Welcome, everyone, to the 2024 annual meeting of shareholders of GrowGeneration Corp. Darren Lampert, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of GrowGeneration, will now begin the meeting.
Thank you. I call this 2024 Annual Meeting of the Shareholders of GrowGeneration Corp to order. Welcome to all our shareholders, as well as our directors and staff who are able to join us today. After introducing our executive team, external advisors, and director nominees, I'll turn the meeting over to our General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Stephen Kozey. Let me begin by introducing the members of our executive team who are on the call. Myself, Darren Lampert, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder; Michael Salaman, our President and my Co-founder; Greg Sanders, our Chief Financial Officer; and Stephen Kozey, our General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Our external legal counsels, Mitchell Lampert and Anna Wang, from the law firm Robinson+Cole , are also on the call. Ms. Wang will act as the Inspector of Elections for today's meeting.
Drew Bauer from our independent audit firm, Grant Thornton, is also with us today. Finally, I will introduce the nominees for election to our board of directors. GrowGeneration is fortunate to have a distinguished group of directors, whose biographies are in our proxy statement. Our directors contribute significantly and generously to the development of the company's policies and the oversight of governance and operations. Our director nominees are Eula Adams, Stephen Aiello, Star Carter, Darren Lampert, and Michael Salaman. After the business portion of the meeting has concluded, we will provide time for questions. Only validated shareholders will be able to ask questions in the designated field on the web portal. Out of consideration for others, please limit yourself to one question. Please refer to the rules of conduct and procedures of this meeting posted on the web portal. Please note that this meeting is being recorded.
At this time, I'll ask our Corporate Secretary, Stephen Kozey, to present the call of the meeting.
Thank you, Darren. I represent that I have the following: 1, a copy of the formal notice of meeting, stating the meeting's date, time, place, and purpose. 2, an affidavit that the notice of meeting was mailed to each shareholder of record on or about April 26th, 2024. And 3, a list of the shareholders as of April 22nd, 2024, the record date, which has been available for inspection at the company's headquarters during the 10-day period prior to the meeting. The board of directors has appointed Anna Wang from Robinson+Cole to act as Inspector of Election. Ms. Wang has submitted her signed oath as inspector, which will be included in the minutes of the meeting. I call upon Ms. Wang as Inspector to report whether at least one-third of the company's outstanding shares are present at the meeting, in person or by proxy.
Thank you, Stephen. I'm pleased to report that holders of record of 63.23% of the issued and outstanding shares of the company are present, in person or by proxy.
Thank you, Anna. I declare that the meeting is lawfully and properly convened, and that a quorum is present for all purposes of the meeting. As you are aware from the notice of meeting and the proxy statement, the matters to be voted on at today's meeting are as follows: One, to elect five directors to the board of directors of the company to serve until the 2025 annual meeting of shareholders and until their respective successors are elected and qualified. Two, to conduct an advisory vote on the compensation paid to the company's named executive officers. Three, to approve and ratify the amendment and restatement of the company's amended and restated 2018 Equity Incentive Plan, as set forth in Exhibit A attached to the proxy statement.
And four, to approve and ratify the appointment of Grant Thornton LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm to audit the company's financial statements as of December 31st, 2024, and for the fiscal year then ending. The polls are now open. Any shareholders who have not yet voted or wish to change their vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions there. Shareholders who have sent in proxies or voted via telephone or the internet and do not want to change their vote do not need to take any further action. We will now take a brief pause to allow for voting. Now that everyone has had the opportunity to vote, I hereby declare the polls closed. I now call upon Ms. Wang as Inspector of Election to report preliminary voting results.
Thank you, Stephen. The preliminary voting results show as follows: Number one, each of the five director nominees received a plurality of the votes, which is the vote required to elect the directors. Number two, 22,798,476 of the shares present at the meeting, constituting the majority of the shares counted in voting on this proposal, voted for the approval of the compensation of the company's named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement.
Number three, 19,287,381 of the shares present at the meeting, constituting the majority of the shares counted in voting for on this proposal, voted for the approval of the amendment and restatement of the company's amended and restated 2018 Equity Incentive Plan, as set forth in Exhibit A, attached to the proxy statement. Number four, 38,257,003 shares present at the meeting, constituting the majority of the shares counted in voting on this proposal, voted for the approval and ratification of the appointment of Grant Thornton LLP as the company's independent registered public accountants for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024.
Thank you, Anna. On the basis of the inspector's report, I declare as follows: One, the election of the five director nominees is hereby approved. Two, the compensation of the company's named executive officers, as disclosed in the proxy statement, is hereby approved. Three, the amendment of the company's amended and restated 2018 Equity Incentive Plan, as set forth in Exhibit A attached to the proxy statement, is hereby approved. And Four, the appointment of Grant Thornton as the company's independent registered public accountants for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2024, is hereby approved. This concludes the business portion of our meeting today. Thank you again for joining us and for your support of GrowGeneration. Darren will now conclude with the state of the business, and we will take appropriate questions you may have following that presentation.
Thank you, Stephen, and thank you in particular to all of our shareholders who, like us, believe in our vision for GrowGeneration. Throughout the past few years, we have tirelessly pursued our key strategic priorities to expand our brand portfolio, maximize operational efficiencies, while improving our core structure and drive increased profitability through margin expansion. These efforts led us to exceed our full year 2023 revenue guidance and generate Adjusted EBITDA that was consistent with our expectations. In 2024, we have continued to build on this momentum and have made solid progress on several fronts. We are already one of the largest hydroponic suppliers in the country, and we strive to be the best in selection, service, and solutions.
At the same time, we've taken other steps to increase our growth prospects, including expanding into the home gardening market and enhancing our e-commerce platforms, all to position the company for long-term, profitable growth. These strategic measures are already positively impacting our business, as shown in our first quarter 2024 results, which came in at the high end of our expectations. In the first quarter of this year, our same-store sales for retail stores were positive on a year-over-year basis for the first time in nine quarters. Proprietary brand sales also continued to grow, representing around 23% of our reported cultivation and gardening net sales, the highest in our company's history. We also achieved sequential gross margin improvement and the lowest total expense base that we had delivered in three years through our disciplined focus on cost controls.
Importantly, based on our first quarter results, we felt confident in reiterating our full year 2024 guidance. As previously communicated, we anticipate net revenue to be $205 million-$215 million, and Adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of a loss of $2 million to a profit of $3 million. In addition to this, earlier this year, we announced our first share repurchase program. This program began in April and authorizes us to repurchase up to 6 million of the company's outstanding common stock. I believe all of this underscores our confidence in the strength of our business and our operating model, as well as the broader strategic direction of the company. It also aligns with our commitment to creating long-term value for our shareholders.
In addition to these results, we are well positioned to take advantage of attractive potential market opportunities that may arise. We've worked diligently to ensure that our balance sheet is strong, which we think is important given the larger macroeconomic environment. As of March 31, we had $61.3 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, and no debt. So we're in a good place where we can recapitalize on timely opportunities to further enhance our business and increase our growth trajectory. In closing, we are extremely proud of the results we've been able to achieve, and perhaps more importantly, the direction that we have moved GrowGeneration to over the past few years. Having said that, we realize there is still more to be done, and we intend to do it. Our strategic focus for the remainder of 2024 remains on three key areas.
These include: One, expanding our proprietary portfolio of brands and growing proprietary brand sales as a portion of total revenue. Two, widening our customer base through customer growth initiatives, including our new B2B portal by hydroponic retailers and garden centers nationwide. And Three, prioritizing profitability through margin growth while continuing to maintain stringent cost management. We're confident that by continuing to execute on these priorities, we will drive further growth and profitability throughout our business. Complementing this, a sturdy balance sheet will enable us to deploy capital strategically to pursue the right opportunities that align with our business model and growth plans. As GrowGeneration celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, looking back, we're extremely proud of the business we have built, and we look ahead with excitement and determination to pursue opportunities for continued growth and success. Again, we want to thank you, our shareholders, for your continued support.
Thank you also to our team of employees, as well as our directors and executives, for all we have achieved and for what we intend to achieve moving forward.
Thank you, Darren. There are no questions from shareholders submitted at this time. Thank you to all of our shareholders, employees, and partners for their support. We look forward to sharing our results and successes with everyone throughout the year. Be safe and healthy. Our 2024 shareholder meeting is now adjourned.
The 2024 annual meeting of shareholders of GrowGeneration Corp is now over. You may now disconnect.