During today's call, we may also discuss non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA, which we define as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization as adjusted for certain non-cash and non-operating expenses. We've transitioned from a company that was dedicated to a massive cleanup and restructuring to a company poised to contribute important technology to a very well-established industry, which will fuel our growth phase. We have spoken in our remarks throughout 2025 about a shift in our strategy away from elements of our legacy CMO business, whereby we have had either negative margin or low margin product sales. Many of these customer contracts were high volume with razor-thin margins and consumed significant working capital.
Our financial results each quarter this year reflect the slow transition of revenues from this business into the higher margin branded products as our product mix shifts. Given the margin profile of the one-two punch of the natural style and VLN product offerings, our profitability will benefit regardless of product mix between them. Third quarter 2025 is a story of significant improvement to our balance sheet and completion of the necessary steps to drive margin improvement with the restructuring of our manufacturing operations. The stage is set now for adoption of our higher margin branded products to begin delivering sequential quarterly improvement, both top line and in overall profitability.
The higher margin branded products typically provide for gross profit margin of 20%-30% after accounting for pricing promotions and other marketing dollars. The full detail of state authorizations for each brand is provided in our earnings release. As our state authorizations continue to increase for each product SKU, that will allow for more rapid expansion to increase store count. As I mentioned, we implemented cost savings and restructuring initiatives of our manufacturing operations during the quarter in effort to more rapidly improve gross margin.
| Metric | Period | Current guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Branded product sales | Annual goal | 500,000 cartons of natural-style and VLN products to reach break-even, versus over 12 million cartons under the former CMO model |
| Gross margin / profitability | Q4 2025 and throughout 2026 | Expect sequential improvement in both top line and profitability |
| Rate of sale metrics | Early part of 2026 | Expect to begin seeing rate of sale metrics to gauge marketing and pricing effectiveness |
| EBITDA break-even | Second quarter 2026 | Still driving for it; reaffirmed as line of sight |
| Metric | YoY | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Net revenue | — | Decreased to $4 million from $4.1 million in Q2 2025 on CMO strategy shift; cartons sold fell to 517,000 from 779,000 |
| Gross profit | — | Loss of $1.1 million versus $0.6 million loss in Q2 2025 due to lower volume, mix transition, restructuring costs, and inventory write-downs |
| Operating expenses | — | $2.2 million versus $2.3 million in Q2 2025 |
| Net loss from continuing operations | — | Approximately $3.8 million versus $3.3 million in Q2 2025 |
| Adjusted EBITDA | — | Loss of $2.9 million versus $2.6 million loss in Q2 2025 |
| Basic EPS (incl. discontinued ops) | — | $1.55 per share versus a $13.61 loss per share in Q2 2025, reflecting the $9.5 million Dorchester insurance settlement gain |
| Topic | Previous mention | Current period | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business model transition | Slow transition of revenues from CMO into higher-margin branded products | Implemented widespread manufacturing restructuring; break-even cut to ~500,000 cartons from over 12 million under the CMO model | — |
| Product strategy | Focus on VLN products | One-two punch of natural-style full-nicotine and VLN/partner VLN SKUs to gain shelf space and brand recognition; developing a third partner brand | — |
| Distribution | — | VLN in ~1,500 stores across 21 states (Smoker Friendly in MO/FL, Pinnacle in 1,361 Murphy USA stores in 20 states, 22nd Century VLN in Chicagoland Circle K); authorized in ~40 states | — |
| Technology platform | — | Technology development platform positioned as the nucleus of the company, offering low-nicotine leaf and licensing opportunities | — |