Dear Prospective Shareholders,
As a veteran of the consumer packaged goods (“CPG”) industry, I have had the privilege of leading many great companies through transformative periods. Harnessing the power of brands, delivering innovative solutions and achieving supply chain excellence are core principles I have followed over the past 30 plus years. In my experience, these principles were always key to driving superior long-term growth, profitability and shareholder value.
When I joined Hydrofarm in 2019, it was clear that the Company already had world-class brands and a 40-year reputation as a trusted partner in what has been, until the last decade, a cottage industry. Since its inception, Hydrofarm has been at the forefront of bringing together a complex supply chain ecosystem to serve the specialized needs of its customers. Yet today, in many ways, I see that Hydrofarm is just getting started. The right playbook will unlock opportunities to move the Company into a new phase of growth. I took the opportunity to invest my time and resources in Hydrofarm and am deeply proud to have joined the Company on its journey towards realizing its potential.
What got me so excited? Hydrofarm sits at the intersection of two of the most compelling market opportunities of our time: the consumer-led movement towards the legalization of cannabis in the U.S. and its legalization in Canada, and a revolution in controlled environment agriculture (“CEA”). I believe the first of these will result in the formation of the most substantial new consumer category we have seen in a generation.
I'll ya what Stoney.... when Elon sets up his colony on Mars... I have a feeling he'll be partnering with HydroFarm.
The second is a key pillar for re-engineering the global agricultural supply chain to focus on local, high-quality, equitable and sustainable farming practices through continued innovation in agricultural technologies. Hydroponics is squarely at the core of both.
CEA empowers farmers to operate more efficiently and sustainably. CEA requires less land and less water, and substantially eliminates chemical run-off. The result is superior crop yields with reduced levels of carbon emissions, water usage and environmental impact, while providing for significant optimization throughout the value chain.
Sustainability is at the heart of what we do and why I believe Hydrofarm is an exciting growth opportunity for investors, and in particular, those focused on environmental, social and governance factors. From indoor production of medical-grade cannabis, to innovative vertical farming techniques in densely populated areas, entrepreneurial farmers are just beginning to explore the vast global potential of CEA, and we anticipate that the global CEA market will grow to $100 billion or more over the next several years.
Cannabis in North America is also at an exciting juncture. The majority of American citizens now support having legal access to medical and/or adult-use cannabis. Legislative momentum has hit an inflection point in 2020, driven by evolving popular opinion and substantial budget shortfalls at all levels of government resulting from the pandemic. With such change and progress underway, the North American cannabis industry is expected to approximately double over the next five years.
Our leadership team often refers to Hydrofarm as a “40 year-old start-up” — we are proud of both our strong heritage and our entrepreneurial culture focused on growth. To bring this to life, we have put in place the right team, comprised of both company veterans and new leaders with fresh perspectives. This team has developed a strategic framework to invest in our competitive strengths and capture the massive opportunity that stands ahead of us. We are in the early innings of this growth plan and are highly energized by the significant progress we’ve made to date. Our leadership team’s broad experience with highly successful CPG and other consumer-facing businesses helped shape our strategic priorities — we believe there is significant opportunity to bring these CPG best practices to this fragmented, rapidly growing industry:
1.
Build trusted brands: Gold standard brands in CPG bring with them a trusted promise of great product quality and consistency. In hydroponics, growers must carefully control all key environmental variables or risk jeopardizing both yield and product quality. When growers find an approach that delivers quality results, they become strong brand loyalists and even advocates. Brands matter in this category, and we need to continue to strategically invest in ours.
2.
Drive innovation: We believe hydroponics is in its early stages, and there remains tremendous opportunity for innovation. Entrepreneurs around the globe are driving game-changing innovations that are delivering meaningful environmental and financial returns. We are investing in product innovation within our leading proprietary brands and through working with our exclusive brand partners. The goal of our innovation efforts is to provide customers with differentiated agricultural technologies and solutions that keep us at the leading edge of our industry.
3.
Deliver best-in-class service: The core of our business is to provide best-in-class service to hydroponic retailers and growers. We can deliver to almost 90% of the U.S. population within 48 hours of receiving an order. Our retail partners are the backbone of what Hydrofarm has delivered for over 40 years. However, the growth of hydroponics and cannabis is giving birth to a second major customer segment: large-scale, professional multi-state operators. Hydrofarm has built a platform to serve the unique needs of both markets. We have built a dedicated team and a proprietary commercial solution that brings highly efficient supply chain management best practices into an otherwise unstructured and fragmented industry. Our distributor managed inventory platform draws parallels to CPG’s vendor managed inventory system. This technology-enabled solution delivers improved inventory management and better pricing for end customers, while empowering our organization to increase throughput, deepen customer relationships and get early visibility into demand.
4.
Capitalize on fragmentation: Across the value chain, the hydroponics industry remains highly fragmented. With a strong, well-capitalized balance sheet in place, we expect to be able to opportunistically add to our brand portfolio, expand our market share and further strengthen our competitive “moat”. Our leadership team has extensive experience executing M&A, and we are eager to capitalize on our standing as the acquirer of choice in a fragmented industry.
Our mission is clear: bring innovative solutions, trusted brands and gold standard service to the rapidly expanding and complex CEA industry. To do that, we need to invest in our brands, optimize the supply chain and drive innovation while continuing to expand our operating platform and go-to-market model. I am very excited by what we have achieved with respect to these initiatives, but we are just getting started. I believe we will be successful in these efforts and hope you choose to join us on this exciting journey.
With gratitude,
Bill Toler
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer