RE:Conf Call UpdateMy take on it: the positive news is that the accounting regulator has given them a path forward to resolve their issues, and they wont have to re-file 2019 report. they just need to make changes to the 2020 report, get it audited and signed off. this is good news, and they said tradiing likely 6-8 weeks from now. however with this company, I'll believe it when I see it.. dont be shocked if it turns into 4 - 5 months before we're trading again, that would be par for the course with this accounting saga.. hoping for the best of course.. I just cant trust their timelines at all.
and that is where the good news ends unfortunately.. Toronto store - delayed due to issues with landlord / building permits?? WTF?????!!!!! they've been paying rent on this place to sit empty for nearly 2 years!? now that that they're finally ready to go, they find out that the building isnt up to code? what were they doing for the last 2 years? what a joke... now it's another 2 months for this delay.. lets see what bull&%@t they come up with next to delay the store opening.. yet another long and agonizing saga which seems to be far from over... I now peg the odds of this store ever actually openeing around 60% chance. again - hoping for the best, but with what' I've seen, nothing would surprise me at this point..
then there is the barrie store, delayed another 5-6 months.. dont think I need to say too much more about that.. I peg the odds of this store ever actually opening around 40% chance..
then of course there is the canadian launch with Rubicon.. they didnt say definitvey how it's going, but William certainly seemed to play down expectations, stating that they "had not been able to market the way they wanted" because of the pandemic. and it was too early to say if it will be a success or not.. basically sounded like he was making excuses for poor results to come.. nothing concrete of course, but if you were on the call and heard the tone of his voice during this period, it certainly didnt seem like he was excited about the results at all.. Not good, but of course we'll see...
so I guess the update was mixed.. good news, it does seem like they will get past the accounting problems eventually.. but I wish there would have been some good news on the business front. and extremely dissapointing about the delays on store openings. The delays, combinded with their other blunders, really calls into question their business competency in my opinion.. again, I want to be a big supporter of these guys, I'm certainly invested BIG, but I have to call it like I see it.. and it doesnt look great for a lot of reasons..