Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the annual meeting of GURU Organic Energy Corp. Please note the meeting will be recorded. I would like to introduce Mr. Joe Zakher, Founder and Executive Chairman of the corporation. Mr. Zakher, the floor is yours.
Thank you. Merci. Bonjour, mesdames et messieurs et bienvenue à cette deuxième assemblée annuelle des actionnaires de GURU. Je suis Joe Zakher, fondateur et président exécutif du conseil d'administration de la société. Je sais que je parle au nom de toute l'équipe lorsque je vous dis que nous aurions été ravis de pouvoir partager cette occasion avec vous en personne. Cependant, la santé et la sécurité de nos employés, administrateurs, clients, partenaires et actionnaires sont notre priorité absolue et les circonstances exigent que nous tenions cette assemblée uniquement sous sa forme virtuelle. J'aimerais vous présenter les personnes qui se joindront à moi cet après-midi. Ingy Sarraf, chef de la direction financière et secrétaire corporative, qui présentera la portion formelle de l'assemblée, et Carl Goyette, président, chef de la direction et administrateur, qui fera une brève présentation sur les résultats et les perspectives de GURU pour 2022.
Les actionnaires auront ensuite l'occasion de poser des questions à l'un d'entre nous juste après la présentation de Carl. L'assemblée d'aujourd'hui se tiendra dans les deux langues officielles et les actionnaires pourront poser leurs questions dans la langue de leur choix. Please note that this meeting will be held in both official languages and questions may be asked in either language and will be answered accordingly. Avant de passer à la portion formelle de l'assemblée, je tiens à féliciter l'équipe entière de GURU, nos employés, nos dirigeants et notre conseil d'administration d'avoir accompli autant en si peu de temps.
Nous nous retrouvons aujourd'hui dans une position enviable pour réaliser la mission que l'on s'était fixée lorsque nous avons fondé GURU : de faire le ménage de l'industrie des boissons énergisantes en offrant une alternative biologique saine et naturelle, dotée d'un bon goût et d'une bonne énergie. Notre prochaine phase de croissance, qui débutera d'ailleurs sous peu, sera fort excitante pour GURU alors que nous continuerons à faire connaître notre marque au Canada et aux États-Unis avec la même vigueur et passion. Avec les moyens et les ressources que nous avons aujourd'hui à notre disposition, nous croyons fortement en nos chances d'atteindre les objectifs ambitieux que l'on s'est fixés, ce qui nous permettra de transformer l'industrie des boissons énergisantes pour le mieux. Sans plus tarder, je déclare l'assemblée ouverte. Je vais agir à titre de président de l'assemblée et Ingy Sarraf agira à titre de secrétaire de l'assemblée.
Je laisse maintenant la parole à Ingy pour la portion formelle de l'assemblée. Ingy.
Merci, Joe. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We would like to remind you that registered shareholders and registered proxy holders are the only persons entitled to vote or to ask questions during the shareholder question period at the end of the meeting. We will conduct the votes on all the matters before us by poll using the online platform. The poll will at the same time. This will allow you to choose to vote on each motion and resolution immediately, or to wait until the conclusion of discussion prior to casting your vote. Once discussion on all items of business has concluded, we will take a short pause before declaring the voting closed on all resolutions. Please make sure you have voted ahead of this time. To vote, please click on the voting icon on the left of your screen.
Simply select your voting direction for each resolution laid out in turn. It's important to add that a vote cannot be canceled once submitted. If you have already voted by proxy, it's not necessary to vote again. Please note that if you choose to vote again, only your vote cast during the meeting will be counted, and the vote that you submitted by proxy will be revoked. Once the voting has opened, the resolutions and voting choices will be displayed. We now declare the polls open. We have received satisfactory proof that the notice calling this meeting was duly publicized and sent to the shareholders of the corporation. Carl Goyette has been designated to act as proposer and Joe Zakher as seconder. Please note that both Carl and Joe are shareholders of the corporation.
Conformément aux pouvoirs qui me sont conférés par les règlements administratifs généraux de la société et par TSX Trust comme scrutateur de l'assemblée. Le scrutateur nous a informés que nous avons obtenu le quorum étant donné qu'au moins deux actionnaires qui détiennent au moins 25% des droits de vote rattachés aux actions donnant le droit de voter sont présents ou représentés par procuration. En conséquence, je déclare la présente assemblée constituée. Nous avons l'intention de traiter en premier lieu des aspects formels de l'ordre du jour. Once the formal part of the meeting is terminated, we will proceed to Carl's presentation, followed by the question period. Any shareholder wishing to ask a question should, at the appropriate time during the question-and-answer period, submit their questions through the online platform in English or French.
La réception des états financiers audités de la société pour l'exercice terminé le 31 octobre 2021 est le premier point à l'ordre du jour. Les états financiers, y compris le rapport des auditeurs ainsi que le rapport de gestion, ont déjà été transmis aux actionnaires de la société dans les délais prévus. Comme les actionnaires ont eu l'occasion d'examiner les états financiers et le rapport des auditeurs et qu'aucun vote n'est requis à cet égard, je les inclurai dans le procès-verbal de l'assemblée. L'élection des administrateurs est le prochain point à l'ordre du jour. Comme il est indiqué dans le circulaire de sollicitation de procuration, la direction a proposé 6 candidats à titre d'administrateurs de la société. Le mandat de tous les administrateurs se terminera à la fin de la prochaine assemblée annuelle des actionnaires de GURU ou lors de l'élection ou la nomination de leur successeur.
My name is Carl Goyette and I move that the following be nominated as directors of the company, Joe Zakher, Carl Goyette, Eric Graveline, Philippe Meunier, Alain Miquelon and Suzanne Poirier.
My name is Joe Zakher and I second the motion.
I confirm that, to my knowledge, the company has received no written notice from a shareholder nominating another individual for election to the board of directors within the period prescribed by the bylaws. Comme il n'y a pas d'autres candidats en nomination, les actionnaires voteront sur la motion visant à élire les candidats proposés par la direction à titre d'administrateurs de la société. Je vous invite maintenant à voter sur l'élection des administrateurs. Vous devez exercer votre droit de vote pour chacun des six candidats. Nous vous rappelons qu'il est possible de voter pour toutes les propositions à l'ordre du jour, et ce, jusqu'à la clôture de vote après le dernier item à l'ordre du jour.
The last item on the agenda is the appointment of the auditors for the financial year ending on October 31st, 2022, and the authorization of the directors to fix their remuneration. I would ask a motion for the appointment of auditors.
My name is Carl Goyette and I move that KPMG Chartered Professional Accountants be appointed auditors of the corporation for the fiscal year ending on October 31st, 2022, and that their remuneration be determined by the board of directors.
My name is Joe Zakher and I second that motion.
As we have now covered all of the items of business of the formal portion of the meeting, we ask that all registered shareholders and proxy holders complete and submit their votes now if they have not already done so. I remind you that if you have already voted by proxy, it is not necessary to vote again. The voting period is now closed for all of the items of business on the meeting agenda. We will now take a short break to tabulate the votes.
Le scrutateur nous a remis son rapport préliminaire et je déclare donc que : une majorité des votes exprimés par les actionnaires est en faveur de l'élection au poste d'administrateur de chacun de Joe Zakher, Carl Goyette, Eric Graveline, Philippe Meunier, Alain Miquelon, Suzanne Poirier, et une majorité des votes exprimés par les actionnaires est en faveur de la nomination de KPMG à titre d'auditeur de la société. Le résultat final des votes pour chacune de ces propositions sera déposé sur SEDAR dès que possible. As there are no other matters to be presented before the meeting, I will now ask for a motion to close the formal portion of the proceedings before the management presentation.
My name is Carl Goyette and I move that the meeting be closed.
My name is Joe Zakher and I second that motion.
I now declare the formal portion of the meeting terminated. Before I pass it over to Carl for the management presentation, I would like to remind everyone that only shareholders or proxy holders can ask questions and that the instructions for asking a question appear on your screen. I would like to remind everyone that management's remarks today may contain forward-looking statements. Several assumptions were made in preparing these, and many factors could cause GURU's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. As a result, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on them. Over to you, Carl.
Thank you, Ingy.
Bonjour à tous.
Good morning, everyone. I'm very pleased to provide you with a brief overview of GURU's results and accomplishments in 2021, and outlook for 2022. 2021 was a remarkable year for GURU. I'm so proud of all that we have achieved as a team, and of the significant progress we have made over such a short period of time, laying the groundwork for our continued growth and all during an ongoing global pandemic. Over the last year, we significantly increased our GURU team from 40 to 70 people, while remaining a nimble and asset-light company that relies on strong partners and a growing consumer base. We believe this is the right operating model as we look to accelerate our growth through integrated marketing campaigns and focus on elevating our brand by expanding distribution networks in Canada and in the U.S.
For the first time in GURU's history, by Q4 of 2021, we finally had the ability to significantly invest in our brand and focus on expanding our reach outside of Quebec. With over CAD 70 million in available cash and credit, we now have the means to deploy the required marketing activities to progressively elevate our disruptive brand in Canada and in the U.S. That's the plan we went to the market with a little over a year ago, and I'm proud to say that we are now executing on as promised. In fiscal 2021, our first full year as a public company, we achieved record annual net revenues for an eighth consecutive year, reaching a record CAD 30 million in net revenues while being highly profitable for most of these years.
We made our first meaningful push across Canada and increased our total doors in North America by 67% to more than 25,000 doors as of today. We also concluded two major transactions, which will allow us to implement our growth initiatives, mainly our game-changing exclusive Canadian distribution agreement with a global CPG leader, which became effective as of October fourth. In parallel, raised an additional CAD 50 million, mainly with North American institutional funds to fuel our growth plans. These major transactions have allowed us to fast-track our marketing activities in Canada. We provided over 600,000 cans of GURU across Canada through various in-store and field marketing events to promote our brands. We deployed our first major marketing activations in English Canada with the support of leading marketing agencies, including our Back-to-University campaign, which included digital and out-of-home components.
We rolled out two great product innovations, Yerba Mate to kick off the year, the fiscal year, and Guayusa Tropical Punch to cap it off. The latter was propelled by a massive campaign in collaboration with reality TV show Occupation Double, this past fall. An existing partnership in which we invested more heavily in fiscal 2021 than in 2020. Finally, we activated unique partnerships with high-profile Canadian ski resorts, namely Whistler, Bromont, and Sutton, since the beginning of the current calendar year. We organized over 60 cleanup community activities across Canada from June to September 2021 to clean up several of our favorite playgrounds, along with other community oriented activities.
The results generated by these investments have been very promising, realizing our best sales months ever in November 2021, and we believe a lot more can be achieved as we continue to build our GURU nation. In fact, our most recent market research demonstrated that our brand awareness in the rest of Canada nearly doubled between Q1 of 2021 and Q4 of 2021. This increase was mostly driven by one of our key consumer target segments, which increased from 15% - 32%. Turning to our fiscal 2022 first quarter results, which we reported this morning, we generated record Q1 net revenues of CAD 7 million, compared to CAD 6.6 million last year, reflecting sales growth in Canada and in the U.S., driven by a 22% growth in volume as a result of stronger velocities and increased points of sale.
We continued to build our partnership with our exclusive distributor in Canada, which officially began this past October and worked actively on the planning and execution of our ambitious long-term pan-Canadian growth strategy. We also made good progress in the U.S. securing new DSD partnerships and new points of sale, in addition to expanding some of our existing partnerships with key retail chains. Our Q1 performance was achieved despite various Omicron-driven restrictions throughout the quarter, impacting businesses and consumers to varying degrees in different markets where GURU is present. In this context, after a solid start to our brand awareness efforts with our Back to University campaign in Q4, we moderated our Canadian marketing activities during Q1 and in the first half of the second quarter. To respect the extensive sanitary restrictions and lockdown measures in place.
With the majority of sanitary restrictions lifted, we are now ramping up our marketing activities, which we expect to sustain from now to the end of the year, barring further COVID-19 related interruptions, and in alignment with our new business model in Canada. Over the next several quarters, GURU will continue to be squarely focused on driving brand awareness and trial in new Canadian markets. Markets that together are more than two times larger than Quebec. This work began in earnest in Q4 2021, was slowed down a bit in Q1 due to Omicron, and will now accelerate in support of our now truly nationwide distribution. Planned activities include, but are not limited to, a major national marketing campaign promoting our botanicals-driven SKUs, namely Matcha, Yerba Mate, and our latest innovation, Guayusa Tropical Punch.
This campaign we call Made in Plants, coupled with other activations, will be notably supporting the Canada-wide availability of guayusa in major retailers effective this quarter. Our exclusive distributor will proceed with its first GURU official large scale in-store activation with many major corporate and independent retailers across the country. We have also planned a series of other activities, partnerships and sponsorships to reach our target consumer base in key Canadian markets throughout the spring and summer, with a mix of on-brand grassroots and mainstream activations. More to come on this front. Turning to the U.S., we continue to execute our strategy and expand to experience improved results quarter over quarter, with new doors in leading and specialty grocery, drug, natural and independent retail chains. This has been supported by the strengthening of our DSD network in the Western U.S. market.
To that effect, we recently partnered with leading regional DSD distributors, Buffalo Market, DPI Specialty Foods, and Pint Size Hawaii, enabling us to significantly increase our points of sale by more than 1,500 since the beginning of the year, primarily in California. Some other notable wins include our full penetration of Whole Foods Market chain, the world's leading natural and organic food retailer, with whom we've had a relationship with since 2005, when we first entered the U.S. market. We were already widely present within Whole Foods, but will now be in every store with all of our products to include Yerba Mate in their over 500 locations, mostly in the U.S. and a handful in Canada. We are also introducing a limited edition variety pack, which will be exclusively available at Sam's Club, a leading membership warehouse club with over 200 U.S. locations this month.
We expect that this new one will have a strong impact on our U.S. sales in Q2. This initiative could also have the potential to generate recurring revenues. GURU continues to generate strong demand in the U.S. quarter- over- quarter, as shown by Q1 SPINS data, demonstrating a 49% increase in consumer purchases in California and a 27% increase in the U.S. overall. While U.S. sales only represent 17% of our sales in Q1, these numbers reflect the growing interest in our brand, primarily in California, with minimal marketing spend. 2021 was defined by our listing on the TSX, securing our game-changing Canadian distribution agreement, successfully transitioning to our new Canadian business model by year-end, and ensuring we have the capital and resources required to execute our ambitious growth plans, all of which were successfully achieved.
Now, the rest of 2022 will be focused on the execution of our expansion plans, but just as importantly, on establishing our new baseline in what will be our first full year working with an exclusive distributor across Canada. A working relationship that continues to grow and strengthen week by week. Just a year ago, around this time, GURU had very low distribution and brand awareness in Canada outside of Quebec. Markets where we had yet to invest any significant distribution in marketing dollars. Following our first big marketing push in Q4, our brand got a huge initial boost and a great response within key consumer segments. While this momentum was attenuated due to Omicron restrictions and lockdown, we are ready for the work ahead of us to move the needle further, which will take time and commitment.
We are really motivated by those early indicators to keep moving forward with the execution of our Canadian growth strategy. The next months and quarters will be very, very active for GURU, as some major Canadian marketing activities are put into action. As mentioned, in the coming weeks, we will be kicking off major marketing campaigns to drive national brand awareness and trial, including the launch of Guayusa across Canada. This SKU has been a true success in Quebec, generating record sales among all 2021 innovations in the industry since its official launch, marketing launch last November, and currently ranks as the number six top SKU in convenience and gas in Quebec. We are confident that it will be well-received in the rest of Canada as well. Guayusa will also become available for listing in the U.S. by the fall.
On the product and innovation front, we will be listing our 355 ml four-pack format in English Canada and introducing a 500 ml format for GURU Original and GURU Lite in Quebec in the coming weeks. This will be our first SKU in this larger format, which is very popular among energy drink consumers. This initiative will allow us to become even more competitive in the market by providing consumers with a broader range of choices. Just this last week, our distributor in Canada received a confirmation for 1,700 new doors from several Canadian grocery and drug retail chains. A full banner and door count update, along with weighted distribution data, will be provided in the spring.
On the pricing front, as mentioned in our Q4 call, we reviewed the industry dynamics, and we decided to take a price increase, which will be effective mid-May. This will help us offset rising input and transportation costs. Also, this price increase is in line with our pricing strategy and current industry practices. In conclusion, the current phase of our North American expansion is focused on deploying a significant proportion of our capital and resources in 2022 to drive brand awareness and trial, and ultimately increase our market share in Canada, where GURU has been the fastest growing energy drink in the last 52 weeks. This expansion phase is supported by our strong financial position, allowing us to invest in our brand over a sustained period of time for the first time in our history and in new Canadian markets.
We are also squarely focused on supporting and building our distribution partnerships in Canada to ensure long-term success. With respect to the U.S., we will continue to methodically expand our distribution network with an emphasis on California through DSD distributors and online, which will allow us to be most cost effective, as well as through the launch of innovations to optimize our current product offering. We are excited to continue to work towards truly breaking through in the large and growing Canadian and U.S. markets, where we have a huge opportunity to conquer market share in an industry ripe for disruption. In closing, I would like to sincerely thank our employees for their dedication and good energy, our board members for their invaluable contribution, wisdom, and counsel, as well as our partners, suppliers, and loyal customers, and you, our shareholders, for your continued support.
We are committed to creating sustainable long-term value for all stakeholders and excited about the future as we continue our journey as the industry disruptor. Thank you. Merci beaucoup. Ingy, over to you for the shareholder Q&A.
Thank you, Carl. We will now proceed with the shareholder Q&A session. For those wishing to submit questions, you may do so by selecting the Ask a Question button located on the left of your screen. Please note that this meeting is being held in both official languages and questions may be asked in either language and will be answered accordingly. Please type your message within the chat box at the bottom of the messaging screen and click the Send button. Since there are no questions, this concludes our meeting today.