HYDROFARM HOLDINGS GROUP, INC. - Annual Report: 2020 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

or

For the transition period from ________ to

Commission file number: 001-39773

Hydrofarm Holdings Group, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, based on the closing price of a share of common stock on December 31, 2020, as reported by The Nasdaq Global Select Market on such date was approximately $1.4 billion. The registrant has elected to use December 31, 2020 as the calculation date, which was the last trading date of the registrant’s most recently completed fiscal year, because on June 30, 2020 (the last business day of the registrant’s second fiscal quarter), the registrant was a privately-held company. This calculation does not reflect a determination that certain persons are affiliates of the registrant for any other purpose.

As of March 16, 2021, the registrant had 33,853,411 shares of common stock outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s Proxy Statement for its 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K to the extent stated herein. Such Proxy Statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days of the registrant’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements about us and our industry that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K including statements regarding our future results of operations or financial condition, business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will” or “would” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the following:

You should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors described under the header “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements contained herein. The results, events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur, and actual results, events or circumstances could differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made, and we undertake no obligation to update them to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.

Unless the context otherwise indicates, references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to the terms “Hydrofarm”, “the Company,” “we,” “our” and “us” refer to Hydrofarm Holdings Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries.

“Hydrofarm” and other trade names and trademarks of ours appearing in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are our property. This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains trade names and trademarks of other companies, which are the property of their respective owners. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names or trademarks to imply an endorsement or sponsorship of us by such companies, or any relationship with any of these companies.

We may announce material business and financial information to our investors using our investor relations website (www.investors.hydrofarm.com/investor-relations). We therefore encourage investors and others interested in Hydrofarm to review the information that we make available on our website, in addition to following our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, webcasts, press releases and conference calls.

PART I

Overview

We are a leading independent distributor and manufacturer of controlled environment agriculture (“CEA”, principally hydroponics) equipment and supplies, including a broad portfolio of our own innovative portfolio of proprietary branded products. We primarily serve the U.S. and Canadian markets, and believe we are one of the leading competitors by market share in these markets in an otherwise highly fragmented industry. For over 40 years, we have helped growers make growing easier and more productive. Our mission is to empower growers, farmers and cultivators with products that enable greater quality, efficiency, consistency and speed in their grow projects.

Hydroponics is the farming of plants using soilless growing media and often artificial lighting in a controlled indoor or greenhouse environment. Hydroponics is the primary category of CEA and we use the terms CEA and hydroponics interchangeably. Our products are used to grow, farm and cultivate cannabis, flowers, fruits, plants, vegetables, grains and herbs in controlled environment settings that allow end users to control key farming variables including temperature, humidity, CO2, light intensity spectrum, nutrient concentration and pH. Through CEA, growers are able to be more efficient with physical space, water and resources, while enjoying year-round and more rapid grow cycles as well as more predictable and abundant grow yields, when compared to other traditional growing methods.

We reach commercial farmers and consumers through a broad and diversified network of over 2,000 wholesale customer accounts, who we connect with primarily through our proprietary eCommerce marketplace. Over 80% of our net sales are into the specialty hydroponic retailers, through which growers are able to enjoy specialized merchandise assortments and knowledgeable staff. We also distribute our products across the U.S. and Canada to a diversified range of retailers of commercial and home gardening equipment and supplies that include garden centers, hardware stores, eCommerce retailers, commercial greenhouse builders, and commercial resellers.

How We Serve Our Customers

Our customer value proposition is centered on two pillars. First, we strive to offer the best selection by being a branded provider of all CEA needs. Second, we seek to be the gold standard in distribution and service, leveraging our infrastructure and reach to provide customers with just-in-time (“JIT”) delivery capabilities and exceptional service across the U.S. and Canada.

Complete Range of Innovative CEA Products

We offer thousands of innovative, branded CEA products that are supported by 24 patents and 60 registered trademarks. Our product offerings span lighting solutions, growing media (i.e., premium soils and soil alternatives), nutrients, equipment and supplies and includes more than 6,000 stock-keeping-units (“SKUs”) sold under leading proprietary, exclusive/preferred brands or non-exclusive/distributed brands. Some of our most well-known brands include Phantom and Active Aqua as well as in-licensed brands such as FoxFarm and Grodan. We estimate that approximately two-thirds of our net sales relate to recurring consumable products, including growing media, nutrients and supplies that require regular replenishment. The remaining portion of our sales relate to durable products such as hydroponic lighting and equipment. The majority of products we offer are produced by us or are supplied to us under exclusive/preferred brand relationships providing for attractive margins and a significant competitive advantage as we offer retailers and resellers a breadth of products that cannot be purchased elsewhere.

The following graphic illustrates a representative set of our market-leading products across key CEA product categories:

Infrastructure and Reach for Fast Delivery, High In-Stock Availability and Exceptional Service

Our infrastructure and reach enable us to provide delivery and service capabilities to a highly diverse group of customers across the U.S. and Canada. We believe that our six U.S.-based distribution centers can reach approximately 90% of the U.S. population within 24 to 48 hours and that our two Canadian distribution centers can provide timely coverage to the full Canadian market.

In the U.S., we operate distribution centers in Petaluma, California; Santa Fe Springs, California; Gresham, Oregon; Denver, Colorado; Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania; and New Hudson, Michigan. In Canada, we have distribution centers in Langley, British Columbia and Cambridge, Ontario. Outside of North America, we operate a distribution center in Zaragoza, Spain, and we have an office for product quality assurance and supply chain management in Shenzhen, China. We partner with a network of third-party logistics companies that facilitate expeditious delivery to our customers across the globe. The majority of customer orders are received through our business-to-business e-commerce platform. Through our differentiated Distributor Managed Inventory (“DMI”) Program, we partner with our network of retailers and resellers to create customized, JIT supply chain solutions for large commercial end users.

Over the past fifteen years, we have grown our net sales at an approximate 17% CAGR. This historical growth is largely due to the growth in CEA growing across several end-markets, including cannabis, and our ability to continuously develop, manufacture and distribute innovative branded products on timely basis.

We believe our industry is poised to grow significantly. Expanding populations, limited natural resources and a focus on the environment and the security of our agricultural systems have illuminated the benefits of CEA compared to traditional outdoor agriculture. We believe the adoption of CEA will continue to accelerate, particularly in the commercial agriculture industry, where CEA can be deployed to achieve grows that are simultaneously more efficient for the planet and profitable for growers. Furthermore, certain of our end-markets are experiencing significant growth, including cannabis. The global cannabis industry is a rapidly developing business opportunity for us, particularly as the legal market in the U.S. continues to expand.

Our Industry Is Large And Rapidly Growing

The Expanding Controlled Environment Agriculture Market

Our principal industry opportunity is in the wholesale distribution of CEA equipment and supplies, which generally include grow light systems; advanced heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (“HVAC”) systems; humidity and carbon dioxide monitors and controllers; water pumps, heaters, chillers, and filters; nutrient and fertilizer delivery systems; and various growing media typically made from soil, rock wool or coconut fiber, among others. Today, we believe that a majority of our products are sold for use in CEA applications.

CEA is an increasingly significant and fast-growing component of the expansive global commercial agriculture and consumer gardening sectors. According to the USDA and National Gardening Survey, the agriculture, food, and related industries sector produced more than $1 trillion worth of goods in the U.S. alone in 2017, and U.S. households spent a record of approximately $48 billion at retail stores on gardening and growing supplies and equipment. According to industry publications, the global CEA industry totaled approximately $65 billion in 2019, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16% from 2019 to 2023. The rapid growth of CEA crop output will subsequently drive growth in the wholesale CEA equipment and supplies industry. According to industry publications, the global wholesale CEA equipment and supplies industry totaled approximately $8 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.8% from 2019 to 2025.

Significant Growth in the Cannabis Industry

Today, we believe that a majority of the CEA equipment and supplies we sell to our customers is ultimately purchased by participants in the cannabis industry, though we do not sell to participants in the cannabis industry directly. The North American cannabis industry is massive and growing rapidly, driven largely by state-level legalization efforts in the U.S. and federal-level legalization in Canada. The current and expected growth in the size of the cannabis market has and will continue to have a very significant, positive impact on our business.

Importantly, though Canada and several U.S. states have taken significant steps towards cannabis legalization, we believe the North American legal cannabis market is still in the nascent stages of realizing its growth potential. As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, only 15 U.S. states and the District of Columbia had legalized cannabis for adult-use. The aggregate population of those states is only around one third of the total U.S. population. Furthermore, in U.S. states that have passed cannabis laws, many such laws remain restrictive to consumer access. As an example, we believe significant suppressed demand would be unlocked in Texas, should the state adopt a medical cannabis law that more closely resembles that of their neighboring state, Oklahoma, where we have seen significant growth since cannabis was legalized for medical use in 2018. In Canada, the governments of every province and territory have enacted laws allowing for the distribution and sale of cannabis for adult-use purposes; however, the market remains in early stages of market development.

According to industry publications, the U.S. cannabis market is projected to reach approximately $31.1 billion by 2024, up from approximately $12.2 billion in 2019, representing a 21% CAGR. In Canada, the cannabis market is projected to reach approximately $6.2 billion by 2024, up from approximately $1.7 billion in 2019, representing a 30% CAGR.

This significant growth in the U.S. cannabis market is expected due to (i) state initiatives for new adult-use and/or medical-use programs in additional U.S. states, (ii) expanded access for patients or consumers in existing state medical or adult-use cannabis programs, and (iii) increased consumption driven by greater product diversity and choice, reduced stigma, and real and perceived health benefits in states with existing adult-use or medical use programs.

Acceleration of CEA Adoption

Both the commercial agriculture and cannabis industries are increasingly adopting more advanced agricultural technologies in order to enhance the productivity and efficiency of operations. The benefits of CEA include:

CEA implementation continues to increase globally, driven by the factors listed above as well as growth in fruit and vegetable farming, consumer gardening and the continued adoption of vertical farming. Vertical farming, a subsector of CEA, has gained popularity mainly due to its unique advantage of maximizing yield by growing crops in layers.

While a small portion of cannabis cultivation may be grown in non-CEA settings, given the multitude of benefits of CEA cultivation, we believe CEA will continue to be the primary method of growing cannabis, driving demand for our products. The movement towards the legalization of cannabis in the U.S. and its legalization in Canada also comes with a corresponding increase in regulatory oversight and statutory requirements for growers and their products. These regulations enhance product safety and transparency to consumers but usually necessitate the use of CEA in cannabis cultivation in order to meet mandated THC content or impurity tolerances.

Increased Consumer Home Growing

We perceive consumer gardening to be a significant driver of future CEA growth. We expect this growth in consumer gardening and growing spending to continue, driven by both increased participation by millennials and strong continued participation by married households, adults over age 55, and adults without children. We believe that these demographic dynamics will result in an increase in the number of consumer gardening category participants, resulting in the purchase of more CEA products.

Strong Demand for Hemp for CBD Production

Hemp cultivation in North America has grown significantly since the passage of the U.S. Farm Bill in December 2018. Consumers are increasingly using hemp-derived products such as CBD for their therapeutic benefits. According to industry publications, the U.S. hemp-derived CBD market is expected to grow from $1.2 billion in 2019 to $6.9 billion in 2025, representing a six-year CAGR of 33.8%. We have experienced strong demand for our products from growers that solely harvest hemp and from cannabis growers who are adding hemp to their offerings. We are very well positioned to continue to capitalize on the growth of industrial hemp cultivation in North America especially as cultivation is increasingly done indoors. Both our current product portfolio and our pipeline of new products tailored to the needs of hemp cultivators will help us serve this burgeoning market.

Increased Focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) Issues

We believe the growth and change in our end-markets is in part driven by a variety of ESG trends aimed at preserving resources and enhancing the transparency and safety of our food supply chains. Overall, CEA delivers superior performance characteristics versus traditional agriculture when compared on select key ESG performance criteria:

COVID-19

The COVID-19 (“COVID-19”) pandemic has caused significant shifts in consumer sentiment and behavior thereby altering the dynamics of the CEA industry. While the rollout of vaccines has begun, the timing of vaccinations, herd immunity, and the lifting of shelter in place and similar restrictions and movement restrictions is unknown. Its effect on the cannabis industry may also drive a greater volume of sales by our customers, increasing demand for our CEA equipment and supplies. We believe that these changes, as outlined below, will benefit our industry in the long-term:

Our Competitive Strengths

We attribute our success to the following competitive strengths.

Leading Market Positions in Attractive Growing Markets

We are a leading independent distributor and manufacturer of CEA equipment and supplies in the U.S. and Canada and one of the two major consolidators in the CEA industry. The broader market is comprised of a fragmented group of smaller competitors. We serve several attractive end-markets, including hemp and indirectly, the cannabis industry. Favorable trends in CEA, including increased adoption of vertical farming methods to increase yields, are projected to drive a 24% CAGR for the vertical farming market through 2023 according to industry publications. Similarly, growers’ increasing preference to reduce water and energy usage, limit pesticide use and risk of environmental runoff, and reduce labor costs coupled with growing consumer demand for fruits and vegetables are expected to drive significant growth in CEA methods. Furthermore, CEA allows farms to be located closer to their consumers, greatly reducing the costs and waste (namely CO2 and spoiled food) related to transportation resulting in an overall smaller carbon footprint. However, we will likely see the most significant growth in cannabis. Increased support for cannabis legalization at the federal level in the U.S., an increase in U.S. states’ implementation of adult-use and medical cannabis programs, continued growth in the Canadian cannabis market following the implementation of the Cannabis Act in 2018, and consumer and commercial awareness of the benefits associated with hemp-derived products will serve as significantly favorable tailwinds that will drive continued growth.

New, Experienced Management Team with Proven Track Record

Our management team possesses significant public market experience, a history of driving long-term organic growth and a track record of successful business consolidations. Bill Toler, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, has over 35 years of executive leadership experience in supply chain and consumer packaged goods, most recently serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of Hostess Brands from April 2014 to March 2018. Under his leadership, Hostess Brands transitioned from a private to public company, regained a leading market position within the sweet baked goods category and returned to profitability. Bill also previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Advance Pierre Foods and President of Pinnacle Foods, in addition to holding executive roles at Campbell Soup Company, Nabisco and Procter & Gamble. Terence Fitch, President, possesses significant relevant business experience including more than 20 years of management experience with the Coca-Cola Company and Coke Enterprises, where he was responsible for manufacturing, supply chain, and sales and marketing for the multi-billion-dollar Refreshment Direct and Independent Bottlers business units. For the past six years, Terence has been working on building, managing and designing large CEA operations in Colorado and Arkansas. B. John Lindeman, Chief Financial Officer brings us more than 25 years of finance and leadership experience. Most recently he served as Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary at Calavo Growers, Inc. (Nasdaq-GS: CVGW), a fresh food company, where he was responsible for the finance, accounting, IT and human resource functions. Prior to joining Calavo, he held various leadership positions within the finance and investment banking industries at Janney Montgomery Scott, Stifel Nicolaus, Legg Mason and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Broad Portfolio with Innovative Proprietary Offerings and Recurring Consumables Sales

We have one of the largest equipment and consumable product offerings in the industry. From lighting solutions to nutrients to grow mediums, we offer nearly everything growers need to ensure their operations are maximizing efficiency, output and quality. We maintain an extensive portfolio of products which includes 26 internally developed, proprietary brands across approximately 900 SKUs with 24 patents and 60 registered trademarks as well as over 40 exclusive/preferred brands across approximately 900 SKUs. We maintain inventory across over 6,000 SKUs, and approximately 60% of our sales relate to proprietary and exclusive/ preferred brands. Our proprietary and exclusive/preferred brands include lighting, equipment, grow media, nutrients and supplements. Our proprietary products command a significant gross margin premium relative to general distributed brands. Our revenue mix continues to shift towards proprietary brands as we continue to innovate, improving overall margins. Further, our revenue stream is highly consistent as, in our estimation, we believe that approximately two-thirds of our net sales are generated from the sale of recurring consumable products including growing media, nutrients and supplies. Our top 20 customers buy over 3,000 SKUs in the aggregate.

Proprietary Sourcing and Supplier Relationships Create Barriers to Entry

Our scale presents a significant barrier to entry as we have developed exclusive distribution relationships, proprietary brands and a geographic footprint that enables us to efficiently service customers across North America. We maintain approximately 900,000 square feet of distribution space across six distribution centers in the U.S. and two distribution centers in Canada. Furthermore, we have cultivated over the last 40 years long-term relationships with a network of approximately 400 suppliers, giving us access to a best-in-class products portfolio and allowing us to provide a full range of CEA solutions to our customers. We source individual components from our diverse supplier base to assemble our products, including utilizing a dedicated on-the-ground purchasing team in China to maintain and develop relationships with suppliers. No single supplier makes up more than 10% of our total purchases in 2020.

Unique Ability to Serve Our Strong Customer Base

We maintain long-standing relationships with a diversified range of leading hydroponic retailers, retailers of commercial and home gardening equipment and supplies that include garden centers, hardware stores, eCommerce retailers, commercial greenhouse builders, and commercial resellers. We serve over 2,000 business-to-business customers across multiple channels in North America, providing customers with the capability to purchase their entire product range from us. Our commercial sales and DMI programs further enhance our customer capabilities, offering consultation, technical expertise, facilitated order fulfillment and JIT delivery of consumables. Our unique distribution capabilities allow us to provide JIT delivery across North America, utilizing six strategically located distribution centers in the U.S. and our two distribution centers in Canada. Our distribution footprint in the U.S. can reach approximately 90% of the population in 24 to 48 hours and our two distribution centers in British Colombia and Ontario can provide timely coverage to the fully Canadian market. We maintain coverage of industry trends and consumer preferences via thirteen sales managers complemented by teams made up of specialized product category experts. Given our ability to provide a comprehensive product offering and excellent customer service, we maintain over seven-year relationships with the majority of our largest customers.

Proven Mergers and Acquisitions (“M&A”) Track Record

Our management team has extensive experience with execution and integration of M&A opportunities. In November 2017, we acquired Eddi’s Wholesale Garden Supplies, Ltd. (“Eddi’s”) and the distribution division of Greenstar Plant Products, Inc. (“GSD”), which we believe were two of the leading CEA and lawn and garden distributors in Canada at the time of the acquisitions. Those acquisitions, combined with our existing infrastructure and experience, have enabled us to become one of the leading CEA equipment distributors in Canada. Additionally, we maintain relationships throughout our markets to identify specific product categories of interest for M&A activity. Our robust understanding of commercial growers’ needs coupled with our experienced M&A team has prepared us to make additional acquisitions in the hydroponics industry, which will help us to continue to grow our market share. We view M&A as a significant driver of potential growth as the hydroponics industry is fragmented and primed for consolidation.

Our Growth and Productivity Strategies

We are well positioned to capitalize on the growth of our underlying markets through the following strategies.

Capitalizing on Rapidly Growing Markets

Our customers benefit from macroeconomic factors driving the growth of CEA, including expanded adoption of CEA and vertical farming by commercial growers and consumers, as well as the growth in cannabis, hemp and other end-markets. As the world population grows and urbanizes, vertical farming is increasingly being used to meet the demand for food crops. Industry publications estimate that the global vertical farming market will expand at a 24% CAGR from 2019 to 2023. In addition, the U.S. and Canadian cannabis markets had an estimated value of approximately $14 billion in 2019, and are projected to grow to $37 billion by 2024. The hemp market has benefited from consumer adoption of hemp-derived CBD products. According to industry publications, the U.S. hemp-derived CBD market is expected to grow from $1.2 billion in 2019 to $6.9 billion in 2025, representing a six-year CAGR of 33.8%. We expect to capitalize on favorable cannabis and hemp growth trends by continuing to expand our operations globally.

Expanding our Proprietary Product Offering

We are expanding the breadth of our product assortment through continued development of our own proprietary brands. Our proprietary brands command a meaningful gross margin premium to our distributed products. Our core competency in new product innovation is in lighting, consumable and equipment categories, and we are enhancing research and development in our other product categories to expand our brand portfolio’s value and further enhance our margins. We have launched several new product lines over the past year, including PhotoBio LED lighting equipment and Phantom Core HID lighting equipment. As evidenced by its strong sales velocity, the PhotoBio LED lighting line has what we believe is a higher performance level at a lower cost than current leading LED products. We also maintain a pipeline of next generation proprietary products and occasionally make investments in suppliers to create strategic relationships around the development of specific products and enhanced distribution agreements.

Adding Strategic Distribution Relationships and Exclusive/Preferred Brands

We can increase revenue with significant cross-selling activity to our current installed customer base by offering a more comprehensive assortment of products required by commercial growers to engage in cultivation. We have identified key suppliers with product solutions that are well established in the grower community for exclusive/preferred brand relationships. Although select key suppliers experienced significant volume demands for the year 2020, our exclusive/preferred brand relationships with leading brands continue to drive sales and margin improvement. We believe we are a highly attractive distribution partner due to our scale and independence in growing media and nutrient categories. We have established sixteen new exclusive/preferred distribution relationships over the past two years including with established equipment and nutrient suppliers.

Enabling Wholesaler Network to Effectively Serve Commercial Growers

Working with our wholesale network, we are leveraging our sophisticated technical sales team to provide our wholesale network the ability to address the needs, demanding requirements and higher volume of their larger-scale commercial customers. Establishing these relationships with our channel provides us with insight and access to growers’ evolving demands, leading to both increased equipment sales and recurring sales of consumables through our wholesale network. Our commercial grower outreach program, our analytically driven supply chain function and DMI capabilities enable our wholesaler network to anticipate customer demand for products and ensure their availability. The goal of these efforts is to maintain long-term relationships with our wholesalers by helping them be successful in providing cultivation square footage savings and access to JIT inventory to their customer base. We believe this can result in profitability for our wholesalers’ customers on consumables and equipment. We also believe that increasing the value to our wholesale network will allow us to grow within key accounts and expand sales of our products and services to new accounts.

Expand our Operating Margins

We have developed and begun to implement specific productivity initiatives across our business as a means of funding growth. Our initiatives include the following:

Acquiring Value-Enhancing Businesses

The hydroponics industry is highly fragmented which we believe presents a significant opportunity for growth through M&A. Management is continually evaluating M&A targets and we believe, in this fragmented market, there will be continued opportunities for M&A. M&A provides us an opportunity to significantly increase distribution with independent brands and to add new products based on identified needs of commercial growers. We utilize clear investment criteria to make disciplined M&A decisions that will accelerate sales and EBITDA growth, increase competitive strength and market share and expand our proprietary brand portfolio.

We regularly pursue opportunities to grow our business through acquisitions of strategically complementary businesses and typically have a pipeline of numerous acquisition opportunities at differing stages of evaluation.  We aim primarily to acquire companies that have a competitive market position with the potential to increase market share, a strong brand, high recurring revenue and strong margin potential.  In the ordinary course of our business, we continually seek acquisition targets that can accelerate our growth and generate significant cash flows over time.  We are evaluating numerous opportunities for such acquisitions in the near term.  Although the most advanced opportunities in our pipeline would not individually or in the aggregate constitute “significant” acquisitions as defined by the SEC’s Regulation S-X, any of these acquisitions could have a material effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

The status of opportunities in our pipeline varies from early evaluation through preliminary discussions and varying levels of due diligence and negotiation of potential transaction terms.  We are not party to any definitive agreements in respect of such acquisition targets as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the timing and our desire to consummate any such acquisition depends, among other things, on the results of our continuing due diligence, which may include, in each case, a quality of earnings report from a third party provider and, in each case, audited financial statements, which we are requiring even though we do not expect the acquisitions to be “significant” and to require us to include such audits in our public filings under the SEC’s Regulation S-X.  Even if our due diligence efforts lead us to desire to consummate acquisitions, there is no assurance that we will consummate the acquisition of any of the targets in our pipeline.  In addition to the continuing diligence efforts outlined above, we will still need to enter into definitive agreements with the targets in a dynamic market which may impact corresponding valuation metrics and multiples and, even if an agreement is entered into, both parties would need to satisfy any applicable closing conditions. There are a number of other factors that could impact our ability to successfully complete these acquisitions, including competition for targets, sometimes from competitors with greater available resources for acquisitions. However, negotiations and diligence relating to one or more of these potential acquisitions could advance rapidly in the near future, and, accordingly, it is also possible that we could enter into and close under agreements to acquire one or more businesses consistent with our acquisition strategy described above, shortly after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our more advanced negotiations contemplate a purchase price consisting of both cash and our common stock or of cash only.  We would be able to consummate the most advanced of our potential acquisitions from available cash and our credit line.  It should be noted that acquisitions involve a number of risks and may not achieve our expectations; and therefore we could be adversely affected by any such acquisition. There are a number of risks inherent in assessing the value, strengths, weaknesses, contingent or other liabilities, and potential profitability of acquisition candidates, as well as the challenges of integrating acquired companies and achieving potential synergies once an acquisition is consummated, that may cause an acquisition to fail. See “Risk Factors Relating to Our Business – Acquisitions, other strategic alliances and investments could result in operating difficulties, dilution, and other harmful consequences that may adversely impact our business and results of operations” for more information.

Government Regulation

While there is no national governmental regulation relating to the sale of hydroponics equipment, certain products included in our growing media and nutrients product line are subject to certain registration requirements with some U.S. state regulators and federal regulations.

Media and Nutrients

Our leading product lines are growing media and nutrients products. These product lines include organic soils and nutrients that contain ingredients that require the companies that provide us with these products to register the product with certain regulators. The use and disposal of these products in some jurisdictions are subject to regulation by various agencies. A decision by a regulatory agency to significantly restrict the use of impact on those companies providing us with such regulated products, and as a result, limit our ability to sell these products.

International, federal, state, provincial and local laws and regulations relating to environmental, health and safety matters affect us in several ways in light of the ingredients that are used in products included in our growing media and nutrients product line. In the U.S., products containing pesticides generally must be registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”), and similar state agencies before they can be sold or applied. The failure by one of our partners to obtain, or the cancellation of any such registration, or the withdrawal from the marketplace of such pesticides, could have an adverse effect on our businesses, the severity of which would depend on the products involved, whether other products could be substituted and whether our competitors were similarly affected. The pesticides we use are either granted a license by the EPA or exempt from such a license and may be evaluated by the EPA as part of its ongoing exposure risk assessment. The EPA may decide that a pesticide we distribute will be limited or will not be re-registered for use in the U.S. We cannot predict the outcome or the severity of the effect on our business of any future evaluations, if any, conducted by the EPA.

In addition, the use of certain pesticide products are regulated by various international, federal, state, provincial and local environmental and public health agencies. Although we strive to comply with such laws and regulations and have processes in place designed to achieve compliance, we may be unable to prevent violations of these or other laws and regulations from occurring. Even if we are able to comply with all such laws and regulations and obtain all necessary registrations and licenses, the pesticides or other products we apply or use, or the manner in which we apply or use them, could be alleged to cause injury to the environment, to people or to animals, or such products could be banned in certain circumstances.

Cannabis Industry

We sell our products through third-party retailers and resellers which do not exclusively sell to the cannabis industry. Nonetheless, it is evident to us that the legalization of cannabis in many U.S. states and Canada has ultimately had a significant, positive impact on our industry. Accordingly, laws and regulations governing the cultivation and sale of cannabis and related products have an indirect effect on our business. Legislation and regulations pertaining to the use and growth of cannabis are enacted on both the state and federal government level within the U.S. The federal and state laws and regulations governing the growth and use of cannabis may be subject to change. New laws and regulations pertaining to the use or cultivation of cannabis and enforcement actions by state and federal authorities concerning the cultivation or use of cannabis could indirectly reduce demand for our products, and may impact our current and planned future operations.

Individual state laws regarding the cultivation, possession, and of cannabis for adult and medical uses conflict with federal laws prohibiting the cultivation, possession and use of cannabis for any purpose. A number of states have passed legislation legalizing or decriminalizing cannabis for adult-use, other states have enacted legislation specifically permitting the cultivation and use of cannabis for medicinal purposes, and several states have enacted legislation permitting cannabis cultivation and use for both adult and medicinal purposes.

Certain of our products may be purchased for use in new and emerging industries and/or be subject to varying, inconsistent, and rapidly changing laws, regulations, administrative practices, enforcement approaches, judicial interpretations, future scientific research and public perception.

We sell products, including hydroponic gardening products, through third-party retailers and resellers. End users may purchase these products for use in new and emerging industries, including the growing of cannabis that may not grow or achieve market acceptance in a manner that we can predict. The demand for these products is dependent on the growth of these industries, which is uncertain, as well as the laws governing the growth, possession, and use of cannabis by adults for both adult and medical use.

Laws and regulations affecting the U.S. cannabis industry are continually changing, which could detrimentally affect our growth, revenues, results of operations and success generally. Local, state and federal cannabis laws and regulations are broad in scope and subject to evolving interpretations, which could require the end users of certain of our products or us to incur substantial costs associated with compliance or to alter our respective business plans. In addition, violations of these laws, or allegations of such violations, could disrupt our business and result in a material adverse effect on our results of operation and financial condition.

The public’s perception of cannabis may significantly impact the cannabis industry’s success. Both the medical and adult-use of cannabis are controversial topics, and there is no guarantee that future scientific research, publicity, regulations, medical opinion, and public opinion relating to cannabis will be favorable. The cannabis industry is an early-stage business that is constantly evolving with no guarantee of viability. The market for medical and adult-use of cannabis is uncertain, and any adverse or negative publicity, scientific research, limiting regulations, medical opinion and public opinion (whether or not accurate or with merit) relating to the consumption of cannabis, whether in the U.S. or internationally, may have a material adverse effect on our operational results, consumer base, and financial results. Among other things, such a shift in public opinion could cause state jurisdictions to abandon initiatives or proposals to legalize medical or adult cannabis or adopt new laws or regulations restricting or prohibiting the medical or adult-use of cannabis where it is now legal, thereby limiting the potential customers and end-users of our products who are engaged in the cannabis industry (collectively “Cannabis Industry Participants”).

Demand for our products may be negatively impacted depending on how laws, regulations, administrative practices, enforcement approaches, judicial interpretations, and consumer perceptions develop. We cannot predict the nature of such developments or the effect, if any, that such developments could have on our business.

We are subject to a number of risks, directly and indirectly through our Cannabis Industry Participants, because cannabis is illegal under federal law.

Cannabis is illegal under federal law. Federal law and enforcement may adversely affect the implementation of medical cannabis and/or adult-use cannabis laws, and may negatively impact our revenues and profits.

Under the United States Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (the “CSA”), the U.S. Government lists cannabis as a Schedule I controlled substance (i.e., deemed to have no medical value), and accordingly the manufacturing (cultivation), sale, or possession of cannabis is federally illegal. It is also federally illegal to advertise the sale of cannabis or to sell paraphernalia designed or intended primarily for use with cannabis, unless the paraphernalia is authorized by federal, state, or local law. The United States Supreme Court has ruled in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Coop. and Gonzales v. Raich, 532 U.S. 483 (2001), that the federal government has the right to regulate and criminalize cannabis, even for medical purposes. The illegality of cannabis under federal law preempts state laws that legalize its use. Therefore, strict enforcement of federal law regarding cannabis would likely adversely affect our revenues and results of operations.

Other laws that directly impact the cannabis growers that are end users of certain of our products include:

The former administration, or any new administration or attorney general, could change federal enforcement policy or execution and decide to enforce the federal cannabis laws more strongly. On January 4, 2018, former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memorandum rescinding previous guidance (directing U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorneys’ offices to focus their cannabis enforcement efforts under federal law only in identified priority areas, such as sale to minors, criminal enterprises, and interstate sales). Under the Sessions memorandum, local U.S. Attorneys’ offices retain discretion regarding the prosecution of cannabis activity authorized under state laws and regulations. While former U.S. Attorney General William Barr expressed support for the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML) during his Senate testimony on April 10, 2019, further change in the federal approach towards enforcement could negatively affect the industry, potentially ending it entirely. Any such change in the federal government’s enforcement of current federal laws could cause significant financial damage to us. The legal uncertainty and possible future changes in law could negatively affect our growth, revenues, results of operations and success generally.

Federal authorities may decide to change their current posture and begin to enforce current federal cannabis law and, if they decide to ignore the principles in the Cole Memorandum and begin to aggressively enforce such laws, it is possible that they could allege that we violated federal laws by selling products used in the cannabis industry. As a result, active enforcement of the current federal regulatory position on cannabis may thus directly or indirectly adversely affect our revenues and profits.

Violations of any U.S. federal laws and regulations could result in significant fines, penalties, administrative sanctions, convictions or settlements arising from civil proceedings conducted by either the U.S. federal government or private citizens, or criminal charges, including, but not limited to, disgorgement of profits, cessation of business activities or divestiture. This could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our reputation and ability to conduct business, the listing of our securities on any stock exchanges, the settlement of trades of our securities, our ability to obtain banking services, our financial position, operating results, profitability or liquidity or the market price of our publicly traded shares. In addition, it is difficult for us to estimate the time or resources that would be needed for the investigation of any such matters or their final resolution because, in part, the time and resources that may be needed are dependent on the nature and extent of any information requested by the applicable authorities involved, and such time or resources could be substantial.

Businesses involved in the cannabis industry, and investments in such businesses, are subject to a variety of laws and regulations related to money laundering, financial recordkeeping and proceeds of crimes.

We sell our products through third-party retailers and resellers which do not exclusively sell to the cannabis industry. Investments in the U.S. cannabis industry are subject to a variety of laws and regulations that involve money laundering, financial recordkeeping and proceeds of crime, including the BSA, as amended by the Patriot Act, other anti-money laundering laws, and any related or similar rules, regulations or guidelines, issued, administered or enforced by governmental authorities in the U.S.. In February 2014, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) of the Treasury Department issued a memorandum (the “FinCEN Memo”) providing guidance to banks seeking to provide services to cannabis businesses. The FinCEN Memo outlines circumstances under which banks may provide services to cannabis businesses without risking prosecution for violation of U.S. federal money laundering laws. It refers to supplementary guidance that Deputy Attorney General Cole issued to U.S. federal prosecutors relating to the prosecution of U.S. money laundering offenses predicated on cannabis violations of the CSA and outlines extensive due diligence and reporting requirements, which most banks have viewed as onerous. The FinCEN Memo currently remains in place, but it is unclear at this time whether the current administration will continue to follow the guidelines of the FinCEN Memo. Such requirements could negatively affect the ability of certain of the end users of our products to establish and maintain banking connections.

Cannabis Industry Participants are subject to federal and state controlled substance laws and regulations. As a result, we are indirectly subject to a number of risks related to controlled substances.

We sell our products through third-party retailers and resellers which do not exclusively sell to the cannabis industry. Some of our products are sold to Cannabis Industry Participants and used in connection with cannabis businesses that are subject to federal and state controlled substance laws and regulations. Cannabis businesses are subject to a number of risks related to controlled substances, which risks could reduce demand for our products by Cannabis Industry Participants. Such risks include, but are not limited to, the following:

Furthermore, the Loan and Security Agreement by and among certain of our subsidiaries (the “Subsidiary Obligors”) and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., dated March 29, 2021 (the “JPMorgan Credit Facility”) restricts our ability to sell our products directly to the cannabis industry. As a result, the Subsidiary Obligors do not sell our products directly to the cannabis industry, cannabis growers or cultivators, or to sellers or retailers that sell only to the cannabis industry. See “— Risks Relating to our Indebtedness” for further detail.

Intellectual Property

We own 16 issued U.S. design patents, three issued U.S. utility patents, five issued foreign patents and designs, 38 registered U.S. trademarks, and 22 registered foreign trademarks that enable us to position ourselves and our products to a wide range of customers. Our 24 issued patents cover grow lighting and hydroponic systems and components. These issued patents and our registered trademarks allow us to build out our proprietary brand products, which we believe are high quality products and generate higher sales margins than the distributed products that we sell. Our owned U.S. and foreign issued patents are expected to expire between 2021 and 2034.

Our ability to compete effectively depends in part on our rights to trademarks, patents and other intellectual property rights we own or license. We have not sought to register every one of our trademarks either in the U.S. or in every country in which such mark is used. Furthermore, because of the differences in foreign trademark, patent and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws, we may not receive the same protection in other countries as we would in the U.S. with respect to the registered brand names and issued patents we hold. Litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights and protect our proprietary information, or to defend against claims by third parties that our products or services infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property or proprietary rights. Any litigation or claims brought by or against us could result in substantial costs and diversion of our resources.

We may need to obtain licenses to patents and other intellectual property and proprietary rights held by third parties to develop, manufacture and market our products, if, for example, we sought to develop our products, in conjunction with any patented technology. If we are unable to timely obtain these licenses on commercially reasonable terms (or at all) and maintain these licenses, our ability to commercially market our products, may be inhibited or prevented.

In addition, because the manufacturing (cultivation), sale, possession and use of cannabis is illegal under federal law, companies that transact with cannabis businesses may have restricted intellectual property and proprietary rights particularly with respect to obtaining and enforcing patents and trademarks. We do not believe these restrictions apply to our business. However, if we are unable to register, or maintain, our trademarks or file for or enforce patents on any of our inventions, such an inability could materially affect our ability to protect our name, brand and proprietary technologies. See “— Risks Relating to Our Intellectual Property” for more information on the risks associated with intellectual and proprietary rights.

Research and Development

We continually invest in research and development to improve our products, manufacturing processes, packaging and delivery systems. In addition to the benefits of our own research and development, we actively seek ways to leverage the research and development activities of our suppliers and other business partners.

Human Capital

Our continued success depends on management implementing effective human resource initiatives in order to recruit, develop and retain key employees. As of February 28, 2021, we employ 327 full-time employees and no part-time employees. We also employ 66 temporary workers and 8 independent contractors. None of our employees are subject to collective bargaining agreements, and we have had no labor-related work stoppages. Our retention rate for our full-time employees is approximately five years, and we employ various initiatives to increase employee retention, including offering bonus programs and training opportunities. We strive to foster an innovative and team-oriented culture and view our human capital resources and initiatives as an ongoing priority.

Summary of Risk Factors

Our business is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that are summarized below. The below summary of risk factors should be read together with the more detailed discussion of risks set forth following this section under the heading “Risk Factors,” as well as elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Risks Relating to Our Business

Risks Relating to Our Indebtedness

Risks Relating to Third Parties

Risks Relating to the Cannabis Industry

Risks Relating to Other Regulations

Risks Relating to Our Intellectual Property

Risks Relating to Our Capital Stock

Corporate Information

We were incorporated in Delaware in January 2017 under the name Innovation Acquisition One Corp. Our predecessor company, originally called Applied Hydroponics, Inc., was founded in 1977 in Northern California. We changed our name to Hydrofarm Holdings Group, Inc. on August 3, 2018. Our principal executive offices are located at 290 Canal Road, Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania 19030 (the “Pennsylvania HQ”) and our telephone number is (707) 765-9990. Our website address is www.hydrofarm.com. Information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and you should not consider information on our website to be part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Available Information

Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to reports filed pursuant to Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, are filed with the SEC. Such reports and other information filed by us with the SEC are available free of charge on our website at www.investors.hydrofarm.com when such reports are available on the SEC’s website. The SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at www.sec.gov. The information contained on the websites referenced in this Annual Report on Form 10-K is not incorporated by reference into this filing. Further, our references to website URLs are intended to be inactive textual references only.

Our operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties including those described below. You should consider carefully the risks and uncertainties described below, in addition to other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, may also become important factors that adversely affect our business. If any of the following risks or others not specified below materialize, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In that case, the trading price of our common stock could decline.

Risks Relating to Our Business

Our proprietary brand offerings expose us to various risks.

We expect to continue to grow our portfolio of proprietary brand offerings. We have invested in development and procurement resources and marketing efforts relating to these proprietary brand offerings. Although we believe that our proprietary brand products offer value to our customers at each price point and provide us with higher gross margins than comparable third-party branded products we sell, the expansion of our proprietary brand offerings also subjects us to certain specific risks in addition to those discussed elsewhere in this section, such as:

An increase in sales of our proprietary brands may also adversely affect our sales of our vendors’ products, which may, in turn, adversely affect our relationship with our vendors. Our failure to adequately address some or all of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our competitors and potential competitors may develop products and technologies that are more effective or commercially attractive than our products.

Our products compete against national and regional products and private label products produced by various suppliers, many of which are established companies that provide products that perform functions similar to our products. Our competitors may develop or market products that are more effective or commercially attractive than our current or future products. Some of our competitors have substantially greater financial, operational, marketing and technical resources than we do. Moreover, some of these competitors may offer a broader array of products and sell their products at prices lower than ours, and may have greater name recognition. In addition, if demand for our specialty indoor gardening supplies and products continues to grow, we may face competition from new entrants into our field. Due to this competition, there is no assurance that we will not encounter difficulties in generating or increasing revenues and capturing market share. In addition, increased competition may lead to reduced prices and/or margins for products we sell. We may not have the financial resources, relationships with key suppliers, technical expertise or marketing, distribution or support capabilities to compete successfully in the future.

We may not successfully develop new products or improve existing products or maintain our effectiveness in reaching consumers through rapidly evolving communication vehicles.

Our future success depends, in part, upon our ability to improve our existing products and to develop, manufacture and market new products to meet evolving consumer needs. We cannot be certain that we will be successful in developing, manufacturing and marketing new products or product innovations which satisfy consumer needs or achieve market acceptance, or that we will develop, manufacture and market new products or product innovations in a timely manner. If we fail to successfully develop, manufacture and market new products or product innovations, or if we fail to reach existing and potential consumers, our ability to maintain or grow our market share may be adversely affected, which in turn could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the development and introduction of new and products and product innovations require substantial research, development and marketing expenditures, which we may be unable to recoup if such new products or innovations do not achieve market acceptance.

Many of the products we distribute and market, such as our fertilizers and nutrients, contain ingredients that are subject to regulatory approval or registration with certain U.S. state regulators. The need to obtain such approval or registration could delay the launch of new products or product innovations that contain ingredients or otherwise prevent us from developing and manufacturing certain products and product innovations.

Negative economic conditions, specifically in the U.S. and Canada, could adversely affect our business.

Uncertain global economic conditions could adversely affect our business. Negative global economic trends, particularly in the U.S. and Canada, such as decreased consumer and business spending, high unemployment levels, reduced rates of home ownership and housing starts, high foreclosure rates and declining consumer and business confidence, pose challenges to our business and could result in declining revenues, profitability and cash flow. Although we continue to devote significant resources to support our brands, unfavorable economic conditions may negatively affect consumer demand for our products. Our most price-sensitive customers may trade down to lower priced products during challenging economic times or if current economic conditions worsen, while other customers may reduce discretionary spending during periods of economic uncertainty, which could reduce sales volumes of our products in favor of our competitors’ products or result in a shift in our product mix from higher margin to lower margin products.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are unpredictable and may materially affect our customers and how we operate our business, and the duration and extent to which the pandemic continues (including any re-emergence of COVID-19) to threaten our future results of operations and overall financial performance remains uncertain.

In December 2019, COVID-19 was identified. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization characterized COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a widespread health crisis that has adversely affected businesses, economies and financial markets worldwide and has caused significant volatility in U.S. and international debt and equity markets. While the rollout of vaccines has begun, the timing of vaccinations, herd immunity, and the lifting of shelter in place and similar restrictions and movement restrictions is unknown.

Examples of how COVID-19 may impact our business, results of operations and stock price include, but are not limited to:

The duration and extent of the impact on our business from the COVID-19 pandemic depends on future developments that cannot be accurately predicted at this time (e.g., the severity and transmission rate of the virus, the extent and effectiveness of containment measures, and the impact of these and other factors on our employees, customers, vendors and partners, including their respective productivity). Furthermore, our limited operating history combined with the uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic significantly increases the difficulty of forecasting operating results and of strategic planning. For example, we have recently incurred high operating costs and experienced unreliable results in connection with maritime transportation. If we are unable to effectively predict and manage the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, our results of operations and financial condition may be negatively impacted.

Our business has experienced an accelerated rate of growth which may be due in part to lifestyle changes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic; if so, our recent accelerated rate of growth may not be sustainable.

Although we cannot precisely quantify in absolute or relative terms, our accelerated rate of growth in net sales for the year ended December 31, 2020 correlates with shelter-in-place orders issued in many locations in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our net sales for the year ended December 31, 2020 were approximately 46% higher as compared to the year ended December 31, 2019. A portion of our net sales during this period could be due to pull-through demand for our products due to higher consumption of CEA products from individuals spending more time at home due to shelter-in-place measures. Although uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic remains, and various state budgets remain under economic pressure, creating a greater chance of further cannabis legalization, we cannot assure you that such growth will continue.

Our international operations make us susceptible to the costs and risks associated with operating internationally.

We operate some of our distribution centers in Canada and Spain and source products globally. We also operate a registered office in China. Accordingly, we are subject to risks associated with operating in foreign countries, including:

In addition, our operations outside the U.S. are subject to the risk of new and different legal and regulatory requirements in local jurisdictions, potential difficulties in staffing and managing local operations and potentially adverse tax consequences. The costs associated with operating our continuing international business could adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows in the future.

We have incurred and will continue to incur increased costs as a result of being a public company.

We became a public company on December 9, 2020. As a public company, we have incurred and will continue to incur significant legal, accounting, insurance and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. For example, we have and will incur increased legal and accounting costs as a result of being subject to the information and reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, and other federal securities laws. The costs of preparing and filing periodic and other reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC and furnishing audited reports to stockholders, will cause significant increase in our expenses than if we remained privately-held. The cost of being a public company have and will divert resources that might otherwise have been used to develop our business, which could have a material adverse effect on our company.

As a privately held company, we were not required to comply with certain corporate governance and financial reporting practices and policies required of a public reporting company. As a public company, we are required to file with the SEC annual and quarterly information and other reports pursuant to the Exchange Act. We are also required to ensure that we have the ability to prepare financial statements that are fully compliant with all SEC reporting requirements on a timely basis. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the listing requirements of the Nasdaq Global Select Market and other applicable securities rules and regulations impose various requirements on public companies. Our management and other personnel have and will devote a substantial amount of time to compliance with these requirements. Moreover, these rules and regulations will continue to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. We cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we will continue to incur as a public company or the specific timing of such costs.

As a public company, we have and will, among other things:

These changes require a significant commitment of additional resources and many of our competitors already comply with these obligations. We may not be successful in complying with these obligations and the significant commitment of resources required for complying with them could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. These laws and regulations could also make it more difficult or costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. These laws and regulations could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, our committees of our board of directors or as our executive officers.

In addition, if we fail to implement the requirements with respect to our internal accounting and audit functions, our ability to report our results of operations on a timely and accurate basis could be impaired and we could suffer adverse regulatory consequences or violate applicable listing standards. There could also be a negative reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of investor confidence in us and the reliability of our financial statements, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The changes necessitated by becoming a public company require a significant commitment of resources and management supervision that has increased and may continue to increase our costs and might place a strain on our systems and resources. As a result, our management’s attention might be diverted from other business concerns. If we fail to maintain an effective internal control environment or to comply with the numerous legal and regulatory requirements imposed on public companies, we could make material errors in, and be required to restate, our financial statements. Any such restatement could result in a loss of public confidence in the reliability of our financial statements and sanctions imposed on us by the SEC. We cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs. If we are unable to satisfy our obligations as a public company, we could be subject to delisting of our common stock, as applicable, fines, sanctions and other regulatory action and potentially civil litigation.

As a result of being a public company, we are obligated to develop and maintain proper and effective internal controls over financial reporting, and any failure to maintain the adequacy of these internal controls may adversely affect investor confidence in our company and, as a result, the value of our common stock.

We may be required, pursuant to Section 404 to furnish a report by management on, among other things, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021. This assessment will need to include disclosure of any material weaknesses identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting. Following the date we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” our independent registered public accounting firm will be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting in our first annual report required to be filed with the SEC. We have recently commenced the costly and challenging process of compiling the system and processing documentation necessary to perform the evaluation needed to comply with Section 404, but we may not be able to complete our evaluation, testing and any required remediation in a timely fashion once initiated. Our compliance with Section 404 will require that we incur substantial expenses and expend significant management efforts. We may need to hire additional accounting and financial staff, or leverage outside resources, with appropriate public company experience and technical accounting knowledge and compile the system and process documentation necessary to perform the evaluation needed to comply with Section 404.

During the evaluation and testing process of our internal controls, if we identify one or more material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, we will be unable to certify that our internal control over financial reporting is effective. We cannot assure you that there will not be material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting in the future. Any failure to maintain internal control over financial reporting could severely inhibit our ability to accurately report our financial condition or results of operations. If we are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm determines we have a material weakness or significant deficiency in our internal control over financial reporting, we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our common stock could decline, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Failure to remedy any material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, or to implement or maintain other effective control systems required of public companies, could also restrict our future access to the capital markets.

We identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, and if we are unable to achieve and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, the accuracy and timing of our financial reporting may be adversely affected.

Prior to our initial public offering (“IPO”) in December 2020, we were a private company with limited accounting and finance personnel, adequate review processes and other resources with which to address our internal controls and procedures. In connection with the audit of our financial statements for fiscal 2019, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified control deficiencies in the design and operation of our internal control over financial reporting that constituted material weaknesses previously disclosed in our registration statement on Form S-1 which was declared effective on December 9, 2020.

A “material weakness” is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Our management determined that the previously disclosed material weaknesses have not been remediated as of December 31, 2020: that (i) we did not maintain a sufficient complement of personnel with an appropriate degree of technical knowledge commensurate with our accounting and reporting requirements and (ii) our controls related to the preparation, review, and analysis of accounting information and financial statements were not adequately designed or appropriately implemented to identify material misstatements in our financial reporting on a timely basis for our U.S. entities and Eddi’s. These material weaknesses could result in a misstatement of account balances or disclosures that would result in a material misstatement to the annual or interim financial statements that would not be prevented or detected.

We have taken several actions towards remediating these material weaknesses. In particular, we (i) hired and continue to hire, additional qualified accounting and financial reporting personnel with technical and/or public company experience, (ii) implemented new control procedures over certain areas previously deemed ineffective related to the preparation, review, and analysis of accounting information and financial statements and (iii) engaged and continue to engage an external advisor to assist management in completing a Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliant risk assessment, creating detailed control documentation for in-scope business and information technology processes, identifying further control gaps and providing assistance on remediation procedures, and designing and implementing a Sarbanes-Oxley Act sub-certification process. Although we have taken steps to address the material weaknesses, we are still in the process of completing the remediation and we cannot assure you that the steps we are taking will be sufficient to remediate our material weaknesses or prevent future material weaknesses or significant deficiencies from occurring.

We can give no assurance that additional material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting will not be identified in the future. Our failure to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in errors in our financial statements that could result in a restatement of our financial statements and cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations.

Acquisitions, other strategic alliances and investments could result in operating difficulties, dilution, and other harmful consequences that may adversely impact our business and results of operations.

Acquisitions are an important element of our overall corporate strategy, and these transactions could entail material investments by us and be material to our financial condition and results of operations. We expect to evaluate and enter into discussions regarding a wide array of potential strategic transactions. The process of integrating an acquired company, business, or product has created, and will continue to create, unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures. The areas where we face risks may include, but are not limited to:

Our due diligence may fail to identify all liabilities associated with acquisitions and we may not assess the relative benefits and detriments of making an acquisition and may pay acquisition consideration exceeding the value of the acquired business. Our failure to address these risks or other problems encountered in connection with our past or future acquisitions and investments or strategic alliances could cause us to fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions, investments or alliances, incur unanticipated liabilities, and harm our business generally.

Our acquisitions could also result in dilutive issuances of our equity securities, the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities or amortization expenses, or impairment of goodwill and purchased long-lived assets, and restructuring charges, any of which could harm our financial condition or results of operations and cash flows.

Although acquisitions are an important element of our overall corporate strategy, there can be no assurance that we will be able to identify appropriate acquisition targets, successfully acquire identified targets or successfully integrate the business of acquired companies to realize the full, anticipated benefits of such acquisitions.

Damage to our reputation could have an adverse effect on our business.

Maintaining our strong reputation is a key component in our success. Product recalls, our inability to ship, sell or transport our products, governmental investigations and other matters may harm our reputation and acceptance of our products, which may materially and adversely affect our business operations, decrease sales and increase costs.

In addition, perceptions that the products we distribute and market are not safe could adversely affect us and contribute to the risk we will be subjected to legal action. We distribute and market a variety of products, such as nutrients, and growing media. On occasion, allegations or news reports may be made that some of these products have failed to perform up to expectations or have caused damage or injury to individuals or property. Public perception that the products we distribute or market are not safe could impair our reputation, involve us in litigation, damage our brand names and have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our marketing activities may not be successful.

We invest substantial resources in advertising, consumer promotions and other marketing activities to maintain, extend and expand our brand image. There can be no assurance that our marketing strategies will be effective or that the amount we invest in advertising activities will result in a corresponding increase in sales of our products. If our marketing initiatives are not successful, we will have incurred significant expenses without the benefit of higher revenues.

Our operations may be impaired if our information technology systems, or those of our third-party vendors, fail to perform adequately or if we or our third-party vendors are the subject of a data breach or cyber-attack.

We rely on information technology systems in order to conduct business, including communicating with employees and our distribution centers, ordering and managing materials from suppliers, selling and shipping products to retail customers and analyzing and reporting results of operations, as well as for storing sensitive, personal and other confidential information. While we have taken steps to ensure the security of our information technology systems, our security measures or those of our third-party vendors may not be effective and our or our third-party vendors’ systems may nevertheless be vulnerable to computer viruses, security breaches and other disruptions from unauthorized users. If our or our third-party vendors’ information technology systems are damaged or cease to be available or function properly for an extended period of time, whether as a result of a significant cyber incident or otherwise, our ability to communicate internally as well as with our retail customers could be significantly impaired, which may adversely impact our business.

Additionally, the techniques used to obtain unauthorized, improper or illegal access to information technology systems are constantly evolving, may be difficult to detect quickly and often are not recognized until after they have been launched against a target. We may be unable to anticipate these techniques, react in a timely manner or implement adequate preventative or remedial measures. Any operational failure or breach of security from these increasingly sophisticated cyber threats could lead to the loss or disclosure of both our and our retail customers’ financial, product, and other confidential information, as well as personally identifiable information about our employees or customers, result in negative publicity and expensive and time-consuming regulatory or other legal proceedings, damage our relationships with our customers and have a material adverse effect on our business and reputation. In addition, we may incur significant costs and operational consequences in connection with investigating, mitigating, remediating, eliminating and putting in place additional tools and devices designed to prevent future actual or perceived security incidents, as well as in connection with complying with any notification or other obligations resulting from any security incidents. Because we do not control our third-party vendors, or the processing of data by our third-party vendors, our ability to monitor our third-party vendors’ data security is limited and we cannot ensure the integrity or security of the measures they take to protect and prevent the loss of our or our consumers’ data. As a result, we are subject to the risk that cyber-attacks on, or other security incidents affecting, our third-party vendors may adversely affect our business even if an attack or breach does not directly impact our systems.

We occupy many of our facilities under long-term non-cancellable leases, and we may be unable to renew our leases at the end of their terms.

Many of our facilities and distribution centers are located on leased premises subject to non-cancellable leases. Typically, our leases have initial terms ranging from three to ten years, with options to renew for specified periods of time. We believe that our future leases will likely also be long-term and non-cancellable and have similar renewal options. If we close or stop fully utilizing a facility, we will most likely remain obligated to perform under the applicable lease, which would include, among other things, making the base rent payments, and paying insurance, taxes and other expenses on the leased property for the remainder of the lease term. Our future minimum aggregate rental commitments for leases for our facilities and distribution centers, as of December 31, 2020, is approximately $22.1 million for leases classified as operating and $408,000 for leases classified as financing. Our inability to terminate a lease when we stop fully utilizing a facility or exit a market can have a significant adverse impact on our financial condition, operating results and cash flows.

In addition, at the end of the lease term and any renewal period for a facility, we may be unable to renew the lease without substantial additional cost, if at all. If we are unable to renew our facility leases, we may close or relocate a facility, which could subject us to construction and other costs and risks, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results. Further, we may not be able to secure a replacement facility in a location that is as commercially viable, including access to rail service. Having to close a facility, even briefly to relocate, could reduce the sales that such facility would have contributed to our revenues.

The estimates and judgments we make, or the assumptions on which we rely, in preparing our consolidated financial statements could prove inaccurate.

Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of our assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, the amounts of charges accrued by us and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. We cannot assure, however, that our estimates, or the assumptions underlying them, will not change over time or otherwise prove inaccurate. Any potential litigation related to the estimates and judgments we make, or the assumptions on which we rely, in preparing our consolidated financial statements could have a material adverse effect on our financial results, harm our business, and cause our share price to decline.

In order to increase our sales and marketing infrastructure, we will need to grow the size of our organization, and we may experience difficulties in managing this growth.

As we continue to work to expand our business, we will need to expand the size of our employee base for managerial, operational, sales, marketing, financial and other resources. Future growth would impose significant added responsibilities on members of management, including the need to identify, recruit, maintain, motivate and integrate additional employees. In addition, our management may have to divert a disproportionate amount of its attention away from our day-to-day activities and devote a substantial amount of time to managing these growth activities. Our future financial performance and our ability to continue to grow our operation and compete in the hydroponics industry effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage any future growth.

Potential tariffs or a global trade war could increase the cost of our products, which could adversely impact the competitiveness of our products and our financial results.

Since 2018, the U.S. has imposed tariffs on certain imports from China, including on lighting and environmental control equipment manufactured in China. If the U.S. administration imposes additional tariffs, or if additional tariffs or trade restrictions are implemented by the U.S. or other countries the cost of our products manufactured in China and imported into the U.S. or other countries could increase, which in turn could adversely affect the demand for these products and have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, tariffs have not adversely affected the purchase price of our products manufactured in China and imported into the U.S.

Unanticipated changes in our tax provisions, the adoption of new tax legislation or exposure to additional tax liabilities could affect our profitability and cash flows.

We are subject to income and other taxes in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and various local, state and foreign jurisdictions. Our effective tax rate in the future could be adversely affected by changes to our operating structure, changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets (such as net operating losses and tax credits) and liabilities, changes in tax laws and the discovery of new information in the course of our tax return preparation process. In particular, the carrying value of deferred tax assets, which are predominantly related to our operations in the U.S., is dependent on our ability to generate future taxable income of the appropriate character in the relevant jurisdiction.

From time to time, tax proposals are introduced or considered by the U.S. Congress or the legislative bodies in local, state and foreign jurisdictions that could also affect our tax rate, the carrying value of our deferred tax assets, or our tax liabilities. Our tax liabilities are also affected by the amounts we charge for inventory, services, licenses and funding. We are subject to ongoing tax audits in various jurisdictions. In connection with these audits (or future audits), tax authorities may disagree with our determinations and assess additional taxes. We regularly assess the likely outcomes of our audits in order to determine the appropriateness of our tax provision. As a result, the ultimate resolution of our tax audits, changes in tax laws or tax rates, and the ability to utilize our deferred tax assets could materially affect our tax provision, net income and cash flows in future periods.

We may be limited in our ability to utilize, or may not be able to utilize, net operating loss carryforwards to reduce our future tax liability.

As of December 31, 2020, we had U.S. federal net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards of approximately $62.5 million, the utilization of which may be limited annually due to certain change in ownership provisions of Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). Our NOL carryforwards will begin to expire in 2037. Please refer to Note 12, Income Taxes, in our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a further discussion of the carryforward of our NOLs. As of December 31, 2020, we maintained a valuation allowance of approximately $34.4 million on the majority of our net deferred tax assets.

An “ownership change” (generally defined as greater than 50-percentage-point cumulative changes in the equity ownership of certain stockholders over a rolling three-year period) under Section 382 of the Code may limit our ability to utilize fully our pre-change NOL carryforwards to reduce our taxable income in periods following the ownership change. In general, an ownership change would limit our ability to utilize NOL carryforwards to an amount equal to the aggregate value of our equity at the time of the ownership change multiplied by a specified tax-exempt interest rate, subject to increase by certain built-in gains. Similar provisions of state tax law may also apply to our state NOL carryforwards. As a result of the IPO, the aggregate ownership change exceeded the 50% threshold. The annual limitation resulting from this ownership change is not expected to result in the expiration of the NOL carryforwards before utilization. In addition, future changes in our stock ownership, some of which may be beyond our control, could result in additional ownership changes under Section 382 of the Code.

If we need additional capital to fund our operations, we may not be able to obtain sufficient capital and may be forced to limit the scope of our operations.

In connection with our growth strategies, we may experience increased capital needs and accordingly, we may not have sufficient capital to fund our future operations without additional capital investments. There can be no assurance that additional capital will be available to us. If we cannot obtain sufficient capital to fund our operations, we may be forced to limit the scope of our expansion.

If product liability lawsuits are brought against us, we may incur substantial liabilities.

We face a potential risk of product liability as a result of any of the products that we offer for sale. For example, we may be sued if any product we sell allegedly causes injury or is found to be otherwise unsuitable during product testing, manufacturing, marketing or sale. Any such product liability claims may include allegations of defects in manufacturing, defects in design, a failure to warn of dangers inherent in the product, negligence, strict liability and a breach of warranties. Claims could also be asserted under state consumer protection acts. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against product liability claims, we may incur substantial liabilities. Even successful defense would require significant financial and management resources. Regardless of the merits or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in: (i) decreased demand for products that we may offer for sale; (ii) injury to our reputation; (iii) costs to defend the related litigation; (iv) a diversion of management’s time and our resources; (v) substantial monetary awards to trial participants or patients; (vi) product recalls, withdrawals or labeling, marketing or promotional restrictions; (vii) a decline in our stock price. Our inability to obtain and retain sufficient product liability insurance at an acceptable cost to protect against potential product liability claims could prevent or inhibit the commercialization of products we develop. We do not maintain any product liability insurance. Even if we obtain product liability insurance in the future, we may have to pay amounts awarded by a court or negotiated in a settlement that exceed our coverage limitations or that are not covered by our insurance, and we may not have, or be able to obtain, sufficient capital to pay such amounts.

Risks Relating to Our Indebtedness

The JPMorgan Credit Facility has restrictions on our ability to sell our products directly to the cannabis industry.

We and our subsidiaries entered into a credit agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (“JPMorgan”) on March 29, 2021 (the “JPMorgan Credit Facility”). The JPMorgan Credit Facility refinanced the Encina Credit Facility and is an asset based loan that contains customary covenants, restrictions and defaults. The JPMorgan Credit Facility prohibits the Subsidiary Obligors from selling our products to the cannabis industry. As a result, the Subsidiary Obligors do not sell our products directly to the cannabis industry. We are in compliance with the terms set forth by the JPMorgan Credit Facility and maintain policies and procedures that are designed to promote and achieve continued compliance with these requirements.

These compliance requirements may require that we be more selective than our competitors when selecting to whom we sell our products, and in certain situations, may afford our competitors a competitive advantage compared to us if we are not able to sell our products to a certain customer, and may negatively impact our marketing efforts, sales and reputation in the market. Moreover, any breach of these compliance requirements, could result in the occurrence of an event of default under the JPMorgan Credit Facility, which would entitle JPMorgan to accelerate the payment of all obligations then outstanding, without any action by them or notice of any kind. The foregoing events would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Substantially all of the Subsidiary Obligors’ assets are pledged to secure obligations under the Subsidiary Obligors outstanding indebtedness.

The Subsidiary Obligors have granted a continuing security interest in substantially all of their assets to JPMorgan, as security for the Subsidiary Obligors’ obligations under JPMorgan Credit Facility. If the Subsidiary Obligors default on any of their obligations under these agreements and JPMorgan will be entitled to exercise remedies available it them resulting from such default, including increasing the applicable interest rate on all amounts outstanding, declaring all amounts due thereunder immediately due and payable, assuming possession of the secured assets, and exercising rights and remedies of a secured party under the Uniform Commercial Code, as applicable then in the U.S., or the Personal Property Security Act, as applicable then in Canada. Our ability to conduct our business may be materially harmed as a result of the exercise of any remedies, in the event that such remedies are exercisable, by JPMorgan.

The Subsidiary Obligors existing debt agreements contain, and our or our subsidiaries’ future debt agreements may contain, restrictions that may limit our flexibility in operating our business.

The Subsidiary Obligors’ existing debt agreements contain, and any documents governing our or our subsidiaries’ future indebtedness may contain, numerous financial and operating covenants that limit the discretion of management with respect to certain business matters. Such restrictive covenants include restrictions on, among others, our or our subsidiaries’ ability to: (1) incur additional indebtedness; (2) create or suffer to exist any liens upon any of our or our subsidiaries’ property; (3) pay dividends and other distributions or enter into agreements restricting our subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends; (4) make any restricted investment; (5) make certain loans; make certain dispositions of assets; (6) merge, amalgamate, combine or consolidate; (7) engage in certain transactions with stockholders or affiliates; (8) amend or otherwise alter the terms of our or our subsidiaries’ indebtedness; or (9) alter the business that we conduct. The Subsidiary Obligors’ existing debt agreements also require, and any documents governing our or our subsidiaries’ future indebtedness may require, us to meet certain financial ratios and tests. Noncompliance with the applicable financial ratios and tests are specified defaults under the JPMorgan Credit Facility.

The Subsidiary Obligors’ ability to comply with these and other provisions of their existing debt agreements is dependent on our future performance, which will be subject to many factors, some of which are beyond our control. The breach of any of these covenants or noncompliance with any of these financial ratios and tests could result in an event of default under the existing debt agreements, which, if not cured or waived, could result in acceleration of the related debt and the acceleration of debt under other instruments evidencing indebtedness that may also contain cross-acceleration or cross-default provisions. Variable rate indebtedness subjects the Subsidiary Obligors to the risk of higher interest rates, which could cause our future debt service obligations to increase significantly.

Uncertainty relating to the London interbank offered rate (“LIBOR”) and the potential discontinuation of LIBOR in the future may adversely affect our interest expense.

LIBOR is widely used as a reference for setting the interest rate on loans globally. The JPMorgan Credit Facility provides that loans denominated in US dollars bear interest at the Eurodollar Rate plus 1.95% and those denominated in Canadian dollars bear interest at the CDOR rate plus 1.95%. Both rates are ultimately based on LIBOR and there is a floor of 0.0% for each rate.  LIBOR is the subject of recent national, international and other regulatory guidance and proposals for reform or discontinuation. In particular, on July 27, 2017, the Chief Executive of the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates LIBOR, announced that it will no longer persuade or compel banks to submit rates for the calculation of LIBOR after 2021. Subsequently, the ICE Benchmark Administration announced its plan to extend the date most U.S. dollar LIBOR values would cease being computed to June 30, 2023.

The JPMorgan Credit Facility contains benchmark replacement terms pursuant to which the LIBOR-based rates will convert to Secured Overnight Funding Rate (SOFR) based rates or other alternative rates upon the occurrence of certain events. The floor of 0.0% would continue to apply to any alternative rate.  SOFR (and other potential alternative rates) are overnight rates, while LIBOR has seven varying rates on terms of one day to one year.  The JPMorgan Credit Facility utilizes one-month LIBOR.  The agreement attempts to provide mechanisms whereby the tenor (one month) of the LIBOR based rates would remain the same even though SOFR is an overnight rate.  In addition, LIBOR incorporates built in credit risk component because it is based on the aggregate cost of borrowing by a bank and SOFR does not have this component since it is based on overnight transactions in the Treasury repurchase market. Accordingly, there are inherent difficulties in matching these two rates and it is possible that the use of SOFR may result in a higher rate. In the event that one of the alternative rates are not available, the JPMorgan Credit Facility provides that the US loans would convert to the CB Floating Rate plus 1.95% and the Canadian loans would convert to the Canadian Prime Rate.  

There is no guarantee that an alternate interest rate will be established for the JPMorgan Credit Facility, and even if an alternative interest rate is established, such alternate interest rate may be higher than a corresponding interest rate benchmarked to LIBOR, especially given uncertainty as to the effectiveness of alternative rate-setting methodologies prior to their utilization in practice. Uncertainty as to the nature of any potential modification to or discontinuation of LIBOR, the decline in usefulness of LIBOR as an interest rate reference prior to its discontinuation, the establishment of alternative interest rates or the implementation of any other potential changes may materially and adversely affect our interest expense.

Risks Relating to Third Parties

Our reliance on a limited base of suppliers for certain products, such as light ballasts, may result in disruptions to our business and adversely affect our financial results.

Although we continue to implement risk-mitigation strategies for single-source suppliers, we rely on a limited number of suppliers for certain of our light ballasts, used in manufacturing our lighting systems. A portion of our key suppliers experienced significant volume demands in 2020, which impacted supplier performance. If we are unable to maintain supplier arrangements and relationships, if we are unable to contract with suppliers at the quantity and quality levels needed for our business, or if any of our key suppliers becomes insolvent or experience other financial distress, we could experience disruptions in production, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

A significant interruption in the operation of our or our suppliers’ facilities could impact our capacity to produce products and service our customers, which could adversely affect revenues and earnings.

Operations at our and our suppliers’ facilities are subject to disruption for a variety of reasons, including fire, flooding or other natural disasters, disease outbreaks or pandemics, acts of war, terrorism, government shut-downs and work stoppages. Some of our key suppliers experienced significant demand and increased volume for the year 2020. A significant interruption in the operation of our or our suppliers’ facilities, especially for those products manufactured at a limited number of facilities, such as fertilizer and liquid products, could significantly impact our capacity to sell products and service our customers in a timely manner, which could have a material adverse effect on our customer relationships, revenues, earnings and financial position.

If our suppliers are unable to source raw materials in sufficient quantities, on a timely basis, and at acceptable costs, our ability to sell our products may be harmed.

The manufacture of some of our products is complex and requires precise high quality manufacturing that is difficult to achieve. We have in the past, and may in the future, experience difficulties in manufacturing our products on a timely basis and in sufficient quantities. These difficulties have primarily related to difficulties associated with ramping up production of newly introduced products and may result in increased delivery lead-times and increased costs of manufacturing these products. Our failure to achieve and maintain the required high manufacturing standards could result in further delays or failures in product testing or delivery, cost overruns, product recalls or withdrawals, increased warranty costs or other problems that could harm our business and prospects.

In determining the required quantities of our products and the manufacturing schedule, we must make significant judgments and estimates based on historical experience, inventory levels, current market trends and other related factors. Because of the inherent nature of estimates, there could be significant differences between our estimates and the actual amounts of products we require, which could harm our business and results of operations.

Disruptions in availability or increases in the prices of raw materials sourced by suppliers could adversely affect our results of operations.

We source many of our product components from outside of the U.S. The general availability and price of those components can be affected by numerous forces beyond our control, including political instability, trade restrictions and other government regulations, duties and tariffs, price controls, changes in currency exchange rates and weather.

A significant disruption in the availability of any of our key product components could negatively impact our business. In addition, increases in the prices of key commodities and other raw materials could adversely affect our ability to manage our cost structure. Market conditions may limit our ability to raise selling prices to offset increases in our raw material costs. Our proprietary technologies can limit our ability to locate or utilize alternative inputs for certain products. For certain inputs, new sources of supply may have to be qualified under regulatory standards, which can require additional investment and delay bringing a product to market.

If our suppliers that currently, or in the future, sell directly to the retail market in which we conduct our current or future business, enhance these efforts and cease or decrease their sales through us, our ability to sell certain products could be harmed.

Our distribution and sales and marketing capabilities provide significant value to our suppliers. Distributed brand suppliers sell through us in order to access thousands of retail and commercial customers across the U.S. and Canada with short order lead times, no minimum order quantity on individual items, free or minimal freight expense and trade credit terms. Based on our knowledge and communication with our suppliers, we believe some of our suppliers sell directly to the retail market. If these suppliers were to cease working with us, or proceed to enhance their direct-to-customer efforts, our product offerings, reputation, operation and business could be materially adversely effected.

Risks Relating to the Cannabis Industry

We sell our products through third-party retailers and resellers which do not exclusively sell to the cannabis industry. It is evident to us that the movement towards the legalization of cannabis in the U.S. and its legalization in Canada has ultimately had a significant, positive impact on our industry. Accordingly, the risks referred to below, to the extent they relate to our customers could impact us indirectly. In addition, if our business is deemed to transact with companies involved in the cannabis business, these risks could apply directly to us. “Cannabis Industry Participants” means the potential customers and end-users of our products who are engaged in the cannabis industry.

We are subject to a number of risks, directly and indirectly through Cannabis Industry Participants, because cannabis is illegal under federal law.

Cannabis is illegal under federal law. Federal law and enforcement may adversely affect the implementation of medical cannabis and/or adult-use cannabis laws, and may negatively impact our revenues and profits.

Under the CSA, the U.S. Government lists cannabis as a Schedule I controlled substance (i.e., deemed to have no medical value), and accordingly the manufacturing (cultivation), sale, or possession of cannabis is federally illegal. It is also federally illegal to advertise the sale of cannabis or to sell paraphernalia designed or intended primarily for use with cannabis, unless the paraphernalia is authorized by federal, state, or local law. The United States Supreme Court has ruled in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Coop. and Gonzales v. Raich, 532 U.S. 483 (2001), that the federal government has the right to regulate and criminalize cannabis, even for medical purposes. The illegality of cannabis under federal law preempts state laws that legalize its use. Therefore, strict enforcement of federal law regarding cannabis would likely adversely affect our revenues and results of operations.

Other laws that directly impact the cannabis growers that are end users of certain of our products include:

The former administration, or any new administration or attorney general, could change federal enforcement policy or execution and decide to enforce the federal cannabis laws more strongly. On January 4, 2018, former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memorandum rescinding previous guidance (directing U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorneys’ offices to focus their cannabis enforcement efforts under federal law only in identified priority areas, such as sale to minors, criminal enterprises, and interstate sales). Under the Sessions memorandum, local U.S. Attorneys’ offices retain discretion regarding the prosecution of cannabis activity authorized under state laws and regulations. While former U.S. Attorney General William Barr expressed support for the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (“NORML”) during his Senate testimony on April 10, 2019, further change in the federal approach towards enforcement could negatively affect the industry, potentially ending it entirely. Any such change in the federal government’s enforcement of current federal laws could cause significant financial damage to us. The legal uncertainty and possible future changes in law could negatively affect our growth, revenues, results of operations and success generally.

Federal authorities may decide to change their current posture and begin to enforce current federal cannabis law and, if they decide to ignore the principles in the Cole Memorandum issued in 2013 (the “Cole Memorandum”) and begin to aggressively enforce such laws, it is possible that they could allege that we violated federal laws by selling products used in the cannabis industry. As a result, active enforcement of the current federal regulatory position on cannabis may thus directly or indirectly adversely affect our revenues and profits.

Violations of any U.S. federal laws and regulations could result in significant fines, penalties, administrative sanctions, convictions or settlements arising from civil proceedings conducted by either the U.S. federal government or private citizens, or criminal charges, including, but not limited to, disgorgement of profits, cessation of business activities or divestiture. This could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our reputation and ability to conduct business, the listing of our securities on any stock exchanges, the settlement of trades of our securities, our ability to obtain banking services, our financial position, operating results, profitability or liquidity or the market price of our publicly traded shares. In addition, it is difficult for us to estimate the time or resources that would be needed for the investigation of any such matters or their final resolution because, in part, the time and resources that may be needed are dependent on the nature and extent of any information requested by the applicable authorities involved, and such time or resources could be substantial.

Cannabis Industry Participants are subject to federal and state controlled substance laws and regulations. As a result, we are indirectly subject to a number of risks related to controlled substances.

We sell our products through third-party retailers and resellers which do not exclusively sell to the cannabis industry. Some of our products are sold to Cannabis Industry Participants and used in connection with cannabis businesses that are subject to federal and state controlled substance laws and regulations. Companies that transact directly or indirectly with cannabis businesses are subject to a number of risks related to controlled substances, which risks could reduce demand for our products by Cannabis Industry Participants. Such risks include, but are not limited to, the following:

Furthermore, the JPMorgan Credit Facility restricts our ability to sell our products directly to the cannabis industry. As a result, the Subsidiary Obligors do not sell our products directly to the cannabis industry.

Our growth is highly dependent on the U.S. cannabis market. New California regulations caused licensing shortages and future regulations may create other limitations that decrease the demand for our products. State level regulations adopted in the future may adversely impact our business.

The base of cannabis growers in the U.S. has grown over the past 20 years since the legalization of cannabis for medical uses in states such as California, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, with a large number of those growers depending on products similar to those we distribute. The U.S. cannabis market is still in its infancy and early adopter states such as California, Colorado and Washington represent a large portion of historical industry revenues. If the U.S. cannabis cultivation market does not grow as expected, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely impacted.

Cannabis remains illegal under U.S. federal law, with cannabis listed as a Schedule I substance under the CSA. Notwithstanding laws in various states permitting certain cannabis activities, all cannabis activities, including possession, distribution, processing and manufacturing of cannabis and investment in, and financial services or transactions involving proceeds of, or promoting such activities remain illegal under various U.S. federal criminal and civil laws and regulations, including the CSA, as well as laws and regulations of several states that have not legalized some or any cannabis activities to date. Compliance with applicable state laws regarding cannabis activities does not protect us from federal prosecution or other enforcement action, such as seizure or forfeiture remedies, nor does it provide any defense to such prosecution or action. Cannabis activities conducted in or related to conduct in multiple states may potentially face a higher level of scrutiny from federal authorities. Penalties for violating federal drug, conspiracy, aiding, abetting, bank fraud and/or money laundering laws may include prison, fines, and seizure/forfeiture of property used in connection with cannabis activities, including proceeds derived from such activities.

We sell our products through third-party retailers and resellers which do not exclusively sell to the cannabis industry, however, it is evident to us that the movement towards the legalization of cannabis in the U.S. and its legalization in Canada has ultimately had a significant, positive impact on our industry. We are not currently subject directly to any state laws or regulations controlling participants in the legal cannabis industry. However, regulation of the cannabis industry does impact those that we believe represent many end-users for our products and, accordingly, there can be no assurance that changes in regulation of the industry and more rigorous enforcement by federal authorities will not have a material adverse effect on us.

Legislation and regulations pertaining to the use and cultivation of cannabis are enacted on both the state and federal government level within the U.S. As a result, the laws governing the cultivation and use of cannabis may be subject to change. Any new laws and regulations limiting the use or cultivation of cannabis and any enforcement actions by state and federal governments could indirectly reduce demand for our products, and may impact our current and planned future operations.

Individual state laws regarding the cultivation and possession of cannabis for adult and medical uses conflict with federal laws prohibiting the cultivation, possession and use of cannabis for any purpose. A number of states have passed legislation legalizing or decriminalizing cannabis for adult-use, other states have enacted legislation specifically permitting the cultivation and use of cannabis for medicinal purposes, and several states have enacted legislation permitting cannabis cultivation and use for both adult and medicinal purposes. Variations exist among those states’ cannabis laws. Evolving federal and state laws and regulations pertaining to the use or cultivation of cannabis, as well active enforcement by federal or state authorities of the laws and regulations governing the use and cultivation of cannabis may indirectly and adversely affect our business, our revenues and our profits.

The JPMorgan Credit Facility prohibits the Subsidiary Obligors from selling our products to the cannabis industry. As a result, the Subsidiary Obligors do not sell our products directly to the cannabis industry. See “— Risks Relating to Our Indebtedness.”

Certain of our products may be purchased for use in new and emerging industries and/or be subject to varying, inconsistent, and rapidly changing laws, regulations, administrative practices, enforcement approaches, judicial interpretations, future scientific research and public perception.

We sell products, including hydroponic gardening products, through third-party retailers and resellers. End users may purchase these products for use in new and emerging industries, including the growing of cannabis that may not achieve market acceptance in a manner that we can predict. The demand for these products is dependent on the growth of these industries, which is uncertain, as well as the laws governing the growth, possession, and use of cannabis by adults for both adult and medical use.

Laws and regulations affecting the U.S. cannabis industry are continually changing, which could detrimentally affect our growth, revenues, results of operations and success generally. Local, state and federal cannabis laws and regulations are broad in scope and subject to evolving interpretations, which could require the end users of certain of our products or us to incur substantial costs associated with compliance or to alter our respective business plans. In addition, violations of these laws, or allegations of such violations, could disrupt our business and result in a material adverse effect on our results of operation and financial condition.

Scientific research related to the benefits of cannabis remains in its early stages, is subject to a number of important assumptions, and may prove to be inaccurate. Future research studies and clinical trials may reach negative conclusions regarding the viability, safety, efficacy, dosing, social acceptance or other facts and perceptions related to medical cannabis, which could materially impact the demand for our products for use in the cannabis industry.

The public’s perception of cannabis may significantly impact the cannabis industry’s success. Both the medical and adult-use of cannabis are controversial topics, and there is no guarantee that future scientific research, publicity, regulations, medical opinion, and public opinion relating to cannabis will be favorable. The cannabis industry is an early-stage business that is constantly evolving with no guarantee of viability. The market for medical and adult-use of cannabis is uncertain, and any adverse or negative publicity, scientific research, limiting regulations, medical opinion and public opinion (whether or not accurate or with merit) relating to the consumption of cannabis, whether in the U.S. or internationally, may have a material adverse effect on our operational results, consumer base, and financial results. Among other things, such a shift in public opinion could cause state jurisdictions to abandon initiatives or proposals to legalize medical or adult cannabis or adopt new laws or regulations restricting or prohibiting the medical or adult-use of cannabis where it is now legal, thereby limiting the Cannabis Industry Participants.

Demand for our products may be negatively impacted depending on how laws, regulations, administrative practices, enforcement approaches, judicial interpretations, and consumer perceptions develop. We cannot predict the nature of such developments or the effect, if any, that such developments could have on our business.

Our indirect involvement in the cannabis industry could affect the public’s perception of us and be detrimental to our reputation.

Damage to our reputation can be the result of the actual or perceived occurrence of any number of events, and could include any negative publicity, whether true or not. Cannabis has often been associated with various other narcotics, violence and criminal activities, the risk of which is that our retailers and resellers that transact with cannabis businesses might attract negative publicity. There is also risk that the action(s) of other participants, companies and service providers in the cannabis industry may negatively affect the reputation of the industry as a whole and thereby negatively impact our reputation. The increased use of social media and other web-based tools used to generate, publish and discuss user-generated content and to connect with other users has made it increasingly easier for individuals and groups to communicate and share opinions and views with regard to cannabis companies and their activities, whether true or not and the cannabis industry in general, whether true or not. We do not ultimately have direct control over how the cannabis industry is perceived by others. Reputation loss may result in decreased investor confidence, increased challenges in developing and maintaining community relations and an impediment to our overall ability to advance our business strategy and realize our growth prospects, thereby having a material adverse impact on our business.

In addition, third parties with whom we may do business could perceive that they are exposed to reputational risk as a result of our retailers’ and resellers’ involvement with cannabis businesses. Failure to establish or maintain business relationships due to reputational risk arising in connection with the nature of our business could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Businesses involved in the cannabis industry, and investments in such businesses, are subject to a variety of laws and regulations related to money laundering, financial recordkeeping and proceeds of crimes.

We sell our products through third-party retailers and resellers which do not exclusively sell to the cannabis industry. Investments in the U.S. cannabis industry are subject to a variety of laws and regulations that involve money laundering, financial recordkeeping and proceeds of crime, including the BSA, as amended by the U.S. PATRIOT Act, other anti-money laundering laws, and any related or similar rules, regulations or guidelines, issued, administered or enforced by governmental authorities in the U.S.. In February 2014, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the Treasury Department (“FinCEN”) issued a memorandum (the “FinCEN Memo”) providing guidance to banks seeking to provide services to cannabis businesses. The FinCEN Memo outlines circumstances under which banks may provide services to cannabis businesses without risking prosecution for violation of U.S. federal money laundering laws. It refers to supplementary guidance that Deputy Attorney General Cole issued to U.S. federal prosecutors relating to the prosecution of U.S. money laundering offenses predicated on cannabis violations of the CSA and outlines extensive due diligence and reporting requirements, which most banks have viewed as onerous. On June 29, 2020, FinCEN issued additional guidance for financial institutions conducting due diligence and filing suspicious activity reports in connection with hemp-related business customers. While these guidelines clarify that financial institutions are not required to file suspicious activity reports solely based on a customer’s hemp-related business operations, which must be operating lawfully under applicable state law and regulations, these requirements can still present challenges for certain end users of our products to establish and maintain banking connections, and restrictions on cannabis-related banking activities remain. In September 2019, the United States House of Representatives passed the SAFE Banking Act, which would permit commercial banks to offer services to cannabis companies that are in compliance with state law, but the Senate has not taken up the SAFE Banking Act or other similar legislation.

Risks Relating to Other Regulations

Certain state and other regulations pertaining to the use of certain ingredients in growing media and plant nutrients could adversely impact us by restricting our ability to sell such products.

One of our leading product lines is growing media and nutrients products. This product line includes certain products, such as organic soils and nutrients that contain ingredients that require the companies that provide us with these products to register the product with certain regulators. The use and disposal of these products in some jurisdictions are subject to regulation by various agencies. A decision by a regulatory agency to significantly restrict the use of such products that have traditionally been used in the cultivation of our leading products could have an adverse impact on those companies providing us with such regulated products, and as a result, limit our ability to sell these products.

We are currently subject to, and may in the future become subject to additional, U.S., state and foreign laws and regulations imposing obligations on how we collect, store and process personal information. Our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our business.

We are, and may increasingly become, subject to various laws and regulations, as well as contractual obligations, relating to data privacy and security in the jurisdictions in which we operate. The regulatory environment related to data privacy and security is increasingly rigorous, with new and constantly changing requirements applicable to our business, and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. These laws and regulations may be interpreted and applied differently over time and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and it is possible that they will be interpreted and applied in ways that may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

In the U.S., various federal and state regulators, including governmental agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission, have adopted, or are considering adopting, laws and regulations concerning personal information and data security. Certain state laws may be more stringent or broader in scope, or offer greater individual rights, with respect to personal information than federal, international or other state laws, and such laws may differ from each other, all of which may complicate compliance efforts. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which increases privacy rights for California residents and imposes obligations on companies that process their personal information, came into effect on January 1, 2020. Among other things, the CCPA requires covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers and provide such consumers new data protection and privacy rights, including the ability to opt-out of certain sales of personal information. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for certain data breaches that result in the loss of personal information. This private right of action may increase the likelihood of, and risks associated with, data breach litigation. In addition, on November 3, 2020, California voters approved a new privacy law, the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”). The CPRA comes into effect on January 1, 2023, and will significantly modify the CCPA, including by expanding consumers’ rights with respect to certain personal information and creating a new state agency to oversee implementation and enforcement efforts. In addition, laws in all 50 U.S. states require businesses to provide notice to consumers whose personal information has been disclosed as a result of a data breach. State laws are changing rapidly and there is discussion in the U.S. Congress of a new comprehensive federal data privacy law to which we would become subject if it is enacted.

Internationally, laws, regulations and standards in many jurisdictions apply broadly to the collection, use, retention, security, disclosure, transfer and other processing of personal information. For example, the E.U. General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which became effective in May 2018, greatly increased the European Commission’s jurisdictional reach of its laws and adds a broad array of requirements for handling personal data. EU member states are tasked under the GDPR to enact, and have enacted, certain implementing legislation that adds to and/or further interprets the GDPR requirements and potentially extends our obligations and potential liability for failing to meet such obligations. The GDPR, together with national legislation, regulations and guidelines of the EU member states and the United Kingdom governing the processing of personal data, impose strict obligations and restrictions on the ability to collect, use, retain, protect, disclose, transfer and otherwise process personal data. In particular, the GDPR includes obligations and restrictions concerning the consent and rights of individuals to whom the personal data relates, the transfer of personal data out of the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, security breach notifications and the security and confidentiality of personal data. The GDPR authorizes fines for certain violations of up to 4% of global annual revenue or €20 million, whichever is greater.

All of these evolving compliance and operational requirements impose significant costs, such as costs related to organizational changes, implementing additional protection technologies, training employees and engaging consultants, which are likely to increase over time. In addition, such requirements may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies, distract management or divert resources from other initiatives and projects, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with any applicable federal, state or similar foreign laws and regulations relating to data privacy and security could result in damage to our reputation, as well as proceedings or litigation by government agencies or other third parties, including class action privacy litigation in certain jurisdictions, which would subject us to significant fines, sanctions, awards, penalties or judgements, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Compliance with, or violation of, environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including laws pertaining to the use of pesticides, could result in significant costs that adversely impact our reputation, businesses, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

International, federal, state, provincial and local laws and regulations relating to environmental, health and safety matters affect us in several ways in light of the ingredients that are used in products included in our growing media and nutrients product line. In the U.S., products containing pesticides generally must be registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”), and similar state agencies before they can be sold or applied. The failure by one of our partners to obtain or the cancellation of any such registration, or the withdrawal from the marketplace of such pesticides, could have an adverse effect on our businesses, the severity of which would depend on the products involved, whether other products could be substituted and whether our competitors were similarly affected. The pesticides we use are either granted a license by the EPA or exempt from such a license and may be evaluated by the EPA as part of its ongoing exposure risk assessment. The EPA may decide that a pesticide we distribute will be limited or will not be re-registered for use in the U.S. We cannot predict the outcome or the severity of the effect on our business of any future evaluations, if any, conducted by the EPA.

In addition, the use of certain pesticide products is regulated by various international, federal, state, provincial and local environmental and public health agencies. Although we strive to comply with such laws and regulations and have processes in place designed to achieve compliance, we may be unable to prevent violations of these or other laws and regulations from occurring. Even if we are able to comply with all such laws and regulations and obtain all necessary registrations and licenses, the pesticides or other products we apply or use, or the manner in which we apply or use them, could be alleged to cause injury to the environment, to people or to animals, or such products could be banned in certain circumstances. The costs of compliance, noncompliance, investigation, remediation, combating reputational harm or defending civil or criminal proceedings, products liability, personal injury or other lawsuits could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, businesses, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Risks Relating to Our Intellectual Property

Recent laws make it difficult to predict how patents will be issued or enforced in our industry.

Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the U.S. and other countries may have a significant impact on our ability to protect our technology and enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights. There have been numerous changes to the patent laws and to the rules of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (the “USPTO”), which may have a significant impact on our ability to protect our technology and enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights. For example, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which was signed into law in 2011, includes a transition from a “first-to-invent” system to a “first-to-file” system, and changes the way issued patents can be challenged. Certain changes, such as the institution of inter partes review and post-grant and derivation proceedings, came into effect in 2012. Substantive changes to patent law associated with the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act may affect our ability to obtain patents, and, if obtained, to enforce or defend them in litigation or inter partes review, or post-grant or derivation proceedings, all of which could harm our business.

We may not be able to adequately obtain, maintain, protect or enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary rights that are material to our business.

Our ability to compete effectively depends in part on our rights to trademarks, patents and other intellectual property rights we own or license. We have not sought to register every one of our trademarks either in the U.S. or in every country in which such mark is used. Furthermore, because of the differences in foreign trademark, patent and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws, we may not receive the same protection in other countries as we would in the U.S. with respect to the registered brand names and issued patents we hold. If we are unable to obtain, maintain, protect and enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights, including our information and/or brand names, we could suffer a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The steps we take to obtain, maintain, protect and enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights may be inadequate and despite our efforts to protect these rights, unauthorized third parties, including our competitors, may duplicate, reverse engineer, access, obtain, use or copy the proprietary aspects of our technology, processes, products or services without our permission. In addition, we cannot guarantee that we have entered into confidentiality agreements with each party that has or may have had access to our proprietary information, know-how and trade secrets. Moreover, our contractual arrangements may be breached or otherwise not effectively prevent disclosure of, or control access to, our intellectual property and confidential and proprietary information or provide an adequate remedy in the event of an unauthorized disclosure. If we are unable to obtain, maintain, protect or enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights, including our proprietary information and/or brand names, we could suffer a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Litigation may be necessary to enforce our owned or in-licensed intellectual property rights and proprietary rights and protect our proprietary information against claims by third parties that our products or services infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property rights or proprietary rights. Any litigation or claims brought by us could result in substantial costs and diversion of our resources and may not be successful, even when our rights have been infringed, misappropriated or otherwise violated. Our efforts to enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights may be met with defenses, counterclaims and countersuits attacking the validity and enforceability of our intellectual property and proprietary rights, and if such defenses, counterclaims or countersuits are successful, we could lose valuable intellectual property and proprietary rights. Additionally, the mechanisms for enforcement of intellectual property and proprietary rights in foreign jurisdictions may be inadequate.

Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submissions, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for noncompliance with these requirements.

Periodic maintenance or annuity fees on any issued patents are due to be paid to the USPTO, and foreign patent agencies in several stages over the lifetime of the patent. The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payments and other similar provisions during the patent application process. While an inadvertent or unintentional lapse can in many cases be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. Noncompliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application include, but are not limited to, failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits, nonpayment of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. If we or our licensors fail to maintain the patents and patent applications covering our products, our competitors might be able to enter the market, which would have a material adverse effect on our business. Additionally, patents have a limited lifespan. In the U.S., even if all maintenance fees are timely paid, the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years from its earliest U.S. non-provisional filing date and the natural expiration of a design patent is generally 14 years after its issue date, unless the filing date occurred on or after May 13, 2015, in which case the natural expiration of a design patent is generally 15 years after its issue date. Even if patents covering our products or services are obtained, once the patent life has expired, we may be open to competition from competitive products or services. If one of our products requires extended development, testing and/or regulatory review, patents protecting such products might expire before or shortly after such products are commercialized. As a result, our patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours.

From time to time, we may need to rely on licenses to proprietary technologies, which may be difficult or expensive to obtain or we may lose certain licenses which may be difficult to replace, harming our competitive position.

We may need to obtain licenses to patents and other intellectual property and proprietary rights held by third parties to develop, manufacture and market our products, if, for example, we sought to develop our products, in conjunction with any patented technology. If we are unable to timely obtain these licenses on commercially reasonable terms (or at all) and maintain these licenses, our ability to commercially market our products, may be inhibited or prevented, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

In spite of our best efforts, our licensors might conclude that we have materially breached our license agreements and might therefore terminate the license agreements, thereby removing our ability to develop and commercialize products, services and technology covered by these license agreements. If these in-licenses are terminated, or if the underlying patents fail to provide the intended exclusivity, competitors may have the freedom to market products identical to ours and we may be required to cease using or commercializing our products, services and technology covered by such patents.

Third parties may initiate legal proceedings alleging that we are infringing their intellectual property rights, the outcome of which would be uncertain and could have a material adverse effect on the success of our business.

Our success depends upon our ability to develop, manufacture, market and sell our products, and to use our proprietary technologies without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the intellectual property or proprietary rights of third parties. We may become party to, or threatened with, future adversarial proceedings or litigation regarding intellectual property or proprietary rights with respect to our products and technology, including interference or derivation proceedings and various other post-grant proceedings before the USPTO and/or non- U.S. opposition proceedings. Third parties may assert infringement claims against us based on existing patents or patents that may be granted in the future. A successful claim of trademark, patent or other intellectual property or proprietary right infringement, misappropriation or other violation against us, or any other successful challenge to the use of our intellectual property and proprietary rights, could subject us to damages or prevent us from providing certain products or services, or using certain of our recognized brand names, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. As a result of any such infringement claims, or other intellectual property claims, regardless of merit, or to avoid potential claims, we may choose or be compelled to seek intellectual property licenses from third parties. These licenses may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Even if we are able to obtain a license, the license would likely obligate us to pay license fees, royalties, minimum royalties and/or milestone payments and the rights granted to us could be nonexclusive, which would mean that our competitors may be able to obtain licenses to the same intellectual property. Ultimately, we could be prevented from commercializing a product and/or technology or be forced to cease some aspect of our business operations if, as a result of actual or threatened infringement or other intellectual property claims, we are unable to enter into licenses of the relevant intellectual property on acceptable terms. Further, if we attempt to modify a product and/or technology or to develop alternative methods or products in response to infringement or other intellectual property claims or to avoid potential claims, we could incur substantial costs, encounter delays in product introductions or interruptions in sales.

We may be subject to claims that our employees have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their former employers.

Although we try to ensure that our employees do not use the intellectual property and proprietary rights, including proprietary information or know-how, of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or these employees have used or disclosed intellectual property or proprietary rights, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of any such employee’s former employer. We are not aware of any threatened or pending claims related to these matters or concerning agreements with our employees, but in the future litigation may be necessary to defend against such claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property or proprietary rights or personnel. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.

Intellectual property disputes could cause us to spend substantial resources and distract our personnel from their normal responsibilities.

Even if resolved in our favor, litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectual property claims may cause us to incur significant expenses, and could distract our personnel from their normal responsibilities. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments, and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the value of our common stock. Such litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development activities or any future sales, marketing or distribution activities. We may not have sufficient financial or other resources to adequately conduct such litigation or proceedings. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent and other intellectual property litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete in the marketplace.

If our owned or in-licensed trademarks and trade names are not adequately protected, then we may not be able to build name recognition in our markets of interest and our business may be adversely affected.

We regard our owned and in-licensed trademarks, trade names and service marks as having significant value and as an important factor in the success of our business. The registered or unregistered trademarks, trade names and service marks that we own or in-license from third parties may be challenged, infringed, circumvented, declared generic or determined to be infringing on or dilutive of other marks. Additionally, at times, competitors may adopt trademarks, trade names or service marks similar to the ones we own or in-license, thereby impeding our ability to build brand identity and possibly leading to market confusion. In addition, there could be potential trademark, trade name or service mark infringement claims brought against us or our licensors by owners of other trademarks, trade names and service marks. Over the long term, if we are unable to establish name recognition based on our owned and in-licensed trademarks and trade names, then we may not be able to compete effectively and our business may be adversely affected. We may also license our trademarks, trade names and service marks out to third parties, such as our distributors. Though these license agreements may provide guidelines for how our trademarks, trade names and service marks may be used, a breach of these agreements or misuse of our trademarks, trade names and service marks by our licensees may jeopardize our rights in or diminish the goodwill associated with our trademarks and trade names. Our efforts to enforce or protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights related to trademarks, trade names and service marks may be ineffective and could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Intellectual property and proprietary rights do not necessarily address all potential threats to our competitive advantage.

The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property and proprietary rights is uncertain because intellectual property and proprietary rights have limitations, and may not adequately protect our business, or permit us to maintain our competitive advantage. The following examples are illustrative.

Should any of these events occur, they could significantly harm our business, results of operations and prospects.

Risks Relating to Our Capital Stock

We may incur indebtedness or issue capital stock that ranks senior or equally to our common stock as to liquidation preference and other rights and which may dilute our stockholders’ ownership interest.

Shares of our common stock are common equity interests in us and, as such, will rank junior to all of our existing and future indebtedness and other liabilities. Additionally, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (the “Certificate of Incorporation”) does not prohibit us from issuing any series of preferred stock that would rank senior or equally to our common stock as to dividend payments and liquidation preference. Our Certificate of Incorporation allows for our board of directors to create new series of preferred stock without further approval by our stockholders, which could adversely affect the rights of the holders of our common stock. We have the authority to issue up to 50,000,000 shares of our preferred stock without further stockholder approval. The issuances of any series of preferred stock could have the effect of reducing the amounts available to our holders of common stock in the event of our liquidation. In addition, if we issue preferred stock with voting rights that dilute the voting power of our common stock, the market price of our common stock could decrease. Additional issuances and sales of preferred stock, or the perception that such issuances and sales could occur, may cause prevailing market prices for our common stock to decline and may adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital in the financial markets at times and prices favorable to us. In addition, any additional capital raised through the sale of equity or equity-backed securities may dilute our stockholders’ ownership percentages and could also result in a decrease in the market value of our common stock.

Provisions in our corporate charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of our company, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management.

These provisions might discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or a change in our management. The existence of these provisions could adversely affect the voting power of holders of common stock and limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock. Furthermore, we have the authority to issue up to 50,000,000 shares of our preferred stock without further stockholder approval, the rights of which will be determined at the discretion of the board of directors and that, if issued, could operate as a “poison pill” to dilute the stock ownership of a potential hostile acquirer to prevent an acquisition that our board of directors does not approve. In addition, our Certificate of Incorporation and amended and restated bylaws (the “Bylaws”) contain provisions that may make the acquisition of our company more difficult, including the following:

Various provisions of our lending agreements with JPMorgan, in addition to our Certificate of Incorporation, Bylaws and other corporate documents, could delay or prevent a change of control.

The JPMorgan Credit Facility prohibits us from undergoing a change of control. Any takeover attempt could be delayed, or prevented, if an amendment or waiver is not provided by the respective lenders. See “— Risks Relating to Our Indebtedness.” Moreover, certain provisions of our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws and provisions of Delaware General Corporation Law could delay or prevent a change of control or may impede the ability of the holders of our common stock to change our management. In particular, our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws, among other things will regulate how stockholders may present proposals or nominate directors for election at stockholders’ meetings and authorize our board of directors to issue preferred stock in one or more series, without stockholder approval. See “Description of Capital Stock — Anti-Takeover Provisions.”

We are a holding company and rely on dividends and other payments, advances and transfers of funds from our subsidiaries to meet our obligations and pay dividends, if any, and we may never pay any dividends to the holders of our common stock and capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock may be your sole source of gain on your investment.

We have no direct operations and no significant assets other than the ownership of capital stock and equity interests of our subsidiaries. Because we conduct our operations through our subsidiaries, we depend on those entities for dividends and other payments to generate the funds necessary to meet our financial obligations. Legal and contractual restrictions in the JPMorgan Credit Facility and other agreements which may govern future indebtedness of our subsidiaries, as well as the financial condition and operating requirements of our subsidiaries, may limit our ability to obtain cash from our subsidiaries. The earnings from, or other available assets of, our subsidiaries might not be sufficient to pay dividends or make distributions or loans to enable us to pay any dividends on our common stock or other obligations. Any of the foregoing could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In addition, our ability to pay dividends is restricted by the terms of the JPMorgan Credit Facility and, in addition, future debt financing, if any, may contain terms prohibiting or limiting the amount of dividends that may be declared or paid on our securities.

We currently intend to retain any future earnings for use in the operation and expansion of our business. Accordingly, we do not expect to pay any dividends to holders of our common stock in the foreseeable future, but will review this policy as circumstances dictate. The declaration and payment of all future dividends to holders of our common stock, if any, will be at the sole discretion of our board of directors, which retains the right to change our dividend policy at any time. In addition, our ability to pay dividends is restricted by the terms of the JPMorgan Credit Facility and, in addition, future debt financing, if any, may contain terms prohibiting or limiting the amount of dividends that may be declared or paid on our securities. Consequently, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock may be your sole source of gain on your investment for the foreseeable future.

Our largest stockholders will exercise significant influence over our company for the foreseeable future, including the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval.

As of March 16, 2021, our former directors and their affiliates collectively own 13,051,042 shares of our common stock, or approximately 39% of our outstanding shares of common stock. Accordingly, if these stockholders were to choose to act together, they could have a significant influence over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or other sale of our company or all or a significant percentage of our assets. This concentration of ownership could limit your ability to influence corporate matters and may have the effect of delaying or preventing a third party from acquiring control over us.

We cannot assure you that the interests of our former directors and affiliated persons will coincide with the interests of the investors. So long as our former directors and affiliated persons collectively controls a significant portion of our common stock, these individuals and/or entities controlled by them, will continue to collectively be able to strongly influence or effectively control our decisions. Therefore, you should not invest in reliance on your ability to have any control over our company. See “Principal Stockholders,” “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions” and “Description of Capital Stock.”

The market price of our common stock could be negatively affected by future sales of our common stock.

If our existing stockholders, our directors, their affiliates, or our executive officers, sell a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market, the market price of our common stock could decrease significantly. The perception in the public market that these stockholders might sell our common stock could also depress the market price of our common stock and could impair our future ability to obtain capital, especially through an offering of equity securities.

We, along with our directors and executive officers and holders of substantially all of our capital stock and securities convertible into our capital stock are subject to lock-up agreements or market stand-off provisions that expire in June 2021 and, accordingly, approximately 23,552,486 shares of our common stock will become eligible for sale upon such expiration. Such lock-up expirations could adversely affect the market for our common stock.

We have also agreed to file a registration statement for the resale of certain shares of our common stock held by certain of our stockholders. All of our common stock sold pursuant to an offering covered by such registration statement will be freely transferable.

Our common stock has only recently become publicly traded, and the market price of our common stock may be volatile.

The market price of our common stock may fluctuate substantially depending on a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control and may not be related to our operating performance. These fluctuations could cause you to lose all or part of your investment in our common stock since you might be unable to sell your shares at or above the price you paid. Factors that could cause fluctuations in the trading price of our common stock include the following:

In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a particular company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. This litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.

We are an emerging growth company, and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.

As an emerging growth company, as defined in the JOBS Act, we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to obtain an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting from our independent registered public accounting firm pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. To the extent we avail ourselves of these exemptions, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with such new or revised accounting standards. We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we will rely on these.

Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that the doctrine of “corporate opportunity” will not apply with respect to any director or stockholder who is not employed by us or our affiliates.

The doctrine of corporate opportunity generally provides that a corporate fiduciary may not develop an opportunity using corporate resources, acquire an interest adverse to that of the corporation or acquire property that is reasonably incident to the present or prospective business of the corporation or in which the corporation has a present or expectancy interest, unless that opportunity is first presented to the corporation and the corporation chooses not to pursue that opportunity. The doctrine of corporate opportunity is intended to preclude officers or directors or other fiduciaries from personally benefiting from opportunities that belong to the corporation. Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that the doctrine of “corporate opportunity” does not apply with respect to any director or stockholder who is not employed by us or our affiliates. Any director or stockholder who is not employed by us or our affiliates will therefore have no duty to communicate or present corporate opportunities to us, and will have the right to either hold any corporate opportunity for their (and their affiliates’) own account and benefit or to recommend, assign or otherwise transfer such corporate opportunity to persons other than us, including to any director or stockholder who is not employed by us or our affiliates.

As a result, certain of our stockholders, directors and their respective affiliates will not be prohibited from operating or investing in competing businesses. We therefore may find ourselves in competition with certain of our stockholders, directors or their respective affiliates, and we may not have knowledge of, or be able to pursue, transactions that could potentially be beneficial to us. Accordingly, we may lose a corporate opportunity or suffer competitive harm, which could negatively impact our business or prospects.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or they publish negative reports about our business, our share price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business, our market and our competitors. We do not have any control over these analysts. If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our shares or change their opinion of our shares, our share price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our share price or trading volume to decline.

Our Certificate of Incorporation and our Bylaws provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our Certificate of Incorporation and our Bylaws provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty; any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the Delaware General Corporation Law, our Certificate of Incorporation or our Bylaws; or any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the exclusive forum provision does not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act, the Securities Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, be the sole and exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. The choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our Certificate of Incorporation and our Bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operation.

General Risk Factors

If we are unable to hire and retain key personnel, we may not be able to implement our business plan and our business may fail.

Our future success depends to a large extent on our ability to attract, hire, train and retain qualified managerial, operational and other personnel. We face significant competition for qualified and experienced employees in our industry and from other industries and, as a result, we may be unable to attract and retain the personnel needed to successfully conduct and grow our operations. Additionally, key personnel, including members of management, may leave and compete against us.

At present, we believe we have the necessary key personnel to carry out our business plans but there can be no assurance that our beliefs will not prove unfounded. If we are unable to hire and retain key personnel, our business will be materially adversely affected.

Litigation may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

From time to time in the normal course of our business operations, we may become subject to litigation that may result in liability material to our financial statements as a whole or may negatively affect our operating results if changes to our business operation are required. The cost to defend such litigation may be significant and may require a diversion of our resources. There also may be adverse publicity associated with litigation that could negatively affect customer perception of our business, regardless of whether the allegations are valid or whether we are ultimately found liable. As a result, litigation may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Exercise of options or warrants or conversion of convertible securities may have a dilutive effect on your percentage ownership and may result in a dilution of your voting power and an increase in the number of shares of common stock eligible for future resale in the public market, which may negatively impact the trading price of our shares of common stock.

The exercise or conversion of some or all of our outstanding options, warrants, or convertible securities could result in significant dilution in the percentage ownership interest of existing investors and in the percentage ownership interest of our existing common stockholders and in a significant dilution of voting rights and earnings per share. As of March 16, 2021, we have outstanding warrants to purchase up to 3,569,833 shares of our common stock at a weighted exercise price of $16.42 per share and we have outstanding options for the issuance of up to 890,728 shares of common stock at a weighted exercise price of $8.82 per share. The exercise of such existing outstanding stock options will further dilute our stockholders’ voting interests. To the extent options and/or warrants and/or conversion rights are exercised, additional shares of common stock will be issued, and such issuance will dilute stockholders.

In addition to the dilutive effects described above, the exercise of those securities would lead to an increase in the number of shares of common stock eligible for resale in the public market. Sales of substantial numbers of such shares of common stock in the public market could adversely affect the market price of our shares of common stock. Substantial dilution and/or a substantial increase in the number of shares of common stock available for future resale may negatively impact the trading price of our shares of common stock.

Our security holders may be diluted by future issuances of securities by us.

In the future, we may issue our authorized but previously unissued equity securities, including additional shares of capital stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for our capital stock. Such issuance of additional securities would dilute the ownership stake in us held by our existing stockholders and could adversely affect the value of our securities.

We may also issue additional shares of our common stock, warrants or other securities that are convertible into or exercisable for the purchase of shares of our common stock in connection with hiring and/or retaining employees or consultants, future acquisitions, future sales of our securities for capital raising purposes, or for other business purposes. The future issuance of any such additional shares of our common stock or other securities, for any reason including those stated above, may have a negative impact on the market price of our common stock. There can be no assurance that the issuance of any additional shares of common stock, warrants or other convertible securities may not be at a price (or exercise prices) below the price of the common stock offered hereby.

Failure to comply with the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act could subject us to penalties and other adverse consequences.

As a Delaware corporation, we are subject to the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which generally prohibits U.S. companies from engaging in bribery or other prohibited payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Some foreign companies, including some that may compete with us, may not be subject to these prohibitions. Corruption, extortion, bribery, pay-offs, theft and other fraudulent practices may occur from time-to-time in countries in which we conduct our business. However, our employees or other agents may engage in conduct for which we might be held responsible. If our employees or other agents are found to have engaged in such practices, we could suffer severe penalties and other consequences that may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Delaware law contains anti-takeover provisions that could deter takeover attempts that could be beneficial to our stockholders.

Provisions of Delaware law could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if doing so would be beneficial to our stockholders. Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law may make the acquisition of our company and the removal of incumbent officers and directors more difficult by prohibiting stockholders holding 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock from acquiring us, without the consent of our board of directors, for at least three years from the date they first hold 15% or more of the voting stock.

None.

We have approximately 900,000 square feet of distribution space under leases in strategic locations, including six distribution centers in the U.S., two distribution centers in Canada and one distribution center in Spain. Our headquarters is located in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.” We have in total six facilities in the U.S., two in Canada, one in Spain, and one in China.

We believe that our existing facilities are adequate for our needs at this time, although we do plan to open new distribution centers in the future to meet anticipated demand resulting from further deregulation of cannabis and overall market growth.

As a result of the planned sale of the building which we currently lease in Petaluma, California, we have temporarily relocated our executive offices to another one of our existing locations, specifically our 290 Canal Road, Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania 19030 distribution center. We also intend to relocate our existing distribution operations in Northern California from the existing Petaluma building to a larger distribution center in the surrounding area.

From time to time, we may become involved in various lawsuits and legal proceedings, which arise, in the ordinary course of business. We are currently not aware of any legal proceedings or claims that we believe will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or operating results.

Not applicable.

PART II

Market Information

Our common stock began trading on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “HYFM” on December 10, 2020. Prior to that date, there was no public trading market for our common stock.

Holders of our Common Stock

As of March 17, 2021, there were approximately 12,198 stockholders of record of our common stock.

Dividend Policy

We have never declared or paid any dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings for the operation and expansion of our business. Accordingly, we do not anticipate declaring or paying dividends in the foreseeable future. The payment of any future dividends will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on our results of operations, capital requirements, financial condition, prospects, contractual arrangements, any limitations on payment of dividends present in any debt agreements, and other factors that our Board of Directors may deem relevant.

Stock Performance Graph

This performance graph is not “soliciting material,” is not deemed filed with the SEC and is not to be incorporated by reference in any filing by us under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, whether made before or after the date hereof and irrespective of any general incorporation language in any such filing. The stock price performance shown on the graph is not necessarily indicative of future price performance.

Comparison of Cumulative Total Return

Among Hydrofarm Holdings Group, Inc., S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary Sector and the Nasdaq Composite Index

The above graph measures the change in a $100 investment in our common stock from December 10, 2020 (the date our common stock commenced trading on The Nasdaq Global Select Market) through December 31, 2020. Our relative performance is then compared with the S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary Sector and the Nasdaq Composite Index. The graph uses the closing market price on December 10, 2020 of $51.99 per share as the initial value of our common stock. If we used the $20 per share price paid in our December 2020 initial public offering, the total return through December 31, 2020 would greatly exceed the amount shown in the graph above.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

On December 31, 2019, we entered into a securities purchase agreement with certain investors named therein, pursuant to which we issued and sold, in a private placement offering between December 2019 and February 2020, 7,725,045 shares of our Series A Convertible Preferred Stock, par value $0.0001 per share, at an offering price of $3.50. We received gross proceeds of approximately $27 million (which includes proceeds of approximately $8 million raised from the issuances of convertible unsecured subordinated promissory notes in September and October 2019, which converted into shares of our Series A Preferred Stock) in connection with our initial public offering, before deducting fees and related offering expenses.

The securities above were offered and sold pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act since, among other things, the transactions did not involve a public offering.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Not applicable.

Reserved.

The following discussion and analysis provides information that we believe is relevant to an assessment and understanding of our results of operations and financial condition. You should read this analysis in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes contained elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion and analysis contains statements of a forward-looking nature relating to future events or our future financial performance. These statements are only predictions, and actual events or results may differ materially. In evaluating such statements, you should carefully consider the various factors identified in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, any forward-looking statements, including those set forth in “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Company Overview

We are a leading independent distributor and manufacturer of controlled environment agriculture (“CEA”, principally hydroponics) equipment and supplies, including a broad portfolio of our own innovative portfolio of proprietary branded products. We primarily serve the U.S. and Canadian markets, and believe we are one of the leading competitors by market share in these markets in an otherwise highly fragmented industry. For over 40 years, we have helped growers make growing easier and more productive. Our mission is to empower growers, farmers and cultivators with products that enable greater quality, efficiency, consistency and speed in their grow projects.

Hydroponics is the farming of plants using soilless growing media and often artificial lighting in a controlled indoor or greenhouse environment. Hydroponics is the primary category of CEA and we use the terms CEA and hydroponics interchangeably. Our products are used to grow, farm and cultivate cannabis, flowers, fruits, plants, vegetables, grains and herbs in controlled environment settings that allow end users to control key farming variables including temperature, humidity, CO2, light intensity spectrum, nutrient concentration and pH. Through CEA, growers are able to be more efficient with physical space, water and resources, while enjoying year-round and more rapid grow cycles as well as more predictable and abundant grow yields, when compared to other traditional growing methods.

We reach commercial farmers and consumers through a broad and diversified network of over 2,000 wholesale customer accounts, who we connect with primarily through our proprietary eCommerce marketplace. Over 80% of our net sales are into the specialty hydroponic retailers, through which growers are able to enjoy specialized merchandise assortments and knowledgeable staff. We also distribute our products across the U.S. and Canada to a diversified range of retailers of commercial and home gardening equipment and supplies that include garden centers, hardware stores, eCommerce retailers, commercial greenhouse builders, and commercial resellers.

Recent Developments

Initial Public Offering

On December 14, 2020, we completed our IPO, in which we issued and sold 9,966,667 shares of our common stock, including the full exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase 1,300,000 additional shares of our common stock, at a public offering price of $20.00 per share, which resulted in net proceeds of $182.3 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses. The proceeds from the IPO were used (i) to repay the amounts outstanding under the Term Loan Credit Agreement among our subsidiary obligors, Brightwood Loan Services, LLC and the other lenders party thereto (as amended to date, the “Term Loan Agreement”) of $76.6 million (includes accrued interest and fees of $0.3 million), (ii) to paydown certain amounts outstanding under the Encina Credit Facility of $33.4 million, (iii) to repay $3.3 million under the promissory note to JPMorgan Chase, N.A. through the U.S. Small Business Administrative Paycheck Protection Program (the “PPP Loan”), and (iv) to pay $2.6 million to settle the Series A Preferred Stock dividend. Our common stock began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on December 10, 2020.

Effects of Coronavirus on Our Business

The World Health Organization recognized COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020 and as a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. Public health responses have included national pandemic preparedness and response plans, travel restrictions, quarantines, curfews, event postponements and cancellations and closures of facilities including local schools and businesses. While the rollout of vaccines has begun, the timing of vaccinations, herd immunity, and the lifting of shelter in place and similar restrictions and movement restrictions is unknown. The global pandemic and actions taken to contain COVID-19 have adversely affected the global economy and financial markets.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we implemented business continuity plans designed to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, such as restrictions on non-essential business travel, the institution of work-from-home practices and the implementation of strategies for workplace safety at our facilities. In March 2020, the majority of the employees at our headquarters transitioned to working remotely. For several weeks following the initial outbreak of COVID-19, we experienced a material impact to our supply chain that inhibited growth and results of operations. And from time-to-time during the COVID-19 pandemic, we experienced delays in the receipt of goods from international and domestic suppliers as well as a general slowdown in freight processing times resulting in shipping delays and higher periodic freight costs. It is difficult to predict the extent to which COVID-19 may continue to spread. As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, manufacturers in China and in North America are generally back in operation; however, new waves of the COVID-19 pandemic could result in the re-closure of factories in China and/or in North America. Quarantine orders and travel restrictions within the U.S. and other countries may also adversely impact our supply chains, the manufacturing of our own products and our ability to obtain necessary materials. Consequently, we may be unable to obtain adequate inventory to fill purchase orders or manufacture our own products, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Furthermore, potential suppliers or sources of materials may pass the increase in sourcing costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic to us through price increases, thereby impacting our potential future profit margins.

Our customers reside in countries, primarily the U.S. and Canada that are currently affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these customers have experienced shelter-in-place measures in attempts to contain the spread of COVID-19, including general lockdowns, closure of schools and non-essential businesses, bans on gatherings and travel restrictions. Although we cannot precisely quantify in absolute or relative terms, our accelerated rate of growth in net sales for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020 correlates with shelter-in-place orders issued in many locations in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our sales growth for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020 was approximately 46% higher than the same period in 2019. A portion of our net sales during this period could be due to pull-through demand for our products due to higher consumption of CEA products from individuals spending more time at home due to shelter-in-place measures. Although uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic remains, and various state budgets remain under economic pressure creating a greater chance of further cannabis legalization, we cannot assure you that such a rate of growth will continue.

Our business has remained resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of December 31, 2020, our manufacturing and distribution operations were viewed as essential services and continued to operate. Our key suppliers, retailers and resellers have been designated as essential services and remain open at this time; however, in certain places they are operating under reduced hours and capacity limitations. The majority of U.S. and Canadian cannabis businesses have been designated as essential by U.S. state and Canadian government authorities.

The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic will ultimately impact our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows depends on future developments that are highly uncertain, rapidly evolving and difficult to predict at this time. Depending on the length and severity of COVID-19, we may experience an increase or decrease in customer orders driven by volatility in consumer shopping and consumption behavior. It is difficult to assess or quantify with precision the impact COVID-19 has directly had on our business since we cannot precisely quantify the impacts, if any, that the various effects (e.g. possible positive demand impact from shelter-in-place orders in the U.S., possible negative supply chain impact from workforce disruption at international and domestic suppliers and domestic ports and the possible negative impact on transportation costs) have had on the overall business. And so, while we do not believe that we are experiencing net material adverse impacts at this time, given the global economic slowdown, the overall disruption of global supply chains and distribution systems and the other risks and uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected. While we believe that we are well positioned for the future as we navigate the crisis and prepare for an eventual return to a more normal operating environment, we continue to closely monitor the COVID-19 pandemic as we evolve our business continuity plans and response strategy.

Components of Results of Operations

Net sales

We generate net sales from the distribution and manufacturing of hydroponic equipment and supplies to our customers. The hydroponic equipment and supplies that we sell include consumable products, such as growing media, nutrients and supplies that require regular replenishment and durable products, such as lighting and hydroponic equipment. Our scale allows us to provide delivery and service capabilities to a highly diverse group of customers across the U.S. and Canada. We do not sell directly to farmers but rather our customer base consists of specialty hydroponic retailers, garden centers, eCommerce and greenhouse suppliers.

We periodically offer sales incentives to our customers, including early pay discounts, volume-based rebates, temporary price reductions, advertising credits and other trade activities. Net sales reflect our gross sales less sales incentives which are estimated and recorded at the time of sale plus amounts billed to customers for shipping and handling costs. We anticipate that sales incentives could impact our net sales and that changes in such promotional activities could impact period-over-period results.

Cost of goods sold

Cost of goods sold consists primarily of material costs, inbound and outbound freight, direct labor costs primarily for production and warehouse personnel and depreciation and amortization of warehouse improvements and equipment. We expect our cost of goods sold to increase in absolute dollars in conjunction with our growth. However, we expect that, over time, cost of goods sold will decrease as a percentage of net revenue as a result of the scaling of our business including a higher proportion of the amount of proprietary and exclusive branded products that we sell.

Selling, general and administrative

Selling, general and administrative expenses consists primarily of marketing and advertising, stock-based compensation, depreciation and amortization of all other assets and other selling, general and administrative costs, including but not limited to salaries, benefits, bonuses, professional fees and various costs related to becoming a publicly-traded company. We expect selling, general and administrative expenses to increase in absolute dollar terms as we scale our operations to meet increased demand for our products and operate as a public company with increased costs associated with insurance, finance, legal and accounting functions; however, we also expect that the significant increase in our scale will result in selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of net sales decreasing over time.

Results of Operations Data

The results of operations data in the following tables for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018 have been derived from the audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Results of Operations – Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2020 and 2019

The following table sets forth our consolidated statements of operations for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, including amounts and percentages of net sales for each year and the year-to-year change in dollars and percent (amounts in thousands):

Net sales

Net sales for the year ended December 31, 2020 increased by $107.1 million or 45.6% compared to the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in net sales was primarily due to a 42.0% increase in volume of products sold and a 3.6% increase in price of products sold. The increase in volume of products sold was primarily related to (i) higher demand from the end-markets across numerous U.S. states, including but not limited to Michigan, Oklahoma and California, and Canada and (ii) higher demand for our proprietary and preferred branded products which grew at a faster pace than our distributed brands during the period. The increase in price was primarily related to list price increases and more effective sales incentives.

Although we cannot precisely quantify in absolute or relative terms, our accelerated rate of growth in net sales for the year ended December 31, 2020 correlates with shelter-in-place orders issued in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A portion of our net sales during this period could be related to pull-through demand for our products due to higher consumption of CEA products from individuals spending more time at home due to shelter-in-place measures. Although uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic remains, and various state budgets remain under economic pressure, creating a greater chance of further cannabis legalization, we cannot assure you that such growth will continue.

Gross profit

Gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2020 increased by $36.5 million or 134.9% compared to the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in gross profit was primarily related to (i) the aforementioned increase in net sales and (ii) a significant increase in our gross profit margin percentage (gross profit as a percent of net sales). Our gross profit margin percentage increased to 18.6% for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to 11.5% for the year ended December 31, 2019. The higher gross profit margin percentage is primarily due to (i) a more favorable sales mix of proprietary and exclusive branded products, which typically carry a higher gross margin, (ii) lower freight cost, and (iii) inventory adjustments and write-downs that impacted the fourth quarter of 2019 primarily associated with our 2019 SKU rationalization.

Selling, general and administrative expenses

Selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expenses for the year ended December 31, 2020 increased by $14.7 million or 33.6%, compared to the year ended December 31, 2019 due primarily to an increase of $8.7 million in stock-based compensation expense, of which $6.1 million was directly triggered by our IPO in December 2020 (more fully described below). SG&A expense excluding the portion of stock-based compensation expense triggered by the IPO decreased from 18.6% in 2019 to 15.3% in 2020 due to economies of scale as our net sales grew faster than our selling, general and administrative expenses.

To support our long-term growth plan and our IPO, we undertook several initiatives in mid-to-late 2019 and early 2020 which resulted in the aforementioned $14.7 million increase in selling, general and administrative expenses, including increased stock-based compensation expenses, increased compensation costs (an increase of $3.9 million), and increased professional service fees, including, but not limited to, the hiring of executives such as our new Chief Executive Officer, President and Chief Financial Officer and engaging new third parties such as an IT consulting firm, a new auditor, and several accounting and audit-related consultants (an increase of $4.4 million). 

As more fully discussed in Note 11, Stock-based compensation and 401K plan, in our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we granted restricted stock units (“RSUs”) to certain officers, former directors and their affiliates which have vesting conditions including a performance-based vesting requirement which was satisfied upon the consummation of our IPO. As a result, our IPO in December 2020 triggered a significant performance-based stock compensation charge of $6.1 million for previously unrecognized time-based vesting prior to the IPO.

Impairment, restructuring and other

Impairment, restructuring and other expenses declined to $0.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 from $5.4 million in 2019. For the year ended December 31, 2019, we recognized expenses related to the impairment of intangible asset for customer relationships; $2.0 million for restructuring costs; and, other similar activities related to our capitalization. We also incurred $1.1 million for a registration statement which was delayed, and accordingly, the third-party costs were expensed. See Note 14, Impairment, restructuring and other, in our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.

Interest expense

Interest expense decreased by $3.3 million or 24.7% for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019.  The average balance of our interest bearing debt for the year ended December 31, 2020 increased by $2.3 million compared to the year ended December 31, 2019.  This increase was offset by a decrease in the effective interest rate on the Term Loan Agreement, from approximately 13% for the year ended December 31, 2019 to an effective interest rate of approximately 10.2% for the year ended December 31, 2020 due to a reduction of the Term Loan Agreement interest rate margin which became effective on January 1, 2020 from LIBOR plus 10.0% to LIBOR plus 8.5% along with a reduction of average LIBOR from 2.5% to 1%.  The decrease in interest costs was also slightly impacted by a decrease in the effective interest rate on our revolving credit facilities from approximately 9.9% for the year ended December 31, 2019 to approximately 9.3% for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Loss on debt extinguishment

Loss on debt extinguishment for the year ended December 31, 2020 resulted from the write-off of unamortized deferred financing costs associated with the payoff of the Term Loan Agreement in connection with the IPO. Similar costs in 2019 resulted from the write-off of unamortized deferred financing costs when the BofA Credit Facility was refinanced with the Encina Credit Facility.

Income tax expense

Income tax expense for the year ended December 31, 2020 generally reflects minimum U.S. state income taxes which do not fluctuate with pre-tax income or loss and Canadian taxes in one of our profitable Canadian subsidiaries.

The net income tax benefit for the year ended December 31, 2019 is comprised of two amounts: (i) minimum U.S. state and Canadian provincial taxes which do not fluctuate with pre-tax income or loss; and, (ii) a deferred income tax benefit of $0.7 million primarily generated from the tax consequence of the impairment write-off which is not expected to recur.

Cumulative dividends allocated to Series A convertible preferred stock

Our Series A Preferred Stock accrued a cumulative dividend during 2020 which is presented as a reduction of net loss which results in the net loss attributable to common stockholders. Dividends did not accrue prior to 2020. Upon the consummation of our IPO in December 2020, the Series A Preferred Stock automatically converted into 2,291,469 shares of our common stock and we paid $2.6 million in cash to settle the Series A Preferred Stock dividend.

Results of Operations– Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2019 and 2018

The following table sets forth our consolidated statements of operations for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including amounts and percentages of net sales for each year and the year-to-year change in dollars and percent (amounts in thousands):

Net sales

Net sales for the year ended December 31, 2019 increased $23.3 million or 11.0% compared to the year ended December 31, 2018. The increase was primarily due to an increase in the volume sold during the period. For the year ended December 31, 2019, we realized an approximate 11.6% increase in volume offset by a 0.6% decrease in price. Our sales in certain non-U.S. markets were impacted by IT system challenges experienced during the integration of our Canadian businesses, an issue we do not expect to continue in 2020. The increase in U.S. volume sold was primarily related to (i) higher demand from the end-markets across numerous U.S. states, including but not limited to Oklahoma, Michigan and California and (ii) higher demand for our proprietary and preferred branded products which grew at a faster pace than our distributed brands for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Gross profit

Gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2019 increased $3.0 million or 12.5% compared to the year ended December 31, 2018. The increase in gross profit was primarily related to (i) the 11.0% increase in net sales and (ii) a small increase in gross profit margin percentage (gross profit as a percent of net sales) associated with a more favorable mix of proprietary and exclusive branded products as compared to the prior year. This increase was partially offset by the year-over-year decrease in net sales (as noted above) and associated gross profit in non-U.S. markets.

Selling, general and administrative expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2019 increased $1.6 million or 3.7% compared to the year ended December 31, 2018. The increase was primarily due to (i) higher outside accounting and IT consultant expense of $2.0 million related to increased preparation for the IPO and (ii) higher bad debt expenses of $0.4 million primarily attributable to the challenges in the Canadian market in 2019 offset by lower facility expenses of $0.7 million due to adjusting our warehouse footprint.

Impairment, restructuring and other

Certain expenses of $10.0 million for 2019 and $7.2 million for 2018 primarily related to recognition of impairment on intangible assets, several restructuring and recapitalization events, and fees for various statutory filings. The impairment in 2019 related to the impairment of our intangible asset for customer relationships; in 2018, the impairment was for goodwill. Restructuring and recapitalization events refer to our debt refinancing in 2019 and 2018; our Preferred Stock Offering in 2019; the recapitalization and reverse merger in 2018; and, other similar activities related to our capitalization. In 2019, we filed a registration statement which was delayed, and the third-party costs were expensed. See Note 14, Impairment, restructuring and other, in our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.

Interest expense

Interest expense was $13.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 compared to $11.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, reflecting an increase of $1.9 million or 16.0%.

The increase in interest expense was due in part to an increase in the effective interest rate on the Term Loan Agreement to 13.0% for the year ended December 31, 2019 from 12.1% for the year ended December 31, 2018. Additionally, interest payments for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 of $7.1 million and $6.8 million, respectively, were deferred and added to principal which resulted in additional interest on the increase in the principal balance.

Similarly, the effective interest rate on the revolving credit facilities increased to 9.8% for the year ended December 31, 2019 compared to 5.0% to 5.1% for the year ended December 31, 2018 as we transitioned from the BofA Credit Facility in July 2019 to the Encina Credit Facility.

Income tax benefit

Income tax benefit was $0.7 million or 1.7% of loss before tax for the year ended December 31, 2019 compared to $0.4 million or 1.1% for the year ended December 31, 2018. The net income tax benefit is comprised of two amounts: a current tax expense of $27 thousand and $0.5 million for 2019 and 2018, respectively; and, a deferred income tax benefit of $0.7 million and $0.9 million for 2019 and 2018, respectively. The current portion of the provision (tax expense) generally reflects minimum U.S. state and Canadian provincial taxes which do not fluctuate with pre-tax income or loss. The deferred income tax benefit in each year was primarily generated from the tax consequence of the impairment write-offs; these income tax benefits are not expected to recur.

Net loss attributable to non-controlling interest

In May 2017, Hydrofarm Investment Corp. (“HIC”), acquired, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Hydrofarm Holdings, LLC, all of the capital stock of Hydrofarm, Inc., in a transaction referred to as the “Formation Transaction.” Concurrently with the acquisition by HIC, Hydrofarm, Inc. converted from an S-Corp to a limited liability company and was renamed Hydrofarm, LLC. At the time of the Formation Transaction in May 2017, an investor in Hydrofarm, LLC retained a 12.5% interest in Hydrofarm Holdings, LLC which was presented as a non-controlling interest and allocated a portion of our losses until it was exchanged for shares in our parent and reclassified to controlling interest. See Note 1, Description of the business, basis of presentation and significant accounting policies – Recapitalization and reverse merger in 2018, in our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We report our financial results in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the U.S. (“GAAP”). However, management believes that certain non-GAAP financial measures provide investors of our financial information with additional useful information in evaluating our performance and that excluding certain items that may vary substantially in frequency and magnitude period-to-period from net income (loss) provides useful supplemental measures that assist in evaluating our ability to generate earnings and to more readily compare these metrics between past and future periods. These non-GAAP financial measures may be different than similarly titled measures used by other companies.

To supplement our audited consolidated financial statements which are prepared in accordance with GAAP, we use “Adjusted EBITDA” and “Adjusted EBITDA as a percent of sales” which are non-GAAP financial measures (collectively referred to as “Adjusted EBITDA”). Our non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from, or as substitutes for, financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. There are several limitations related to the use of our non-GAAP financial measures as compared to the closest comparable GAAP measures. Some of these limitations include:

We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) excluding interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation, employer payroll taxes on stock-based compensation and other unusual and/or infrequent costs, which we do not consider in our evaluation of ongoing operating performance. The following table presents a reconciliation of net income (loss), the most comparable GAAP financial measure, to Adjusted EBITDA for each of the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018:

(1) Includes the amount of employer payroll taxes on share-based compensation

CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING, INVESTING, AND FINANCING ACTIVITIES

Cash Flows from Operating, Investing, and Financing Activities — Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2020 and 2019

The following table summarizes our cash flows for the years ended 2020 and 2019 (amounts in thousands):

Operating Activities

Net cash used in operating activities was $44.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 consisting of $20.2 million in non-cash expense addbacks which were largely composed of stock-based compensation, depreciation and amortization and non-cash operating lease expense, less net loss of $7.3 million, payment of interest capitalized to principal of long-term debt of $13.9 million and a $43.8 million increase in working capital. The change in working capital primarily reflects a $43.2 million increase in accounts receivable and inventory for the period offset by a $10.7 million increase in accounts payable and accrued expenses. The net change was due to the additional working capital needed to support our growth in net sales.

Net cash used in operating activities was $13.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 consisting of net loss of $40.1 million offset by $26.2 million in non-cash addbacks which were largely composed of depreciation and amortization, impairment charges, interest expense added to principal and non-cash operating lease expense, plus a $0.6 million increase in working capital. The small change in working capital primarily reflects a $2.1 million net decrease in accounts receivable and inventories as collections and net sales during 2019 were slowed due to the industry downturn, plus a $1.2 million increase in accounts payable and accrued expenses as we were able to align payment of our obligations with our cash flow.

Investing Activities

We had minimal investing activities for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019. We made advances on notes receivable to third parties of $3.1 million the year ended December 31, 2019 and were repaid $2.0 million the year ended December 31, 2020. Our business was not capital intensive during the years ended December 31, 2020 or 2019 and purchases of property and equipment were $1.4 million and $0.8 million, respectively.

We have no material commitments for capital expenditures.

Financing Activities

Our IPO was completed in December 2020 generating $182.3 million in net proceeds. We used a portion of the proceeds to pay off our Term Loan Agreement, to payoff our PPP loan and to paydown the outstanding balance under the Encina Credit Facility. Other activity was a net of $1.2 million from transactions with our Series A preferred stock investors and payments of $1.0 million on finance leases. Our net cash provided by these activities was $88.1 million for the period which we will use for our planned business growth and expansion.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, our borrowings under the working capital credit facilities marginally exceeded repayments which reflected stable working capital needs for the period. We also received $21.7 million from our Series A Preferred Stock offering including proceeds from the issuance of notes which converted into the Series A Preferred Stock. Net cash provided by these activities was $19.9 million for the period.

Cash Flows from Operating, Investing, and Financing Activities — Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2019 and 2018

The following table summarizes our cash flows for the years ended 2019 and 2018 (amounts in thousands):

Operating Activities

Net cash used in operating activities was $13.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. This consisted of net loss of $40.1 million offset by $26.2 million in non-cash addbacks, which were largely composed of depreciation and amortization, impairment charges, interest expense added to principal and non-cash operating lease expense, plus a $0.6 million increase in working capital. The small change in working capital primarily reflects a $2.1 million net decrease in accounts receivable and inventories as collections and net sales during 2019 were slowed due to the industry downturn, plus a $1.2 million increase in accounts payable and accrued expenses as we were able to align payment of our obligations with our cash flow.

Net cash provided by operating activities was $4.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The increase in cash used in operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2019 compared to the prior year was mostly due to the $22.0 million net drawdown of 2017 inventory (inventory purchased and carried in ending inventory at December 31, 2017 and sold in 2018) by the year ended December 31, 2018 as inventory overstock issues from the industry down-turn in late 2017 which continued into 2018 were addressed and rebalanced.

Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities was $3.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 and $3.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. In 2019, the cash was primarily for a $3.1 million advance on an interest bearing note receivable to a third party secured by equipment; in 2018, cash was used for a similar advance of $2 million to another third party.

Financing Activities

Net cash provided by financing activities was $19.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 consisting primarily of proceeds from the Preferred Stock Offering, net of offering costs, of $21.7 million which includes proceeds from debt eventually converted into the preferred stock. The offering improved our capital and liquidity. The other significant activity was replacement of the BofA Credit Facility with the Encina Credit Facility.

Net cash provided by financing activities was $25.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 primarily consisting of $52.6 million less offering costs of $4.5 million from our offering and concurrent offering of common stock to investors, and a net of $4 million from a related party. The offering improved our capital and liquidity. Our sources of cash provided by financing activities were offset by a $27.4 million net payment on our revolving credit facility.

SEASONALITY

Our net sales tend to be seasonally stronger in our fiscal second and third quarters which corresponds with the more robust in the warmer spring and summer months in North America (US and Canada are our primarily markets). This seasonal trend primarily relates to consumers of our grow media and nutrient products utilizing natural sunlight in their CEA or outdoor grow application.

LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

Our liquidity and capital resources were significantly improved by our IPO in December 2020 which resulted in net proceeds of $182.3 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses. The proceeds from the IPO were used to repay $76.6 million (including accrued interest and fees of $0.3 million) outstanding under the Term Loan Agreement, $33.4 million outstanding under the Encina Credit Facility and $3.3 million under the PPP Loan, and to pay $2.6 million to settle the Series A Preferred Stock dividend.

As of December 31, 2020, we had a cash balance of $75.2 million and restricted cash of $1.8 million; $1.0 million of interest-bearing liabilities; $15.0 million of inventory purchase commitment obligations, of which $3.0 million is due in 2021; and $22.1 million of lease obligations associated with our right-of-use assets of which $4.4 million is due in 2021.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND ESTIMATES

In preparing our consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP, we must make decisions that impact the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosures. Such decisions include the selection of the appropriate accounting principles to be applied and the assumptions on which to base accounting estimates. In reaching such decisions, we apply judgments based on our understanding and analysis of the relevant circumstances, historical experience, and business valuations. Actual amounts could differ from those estimated at the time the Consolidated Financial Statements are prepared.

Our significant accounting policies are described in Note 1, Description of the business, basis of presentation and significant accounting policies, to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Some of those significant accounting policies require us to make difficult, subjective, or complex judgments or estimates. An accounting estimate is considered to be critical if it meets both of the following criteria: (i) the estimate requires assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain at the time the accounting estimate is made, and (ii) different estimates reasonably could have been used, or changes in the estimate that are reasonably likely to occur from period to period may have a material impact on the presentation of our financial condition, changes in financial condition, or results of operations. Our critical accounting estimates include the following:

Revenue recognition, volume rebates and provision for doubtful accounts

All of our revenue is derived from the sale of inventory and we recognize revenue as control of promised goods or services is transferred to customers. Arrangements have a single performance obligation and revenue is reported net of variable consideration which includes applicable volume rebates, cash discounts and sales returns and allowances. Variable consideration is estimated and recorded at the time of sale. The recognition of variable consideration requires the use of estimates. While we believe these estimates to be reasonable based on the then current facts and circumstances, there can be no assurance that actual amounts realized will not differ materially from estimated amounts recorded.

Provisions for uncollectible receivables due from customers are established based on management’s judgment as to the ultimate collectability of these balances and are recorded net of the receivable. The allowance is based on a combination of factors including the age of the account, the credit worthiness of the customer, payment terms, the customer’s historical payment history and general economic conditions.

Inventories

Inventories are primarily comprised of finished goods and are recorded at the lower of cost or net realizable value determined by the first-in, first-out method of accounting. Net realizable value represents the estimated selling price for inventories in the ordinary course of business, less all estimated costs of completion and costs necessary to make the sale. The determination of net realizable value requires significant judgment, including consideration of factors such as shrinkage, the aging of and future demand for inventory, expected future selling price we expect to realize by selling the inventory and our contractual arrangements with customers. Reserves for excess and obsolete inventory are based upon quantities on hand, projected volumes from demand forecasts and net realizable value. The estimates are subjective in nature and are made at a point in time, using available information, expected business plans, and expected market conditions. As a result, the actual amount received on sale could differ from the estimated value of inventory. Periodic reviews are performed on the inventory balance. The impact of changes in inventory reserves is reflected in cost of goods sold. The adequacy of our adjustments could be materially affected by changes in the supply and demand for our products.

Long-lived tangible and finite-lived intangible assets including right-of-use assets

Long-lived tangible assets, primarily property and equipment, are stated at cost; right-of-use assets are recorded under Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 842, Leases. Depreciation is provided on the straight-line method and based on the estimated useful economic lives of the assets. Intangible assets with finite lives, and therefore subject to amortization, include customer relationships, enterprise resource software and certain tradenames. These intangible assets are being amortized over their estimated useful economic lives typically ranging from 5 to 18 years.

We qualitatively assess potential indicators of impairment, referred to informally as Step 0, of our long-lived tangible and finite-lived intangible assets whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the asset or asset group’s carrying value may not be recoverable. An asset group is defined as the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows can be associated with groups of assets and related liabilities. If indicators are present, we follow a quantitative two-step process when testing for impairment. In Step 1, we perform a recoverability test by analyzing whether the carrying amount of the asset or asset group exceeds the sum of the undiscounted cash flows expected to result from their use over their expected life and eventual disposition. If the sum of the future undiscounted cash flows is greater than the carrying amount, the test is passed and no further work is performed. If the carrying amount is greater than the sum of the future undiscounted cash flows, the recovery test is deemed to have failed, and Step 2 is performed. In Step 2, the fair values of the long-lived tangible and definite-lived intangible assets are determined, and an impairment charge is recognized based on the excess of the carrying amount of the long-lived asset over its respective fair value.

We use assumptions for revenue and expenses such as forecasted growth rates, margin estimates, historical cost ratios, capital additions and working capital needs, which are consistent with internal projections and operating plans. The forecast period is estimated using the remaining useful lives of primary assets in the group which involves judgement about assets to be included in the group subject to the test and to economic and technological obsolesce impacting the term. These and other assumptions are impacted by economic conditions and expectations of management and materially different assumptions in the future regarding the performance of the businesses could impact the useful lives of assets or estimate of future undiscounted cash flows.

Share-based compensation arrangements

Stock-based compensation cost is measured as of the grant date based on the fair value of the award and is expensed ratably over the service period of the award, which is typically the vesting period for time-based awards. Performance-based awards are expensed over the requisite service period based on achievement of performance criteria. We have elected to account for forfeitures when they occur, and any compensation expense previously recognized on unvested shares will be reversed.

The fair value of restricted stock awards is estimated based on the fair value of the common stock underlying the restricted stock awards. We estimated the fair value of option-based awards subject to only a service condition on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes valuation model. The Black-Scholes model requires the use of highly subjective and complex assumptions, including the option’s expected term and the price volatility of the underlying stock. The highly subjective and complex assumptions in the Black-Scholes model also include the estimated fair value of our common stock underlying the options.

To measure the value of the underlying common stock, the initial grant-date fair value of shares of common stock underlying the award is determined. Such valuation is the responsibility of, and determined by, the board of directors, with input from management. Until our IPO in December 2020, there was no public market for our common stock. Therefore, the board of directors determined the fair value of common stock at the grant date by considering a number of objective, subjective and highly complex factors including independent third-party valuations of our common stock, operating and financial performance, the lack of liquidity of capital stock and general and industry specific economic outlook, among other factors.

For purposes of determining the fair market value of our common stock during the periods prior to our IPO, we used a third-party valuation service provider to provide support for our analysis. For most of 2019, we primarily relied on valuation methods which included using the discounted cash flow and guideline public company methods. From latter part of 2019 until our IPO, a “probability weighted expected return method” (the “PWERM method”) analysis was used which placed greater emphasis on the Preferred Stock Offering completed in December 2019 to establish the value of our common stock; the PWERM method requires us to develop assumptions and estimates for both the probability of an IPO liquidity event and remaining private outcomes, as well as the values we expect those outcomes could yield. These methods consider operating and financial performance including estimating future cash flows and discounting those cash flows at an appropriate rate, the lack of liquidity of capital stock and general and industry specific economic outlook, among other factors. These estimates will not be necessary to determine the fair value of underlying shares of common stock for new awards once the underlying shares begin trading. Estimates of fair market value for awards grants near our IPO incorporated the offering price in the calculation.

In 2020, we granted a restricted stock award that vest only upon the satisfaction of both performance-based and market-based conditions. In determining the fair value of the award, the “Monte Carlo Simulation Method” (the MCSM) was used to assess the likelihood of vesting of the restricted stock units based on the probability of both a triggering event and qualifying traded share price within the specified time frame. The resulting risk-adjusted probability was then applied to the underlying fair value of common stock incorporating scenarios under which various performance conditions and share price outcomes are modeled over the course of numerous iterations. Importantly, key assumptions in the MSCM included volatility, time horizon corresponding to the vesting measurement period of the award forecasted based on daily trading prices, risk free rate, and number of simulation trials.

For inputs into the Black-Scholes model, the expected stock price volatility for the common stock is estimated by taking the average historic price volatility for industry peers based on daily price observations over a period equivalent to the expected term of the stock option grants. Industry peers consist of several public companies in our industry which are of similar size, complexity and stage of development. The risk-free interest rate for the expected term of the option is based on the U.S. Treasury implied yield at the date of grant. We have elected to use the “simplified method” to determine the expected term which is the midpoint between the vesting date and the end of the contractual term because it has no history upon which to base an assumption about the term; we believe the simplified method approximates a term if it were to be based on expected life.

We will continue to use the Black-Scholes model for option pricing.

Application of these approaches involves the use of estimates, judgments and assumptions that are highly complex and subjective, such as those regarding our expected future revenue, expenses, cash flows, discount rates, market multiples, the selection of comparable companies and the probability of possible future events. Changes in any or all of these estimates and assumptions or the relationships between those assumptions impact our valuations as of each valuation date and may have a material impact on the valuation of our common stock.

Emerging Growth Company Status

We are an emerging growth company as defined in the JOBS Act. Under the JOBS Act, companies have extended transition periods available for complying with new or revised accounting standards. We have elected this exemption to delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. Where allowable, we have early adopted certain standards as described in Note 1, Description of the business, basis of presentation and significant accounting policies, in our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

In addition, we intend to rely on the other exemptions and reduced reporting requirements provided by the JOBS Act. Subject to certain conditions set forth in the JOBS Act, we are entitled to rely on certain exemptions as an emerging growth company, we are not required to, among other things, (i) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404(b), (ii) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of non-emerging growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, (iii) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis), and (iv) disclose certain executive compensation-related items. These exemptions will apply for a period of five years following the completion of our initial public offering or until we no longer meet the requirements of being an emerging growth company, whichever is earlier.

Recent accounting pronouncements

For information regarding recent accounting pronouncements, refer to Note 1, Description of the business, basis of presentation and significant accounting policies — Recently issued accounting pronouncements, to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Market risk is the risk of economic losses due to adverse changes in financial market prices and rates. Our primary market risk has been interest rate, foreign currency and inflation risk. We do not have material exposure to commodity risk.

Interest Rate Risk

We currently have no material exposure to interest rate risk from investments. In the future, we intend to invest our excess cash primarily in money market funds, debt instruments of the U.S. government and its agencies and in high quality corporate bonds and commercial paper. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we do not believe that there will be material exposure to interest rate risk arising from our investments.

Our operating results are subject to risk from interest rate fluctuations on credit facilities which typically carry variable interest rates. As of December 31, 2020, we had less than $1 million of interest bearing debt outstanding. However, we expect to arrange credit facilities during 2021 and such facilities are likely to carry variable interest rates.

Foreign Currency Risk

The functional currency of our Eddi’s and Sunblaster operations is the Canadian dollar (“CAD”) and the functional currency for Eltac is the Euro. For the purposes of presenting these consolidated financial statements, the assets and liabilities of subsidiaries with CAD or Euro functional currencies are translated into USD using exchange rates prevailing at the end of each reporting period. Income and expense items are translated at the average rate prevailing during the period with exchange differences impacting other comprehensive income (loss) in equity. Currently a portion of our inventory purchases for Eddi’s and Sunblaster is in USD. However, Eddi’s sales will primarily be in CAD while Sunblaster sales will be in both USD and CAD. Additionally, Eddi’s and Sunblaster settle their operating expenses in CAD. Therefore, our results of operations and cash flows are subject to fluctuations due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates, principally the CAD.

However, we believe that the exposure to foreign currency fluctuation from product sales and operating expenses is not significant at this time as the related product sales and costs do not constitute a significant portion of our total net sales and expenses. As we grow and expand the geographic reach of our operations, our exposure to foreign currency risk could become more significant. To date, we have not entered into any foreign currency exchange contracts and currently do not expect to enter into foreign currency exchange contracts for trading or speculative purposes. However, we cannot provide assurances that our results of operations and financial condition will not be materially impacted by foreign currency fluctuation in the future.

Index to Consolidated Financial Statements

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the stockholders and the Board of Directors of Hydrofarm Holdings Group, Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Hydrofarm Holdings Group, Inc. and subsidiaries (the "Company") as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive loss, changes in convertible preferred stock and stockholders’ equity, and cash flows, for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2020, and the related notes and Schedule II listed in the Index to Consolidated Financial Statements (collectively referred to as the "financial statements"). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2020, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Change in Accounting Principle

As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, effective January 1, 2019, the Company adopted Financial Accounting Standards Board ASC Topic 842, Leases, using the modified retrospective approach. Our opinion is not modified with respect to this matter.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company's financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ Deloitte & Touche LLP

San Francisco, CA

March 30, 2021

We have served as the Company's auditor since 2020.

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of Hydrofarm Holdings Group, Inc.

Opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive loss, changes in convertible preferred stock and stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2018, and the related notes and schedule (collectively referred to as the consolidated financial statements) of Hydrofarm Holdings Group, Inc. (the “Company”).

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the results of the Company’s consolidated operations and its consolidated cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2018, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audit, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Chartered Professional Accountants

Licensed Public Accountants

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2018. Toronto, Ontario

May 10, 2019 (December 1, 2020 as to the effects of the reverse stock split discussed in Note 1)

Hydrofarm Holdings Group, Inc.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In thousands, except for share and per share amounts)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

Hydrofarm Holdings Group, Inc.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

Hydrofarm Holdings Group, Inc.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE LOSS

(In thousands)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

Hydrofarm Holdings Group, Inc.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN CONVERTIBLE PREFERRED STOCK AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

(In thousands, except for share amounts)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

Hydrofarm Holdings Group, Inc.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(In thousands)