Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Ron Funk, and I am the Chairman of Aurora Cannabis, Inc. I welcome you all to our annual general meeting for the company's financial year ended June 30, 2021. I will act as chairman of this meeting. Joining me on the call today is Miguel Martin, Chief Executive Officer at Aurora, Glen Ibbott, Chief Financial Officer at Aurora, and Jillian Swainson, Chief Legal Officer at Aurora. I now call the meeting to order and will commence with the formal part of this meeting to appoint a recording secretary and a scrutineer for the meeting. I appoint Jillian Swainson to act as recording secretary for the meeting. I also appoint Vanessa Lee and Evelyn Shu of Computershare Trust Company of Canada as scrutineers for the meeting.
This meeting is being held in a virtual-only format, which is being conducted via live audio webcast. In terms of formal procedures at today's meeting, as Chairman of this meeting, I will propose motions and in accordance with the articles of the company, no motion proposed by me need be seconded. We will conduct the votes on the matters before us by a poll on the Lumi system. On a poll, every shareholder entitled to vote on the matter has one vote for each share entitled to be voted on the matter and held by that shareholder. The poll will be opened for all resolutions at the same time. This will allow you to choose to vote on each resolution immediately or wait until the conclusion of discussion on each resolution prior to casting your vote.
Due to the format, there will not be an opportunity to address the meeting in real-time during the formal proceedings. However, registered shareholders or duly appointed proxy holders will be able to enter questions to be addressed during the Q&A session following the conclusion of the formal portion of the meeting. As is the case with an in-person meeting, due to time constraints, we may not have time to address all questions through the platform and ask that you follow up with our investor relations team if your question is not answered today. There is an online presentation that you will be able to view during the course of the meeting, and viewers are asked to please refer to the disclaimer with regards to forward-looking statements as set out in the presentation.
In addition, certain matters discussed during this meeting that are not statements of historical fact could constitute forward-looking statements, which are also subject to risks and uncertainties related to our future financial or business performance. Such forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the company's ability to achieve cost savings and positive adjusted EBITDA, drivers for expected organic revenue growth in addition to cost savings, including, but not limited to product innovation, cultivation efficiencies, and genetics licensing, and competitive advantages, including the use of the company's intellectual property, growth in the international medical segment, and cannabinoid biosynthesis. Viewers and listeners are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions that management considers to be reasonable.
Material factors or assumptions involved in developing forward-looking statements include, without limitation, publicly available information from governmental sources, as well as from market research and industry analysis, and on assumptions based on data and knowledge of this industry which the company believes to be reasonable. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, and the risk factors that may affect actual results are detailed in our annual information form and other periodic filings and registration statements. These documents may be accessed via SEDAR and EDGAR. I now declare the polls open on all resolutions. The notice calling this meeting and all proxy-related materials were delivered to shareholders by Notice and Access, with the materials posted on the company's website. All registered and beneficial shareholders received a Notice and Access notification.
I have a declaration as to the Notice and Access meeting mailing for this meeting, which is available for inspection by any shareholder. In view of this, I will dispense with calling for a reading of the notice, and I will ask the recording secretary to file the declaration of the Notice and Access meeting mailing with the minutes of this meeting. Does the recording secretary have the scrutineer's report on attendance?
Yes, I do. The scrutineer's preliminary written report on attendance states as follows. One shareholder in person representing 672 shares. 221 shareholders by proxy, representing 60,615,976 shares. 222 total shareholders holding 60,616,648 shares. Total shares represented is 60,616,648 shares. The percentage of outstanding shares represented at the meeting is 30.6%, and this attendance meets the quorum requirement for the meeting.
Thanks, Jill. The notice of the meeting having been given as required and a quorum being present, I declare this meeting to be duly called and constituted for the transaction of business. The minutes of the last annual general and special meeting of the company, held on November 12, 2020, are filed in the company's record book. I now put forward a motion that the reading of the minutes of the last annual general and special meeting of the company be dispensed with, and that the minutes be taken as read and approved. May I please have a motion that the minutes be taken as read, approved, and adopted as tabled.
Moved.
Thanks, Miguel. Motion carried. I will now table the financial statements for the company's financial year ended June 30, 2021, the report of the auditor, KPMG LLP, and the related management's discussion and analysis thereon. These financial statements have been filed by the company on SEDAR. I would like to propose that we dispense with the reading of the financial statements. Please note that there will be a Q&A session after the formal portion of this meeting to discuss the company's financial situation and prospects. May I please have a motion that we dispense with the reading the financial statements.
Moved.
Thanks again, Miguel. Motion carried. Accordingly, I confirm that the financial statements of the company for the financial year ending June 30, 2021, the report of the auditor and related management's discussion and analysis thereon, have been submitted and shall be included by the recording secretary as part of the formal records of the meeting. The next item of business is to fix the number of directors for the ensuing year. Management proposes to fix the number of directors to be elected to the board at eight. I move that the number of directors for the ensuing year be fixed at eight. I now call for a vote on the motion before the meeting. If you are a shareholder or a voting delegate who is using Lumi to vote on this matter, you may do so now.
If you have previously voted on this matter and do not wish to change your vote, no further action is required. Would all voting delegates please enter your votes in Lumi? The next item of business is the election of directors for the ensuing year. Management proposes to nominate eight persons for election to the board. These persons are all described in the proxy materials and all of the nominees have agreed to stand for election. The company's articles include advance notice provisions, which provide for advance notice to the company in circumstances where nominations of persons for election to the board are made by shareholders of the company. The company has not received notice of any nominations, and as such, any nominations other than nominations disclosed in the proxy materials for this meeting may be disregarded.
Therefore, I nominate the following eight persons as directors for the ensuing year: Miguel Martin, Michael Singer, Norma Beauchamp, Margaret Shan Atkins, Theresa Firestone, Adam Szweras, Lance Friedman and myself, Ronald Funk. The eight persons nominated are management's nominees for election, as was stated in the information circular for this meeting. I move that the nominations be closed. I now call for a vote on the motion before the meeting. If you are a shareholder or a voting delegate who is using Lumi to vote on this matter, you may do so now. As a reminder, if you have previously voted on this matter and do not wish to change your vote, no further action is required. Would all voting delegates please enter your votes in Lumi. The next item of business is the appointment of the auditor for the ensuing year.
The company proposes that KPMG LLP be reappointed as auditor of the company for the ensuing year. I now ask for a vote on the motion that KPMG LLP, chartered professional accountants with offices at 777 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6E 4T5, be reappointed auditor of the company. I now call for a vote on the motion before the meeting. If you are a shareholder or a voting delegate who is using Lumi to vote on this matter, you may do so now. As a reminder, if you have previously voted on this matter and do not wish to change your vote, no further action is required. Would all voting delegates please enter your votes in Lumi? The next item of business to consider is the non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation, also known as say on pay, as described in the company's information circular.
To pass, the resolution must be greater than a 50% majority of the votes cast by shareholders voting in person or by proxy here at the meeting. I now call for a vote on the motion before the meeting. If you are a shareholder or a voting delegate who is using Lumi to vote on this matter, you may do so now. As a reminder, if you have previously voted on this matter and do not wish to change your vote, no further action is required. Would all voting delegates please enter your votes in Lumi? The next item of business is to renew and confirm by ordinary resolution our existing shareholder rights plan and its continuation for a three-year period, as described in the company's information circular.
To pass, the resolution must be greater than a 50% majority of the votes cast by shareholders voting in person or by proxy here at the meeting. I now call for a vote on the motion before the meeting. If you are a shareholder or a voting delegate who is using Lumi to vote on this matter, you may do so now. Again, as a reminder, if you have previously voted on this matter and do not wish to change your vote, no further action is required. Would all voting delegates please enter your votes in Lumi. I'll now pause briefly and ask that all shareholders and voting delegates finish voting on all items presented, as we'll be closing voting shortly. Thank you. I confirm that voting has been closed.
I will pause briefly again to allow our scrutineer to advise if sufficient votes have been cast in favor of the items that were presented today. I have received confirmation from the scrutineer that the company has received sufficient votes in favor of each item to carry each motion. Accordingly, I hereby confirm that all motions were carried. Full voting results will be available on SEDAR after this meeting. We have now concluded the formal business for the meeting, and management will moderate questions following termination of the meeting. As all the business for the meeting has been concluded, I declare this meeting terminated. Thank you for attending. We will now move to the informal part of the meeting, and I'd like to turn it over to our CEO, Miguel Martin, to say a few words.
Thank you, Ron. We've made significant strategic and financial progress since announcing our business transformation plan. As we stand here today, I've never been more confident in where the company is at. Our transformation plan is on track, and we continue to expect to achieve adjusted EBITDA profitability in the first half of fiscal 2023. Aurora is comprised of four distinct, yet complementary components. First, our Canadian medical business. Second, our international medical business. Third, our science and innovation business unit. And finally, fourth, our Canadian adult rec business. Let me discuss a few highlights that underscore our progress in fiscal 2021 and into fiscal 2022. Firstly, Aurora is and remains the number one Canadian LP in global medical cannabis revenues.
Our Canadian medical platform is characterized by leading market share, high barriers to entry through regulatory expertise, investment in technology and distribution, an unwavering commitment to science, testing, and compliance. Our direct-to-patient model allows Aurora to achieve sustainable gross profit margins of approximately 60% with substantially better pricing power relative to the Canadian adult-use segment. Our leadership in international medical cannabis provides us with a high growth, highly profitable business that consistently delivers gross margins exceeding 60%. Our ability to navigate regulatory complexity, coupled with our dedication to testing and compliance, is a real differentiator and has allowed us to win as new medical and rec markets open. Most recently evidenced by our entry into the Dutch recreational market announced this week.
Second, Aurora has a clear path to being adjusted EBITDA positive by the first half of fiscal 2023, even if revenues were to remain consistent with our current levels. We announced in Q4 that we had identified cash savings of CAD 60 million-CAD 80 million, and actions taken to date have already driven over CAD 33 million in annualized run rate cost savings. It's important to note that these savings won't affect any planned growth initiatives. Third, we have vastly improved our balance sheet. We have over CAD 400 million of cash as of September 30, 2021, no secured term debt, access to U.S. $1 billion of capital in our shelf prospectus as available firepower as we prepare for strategic and accretive opportunities. Fourth, our Science and Innovation business unit.
This new business unit will launch a strong pipeline of new releases globally that leverage our intellectual property in genetics and biosynthesis. Let me pivot now to the Canadian adult rec business. While we've made progress here, those who follow the market are aware of the industry-wide challenges. The market today can be broadly characterized into two categories. First, the high margin premium category, and second, the discount category, where many SKUs are break even or even negative margin. Our strategy here centers around profitability versus chasing unprofitable market share, which means a focus on our premium brands that deliver high quality, higher potency, and higher margins.
While fixing this segment has taken longer than expected, we are beginning to see encouraging early signs of a momentum shift. In Q1 in 2022, our premiumization strategy gained traction as evidenced by 29% sequential revenue growth in our premium dry flower brands of San Rafael '71 and Whistler, primarily driven by the launch of three new cultivars under the San Rafael '71 brand. We expect continued innovation in our product pipeline, supported by our Science and Innovation program. We recognize that consumers desire new strains, high potency, and unique terpene profiles, and our capability to deliver for consumers sets Aurora apart from our competitors. Our scientific leadership and ongoing investment provides Aurora with a strong right to win in premium consumer categories, driven by our industry-leading genetics and breeding program.
The breeding program located at Aurora Coast, the state-of-the-art facility in Vancouver Island's Comox Valley, is expected to drive revenues by injecting rotation and variety into our product pipeline, but also greatly improve the efficiencies of cultivation through higher-yielding plants, higher cannabinoids, and better disease resistance. The genetics and breeding program is also expected over time to generate incremental capital-efficient revenue through license agreements for those genetic innovations to other licensed producers. Four new proprietary cannabis cultivars with distinct terpene profiles and high THC potency have already been developed. These include our three San Rafael '71 cultivars launched in September, and Farm Gas, which we licensed to North 40, a Saskatchewan-based premium micro producer. We also believe that our intellectual property includes the most efficient pathway for cannabinoid biosynthesis, which puts us in a pivotal position with nearly all cannabinoid biosynthesis work being undertaken in the industry today.
We are actively working to build, partner, enforce, and protect this valuable intellectual property. Finally, touching briefly on our U.S. strategy, we're obviously staying very close to the shifting legislative and policy landscape taking place there today. We have the balance sheet and financial flexibility to be opportunistic when we see the right transaction. We are taking a diligent and patient approach to M&A, and will be sensitive to purchase price, valuation, and ensuring there's a strong strategic rationale in any potential target. Our primary objective is to EBITDA positive, and nothing's gonna take our attention away from that objective. With that brief overview of the business, we'll move to our Q&A session. In addition to responding to questions that have been submitted through the platform, we would also like to address the most common questions we are receiving through our investor relations mailbox.
Thank you, Miguel. This is Ananth Krishnan, Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations. I will be moderating the questions for Miguel. Miguel, our first question is, why should shareholders be excited about the future of Aurora Cannabis? You've been CEO now for a year. What keeps you excited and makes you excited about the future?
Well, Ananth, let me first say that I've never been more excited, nor do I think the company has been in better shape as to where we're going in the future. Our number one priority, as I continue to say, is achieving shareholder value, and that begins with achieving adjusted EBITDA profitability. You know, crucially and critically, we have a clear pathway to get there by mid-fiscal 2023, and the difference in this statement versus past is that is without any dependence on revenue growth, although we are hoping and working towards having revenue growth in our key areas. I'd like to point out several things here to our investors that we believe differentiates Aurora in the years to come.
Really important, we remain the number one Canadian LP by medical cannabis revenues globally, and Aurora has been able to differentiate ourselves in Canada through investment in our proprietary end-to-end patient infrastructure. That infrastructure creates barriers to entry and a really sticky insured patient base. Our number one position in medical also paves the way for success in global adult recreational cannabis as those medical-only jurisdictions evolve. The most recent proof point of that is the Netherlands, but others will surely follow. Aurora's regulatory compliance testing and commitment to science makes Aurora the ideal partner in both medical and rec over the next decade. As far as adult rec in Canada, we really do believe the market is in the process of bottoming, and we're encouraged that our premiumization strategy is gaining traction.
We also expect continued innovation from our product pipeline, which as I mentioned, is supported by our Science and Innovation program. Lastly, our business transformation plan is on track. As we talked about the CAD 60 million-CAD 80 million in efficiencies, we've already achieved CAD 33 million run rate and more on the way.
Great. Thank you, Miguel. The next question is, you've addressed it slightly, but this is a question we get frequently from investors. What gives us confidence that we'll meet the adjusted EBITDA profitability timelines this time around?
Well, first and foremost, I can sympathize with the frustration around past milestones not being achieved. You know, as I mentioned previously, those forecasts were based on an assumption of revenue growth, and that's not what we're saying here now. We've initiated cost saving measures that when fully implemented, we expect will get us to EBITDA profitability without requiring revenue growth from the Q4 levels by the first half of our next fiscal year. If you take our most recent adjusted EBITDA loss of CAD 11.5 million and line that up against our planned cost savings of CAD 15 million-CAD 20 million a quarter, you can see how the math adds up for us to get to where we need to get to. Further to that, we have already executed over CAD 33 million of the targeted CAD 60 million-CAD 80 million on an annualized run rate basis.
I'm fully confident that we can get there in the time frame we've laid out. I also think it's important to point out to shareholders that we have a history of delivering on our transformation plans to date. You know, just a couple of examples. We've cut SG&A from over CAD 100 million a quarter to the low 40s. We've aligned production to sales. We've reduced complexity in our network and sold a number of facilities. We've cut CapEx significantly, which has improved our working capital use and overall cash burn. We've focused on product quality and production of high-value cultivars. Finally, I'd mentioned that we aren't relying on revenue growth to get us there. That being said, we still expect to see revenue growth and from multiple channels.
That's great. Thank you. The next question is one that we get frequently when we talk to investors, globally, and it is particularly germane with the news recently and coming out of the U.S. House of Representatives. When do we expect Aurora to enter the U.S. market?
You know, as it pertains to the U.S. market, we continue to pay close attention to the shifting legislative landscape in the U.S., including the news that we've heard over the last couple weeks. We view any new proposals, such as the Republican bill that was reported on last week, as a positive sign of progression. We're not taking our focus off of our main goal of EBITDA profitability. Given some of the obstacles that we've seen in Congress around legalization, we feel like the timelines to legislation are gonna be a bit longer than people think, and that the environment around that is important because we have a really strong balance sheet, we have the capabilities that when something happens, we can get there.
As we continue to focus on profitability, we don't think chasing unstructured deals or nontraditional deals is exactly the right thing to be doing. You know, a structured investment in a U.S. THC business today is difficult. We're not gonna have operational control, we can't recognize revenue, and that cash flow gets us no further to our primary corporate objective. While we have the balance sheet and financial flexibility to be opportunistic when we see the right transaction, we're taking a diligent and patient approach to that M&A, and we're gonna be sensitive to the purchase price and valuation. I've been on the record now for a while saying that we firmly believe the path to U.S. legalization is gonna start with medical.
The Biden administration has consistently stated that their support is around decriminalization and a medical system, and we definitely believe that the number one global medical business that we have puts us in a unique position for that eventual path. Patience and discipline, we believe, are in our favor right now, and reward shows in the long run. I think, you know, if you look back over the past year and the valuations of where assets are today versus then, if you look at how we've continued to invest in our business, I think you can see that our strategy is a smart one.
Great. In your prepared remarks, you mentioned the recent news coming out of the Netherlands, and our next question is somewhat related to that with, which international markets do you view as the most important for our business, and how are you planning to keep Aurora competitive and staying ahead of the competition in those markets?
Nav, you know, we see huge potential in our international business. You know, there are several core markets that we're really excited about, and each and every one of these markets, you have some common conditions. High regulatory bar, deep compliance, significant hurdles in everything from manufacturing to packaging and sales to marketing. We see huge potential in our ability to navigate those hurdles, and so far we've seen great success historically. Let me talk about a couple of key markets. You know, Israel was a large driver for us in Q1, and we expect the bulk sales to our partner, Cantek, to continue. The partnership we've established, the infrastructure that we have there, and the incredible relationship we have with the regulators is really important.
We've also announced our entry into the Netherlands earlier this week, which we expect to become a significant CAD 2.8 billion market in the future. In terms of European medical, which, you know, is projected to be a CAD 5 billion market by 2025, we're really excited about our leadership position in a couple key markets. We believe we're the number one supplier of flower in Germany, with a growing share of the oils market. We also believe we're a leader in the U.K. dried flower market, where we've had an exceptional quarter. Finally, we're the exclusive flower supplier for the French medical cannabis pilot program, where we got three of the nine tenders. Other key markets for us in that part of the world are also Poland and Australia.
Aurora continues to maintain and grow our market share as those markets develop, which I believe will translate into a highly profitable cash-generating business that sets us up for delivering significant shareholder value in the years to come.
Great. The next question turns our attention to the Canadian market and the Canadian adult rec market. We've heard a lot about how newness and innovation is important. Can you speak to how Aurora is planning to use innovation to stay ahead of the competition?
Sure. You know, as I mentioned on the call, we've been seeing a momentum shift in our premiumization strategy, and that has really been down to our Science and Innovation program. Our new innovation SKUs are driving almost 40% of our wholesale revenue, reflecting really strong customer and consumer interest. Our full year 2022 innovation calendar includes 80 new SKUs. In the fourth quarter of full year 2021, we delivered 25 compelling new products to market, followed by another 22 SKUs in Q1 of full year 2021. This is our most significant and successful innovation push since legalization. These new SKUs are heavily, you know, skewed towards new flower rotations, and those are all coming out of our genetics breeding facility, as well as new concentrate and edible SKUs that are driven by investments in new capabilities and competencies.
We're also looking into limited runs of seasonal offerings. For example, the Candy Cane Mints and Cranberry Vape will be launching this Christmas under our Drift brands. We're also planning on introducing hash for the first time. We've relaunched Whistler with new packaging and price points and are planning on releasing a whole new lineup of rotational genetics from our Coast facility. Lastly, we recently had our most successful product submission to the OCS to date. Two-thirds of our products that we submitted were accepted, which has been made possible by our increased focus on consumer insights.
That's great. Miguel, that completes the Q&A portion of the call.
We have now concluded our question and answer session, and we thank everyone for attending and participating in this meeting. If you have additional questions or would like to follow up on any questions presented to the meeting which were not addressed, please email our investor relations team at aurora@icrinc.com. We thank everyone for their participation. All the best to you and your families. Thank you.