Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: NEPT) (TSX: NEPT) delivered its financial and operating results for the first-quarter ending on June 30, 2021 as r evenues rose slightly to $12.4 million versus $11.2 million in the fiscal year 2021. Neptune said it exceeded its pre-announced revenue range of $10 to $12 million . First-quarter revenues of $12.4 million increased 83% versus revenues of $6.8 million in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2021. Still, Neptune delivered a net loss of $23 million versus last year’s net loss of $11.4 million for the same time period.
Despite the company’s ability to bring in revenue, the executive management team said it had asked the Board of Directors to form a Strategic Review Committee to evaluate the company’s business plan, capital deployment, and long-term strategy to identify alternatives to enhance shareholder value. These strategic options could include but are not limited to, changes in strategy or operations, strategic business combinations, divestitures, or spin-off of a portion of the company, or continuing to execute the company’s current business plan.
“Our first-quarter revenue exceeded our expectations with sequential improvement of 83% as we delivered innovative products across multiple verticals and expanded our Sprout distribution,” said Michael Cammarata , President and Chief Executive Officer of Neptune Wellness. “The executive team recognized more needs to be done to maximize shareholder value, and we asked the Board of Directors to establish a Strategic Review Committee to explore options to accelerate our path to profitability.”
Gross profit loss of $2.9 million or (23.0%) compared to gross profit of $3.3 million or 29.0% for the comparable period in fiscal 2021. By excluding from costs of sales: depreciation and amortization expenses, various fixed and indirect costs, as well as costs related to SugarLeaf, a consolidated gross profit of 13% could be derived, a positive difference of 36 percentage points when compared to the 23% gross profit loss of the quarter. The adjusted EBITDA loss was $15.9 million compared to an Adjusted EBITDA loss of $2.5 million in the comparable period in fiscal year 2021.