited alternatives, and also significant benefits to the ecosystem, which is really, for us a natural progression of what we've been able to do from a transformational standpoint. So I think so far, the feedback we've had from some of the shareholders have been positive, they see this as a positive step. And I think that has been less of a risk. And I think we'll have to see over time how that eventually evolves.

Pablo Zuanic

Okay, no, understood before, I ask the follow up I guess, my own -- go on, sorry, go on.

Steven Goertz

Yes, sorry, Pablo, Steve here. I was going to add as Peter said, we can't comment on the listing opportunities for Canopy. But even if they're just listed on the TSX, that still opens the door for a significantly greater pool of investors than Acreage has today. And it still gives our current investors much more liquidity than we have today. And that was one of the considerations of the transaction is an opportunity to get our shareholders significant greater liquidity.

Pablo Zuanic

Right. No, I agree. But before I ask the follow up, I use my only comment would be that yes, there's still a lot of time, right, even until the end of ’23 or even longer, but as a shareholder, I have to vote on January ’23, right. So that's issue. But to the second question, in terms of how we would find closing, and again if I'm a floating shareholder, and I'm going to go get those CGC shares that will be more liquid and they get all the benefits. How do we define closing will be when you have a green light from all the states that approved the transaction.

Peter Caldini

Yes, that’s what it is, Pablo. Pablo, that's what it is, we'll have to get regulatory approval across all the states that we operate in, that will determine the timing of closing. And I think we're seeing this is potentially six to nine months. But I think we all, anybody that's experiencing in the cannabis space, I think that can, from a state level, the regulatory environment can be a little bit tricky. I think over time, we've felt pretty strong relationships with a lot of the regulatory bodies. And so I think I don't -- we don't foresee any risks to the closing. But it's hard to kind of commit to timing, from the state regulatory bodies.

Pablo Zuanic

Okay, and if I made the very last one, and it's on the same topic, but closing would also be dependent on NASDAQ. Right, let's say NASDAQ says we went to the least Canopy shared, but Canopy decides to appeal that. And I know this is a kind of a discussion, but they decide to do appeal the NASDAQ decision, then closing cannot take place, right.

Peter Caldini

I think this is probably more for Canopy but from our perspective, if the shares are available for trading on the TSX, that will still allow the transaction to close. Because a condition of closing isn't that the shares be available on NASDAQ, it just be that the shares are available for trading.

Operator

Our next question comes from line of Aaron Gray with Alliance Global Partners.

Remington Smith

Hi, this is Remy Smith on for Aaron Gray. Thank you for the questions. So my first question, can you provide some color on where we might see capacity come online in some of the states, you'll be allocating capital to.

Steven Goertz

I think and we said this before, our focus right now is continuing to build out in those states that are moving to adult recreational use in the foreseeable future. So right now we're continuing to devote capital to New Jersey, to build out the remaining portions of Egg Harbor cultivation facility, and then establish a third retail dispensary. That' licensed for adult use. That work continues. We are seeing benefits already in New Jersey and our Egg Harbor cultivation facility where the quality is much better than it was even a few months ago. And we're starting to see improvements in yields. So that should give us much more product that we can sell on a branded basis moving forward, allow us to wean ourselves off of some of the third-party purchases that we're doing today, and ultimately participate in the wholesale market as a seller to others.

Following New Jersey, probably next focus is going to be Connecticut, we've got three very strong performing retail dispensaries there, we were just successful in getting social equity licenses for cultivation and additional retail dispensaries. So the next timing of capital allocation is going to be in Connecticut, where we'll focus on those elements. The first step will be converting our retail stores to adult use from the current medical use. And then we'll set about the process of building out cultivation in that state. That's going to take us a while obviously, we've got to secure the land and we've got to build out the facility. So there won't be any benefit in that in 2023. We anticipate that being done sometime in 2024. Finally, after that it's New York. We finished building out our cultivation facility in Syracuse and completed expansion earlier this year. So our cultivation facility is ready for adult use in that market. We've got to do some work on the retail side to establish the total number of dispensaries that will be allowed and probably renovate some of our existing real estate. We're taking a wait and see attitude before we commit to that though, because the regulations in New York are still in a bit of a state of flux. So before we commit capital, we want to make sure that the regulatory landscape makes sense for us to continue to do so in that market.

Remington Smith

Great, thank you. And just a quick follow up regarding New Jersey, I know you spoken about a little bit. But you mentioned the switching more to the in-house brands once the ramping of the Egg Harbor continues. So could you talk about I guess what your percentage of mix for in-house brands currently and what you hope to reach going forward and then a little bit about the impact that additional stores coming online with micro retailers and an additional retailer in New Jersey. The impact that will have as well.

Steven Goertz

I don't want to give the percentage of internal versus external sales, it is much higher, much greater skew towards external sales today than we would like, we'd much prefer to produce a lot of the product ourselves. As we get the capacity out of our facility, we will slowly shift that over, but maintain a nice portion of third-party products as well, because that's what consumers are going to demand. That'll be the first priority. As we get additional retail stores opening up in New Jersey from independence, we'll look to direct product towards the wholesale market. Priority right now, though, is supplying our own stores first, and when there's additional product available, will move it out to the third-party retailers to take advantage of x increased capacity that will have out of Egg Harbor.

Thank you. There are no additional questions waiting at this time. So I'll pass the conference back over to the management team for closing remarks.

Peter Caldini

Yes, thank you very much, operator, and thank you for all joining today. As I kind of look at our business, this is a very exciting time for Acreage. Over the last two years, we've undertaken a significant transformation, I think we've really addressed a number of operational issues and we're really well positioned to take advantage of significant market opportunities. And I think the Canopy USA is a natural progression for us. I think it's a great opportunity, and it's a benefit to the company as well as their shareholders. And we're looking forward to collaborating with really some of the category leaders in Wana and Jetty and really bring this together. But in the meantime, we're going to continue to drive our business, take advantage of those market opportunities that we do have. And we look forward to speaking with all of you in the future. Thank you.

Operator

That concludes the Acreage Holdings’ third quarter conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your line.

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