Earnings Call Transcript - UGRO Q3 2022

Operator, Operator

Hello, and welcome to the urban-gro 2022 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. As a brief reminder, all participants are currently in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session for those on the telephone conference line. Please note that this conference call is being recorded, and a replay will be available on the company's website following the end of the call. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Dan Droller, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations at urban-gro.

Dan Droller, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. Today's call will be led by Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Dick Akright, Chief Financial Officer. I'd like to remind our listeners that our remarks made during this call will include discussion of non-GAAP metrics, including adjusted EBITDA and backlog. These items should not be utilized as a substitute for urban-gro's financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations of our GAAP net loss to adjusted EBITDA are available in our press release and in our Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and can be accessed from the Investor Relations section of our website. On this call, we may state management's intentions, beliefs, expectations or future projections. These are forward-looking statements and involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements on this call are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the federal securities laws and are based on urban-gro's current expectations, and actual results could differ materially. As a result, you should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these contemplated by such forward-looking statements are discussed in the periodic reports urban-gro files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These documents are available in the Investors section of the company's website and on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website. We do encourage you to review these documents carefully. Lastly, a copy of our earnings press release and the webcast replay for today's call may be found on the Investor Relations section of our website that is at ir.urban-gro.com. With that, I will now turn the call over to Brad.

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Dan. And good afternoon, everyone, and welcome. I'll begin today's call by providing an update on the state of our business, including a focus on our execution, results, market conditions and vision. This will be followed by Dick reviewing our financial results in greater detail, and then we'll open the call to your questions. While I'm pleased that we exceeded our revised guidance on both revenue and adjusted EBITDA, that should not be misconstrued as being satisfied. While our results were directly impacted by the headwinds associated with decreased capital expenditures within the cannabis sector, one of the positive aspects of our performance that our results demonstrate our sector and capability diversification strategy is paying off. This diversification strategy coupled with the strength of our Professional Services delivery model that we've been building over the last 18 months, has built our project backlog to a company record, $67 million, as of the quarter-end, an increase of over $40 million on both a sequential and year-over-year basis. This is a clear indication that the model that we have built is working as intended, and I'm proud of what we've been able to accomplish amid this dynamic environment. Briefly touching on our third quarter results, we achieved revenues of $12.4 million, which is above our third quarter guidance of $10 million to $11 million. From a positive standpoint year-over-year, construction Design-Build revenue increased by $5.4 million and Professional Services revenue increased by $1.4 million, with both increases being driven by the synergies we are creating with our strategic acquisition. Offsetting this growth was the $12.6 million year-over-year decrease in cultivation equipment revenue due to pressure resulting from macroeconomic conditions and further state regulatory delays tied to the cannabis sector. As we continue to invest in both scaling our team to service 2023 demand and into expanding our European operations, adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was negative $2.3 million, just above the high end of our guidance range of negative $2.4 million to $2.6 million. And as it pertains to our balance sheet, entering Q4 with approximately $18.6 million of cash and no debt, it remains strong, agile and is providing us with the flexibility to continue investing in growth. Moving on. I'll now shift to our most recent acquisition, current sector trends that we're seeing and the outlook for the balance of 2022. The increasing market demand for our services in all sectors is precisely why we made the decision to acquire Dawson Van Orden or DVO, a 24-person world-class engineering firm based in Texas with considerable experience and expertise in the indoor CEA and commercial sectors. This accretive and synergistic transaction both increases our Professional Services revenues and margins and further provides immediate cross-selling opportunities to leverage both urban-gro and DVO's existing clients and contracts. To be clear, the demand for both our Professional Services, including engineering, as well as our turnkey Design-Build solution across all sectors is strong and increasing rapidly. As such, this acquisition allowed us to immediately add depth to our suite of services as well as a deep bench of talent and engineering leadership structure to efficiently service our clients. More specifically, this transaction adds new and enhanced expertise in the areas of mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire safety engineering and includes the addition of an industrial architecture team that had been recruited from a global leading engineering procurement and construction company. Given that our respective teams have experience working together on joint projects prior to the close, I'm confident that we'll see a quick and smooth integration process over the next several months and be able to take advantage of the immense opportunities that lie in front of us. Furthermore, I'm excited about the opportunity to build a hub in Texas. Located in Houston, we plan to build out our office to accommodate both CEA and commercial opportunities that we have identified in the region. Not only have we determined that there's a solid and accessible labor pool to work with, but forward-looking, we expect the state to provide an influential business opportunity as cannabis legalization is considered in the future. Now shifting to our business development in the commercial sector. Not only is our success here beginning to have a positive material impact on our financial performance and is effectively beginning to bridge the cannabis sector weakness experienced, it also truly promotes the consistency and effectiveness of our well thought out and executed M&A strategy. Following the acquisition of Emerald Construction Management and in turn, the successful launch of our Design-Build division in the second quarter, we now possess the ability to add value through service levels provided within a single point of responsibility across all aspects of our clients' operations. The launch has been successful and our pipeline of projects is strong, qualified and growing. Last month, we announced the signing of over $50 million of new Design-Build contracts in the third quarter. These contracts, which are from CEA, healthcare, and industrial clients, including a leading global consumer packaged goods enterprise, are for the Design-Build portion of a project only and are separate from any associated Professional Services or equipment contracts that we signed. This progress demonstrates that client interest and engagement in our turnkey Design-Build capabilities has continued to gain momentum as expected and gives me great confidence that the investments we are making in the business are positioning urban-gro for sustainable and consistent global growth over the long term. Coupled with the continued integration of our recent acquisition, including 2WR, Emerald and now DVO, our combined team that now exceeds 150 employees, enables us to address a larger market and capitalize on opportunities in adjacent markets where we've collectively built decade-plus-long relationships. Our ability to penetrate these new markets with cross-selling opportunities and service a set of high-profile customers speaks well to both the end-to-end set of capabilities we have and the quality of our experienced team. Now I'll provide our outlook. For the fourth quarter, we anticipate revenues to be approximately $17 million and an adjusted EBITDA loss to be approximately negative $1.5 million. Very important to address that our adjusted EBITDA forecast is influenced by the expenses incurred to rapidly continue building out our team to meet anticipated 2023 demand and our continued investment in European operations. We remain good stewards of our balance sheet, and we'll continue to invest in the business in ways we expect will reward our shareholders. Looking ahead to 2023, that is supported by the expanding backlog, we expect continued accelerating demand for our Professional Services and construction Design-Build solutions in all sectors that we operate. Further, as a result of the anticipated cannabis sector recovery next year, we expect a material increase in our equipment sales as well. Based upon constructive client sentiment as well as our rapidly strengthening pipeline and backlog, we are seeing opportunities emerge and importantly, we will be scaled and ready to handle the demand from this rebound. Again, to be clear on my intention, while we are investing in our business, we remain focused on returning to positive cash flow as soon as possible. In closing, the model we have built is working as intended, and we expect the investments we have made and continue to make will result in strong future performance for urban-gro. We remain committed to advancing our diversification strategy to reduce exposure to sector risk, and we not only expect this to help continue insulating us in the short term, but over the long term, we believe it will position us for new and larger avenues of growth. In the quarters ahead, we'll continue to drive efficiencies in our model, build our backlog and integrate and identify cross-selling opportunities for our acquisitions, all of which is geared towards creating tangible value for our clients and shareholders. Thank you. And with that, I will now turn the call over to Dick.

Richard Akright, Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Brad. Revenue was $12.4 million in the third quarter of 2022 compared to $18.3 million in the prior year period. This decrease was driven by a decrease in cultivation equipment systems revenue of $12.6 million, primarily reflecting significantly reduced equipment demand in the U.S. cannabis market because of ongoing state-level regulatory delays in the license awarding process as well as the lack of movement of key industry financial support models such as the SAFE Banking Act. This decrease was partially offset by the accretive acquisition of Emerald Construction Management in April of 2022 with a $5.4 million increase in construction Design-Build revenue as well as incremental services revenue of $1.4 million associated with the acquisition of 2WR in July of 2021. Gross profit was $2.6 million or 21% of revenue in the third quarter of 2022 compared to $4.3 million or 23% of revenue in the prior year period. This represents a decrease of $1.7 million, correlating to the decrease in revenue. The decrease in gross profit margin was driven by the lower-margin construction Design-Build revenue from the Emerald acquisition. Operating expenses were $9.5 million in the third quarter of 2022 compared to $4.2 million in the prior year period, representing an increase of $5.3 million. Included in the third quarter operating expenses are one-time expenses, including a previously disclosed $3.3 million business development expense attributable to assisting a key enterprise client with a negative situation with an international lighting manufacturer, $0.7 million in severance expenses, and $0.2 million in nonrecurring legal and transaction costs. The remaining increase in operating expenses was driven by increased headcount to support both current and future demand for the company's solutions and continued investment in European growth. Net loss was a negative $8.7 million or negative $0.81 per share in the third quarter of 2022 compared to net income of $0.1 million or breakeven on a per diluted share basis in the prior year period. This loss includes the $4.2 million of one-time operating expenses outlined above as well as a $1.7 million impairment for the entirety of our Edyza investment, which was made in prior years. Adjusted EBITDA was a negative $2.3 million in the third quarter of 2022, which compares to $1 million of adjusted EBITDA in the prior year period. The decrease in adjusted EBITDA was driven by lower revenues and gross profit as well as strategic investments and operating expenses to drive growth. For the first nine months of 2022, we reported total revenue of $49.7 million compared to $43.2 million in the first nine months of 2021, representing an increase of 15%. Net loss was a negative $11.1 million compared to a net loss of negative $0.3 million and adjusted EBITDA was a negative $2.2 million compared to positive $2.1 million in the prior year comparable period. Now turning to our balance sheet. Our capital structure remains in excellent condition. We entered Q4 with $18.6 million of cash on our balance sheet and no debt, which provides us the necessary flexibility to manage through the macroeconomic market circumstances while simultaneously fueling our growth strategy, including potential additional M&A targets. Additionally, during the third quarter, we repurchased $0.2 million of urban-gro's stock at an average price per share of $2.90. Moving to reported backlog. Our total backlog as of September 30, 2022, was approximately $67 million and is up from the $22 million that we reported at the end of the second quarter of 2022. This backlog is comprised of $56 million of construction Design-Build, $6 million of Professional Services and $5 million of equipment systems contracts. While there are several variables that influence the change in backlog, the two primary factors are signed orders and revenue recognized from signed orders during a stipulated period. Because our backlog relates to capital expenditure commitments made by our customers, the dollar amount of signed customer orders in individual periods can fluctuate materially. Revenue recognition is then dependent on delivery of these orders. That concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, please open the call for questions.

Eric Des Lauriers, Analyst

Hey, thanks for taking my questions. And congrats on the strong contract win this quarter. It's great to see those synergies coming in. Can you help us understand the mix between CEA and non-CEA in those contract wins? I know you mentioned some global CPG enterprises there. And then kind of on a go-forward basis, I know this is a bit of a difficult question and probably hard to answer. But factoring in the recent acquisitions you've made, what would you say is your mix of CEA and non-CEA going forward? I mean I know it's going to fluctuate, but just any way you can help us sort of understand the diversification strategy maybe would be great. Thanks.

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Eric. The backlog is currently at $67 million, which gives us a solid outlook moving forward. Approximately 75% of this backlog is within the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) sector, primarily in cannabis, while the remaining 25% covers other areas. As for the Design-Build construction, it constitutes about 80% of that $67 million backlog. In our third quarter, the majority was still in the CEA space, although it approached a 50-50 split. Within CEA, cannabis continues to represent the majority for us. For instance, we have a longstanding relationship, over a decade, with Emerald Construction Management, which is beneficial as urban-gro's acquisition allows us to offer this client a greater number of projects and added value. This has created a strong synergy for us.

Eric Des Lauriers, Analyst

Yeah. It's really great to hear. On the M&A front, obviously, you guys recently disclosed DVO. Can you help us understand just what sort of other services, maybe bench depth, geographic diversification, might still be on your wish list? Like is there anything else out there that you're still looking for? Or do you feel that you sort of have the services, the bench and the sort of geographic reach that you're looking for? Thank you.

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

I feel very optimistic about our current reach. The only segment of Controlled Environment Agriculture that urban-gro is not currently engaging in is greenhouses, particularly those focused on food production. This is an area we plan to explore in the future. We are definitely looking at expanding into new regions, and we've been actively investing in our operations in Europe, including adding and relocating some employees there in the third quarter. We are strategically partnering with architectural and engineering firms across various European countries, which we believe will be a beneficial move going forward. In the U.S. market, as I’ve previously stated, we are experiencing significant momentum, evident in our current backlog. We are also looking to fill more than 20 open positions, indicating that we are in full growth mode. As Dick mentioned, our EBITDA is affected by costs related to hiring, including job placement expenses and training for new employees to ensure they can effectively serve our clients in the first quarter and beyond. We are also considering acqui-hiring as a strategy, which involves acquiring service companies in exchange for cash, stock, and earnouts, provided we have the right model and talent. This strategy could also help us secure contracts we are looking for but currently do not have.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Brian Wright with ROTH Capital. Please proceed with your question.

Brian Wright, Analyst

Thanks. Congratulations on such a quick rebound. I have a kind of bigger picture kind of like taking a step back with a lot of things going on. But if you think about future M&A and then the comments regarding getting to cash flow positive, is getting back to cash flow positive as soon as possible. I guess, would we think about that M&A in light of accelerating that conversion? Like you have a path right now to get back to cash flow breakeven or cash flow positive? But if you do additional M&A that would kind of accelerate it. Is that the way to kind of think about it? Could you just, kind of big picture, how you're thinking about that dynamic.

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Well, Brian, you're absolutely right, it would, but it's not how we've been thinking about it. We've been consistent with our acquisitions, all service companies and all of them cash flow positive at the time of acquisition. And therefore, it would be definitely additive and help, but that's not how we're looking at it.

Brian Wright, Analyst

Okay. That's just an added benefit for us.

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

That's correct. Thanks, Brian. Appreciate it.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Eric Beder with SCC Research. Please proceed with your question.

Eric Beder, Analyst

Good evening.

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Hi, Eric.

Eric Beder, Analyst

Hi. Your backlog is primarily in construction now. How should we approach the timeline for realizing revenue from those projects compared to other segments? Also, how should we consider the margins for those segments moving forward?

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Eric. The timeline varies depending on the project type. For commercial projects, it typically takes six to nine months, while for the CEA sector, which involves the Design-Build of facilities, it ranges from 18 to 24 months. I want to emphasize that the backlog for Design-Build does not account for any future equipment contracts or our Professional Services contracts, which are additional and not included in that backlog. Currently, the backlog serves as a reliable indicator of what we can expect in the future. Regarding margins, on the Design-Build side, if urban-gro handles the full Design-Build, we are outsourcing and using urban-gro as the general contractor. We don’t perform construction ourselves. This approach allows us to keep control and deliver the facility as quickly as possible to the client. In this scenario, the construction margin will be around 6% to 10%, depending on the project size. However, this margin is complemented by equipment sales and our high-margin Professional Services, which exceed 60%. Overall, for a large Design-Build commercial CEA facility, we anticipate a timeline of 18 to 24 months and a blended margin of approximately 10%. Consequently, in future quarters, we expect to see a significant increase in revenue while considering margin dollars, as there may be a decrease in overall gross profit despite the substantial rise in revenues.

Eric Beder, Analyst

Perfect. When you look at Europe, I know you just started ramping up there. Are you more or less excited when you started out putting into it? And where do you think it goes given that now we're hearing that potentially Germany might do recreational cannabis and other countries there?

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Europe is an intriguing market. In the Middle East, the food sector, particularly traditional horticulture, is performing very well. However, in Europe, the rising energy prices are significantly impacting the market, leading to a downturn in food. For Urban-gro, our cannabis operations in Europe are currently our strong point. With Germany opening up, they will be constructing facilities within the country instead of relying on imports, which they previously sourced from Canada and other nations. This has led to an increase in local demand. Additionally, Urban-gro is engaged in various countries including Portugal, Greece, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Israel. There's a noticeable rise in demand, which has been increasing over the past few months.

Eric Beder, Analyst

And finally, in the U.S., the industry faced a challenging Q3. What factors are contributing to the demand returning to more normalized levels? Are people feeling optimistic that some states will be reinvigorated or become more effective? How are you anticipating this trend moving forward?

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

The majority of urban-gro's cannabis business is located east of the Mississippi. Following the recent election where Missouri and Maryland legalized adult use, we expect licenses to be awarded, which will lead to the construction of facilities. Currently, we are engaged in fewer than 10 projects across these two states, and we anticipate that number will grow. As we expect delays in certain states to ease, likely in Q1 or Q2 of next year, states like New York and Florida, which are experiencing various delays, should become more active. Each state operates independently, and once licenses are granted, dispensaries and facilities will be established. Urban-gro is currently strengthening our commercial division, which is performing well. We are actively hiring and currently have 150 employees, with plans for further expansion to meet demand. Additionally, New Jersey is currently experiencing growth.

Eric Beder, Analyst

Okay. Congrats and good luck for the holidays.

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you. Thank you too, Eric.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Thomas McGovern with Maxim Group. Please proceed with your question.

Thomas McGovern, Analyst

Thank you for taking my question. I have a couple of follow-up inquiries regarding some topics you mentioned. First, concerning the development of your teams and your success with diversification, how are you structuring your teams, particularly in terms of members focused on cannabis-related activities in controlled environment agriculture versus those in non-cannabis sectors? Additionally, what is your strategy for seeking contracts both domestically and internationally?

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

We currently do not prioritize CEA-specific expertise when building our team. Our approach has been to work from the ground up within each division. For instance, we analyze our backlog and assess our robust pipeline to determine when we expect that pipeline to translate into additional backlog. We have established a formula where a certain amount in backlog combined with a discounted amount in pipeline indicates how many individuals we need to hire. The ability to work remotely has significantly aided us, allowing us to recruit talent from various locations across the country without requiring them to be in a specific office. This flexibility has proven beneficial. Additionally, by utilizing a placement firm, we can seek out strong candidates. When they join our team, we create incentives for them to bring in others through their networks. Cross-training new hires is crucial, especially for engineers and architects, as it allows them to experience diverse projects, such as hotels or hospitals, which can be more engaging than working on similar projects repeatedly. In terms of contract acquisition, domestically, we can either provide comprehensive Design-Build services or offer our expertise a la carte, focusing on architecture, engineering, or cultivation design. Building relationships with clients is vital; we aim to deliver exceptional service to encourage repeat business. Typically, after we successfully complete one aspect of a project, clients often seek our help for additional components. Our role has shifted from selling services to guiding clients through the decision-making process regarding equipment and other offerings. Internationally, especially within the cannabis sector in Europe, there are few established facilities, making client identification more challenging. Our marketing efforts there are more grassroots, focused on attending conferences—about eight to ten this year in different countries. We are also working to bring a consultant onto our team who has spent two years helping clients obtain licenses in Europe. This approach differs from what we've typically done in the U.S. market, where we are further along in development, akin to where the U.S. was five or six years ago. This strategy is contributing to our success. Additionally, we have made significant investments this year in our social marketing efforts, which are generating new inquiries and prospects through our website. In contrast to the more established U.S. market, our strategy in Europe requires a more grassroots approach.

Thomas McGovern, Analyst

Great. That was a very thorough and helpful answer. I appreciate that. And then my last follow-up question before I'll hop out of the queue. Could you elaborate a little bit on some of the margin benefits you're seeing or expect to see from the DVO acquisition?

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Sure. I'll start with commercial contracts. There are some contracts where they were handling either construction management or full Design-Build. Now, they are allowing urban-gro to involve our architects or engineers, like with DVO. We're just looking for the opportunity to engage and then let the quality of our team and their leadership demonstrate to the client why we're a strong solution. There are multiple opportunities available on that front. In the cannabis sector, the approach is slightly different, as we have solid relationships in design, architecture, and engineering. We want to present a single point of responsibility, where one individual or company can focus on delivering quality. If issues arise, we're ready to resolve them right away. In this case, we are bringing in Emerald to interface with those clients.

Thomas McGovern, Analyst

Great. Thank you again for taking my questions. And Congrats on the strong performance this quarter.

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Thomas. I appreciate it.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our final question comes from the line of Aaron Grey with Alliance Global Partners. Please proceed with your question.

Aaron Grey, Analyst

Hi, good evening. And thanks for the questions. So first one for me, I just want to go back to some of those open positions you mentioned, and you gave some pretty good color on the question before. But I just wanted assurance because I know human capital is really important for you guys. So is there any risk to that's kind of creating a bottleneck? I know you're looking to do some cross-training, and also hire 20 more. So do you feel confident in your ability to find those qualified personnel to fill those slots before creating some type of bottleneck in terms of you guys being able to deliver or have to delay some of the products you guys have going? Thank you.

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Aaron. I appreciate it. So first and foremost, we did start using job placement firms as opposed to hiring internally, multiple firms in that area and firms that are specialized. It does help; we removed that requirement to work in one of the offices, so that's helped us access individuals in different markets where there could be a slowdown. And so individuals are open to work. Houston market, DVO, 24-person firm has the ability to office close to 60 in their offices right now. So we've found there's a great strong labor pool in Houston in that surrounding area, and so it doesn't have to be just engineers. There will be engineers, architects, construction individuals in that office there. So looking at different locales has really helped. As well we have eight offices in the U.S. now. So we're putting together efforts around each of those offices and using outside firms. I'm not worried about the bottleneck on the high Design-Build portion of our backlog. It's not like services where it starts immediately. It's over 18 to 24 months in the CEA side, and as I mentioned, to six to eight months, so roughly on the commercial side. So we have time there. So it's architects and engineers that we have to make sure are ready. And then on the construction side, it's site superintendents and project managers. And those are hot roles right now in the U.S. economies, but we're doing everything we can to secure high-quality talent quickly.

Aaron Grey, Analyst

Thank you, Brad. That's really helpful. For my second question, now that the election is behind us, aside from a few states still in contention, SAFE Banking is clearly on many people's minds. Do you have any insights regarding what might be included in the upcoming lame-duck session, the likelihood of it passing by the end of the year, and what the potential effects could be for urban-gro?

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

We are definitely prepared to design, build, or provide architectural engineering and cultivation design services for our clients. Once they are ready and have funding, we will be there to support them. Regarding the NCR and the board meeting, we had a call today about the current situation, which is still unstable even after the election concluded 48 hours ago. However, I remain confident that more than 80% of today's crops will successfully pass through this session before the year's end. I believe this will pave the way for banking options for both single-state and multistate operators. We had initially hoped that this would enable multistate operators to list on larger exchanges or attract institutional investments. However, it seems unlikely that this will occur in the short term, at least by the end of the year or over the next couple of quarters. The key takeaway is that from a banking perspective, it will allow them to access more funds at better rates.

Aaron Grey, Analyst

Okay, great. Really helpful color there. And I'll go and jump back in the queue.

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Aaron. Appreciate it.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our final question comes from the line of Brian Wright with ROTH Capital. Please proceed with your question.

Brian Wright, Analyst

Thanks. I wanted to discuss the progress on obtaining the end-to-end contracts. I know that this is a process, and you have recently closed and rolled, but it might be early to consider that. Is there anything in the backlog that aligns with that direction or anything to consider?

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

From the cannabis aspect of Controlled Environment Agriculture, we have a significant full Design-Build project for a cultivation facility and four dispensaries in our backlog. Additionally, there are about 10 other Design-Build contracts in the cannabis sector that we are currently pursuing. Many of these are contingent on certain states legalizing cannabis or securing their financing. These are encouraging developments, especially considering the recent election outcomes. On the food side of Controlled Environment Agriculture, we are consistently signing multiple contracts each month with large food-focused vertical farms and indoor greenhouses, although these are not Design-Build contracts at this time. We are eager to see when opportunities for Design-Build in food vertical farming will arise in the U.S. We enjoy collaborating with our partners, building our credibility, and resolving challenges they face, particularly in environmental and mechanical systems on a daily basis. We will be ready when opportunities come our way. Efficient energy and water usage are crucial to vertical farming, and there is extensive research being conducted globally in both areas. Another key focus is automation with respect to how crops are moved within facilities, which is still in its early stages, with only a handful of companies in Europe and the U.S. working on this. Thus, the emphasis is on improving efficiencies. We believe that we are at the forefront of vertical farming within Controlled Environment Agriculture. Our partnerships and the expertise of our new hires position us well to assist our clients. Additionally, our board member, Sonia Lo, who has valuable experience as the former CEO of Sensei Ag and Crop One, brings a strong vision for urban agricultural growth. This contributes to building a knowledgeable support system that will advance our clients' success. We are establishing ourselves as the trusted service partner we've aimed to be.

Brian Wright, Analyst

Great. Thank you.

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

You're welcome, Brian. Thank you.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. That is all the questions we have for today. Please reach out to investors@urban-gro.com with any additional questions. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Nattrass for closing comments.

Brad Nattrass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Michelle. I appreciate it. In closing, everyone, thanks for chiming in today. But in closing our sector diversification strategy, it's working. The acquisitions that we've made continue to prove to be immediately synergistic and accretive to the company. And our Professional Services and Design-Build model that we've been building since we listed on the NASDAQ and completed our raise over 18 months ago is executing as anticipated. And of course, all of this is supported by that record backlog of $67 million at the end of the quarter and growing. We've got strong momentum in Q4, and we're very confident as a company that's going to carry into 2023. And therefore, we are in growth mode. We're focused on scaling the company to service this demand, as Aaron said, eliminating any chance of bottlenecks as we go, and we'll be ready for 2023. So thank you very much for your interest, your ongoing support, and have a wonderful evening.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation. And have a wonderful day.