Menē Inc. Reports Financial Results for the Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2020

TORONTO, April 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Menē Inc. (TSX-V: MENE) (US:MENEF) (“Menē” or the “Company”), an online 24 karat jewelry brand, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2020. All amounts are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

FOURTH QUARTER FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

• Record IFRS Revenue of $7.1 million, an increase of $2.5 million, or 53% Year-over-Year (“YoY”). Non-IFRS Adjusted Revenue² was also a Company record of $8.1 million.
• Consolidated IFRS Gross Profit of $1.7 million, compared to $0.5 million in the prior year quarter.
• Reduced operating expenses to 27% of revenue, compared to 60% in the same quarter last year.
• IFRS Net Loss decreased by $3.4 million or 98% YoY to $0.1 million, a new record low for the Company.

FISCAL YEAR 2020 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

• Record Annual IFRS Revenue of $21.1 million, an increase of $8.1 million or 62% YoY.
• Record Annual Gross Profit of $5.2 million, a $2.5 million or 90% increase YoY.
• Operating Loss decreased by $5.2 million or 83% YoY to $1 million, a record low for the Company.
• Reduced IFRS Net Loss and Total Comprehensive Loss by $3.4 million (51%) and $3.7 million (50%) respectively, YoY
• Sold 26,146 units of jewelry through 15,885 Customer Orders during the year.
• Average Order Value of $1,530, an increase of $590, or 63% YoY.
• Gold Weight Sold increased 21%, Platinum Weight Sold increased 34% from the previous year.
• At December 31, 2020, Menē has $10.9 million in Tangible Common Equity⁴, including $9.1 million in cash and cash equivalents and $17 million in inventory.

OPERATIONAL AND BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS:

• Introduced 180 new products over the course of 2020. Sales of new designs accounted for 19% of total sales in 2020.
• Returning customers attributed to 69% of total sales due to great customer satisfaction.
• Registered more than 21,500 independent customer reviews on mene.com/reviews.
• Launched two new product series “Saints” and “Zodiac”.
• Unveiled “Menē Around the World”, a web-based tool that transparently illustrates the growth of the Menē community across the globe. Menē has sold to more than 60 countries, including to customers in every Canadian province and U.S. state.
• Featured in ELLE Magazine as one of the “23 Fine Jewelry Brands Worth Investing In”.
• Menē’s 24 karat gold Linear Link Chain was featured in Vogue Arabia’s October 2020 issue.
• Cumulative units of jewelry sold reached 72,941 as of year end and more than half a tonne of precious metal weight.

DEBT RETIREMENT

Subsequent to the year end, the Company entered into a debt retirement agreement with a private institutional lender. Pursuant to the debt retirement agreement, the Company issued an aggregate of 9,920,635 Class B Shares in settlement of $5,000,000 ($0.504 per Class B Share), and made a cash payment of $5,119,166.83 (including all accrued interest to the date of completion of the debt retirement), in consideration for the retirement of a total of $10,119,166.83 in principal and accrued liabilities owing to the lender. With this increase in shareholders equity, the Company is well positioned to deliver sustainable growth, without the need to raise further capital for the next few years.

STATEMENT FROM FOUNDER & CEO, ROY SEBAG:

Fiscal 2020 was a monumental year for Menē. We achieved our goal of $20 million in annual revenue and began to transition to an economically sustainable business model. Our business continues to grow rapidly into 2021, and we look forward to sharing our impressive financial results for Q1 2021 with shareholders. Another important economic milestone was achieved through the debt retirement subsequent to year end. This event has improved our balance sheet and establishes a solid foundation for Menē to earn healthy returns on capital in 2021 and beyond.

I would like to thank Sunjoo Moon and Diana W. Picasso for their creativity which vivifies brilliant new designs for our customers. I am also grateful to our craftsmen and women in North America who have worked tirelessly to manufacture these exquisite pieces throughout the challenging pandemic. Likewise, I would also like to thank our executive and operational teams in Toronto for working through this difficult time and adapting so well to the “work from home” environment. Finally, I would like to thank our loyal customers who continue to purchase Menē for themselves, for their friends and for their families, and who continue to spread the word about Menē far and wide. We are grateful for your patronage, and Menē will remain fully committed to producing the most beautiful jewellery in the world which is also a store of enduring value.

Diana and I personally feel humbled by Menē’s vision, its realisation and its ongoing success. We feel grateful to have created this unique brand which continues to develop into an important player in the global jewellery industry. We firmly believe in the mission of Menē: to reinstate jewellery as a lifetime investment by creating objects which are pure, traditional and sustainable. We also believe that the Menē vision heralds the future of conscious consumption by empowering the consumer to reject disposable trends in favour of pieces which last forever.

Non-IFRS Measures

This news release contains non-IFRS financial measures; the Company believes that these measures provide investors with useful supplemental information about the financial performance of its business, enable comparison of financial results between periods where certain items may vary independent of business performance, and allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in operating its business. Although management believes these financial measures are important in evaluating the Company's performance, they are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, financial information prepared and presented in accordance with IFRS. These non-IFRS financial measures do not have any standardized meaning and may not be comparable with similar measures used by other companies. For certain non-IFRS financial measures, there are no directly comparable amounts under IFRS. These non-IFRS financial measures should not be viewed as alternatives to measures of financial performance determined in accordance with IFRS. Moreover, presentation of certain of these measures is provided for year-over-year comparison purposes, and investors should be cautioned that the effect of the adjustments thereto provided herein have an actual effect on the Company's operating results.

Non-IFRS Adjusted Revenue² is a non-IFRS measure. The Company adjusts its revenue by adding back the value of jewelry that was returned by customers, and discounts given to customers. These adjustments are made to assess the gross revenue before deducting these items per IFRS revenue. The closest comparable IFRS measure is revenue.

Non-IFRS Adjusted Loss³ is a non-IFRS measure. Non-IFRS Adjusted Loss is a non-IFRS measure, calculated as total comprehensive loss, plus adjustment for Non-IFRS Adjusted Gross Profit and debt forgiveness, and excluding depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation, accretion, revaluation of metal loan, and translation gain or loss. The closest comparable IFRS measure is total comprehensive loss.

Tangible Common Equity⁴ is a non-IFRS measure. It is calculated as total shareholder’s equity excluding intangible assets.
For a full definition of non-IFRS financial measures used herein to their nearest IFRS equivalents, please see the section entitled "Non-IFRS Financial Measures" in the Company's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2020.

About Menē Inc.

Menē crafts pure 24 karat gold and platinum jewelry that is transparently sold by gram weight. Through mene.com, customers may buy jewelry, monitor the value of their collection over time, and sell or exchange their pieces by gram weight at prevailing market prices. Menē was founded by Roy Sebag and Diana Widmaier-Picasso with a mission to restore the relationship between jewelry and savings. Menē empowers consumers by marrying innovative technology, timeless design, and pure precious metals to create pieces which endure as a store of value.

For more information about Menē, visit mene.com.

Media and Investor Relations Inquiries:

Adil Sheikh
Chief Financial Officer
Menē Inc.
ir@mene.com
+1 289 748 3702

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws that are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statements that involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as “expects”, or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, “plans”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “forecasts”, “estimates”, “believes” or “intends” or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results “may” or “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking information and are intended to identify forward-looking information.

This forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time it was made, and involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others; an inability to predict and counteract the effects of COVID-19 on the business of the Company, including but not limited to the effects of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases presenting as major health issues on the price of precious metals, capital market conditions, restriction on labour and international travel and supply chains; failure to comply with environmental and health and safety laws and regulations; operating or technical difficulties in connection with the manufacture, sale and distribution of jewelry; actual audited results differing from reported unaudited results; global economic climate; dilution of the Company’s shares; the Company’s limited operating history; future capital needs and uncertainty of raising capital; the competitive nature of the jewelry industry; currency exchange risks; the need for the Company to manage its planned growth and expansion; the effects of product development and need for continued technology and manufacturing change; protection of proprietary rights; the effect of government regulation and compliance on the Company and the industry; network security risks; the ability of the Company to maintain properly working systems; theft and risk of physical harm to personnel; reliance on key personnel; global economic and financial market deterioration impeding access to capital or increasing the cost of capital; and volatile securities markets impacting security pricing unrelated to operating performance. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking information other than as required by law.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.