Welcome to 22nd Century Group’s First Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. As a reminder, today’s conference is being recorded.At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mei Kuo, Director of Communications and Investor Relations. Please begin.

Thanks, Brock, and good morning, everyone. We look forward to discussing our first quarter 2020 results with you today. Joining me for 22nd Century Group’s conference call are Mike Zercher, our President and Chief Operating Officer; and Andrea Jentsch, our Chief Financial Officer.Before we begin, we would like to remind everyone that the statements made on today’s call that are not based on historical information are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. And all such forward looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our company’s ability to control.Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including but not limited to the risk factors disclosed in our company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31 2019, as filed with the SEC on March 11 2020.22nd Century does not undertake and it disclaims any obligation to update any forward looking statements or announce revisions to any of the forward looking statements.During this call, we will also disclose certain non-GAAP financial measures including adjusted EBITDA, which we define as Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization as adjusted by 22nd Century Group for certain non-cash and non-operating expenses, all is described in our company’s earnings press release for the quarter ended March 31 2020, as publicly issued today, March 7 2020, and which is available on our company’s website.I would now like to turn the call over to Mike.

Thanks, Mei, and good morning, everyone. Before I discuss our results, I’d like to first touch on COVID-19, how we are handling this situation and the impact it has had on our business.Our first priority has been and will remain to ensure the safety and well-being of our employees. Our corporate employees have been operating under a work-from-home policy since March 23. And our R&D lab in Buffalo, New York has temporarily closed to comply with state orders.The company’s production facility in North Carolina is classified as an essential business and remains fully operational with heightened health and safety protocols in place. We are very proud of our team and would like to thank all of our employees for continuing their great work under these unusual circumstances, with minimal disruption to normal business operations.We will continue to monitor this rapidly evolving situation and look forward to reopening our Corporate Office and R&D facility as soon as that it is legally and safely possible.Now, let me provide an update on our first quarter results and year-to-date accomplishments.With a solid start to 2020, driven by steady sales, this first quarter revenue increased 12% over the prior year. The cost reduction efforts we made last year are starting to reflect in our results, with operating loss improving by 23% in the quarter. This was primarily driven by a reduction in operating expenses and costs associated with our MRTP application.Our solid financial results combined with the progress we are making with the FDA on our MRTP application, as well as the headway we have made in the legal hemp/cannabis space have well positioned us to continue to successfully execute against our key strategies. We are now in the, quote, final action stage of our MRTP application with the FDA.Last month, the FDA set May…

Thanks, Mike. All financial comparisons in my remarks are against the comparable year ago time period unless otherwise noted. As Mike discussed at the top of the call, our operational and financial performance is very solid in the quarter with increased revenue and significant reduction to operating expenses. For the first quarter of 2020, net sales revenue was $7.1 million, a 12% increase from the prior year as a result of increased sales related to contract manufacturing cigarettes.Operating loss for the first quarter was $4.1 million, compared to a loss of $5.4 million. This was primarily driven by reduction costs associated with our MRTP application in prior year and our efforts in expense management. For the first quarter of 2020, net loss was $4 million, representing a loss per share of $0.03, compared to net loss of $2.1 million, or loss per share of $0.02 for Q1 of 2019. The increased loss was due to change in fair value of Aurora warrants due to the decline in Aurora’s underlying share price.Adjusted EBITDA in the quarter was negative $3.2 million or negative $0.02 per share compared to a negative $4.6 million or negative $0.04 per share for Q1 of 2019, and an improvement of approximately 30% due to returning our contract manufacturing business to positive gross margin and improving the cost structure of our overall operating base.Cash used in operating activities during the first quarter was approximately $4.7 million flat year-on-year when compared to the first quarter of 2019. The company’s liquidity remains strong with cash, cash equivalents and short-term investment securities totaling approximately $34 million. We believe we had adequate liquidity to sustain our normal operations and meet all of our current obligations.And with that, I’ll turn the call back over to Mike for his closing comments.

Thanks, Andrea. We feel good about our financial position as we have remained thoughtful in managing expenses and maintaining a strong balance sheet enabling the company to remain agile. This concludes our earnings call today. If you have any questions please follow-up with Mei Kuo at Investor Relations at xxiicentury.com. Thank you for your interest in 22nd Century and we look forward to providing another update in our second quarter earnings call in August.

Thank you. This does conclude today’s call. You may now disconnect.