Note 1 - Description of the Business and Basis of Presentation |
6 Months Ended |
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Jun. 30, 2025 | |
Notes to Financial Statements | |
Business Description and Basis of Presentation [Text Block] |
NOTE 1 – DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION
Description of the Business
Charlie’s Holdings, Inc., a Nevada corporation, together with its wholly owned subsidiaries and consolidated variable interest entity (collectively, the “Company”), currently formulates, markets and distributes premium, non-combustible nicotine-related products and alternative alkaloid vapor products. The Company’s products are produced through contract manufacturers for sale by select distributors, specialty retailers, and third-party online resellers throughout the United States, as well as in six primary countries worldwide.
Charlie’s Chalk Dust, LLC (“Charlie’s” or “CCD”), is the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary which produces and sells nicotine-based and alternative alkaloid vapor products. Don Polly is a consolidated variable interest entity, for which the Company is the primary beneficiary, which develops, markets and distributes other alternative products.
The Company's common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”), trades under the symbol "CHUC" on the OTCQB Venture Market.
Substantial Doubt to Continue as a Going Concern Regarding the Legal and Regulatory Environment, Liquidity and Management’s Plan of Operation
The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. The Company operates in a rapidly changing legal and regulatory environment; new laws and regulations or changes to existing laws and regulations could significantly limit the Company’s ability to sell its products, and/or result in additional costs. Additionally, the Company was required to obtain approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) to continue selling and marketing certain of products used for the vaporization of nicotine in the United States. For the six months ended June 30, 2025, the Company’s revenue declined. The Company generated a loss from operations of approximately $1,703,000, and had a consolidated net income of approximately $3,744,000. Net cash used in operating activities was approximately $3,063,000. The Company had a stockholders’ equity of $2,190,000 at June 30, 2025. During the six months ended June 30, 2025, the Company’s working capital was increased to $2,211,000 from deficit of $1,855,000 as of December 31, 2024. Regulatory risks, and other industry-specific challenges, as well as a fluctuating working capital and cash position remain factors that raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. During the second quarter of 2025, the Company entered into and closed an Asset Purchase Agreement (the “Agreement”) and subsequent amendment with R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company (the “Buyer”) pursuant to which the Buyer purchased 15 of the Company’s PACHA synthetic products and related assets (the “Assets”) that are covered by a premarket tobacco application (“PMTA”) first submitted by the Company in 2022. The combined purchase price for the Assets was $6.5 million paid at closings in April and May 2025, plus a contingent one-time payment of up to $4.2 million based on product sold by the Buyer during the one year following the first day of commercialization of the Assets. These asset sales have substantially improved the Company’s debt and working capital short-term concerns, and the Company’s cash position.
Our plans and growth depend on our ability to increase revenues, procure cost-effective financing, and continue our business development efforts, including the cumulative expenditures related to our premarket tobacco product application (“PMTA”) process of obtaining FDA approval. The Company has undergone cost-cutting measures including salary reductions of up to 50% for officers and certain managers and a reduction in headcount for certain departments. During the fourth quarter of 2024, the Company launched SBX, a non-nicotine, disposable vapor product which is not subject to FDA review. The Company may require additional financing in the future to support the development of new product categories as well as subsequent PMTA filings, and/or in the event the FDA requests additional testing for one, or several, of the Company’s prior PMTA submissions. There can be no assurance that additional financing will be available on acceptable terms, or at all, and there can be no assurance that any such arrangement, if required or otherwise sought, would be available on terms deemed to be commercially acceptable and, in the Company’s best interests. The financial statements do not include any adjustments to the carrying amount and classification of recorded assets and liabilities should the Company be unable to continue operations. If we do not have sufficient funds to continue operations, we could be required to seek bankruptcy protection or other alternatives that would likely result in our stockholders losing some or all their investment in us.
Risks and Uncertainties
The Company operates in an environment that is subject to rapid changes and developments in laws and regulations that could have a significant impact on the Company’s ability to sell its products. Beginning in September 2019, certain states temporarily banned the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, and several states and municipalities are considering implementing similar restrictions. Federal, state, and local governmental bodies across the United States have indicated that flavored e-cigarette liquid, vaporization products and certain other consumption accessories may become subject to new laws and regulations at the federal, state, and local levels. In addition, in June 2022, the FDA announced a plan to reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes to minimally or non-addictive levels. The application of any new laws or regulations that may be adopted in the future, at a federal, state, or local level, directly or indirectly implicating nicotine, flavored e-cigarette liquid and other electronic nicotine delivery system (“ENDS”) products, could significantly limit the Company’s ability to sell such products, result in additional compliance expenses, and/or require the Company to change its labeling and/or methods of distribution. Any ban of the sale of flavored e-cigarettes directly limits the markets in which the Company may sell its products. In the event the prevalence of such bans and/or changes in laws and regulations increase across the United States, or internationally, the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely impacted. In addition, the Company is presently seeking to obtain marketing authorization for certain of its tobacco-derived nicotine e-liquid products. The Company’s applications were submitted in September 2020 on a timely basis, which if approved, will allow the Company to continue to sell its approved products in the United States. Beginning in August 2021, the FDA began issuing Marketing Denial Orders (“MDO”) for ENDS products that lack evidence to demonstrate that permitting the marketing of such products would be appropriate for the protection of the public health. The Company has not received an MDO for any of its submissions; however, there is no assurance that regulatory approval to sell our products will be granted or that Charlie’s would be able to raise additional financing if required, which could have a significant impact on our sales. On March 15, 2022, a new rider to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act was passed granting the FDA authority over synthetic nicotine. These regulations make the Company’s synthetic nicotine products subject to the same FDA rules as tobacco-derived nicotine products. As such, the Company was required to file a PMTA for its existing synthetic nicotine products marketed under the Pacha brands by May 14, 2022 or be subject to FDA enforcement. The Company filed new PMTAs, for its synthetic Pacha products on May 13, 2022, prior to the May 14, 2022 deadline. On November 3, 2022, FDA accepted for scientific review certain of our PMTAs for synthetic nicotine products and, on November 4, 2022, FDA refused to accept certain other PMTAs for these products, rendering the latter products subject to FDA enforcement. The Company submitted an administrative appeal with FDA regarding its refusal to accept certain of the PMTAs. The administrative appeal was granted on October 30, 2023 and the products were accepted to move forward in the PMTA review process. The Company continues to sell the affected synthetic nicotine products while the PMTA review process continues. The FDA may bring an enforcement action against our synthetic nicotine products for lack of premarket authorization and/or issue an MDO to our pending applications at any time. More generally, FDA’s regulatory initiatives and enforcement priorities regarding ENDS products are unpredictable and continue to evolve, and we cannot predict whether FDA’s priorities and review of our premarket submissions will impact our products to a greater degree than our competitors in the industry. In the event the FDA denies our PMTAs, we would be required to remove products and cease selling them.
During the fourth quarter of 2024 the Company launched new disposable vape products, under the “SBX™” brand. The Company and its attorneys believe SBX products are not subject to FDA review. Based on the information provided by the Company’s contracted chemical suppliers and its consultants, the proprietary Metatine™ (patented in the United States and in China by the Company’s chemical supplier) in the Company’s SBX products does not meet the definition of nicotine set forth in 21 U.S.C. § 387(12) and therefore its products containing Metatine, as their active ingredient, are not subject to regulation as “tobacco products” under 21 U.S.C. § 321(rr). Further, according to information provided by the Company’s chemists, the other ingredients in the Company’s SBX vape liquid are not made or derived from tobacco, nor do they contain nicotine from any source. The documentary support for these facts, including a Certificate of Analysis (“COA”) for the Metatine used in the Company’s SBX products, corroborates these conclusions. However, should any of these understandings be incorrect, the Company’s position on Metatine not qualifying as a “tobacco product” would need to be revisited. Further, should Congress bestow regulatory control over Metatine to the FDA, or should the FDA deem Metatine disposable vape devices “tobacco products” despite the facts that Metatine is not a salt or complex of nicotine, and is not itself derived from nicotine or tobacco, SBX products might then be subject to the FDA tobacco requirements, including, but not limited to, the requirement that all newly deemed tobacco products obtain premarket authorization before entering the U.S. market. If this were to happen, the FDA could bring an enforcement action against our Metatine products for lack of premarket authorization. More generally, FDA’s regulatory initiatives and enforcement authority regarding our products are unpredictable and continue to evolve and we cannot predict whether FDA’s priorities and/or potential jurisdiction over our products will require us to remove our products from the market and to cease selling them.
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