UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

(MARK ONE)

 

FORM 10-Q

(MARK ONE)

 QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the quarter ended December 31, 2017June 30, 2019

 

 TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the transition period from  to____to ____

 

Commission file number:001-38013

 

iFresh Inc.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

Delaware 82-066764
(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)
 (I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)

 

2-39 54th Avenue
Long Island City, New York

(Address of principal executive offices)

 

(718) 628 6200

(Issuer’s (Issuer’s telephone number)

 

Check whether the issuer (1) filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes No

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

Large accelerated filerAccelerated filer
Non-accelerated filer(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)Smaller reporting company
 Emerging growth company

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes No

 

As of February 13, 2018, 14,220,547August 14, 2019, 18,351,497 shares of the registrant’s Common Stock,common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, (the “Common Stock”) were issued and outstanding.

   

 

 

 

iFRESH, INC.

FORM 10-Q FOR THE QUARTER ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2017JUNE 30, 2019

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

  Page
Part I.Financial Information1
 Item 1. Financial Statements1
 Condensed Balance Sheets1
 Condensed Statements of Operations2
 Condensed Statements of Cash Flows3
 Condensed Statements of Shareholder’s Equity4
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Financial Statements45
 Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations2421
 Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures Regarding Market Risk3833
 Item 4. Controls and Procedures3833
Part II.Other Information34
 Item 1. Legal Proceedings3934
 Item 1A. Risk Factors3936
 Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds4037
 Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities4037
 Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosure4038
 Item 5. Other Information4038
 Item 6. Exhibits4038
Signatures4139

  

i

   

PART I – FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Item 1. Financial Statements.

 

iFRESH INC AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(UNAUDITED)

 June 30, March 31, 
 2019 2019 
 

December 31,

2017

  

March 31,

2017

  (UNAUDITED)    
ASSETS          
Current assets:          
Cash and cash equivalents $902,823  $2,508,362  $1,309,616  $1,048,090 
Accounts receivable, net  4,898,740   2,272,011   3,975,866   4,027,909 
Inventories, net  11,519,616   9,796,984   8,815,365   10,411,366 
Prepaid expenses and other current assets  2,439,880   981,017   3,509,978   3,721,262 
Advances to related parties  9,552,534   14,852,083 
Total current assets  29,313,593   30,410,457   17,610,825   19,208,627 
Advances and receivables - related parties  4,609,810   5,220,547 
Property and equipment, net  16,874,362   9,290,674   20,007,031   20,287,186 
Intangible assets, net  1,200,002   1,300,001   1,000,004   1,033,337 
Security deposits  1,232,506   912,346   1,230,428   1,236,073 
Right of use assets-lease  64,881,376   - 
Deferred income taxes  

389,435

   86,799   213,526   115,589 
Total assets $

49,009,898

  $42,000,277  $109,553,000  $47,101,359 
                
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY        
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY (DEFICIENCY)        
Current liabilities:                
Accounts payable $16,470,850   12,364,071  $11,540,086  $14,177,700 
Deferred revenue  139,029   206,737   1,116,090   802,392 
Borrowings against lines of credit - current, net  1,191,224   1,144,568 
Borrowings against lines of credit, current,net  20,960,215   21,285,314 
Notes payable, current  143,056   262,578   95,130   98,475 
Capital lease obligations - current  60,498   51,376 
Finance lease obligations, current  146,679   148,778 
Accrued expenses  875,943   730,392   1,392,616   1,393,973 
Taxes payable  1,395,717   1,769,398 
Other payables - current  605,098   501,213 
Operating lease liabilities, current  5,767,554   - 
Other payables, current  3,454,132   2,926,101 
Total current liabilities  20,881,415   17,030,333   44,472,502   40,832,733 
Borrowings against lines of credit & term loan - non-current, net  16,126,222   12,779,838 
Notes payable - non-current  269,228   379,376 
Capital lease obligations - non-current  83,410   59,907 
        
Notes payable, non-current  108,599   130,068 
Finance lease obligations, non-current  380,901   413,225 
Deferred rent  6,286,568   5,424,134   -   6,659,412 
Other payables - non-current  67,800   34,800 
Other payables, non-current  97,900   97,900 
Long term operating lease liabilities  65,852,541   - 
Total liabilities  43,714,643   35,708,388   110,912,443   48,133,338 
                
Commitments and contingencies                
                
Shareholders’ equity        
Shareholders’ equity (deficiency)        
Preferred shares, $.0001 par value, 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued.  -   -   -   - 
Common stock, $0.0001 par value; 100,000,000 shares authorized, 14,220,548 and 14,103,033 shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2017 and March 31, 2017, respectively  1,422   1,410 
Common stock, $0.0001 par value; 100,000,000 shares authorized, 18,351,497 and 16,737,685 shares issued and outstanding as of June 30, 2019 and March 31, 2019, respectively  1,835   1,674 
Additional paid-in capital  8,602,729   9,075,025   17,974,331   14,933,829 
Accumulated deficit  (3,308,896)  (2,784,546)  (19,335,609)  (15,967,482)
Total shareholders’ equity  5,295,255   6,291,889 
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity $49,009,898   42,000,277 
Total shareholders’ deficiency  (1,359,443)  (1,031,979)
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity (deficiency) $109,553,000  $47,101,359 

 

See accompanying notes to the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements

1

iFRESH INC AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(UNAUDITED)

  

 For the three
months ended
  For the nine
months ended
  For the three months
ended June 30,
 
 

December 31,

2017

  

December 31,

2016

  

December 31,

2017

  

December 31,

2016

  2019  2018 
              
Net sales $33,702,943  $32,327,248  $94,595,598  $90,874,879  $23,084,675  $29,671,823 
Net sales-related parties  2,160,248   2,589,866   7,136,011   6,219,027   743,107   1,416,318 
Total net sales  35,863,191   34,917,114   101,731,609   97,093,906   23,827,782   31,088,141 
Cost of sales  24,696,520   23,805,176   69,164,715   66,960,139   16,516,099   21,602,917 
Cost of sales-related parties  1,811,041   1,916,501   5,763,537   4,602,080   582,569   1,228,404 
Occupancy costs  1,834,247   1,791,325   5,670,852   5,396,778 
Retail Occupancy costs  1,930,619   1,831,074 
Gross profit  7,521,383   7,404,112   21,132,505   20,134,909   4,798,495   6,425,746 
                        
Selling, general and administrative expenses  7,760,568   6,485,191   22,721,595   18,841,217   8,575,894   8,075,441 
Income (Loss) from operations  (239,185)  918,921   (1,589,090)  1,293,692 
Loss from operations  (3,777,399)  (1,649,695)
Interest expense, net  (214,452)  (62,260)  (590,835)  (152,551)  (609,745)  (245,703)
Other income  133,526   249,834   1,352,941   758,274   921,080   332,569 
Income(Loss) before income taxes  (320,111)  1,106,495   (826,984)  1,899,415 
Loss before income taxes  (3,466,064)  (1,562,829)
Income tax provision (benefit)  (39,061)  497,929   (302,635)  854,743   (97,937)  313,833 
Net income (Loss) $(281,050) $608,566  $(524,349) $1,044,672 
Net Loss $(3,368,127) $(1,876,662)
                        
Net income (loss) per share:                
Net loss per share:        
Basic $(0.02) $0.05  $(0.04) $0.09  $(0.19) $(0.13)
Diluted $(0.02) $0.05  $(0.04) $0.09  $(0.19) $(0.13)
Weighted average shares outstanding:                        
Basic  14,219,132   12,000,000   14,167,599   12,000,000   17,385,010   14,220,548 
Diluted  14,219,132   12,000,000   14,167,599   12,000,000   17,385,010   14,220,548 

 

See accompanying notes to the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements

  

2

2

 

iFRESH INC AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(UNAUDITED)

 

 For the Nine months Ended  For the three months
ended June 30,
 
 

December 31,

2017

  

December 31,

2016

  2019  2018 
Cash flows from operating activities          
Net income (loss) $(524,349) $1,044,672 
Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash provided by operating activities:        
Net loss $(3,368,127) $(1,876,662)
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities:        
Depreciation expense  1,277,863   1,165,643   561,644   459,945 
Amortization expense  236,874   99,999   215,833   90,364 
Share based compensation  297,536   -   1,921,081   297,529 
Deferred income taxes  (302,636)  312,360 
Lease amortization  2,142,010   - 
Bad debt reserve  233,448   - 
Deferred income taxes (Benefit)  (97,937)  313,832 
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:                
Accounts receivable  (2,626,729)  (741,643)  (181,405)  356,623 
Inventories  (1,722,632)  (1,321,821)  1,596,001   (950,780)
Prepaid expenses and other current assets  (1,548,863)  (142,192)  211,284   (73,010)
Security deposits  (140,744)  159,240   5,645   (17,385)
Accounts payable  4,053,328   4,194,650   (2,637,611)  (1,154,137)
Deferred revenue  (67,708)  55,040   313,698   52,480 
Accrued expenses  145,551   (28,263)  (1,357)  502,610 
Taxes payable  (373,681)  (461,390)  -   (1,427,387)
Deferred rent  522,546   403,644   -   58,790 
Operating lease liabilities  (2,062,703)  - 
Other liabilities  136,883   635   528,028   (99,697)
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities  (636,761)  4,740,574 
Net cash used in operating activities  (620,468)  (3,466,885)
Cash flows from investing activities                
Advances to related parties  (2,127,694)  (5,820,890)
Cash advances to (received from) related parties  610,738   670,136 
Acquisition of property and equipment  (1,664,630)  (732,329)  (281,489)  (2,478,796)
Cash proceeds from acquisitions  13,836   - 
Net cash used in investing activities  (3,778,488)  (6,553,219)
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities  329,249   (1,808,660)
Cash flows from financing activities                
Borrowings against Term loan  -   3,950,000 
Borrowings against lines of credit  3,200,000   200,000   -   1,750,000 
Borrowings against term loan  1,050,000   - 
Proceeds from borrowings against term loan  -   15,000,000 
Repayments on lines of credit borrowings  (993,835)  (3,791,794)
Proceeds from borrowings on notes payable  -   288,129 
Repayments on term loan  (507,599)  (432,656)
Repayments on notes payable  (397,335)  (175,465)  (24,814)  (35,450)
Payments on capital lease obligations  (49,120)  (38,024)  (34,424)  (39,026)
Deferred financing cost  -   (162,500)
Change in restricted cash  -   (1,030,000)
Net proceeds received from capital contribution  1,119,582   - 
Net cash provided by financing activities  2,809,710   10,290,346   552,745   5,192,868 
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents  (1,605,539)  8,477,701   261,526   (82,677)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the period  2,508,362   551,782   1,048,090   640,915 
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period $902,823  $9,029,483  $1,309,616  $558,238 
Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information                
Cash paid for interest $541,134  $150,314  $609,745  $235,590 
Cash paid for income taxes $-  $1,316,133  $-  $1,424,387 
        
Supplemental disclosure of non-cash investing and financing activities                
Capital expenditures funded by capital lease obligations and notes payable $249,411  $288,129  $-  $597,246 
Stock issued for Glen Cove acquisition $645,500  $- 
Accrual of deferred financing costs $-  $750,000 
Stock issued for business acquisition $-  $645,500 

 

TheSee accompanying notes are an integral part of theseto unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.statements

  

3

3

iFRESH INC AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY

For the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018

 

        Additional       
  Preferred Stock  Common Stock  Paid-in  Accumulated    
  Shares  Amount  Shares  Amount  Capital  Deficit  Total 
Balances at March 31, 2018            -  $             -   14,220,548  $1,422  $9,428,093  $(3,964,039) $5,465,476 
Net loss                      (1,876,662)  (1,876,662
Balances at June 30, 2018  -  $-   14,220,548   1,422  $9,428,093  $(5,840,701) $3,588,814 
                             
Balances at March 31, 2019  -  $-   16,737,685   1,674  $14,933,829  $(15,967,482) $(1,031,979)
Capital contribution  -   -   -    -   1,119,421    -   1,119,421 
Net loss                      (3,368,127)  (3,368,127)
Common stock issued in connection of warrants exercise  -   -   1,170,000   117   1,450,683    -   1,450,800 
Stock issued for service  -    -   443,813   44   470,398    -   470,442 
Balances at June 30, 2019  -  $-   18,351,498   1,835  $17,974,331  $(19,335,609) $(1,359,443)

See accompanying notes to unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements


iFRESH INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

1. Organization and Description of Business

 

Organization and General

 

iFresh Inc. (“iFresh”) is a Delaware company incorporated in July 2016 in order(herein referred to reincorporate E-Compass Acquisition Corp. (“E-Compass”) to Delaware pursuant to the Merger Agreement (as defined below under “Redomestication”). E-Compass was incorporated in Cayman Islands on September 23, 2014 as a blank check company whose objective is to enter into a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combinationcollectively with one or more businesses or entities, or entering into contractual arrangements that gives E-Compass control over such a target business (a “Business Combination”).

Redomestication

On July 25, 2016, iFresh entered into the Merger Agreement with E-Compass, iFresh Merger Sub Inc. (“Merger Sub”), a Delaware corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of iFresh, and NYM Holding, Inc. (“NYM”), the stockholders of NYM, and Long Deng, as representative of the stockholders of NYM. Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, on February 10, 2017, E-Compass would merge with and into iFresh in order to redomesticate E-Compass into Delaware (the “Redomestication Merger”). At the time of the Redomestication, each E-Compass ordinary share was converted into one share of common stock of iFresh and each E-Compass Right was converted into one substantially equivalent right (“iFresh Right”) to receive one-tenth (1/10) of a share of iFresh common stock on the consummation of the Business Combination. In connection with the Redomestication, E-Compass ceased to exist and iFresh is the surviving corporation and successor registrant that will continue to file reports under Section 12(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Business Combination

On February 10, 2017, after the Redomestication Merger, Merger Sub merged with and into NYM, resulting in NMY being a wholly owned subsidiary of iFresh (the “Merger”). The transaction constituted a business combination. iFresh closed the business combination by paying NYM’s stockholders an aggregate of: (i) $5 million in cash, plus, (ii) 12,000,000 shares of iFresh’s common stock (the deemed value of the shares in the Merger Agreement) as consideration. At closing, iFresh also executed an option agreement to acquire up to additional four supermarkets prior to March 31, 2017 for aggregate consideration of $10 million in cash, less any advances or receivables owed to the Company (see Note 6). The option agreement subsequently expired unexercised.

In connection with the closing, holders of 1,937,967 of the Company’s ordinary shares elected to redeem their shares and iFresh paid $20,154,857 ($10.40 per share in accordance with Redemption Clause) in connection with such redemption. Also on February 10, 2017, iFresh repurchased 1,500,000 of such non-redeemable shares promptly at a purchase price of $10.00 per share according to an agreement with Handy Global Limited signed on January 11, 2017. On February 10, 2017, iFresh entered into an agreement to repurchase 200,000 shares of its common stock from Lodestar Investment Holdings Corporation for $200.00. At the closing of the Redomestication Merger: (i) one share of iFresh common stock for each share of E-Compass common stock, resulting in 1,872,033 non-redeeming E-Compass common stock being converted into iFresh common stock; (ii) each ten E-Compass rights were converted into one share of common stock of iFresh, resulting in 4,310,010 E-Compass rights automatically converting into 431,000 shares of the iFresh’s common stock.

Prior to the closing of the Redomestication Merger and Business Combination, there were 5,310,000 E-Compass shares issued and outstanding. After the redemption of 1,937,967 shares, the repurchase of 1,700,000 shares and the conversion of 4,310,010 E-Compass rights into 431,000 shares, there were 2,103,033 shares of E-Compass’s common stock being re-domesticated into the iFresh’s common stock. With the new issuance of the 12,000,000 shares of iFresh’s common stock in connection with the Business Combination, there were a total of 14,103,033 shares of iFresh’s common stock issued and outstanding after the business combination. 

4

The above-mentioned business combination with NYM was accounted for as a reverse acquisition at the date of the consummation of the transaction since the shareholders of NYM own at least 83.9% of the outstanding ordinary shares of iFresh immediately following the completion of the transaction. Accordingly, NYM is deemed to be the accounting acquirer in the transaction and, consequently, the transaction is treated as a recapitalization of NYM. As a result, following the Business Combination, the historical financial statements of NYM and its subsidiaries are treated as the historical financial statements of the combined company. Accordingly, the assets and liabilities and the historical operations that are reflected in the iFresh financial statements after consummation of the transaction are those of NYM and are recorded at the historical cost basis of NYM. NYM’s assets, liabilities and results of operations have been consolidated with the assets, liabilities and results of operations of iFresh upon consummation of the transaction.

iFresh, NYM and its subsidiaries (herein collectively referred to as the “Company”) is an Asian/Chinese supermarket chain with multiple retail locations and its own distribution operations, currently all located along the East Coast of the United States. The Company offers seafood, vegetables, meat, fruit, frozen goods, groceries, and bakery products through its retail stores.

 

On June 7, 2019, the Company, entered into certain Share Exchange Agreement (“Exchange Agreement”) with Xiaotai International Investment Inc. (“Xiaotai”), a Cayman Island Company, and certain shareholders of Xiaotai (collectively with Xiaotai, “Seller”), pursuant to which, among other things and subject to the terms and conditions contained therein, the Company will acquire all of the outstanding issued shares and other equity interests in Xiaotai from certain shareholders of Xiaotai (such transactions, collectively, the “Acquisition”). The Company agreed to issue to the sellers an aggregate of 254,813,383 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.0001.

On the same day, the Company and its wholly owned subsidiary NYM Holding Inc. entered into a Share Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with Go Fresh 365 Inc., (“Go Fresh”) a Florida company solely owned by Mr. Long Deng, IFMK’s Chief Executive Officer. The Purchase Agreement provides for the sale of 100% of the equity interest in NYM to Go Fresh, in exchange for cash consideration of $9.1 million (the “Spin-off”). The transactions contemplated by the Purchase Agreement would take place contemporaneously with the closing of the Acquisition. It is anticipated that, following completion of the Spin-off, Go Fresh will receive 100% of the equity interest of NYM, and that the Company’s business upon completion of the Acquisition and the Spin-off will be that of Xiaotai and its subsidiaries.

2. Liquidity and Going Concern

As reflected in the Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, the Company had operating losses for the three months ended June 30, 2019 and in fiscal year 2019 and had negative working capital of $26.9 million and $21.6 million as of June 30, 2019 and March 31, 2019, respectively. The Company had deficiency of $1.4 million and $1.0 million as of June 30, 2019 and March 31, 2019, respectively. The Company did not meet certain financial covenants required in the credit agreement with Keybank National Association (“Keybank”). As of June 30, 2019, the Company has outstanding loan facilities of approximately $21.0 million due to Keybank. Failure to maintain these loan facilities will have a significant impact on the Company’s operations.

In assessing its liquidity, management monitors and analyzes the Company’s cash on-hand, its ability to generate sufficient revenue sources in the future and its operating and capital expenditure commitments. iFresh had funded working capital and other capital requirements in the past primarily by equity contribution from shareholders, cash flow from operations, and bank loans. As of June 30, 2019, the Company also has $4.6 million of advances and receivable from the related parties we intend to collect. On June 7, 2019, the Company entered into certain Share Exchange Agreement and Share Purchase Agreement to spin off its Asia supermarket business and switch to internet lending business primarily located in China through the acquisition (refer to Note 1). The acquisition is expected to improve the Company’s liquidity and cash flow.


Although the Company has been timely repaying the KeyBank facility in accordance with its terms, the Company was in default under the Credit Agreement as of June 30, 2019 and March 31, 2019. Specifically, the financial covenants of the Credit Agreement require the Company to maintain a senior funded debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) ratio for the trailing 12 month period of less than 3.00 to 1.00 at the last day of each fiscal quarter. As of June 30 and March 31, 2019 , this ratio was greater than 3.00 to 1.00, and the Company was therefore not in compliance with the financial covenants of the KeyBank loan. In addition, the Company violated the loan covenant when Mr. Long Deng, CEO and major shareholder of the Company sold an aggregate of 8,294,989 restricted shares to HK Xu Ding Co., Limited, representing 51% of the total issued and outstanding shares of the Company as of December 31, 2018. The Company failed to obtain a written consent for the occurrence of the change of ownership.  KeyBank has notified the Company in February that it has not waived the default and reserves all of its rights, power, privileges, and remedies under the Credit Agreement. effective as of March 1, 2019, interest was accrued on all loans at the default rate.

On May 20, 2019 (the “Effective Date”), the Company entered into a forbearance agreement (the “Forbearance Agreement”) with KeyBank, pursuant to which KeyBank has agreed to delay the exercise of its rights and remedies under the Loan agreement based on the existence of the events of shares transfer defaults for certain period of time.  The Forbearance Agreement contains customary forbearance covenants and other forbearance covenants and defined certain events of defaults. Starting from May, 2019, the monthly payment decreased to $142,842 as originally required per the credit facility agreements.

The Company’s principal liquidity needs are to meet its working capital requirements, operating expenses and capital expenditure obligations. The Company’s ability to fund these needs will depend on its future performance, which will be subject in part to general economic, competitive and other factors beyond its control. These conditions raise substantial doubt as to the Company’s ability to remain a going concern.

3. Basis of Presentation and Principles of Consolidation

 

The Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”). The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include the financial statements of iFresh NYM and its subsidiaries. All material intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

 

The unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial information as of December 31, 2017June 30, 2019 and for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2017June 30, 2019 and 20162018 have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Certain information and footnote disclosures, which are normally included in annual financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP, have been omitted pursuant to those rules and regulations. The unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial information should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017.

In the opinion of management, all adjustments (which include normal recurring adjustments) necessary to present a fair presentation of the Company’s financial position as of December 31, 2017, its results of operations and its cash flows for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, as applicable, have been made. The unaudited interim results of operations are not necessarily indicative of the operating results for the full fiscal year or any future periods.2019. 

 

The Company has two reportable and operating segments. The Company’s Chief Executive Officer is the Chief Operating Decision Maker (“CODM”). The CODM bears ultimate responsibility for, and is actively engaged in, the allocation of resources and the evaluation of the Company’s operating and financial results.

 

3.4. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

 

Significant Accounting Estimates

 

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions. Such estimates and assumptions affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. The Company’s critical accounting estimates included, but are not limited to: allowance for estimated uncollectible receivables, inventory valuations, allowance for deferred tax assets, lease assumptions, impairment of long-lived assets, impairment of intangible assets, and income taxes. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

 

5

6

 

Restricted Cash

Restricted cash represents cash held by depository banks in order to comply with the provisions of certain debt agreements.

Accounts Receivable

 

Accounts receivable consist primarily of uncollected amounts from customer purchases (primarily from the Company’s two distribution operations), credit card receivables, and food stamp vouchers, and are presented net of an allowance for estimated uncollectible amounts.

 

The Company periodically assesses its accounts receivable for collectability on a specific identification basis. If collectability of an account becomes unlikely, an allowance is recorded for that doubtful account. Once collection efforts have been exhausted, the account receivable is written off against the allowance.

 

Inventories

 

Inventories consist of merchandise purchased for resale, which are stated at the lower of cost or market. The cost method is used for wholesale and retail perishable inventories by assigning costs to each of these items based on a first-in, first-out (FIFO) basis (net of vendor discounts).

 

The Company’s wholesale and retail non-perishable inventory is valued at the lower of cost or market using weighted average method.

 

Operating Leases

On April 1, 2019 the Company adopted Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-02. For all leases that were entered into prior to the effective date of ASC 842, we elected to apply the package of practical expedients. Based on this guidance we will not reassess the following: (1) whether any expired or existing contracts are or contain leases; (2) the lease classification for any expired or existing leases; and (3) initial direct costs for any existing leases. The adoption of Topic 842 resulted in the presentation of $64,881,376 of operating lease assets and $71,620,095 operating lease liabilities on the consolidated balance sheet as of June 30, 2019. See Note 12 for additional information.

 

The Company determines if an arrangement is a lease at inception. Operating leases retail stores, warehouse facilities and administrative officesare included in operating lease right-of-use (“ROU”) assets, current portion of obligations under operating leases. Incentives received from lessorsleases, and obligations under operating leases, non-current on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets. Finance leases are deferredincluded in property and recorded as a reductionequipment, net, current portion of rental expenseobligations under capital leases, and obligations under capital leases, non-current on our consolidated balance sheets.

Operating lease ROU assets and operating lease liabilities are recognized based on the present value of the future minimum lease payments over the lease term usingat commencement date, adjusted by the straight-line method. Store lease agreements generally include rent escalation provisions. The Company recognizes escalations of minimum rents as deferred rent liabilities at the adoption date. As most of the Company’s leases do not provide an implicit rate, the Company uses its incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at commencement date in determining the present value of future payments. The operating lease ROU asset also includes any lease payments made and amortizes these balancesexcludes lease incentives and initial direct costs incurred. The Company’s terms may include options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that the Company will exercise that option. Lease expense for minimum lease payments is recognized on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease.lease term. 

 

Capital Lease Obligations

The Company has recorded capital lease obligations for equipment leases at both December 31, 2017 and March 31, 2017. In each case, the Company was deemed to be the owner under lease accounting guidance. Further, each lease contains provisions indicating continuing involvement with the equipment at the end of the lease period. As a result, in accordance with applicable accounting guidance, related assets subject to the leases are reflected on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets and amortized over the lesser of the lease term or their remaining useful lives. The present value of the lease payments associated with the equipment is recorded as capital lease obligations. 

Deferred financing costs

 

The Company presents deferred financing costs as a reduction of the carrying amount of the debt rather than as an asset. Deferred financing costs are amortized over the term of the related debt using the effective interest method and reported as interest expense in the consolidated financial statements.

6


Fair Value Measurements

 

The Company records its financial assets and liabilities in accordance with the framework for measuring fair value in accordance with U.S GAAP. This framework establishes a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs used to measure fair value:

 

Level 1: Quoted prices for identical instruments in active markets.

 

Level 2: Quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets; quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active; and model-derived valuations in which all significant inputs and significant value drivers are observable in active markets.

 

Level 3: Valuations derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or significant value drivers are unobservable.

 

Fair value measurements of nonfinancial assets and nonfinancialnon-financial liabilities are primarily used in the impairment analysis of intangible assets and long-lived assets.

 

Cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, accounts receivable, prepaid expenses and other current assets, advances to related parties, accounts payable, deferred revenue and accrued expenses approximate fair value because of the short maturity of those instruments. Based on comparable open market transactions, the fair value of the lines of credit and other liabilities, including current maturities, approximated their carrying value as of December 31, 2017June 30, 2019 and March 31, 2017,2019, respectively. The Company’s estimates of the fair value of line of credit and other liabilities (including current maturities) were classified as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

 

Revenue Recognition

 

For retail sales,In accordance with Topic 606 revenue is recognized at the pointtime the sale is made, at which time our walk-in customers take immediate possession of sale. Discounts providedthe merchandise or delivery is made to our wholesale customers. Payment terms are established for our wholesale customers atbased on the timeCompany’s pre-established credit requirements. Payment terms vary depending on the customer. Based on the nature of salereceivables, no significant financing components exist. Sales are recognizedrecorded net of discounts, sales incentives and rebates, sales taxes and estimated returns and allowances. We estimate the reduction to sales and cost of sales for returns based on current sales levels and our historical return experience.

Topic 606 defines a performance obligation as a reductionpromise in salesa contract to transfer a distinct good or service to the customer and is considered the unit of account. The majority of our contracts have one single performance obligation as the discounted products are sold. Sales taxes arepromise to transfer the individual goods is not includedseparately identifiable from other promises in revenue. Proceeds from the sale of coupons are recorded as a liability at the time of sale,contracts and recognized as sales when they are redeemed by customers. For wholesales sales, revenue is, recognized at the date of shipment to customers when a formal arrangement exists, the price is fixed or determinable, the delivery is completed, the Company has no other obligations and collectability is reasonably assured. Payments received before all of the relevant criteria for revenue recognition are recorded as customer deposits.therefore, not distinct.

  

We had no material contract assets, contract liabilities, or costs to obtain and fulfill contracts recorded on the Consolidated Balance Sheet as of June 30, 2019 and March 31, 2019. For the three months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, revenue recognized from performance obligations related to prior periods was insignificant.

Revenue expected to be recognized in any future periods related to remaining performance obligations is insignificant.

The following table summarizes disaggregated revenue from contracts with customers by product group:

  For the three months ended 
  June 30, 2019  June 30, 2018 
Grocery $10,568,993  $12,462,416 
Perishable goods  13,258,789   18,625,725 
Total $23,827,782  $31,088,141 

8

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

 

In May 2014,June 2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”)FASB issued Accounting Standard Update (“ASU”) No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)” (“ASU 2014-09”).2018-07, “Improvements to Nonemployee Share-Based Payment Accounting”, which simplifies the accounting for share-based payments granted to nonemployees for goods and services. Under the ASU, 2014-09 requires an entity to recognize the amountmost of revenue to which it expects to be entitled for the transfer of promised goods or services to customers. ASU 2014-09 will replace most existing revenue recognition guidance in U.S. GAAP when it becomes effective and permits the use of either the retrospective or cumulative effect transition method. The guidance also requires additional disclosure about the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from customer contracts. For public entities, the guidance in ASU 2014-09 willon such payments to nonemployees would be effectivealigned with the requirements for annual reporting periods beginningshare-based payments granted to employees. The changes take effect for public companies for fiscal years starting after DecemberDecember. 15, 2017 (including2018, including interim reporting periods within those periods), and forthat fiscal year. For all other entities, ASU 2014-09 will be effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, and interim reporting periods within annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2019. The Company does not expect the adoption of this guidance will have a material impact on its unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

In February 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-02 (ASU 2016-02), Leases (Topic 842). ASU 2016-02 requires a lessee to record a right-of-use asset and a corresponding lease liability, initially measured at the present value of the lease payments, on the balance sheet for all leases with terms longer than 12 months, as well as the disclosure of key information about leasing arrangements. ASU 2016-02 requires recognition in the statement of operations of a single lease cost, calculated so that the cost of the lease is allocated over the lease term. ASU 2016-02 requires classification of all cash payments within operating activities in the statement of cash flows. Disclosuresamendments are required to provide the amount, timing and uncertainty of cash flows arising from leases. A modified retrospective transition approach is required for lessees for capital and operating leases existing at, or entered into after, the beginning of the earliest comparative period presented in the financial statements, with certain practical expedients available. ASU 2016-02 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, including2019, and interim periods within those fiscal years. Early application is permitted. The Company does not expect the adoption of this guidance will have a material impact on its unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-01, “Business Combinations (Topic 805): Clarifying the Definition of a Business”. The amendments in this ASU clarify the definition of a business with the objective of adding guidance to assist entities with evaluating whether transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions (or disposals) of assets or businesses. Basically these amendments provide a screen to determine when a set is not a business. If the screen is not met, the amendments in this ASU first, require that to be considered a business, a set must include, at a minimum, an input and a substantive process that together significantly contribute to the ability to create output and second, remove the evaluation of whether a market participant could replace missing elements. These amendments take effect for public businesses for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 20172020. Early adoption is permitted, but no earlier than an entity’s adoption date of Topic 606. On April 1, 2019, the Company adopted this ASU and interim periods within those periods, and all other entities should apply these amendments for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, and interim periods within annual periods beginning after December 15, 2019. The Company does not expect the adoption of this guidance willdid not have a material impact on itsthe Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

No other new accounting pronouncements issued or effective had, or are expected to have, a material impact on the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements.

  

7

4. Acquisitions

iFresh Glen Cove Acquisition

On July 13, 2017, the Company acquired from Long Deng, the Company’s largest shareholder, 100% of the ownership interests of iFresh Glen Cove Inc. (“Glen Cove”). Glen Cove is a 22,859 square-foot brand new grocery store being set up in Garden City, New York located at 192 Glen Cove Road, within the Roosevelt Field Mall business district. Subsequent to the closing of the Glen Cove Acquisition, Glen Cove became a wholly owned subsidiary of iFresh.

The Company issued 50,000 shares of its common stock to Long Deng for the acquisition of Glen Cove. The Company accounted for this acquisition as a business combination under ASC 805-50-30 whereby we recognize assets acquired and liabilities assumed in an acquisition at their historical costs as of the date of acquisition, since the acquisition took place between entities under common control.

The total purchase consideration and the costs of the assets and liabilities at the acquisition date were as follows:

  Fair value
allocation
 
Fair value of stock issued  645,500 
Cash acquired  (5,631)
Advanced made to Glen Cove  139,577 
Net consideration $779,446 

The following table summarizes the final amounts recognized for assets acquired and liabilities assumed as of the acquisition date.

Assets acquired: Cost allocation 
Property and equipment  92,433 
Security deposit  79,417 
Due from related parties  10,000 
Subtotal $181,850 
Liability assumed:    
Deferred rent liability  178 ,897 
Historical cost of net assets acquired $2,953 

The difference between the net consideration paid and historical cost of net assets acquired was debited to additional paid-in capital account. The Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2017 include the results of operations of the Glen Cove whereas the same periods in 2016 do not include the results of operations of Glen Cove. On an unaudited pro forma basis, the revenues and net income of the Company assuming the acquisition had occurred on April 1, 2016 are immaterial.

iFresh E. Colonial Asset Purchase

On July 13, 2017, the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, iFresh E. Colonial, completed the acquisition of Mia Supermarket in Orlando FL, a 20,370 square-foot grocery store located at 2415 E. Colonial Drive, from Michael Farmers Supermarket, LLC, including inventory, property and equipment. This acquisition expands the Company’s footprint in the State of Florida and expects to increase its revenue base.

8

The aggregate purchase price paid for the iFresh E. Colonial acquisition was $1,050,000. The fair value of the assets acquired approximates the consideration paid. The Company did not assume any liability. The consideration for the transaction was funded by the Company with $1.05 million in proceeds from the delayed term loan withdrawn under Key Bank credit facility. The Company accounted for the iFresh E. Colonial acquisition as an asset acquisition under ASC 805-10-55 because the workforce retained from Mia Supermarket does not include key management members, and is not difficult to replace. Thus, management concluded that the acquisition did not include both an input and substantive processes that together significantly contribute to the ability to create outputs.

New York Mart CT, Inc. (“NYM CT”) Acquisition

On October 2, 2017, the Company acquired 100% equity interest of NYM CT from Long Deng, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, for $3,500,000. The purchase included the business, lease and equipment of the store. The store is currently under renovation and the Company expects the Connecticut store to open in the first quarter of 2018.

The Company accounted for this acquisition as a business combination under ASC 805-50-30 whereby we recognize assets acquired and liabilities assumed in an acquisition at their historical costs as of the date of acquisition, since the acquisition took place between entities under common control.

The total purchase consideration and the costs of the assets and liabilities at the acquisition date were as follows:

  Fair value
allocation
 
Advances made to NYM CT  3,5000,000 
Cash acquired  (2,988)
Net consideration $3,497,012 

The following table summarizes the final amounts recognized for assets acquired and liabilities assumed as of the acquisition date.

Assets acquired: Cost
allocation
 
Property and equipment  3,695,834 
Due from related parties  820 
Subtotal $3,696,654 
Liability assumed:    
Due to related parties  87,741 
Account payable  122,555 
Deferred rent liability  95,792 
Subtotal $306,088 
Historical cost of net assets acquired $3,390,564 

The difference between the net consideration paid and historical cost of net assets acquired was debited to additional paid-in capital account. The Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2017 include the results of operations of NYM CT whereas the same periods in 2016 do not include the results of operations of NYM CT. On an unaudited pro forma basis, the revenues and net income of the Company assuming the acquisition had occurred on April 1, 2016 are immaterial.

9

New York Mart N. Miami Inc. (“NYM N. Miami”) Acquisition

On October 2, 2017, the Company acquired 100% equity interest of NYM N. Miami from Long Deng, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Yang Yu Gao for $3,500,000 and 45,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. The purchase included the business, lease and equipment of the store. The store is also currently under construction, and, once finished, will be one of the largest Asian supermarkets in South Florida. NYM N. Miami will open in the first quarter of 2018.

The Company accounted for this acquisition as a business combination under ASC 805-50-30 whereby we recognize assets acquired and liabilities assumed in an acquisition at their historical costs as of the date of acquisition, since the acquisition took place between entities under common control.

The total purchase consideration and the costs of the assets and liabilities at the acquisition date were as follows:

  Fair value
allocation
 
Advances made to NYM N. Miami  3,5000,000 
Fair value of stocks issued  549,450 
Cash acquired  (5,217)
Net consideration $4,044,233 

The following table summarizes the final amounts recognized for assets acquired and liabilities assumed as of the acquisition date.

Assets acquired: Cost
allocation
 
Property and equipment  3,179,647 
Security deposit  100,000 
Due from related parties  244,308 
Subtotal $3,523,955 
Liability assumed:    
Due to related parties  455,101 
Account payable  41,300 
Deferred rent liability  65,199 
Subtotal $561,600 
Historical cost of net assets acquired $2,962,355 

The difference between the net consideration paid and historical cost of net assets acquired was debited to additional paid-in capital account. The Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2017 include the results of operations of NYM N. Miami whereas the same periods in 2016 do not include the results of operations of NYM N. Miami. On an unaudited pro forma basis, the revenues and net income of the Company, assuming the acquisition had occurred on January 1, 2016, are immaterial since NYM N. On an unaudited pro forma basis, the revenues and net income of the Company assuming the acquisition had occurred onApril 1, 2016 are immaterial.

5. Accounts Receivable

 

A summary of accounts receivable, net is as follows:

 

 December 31, March 31,  June 30, March 31, 
 2017  2017  2019  2019 
Customer purchases $4,196,164  $2,133,689  $4,168,204  $4,008,747 
Credit card receivables  585,633   134,177   319,345   532,369 
Food stamps  167,330   62,900   101,286   99,762 
Others  37,618   29,250   2,518   2,518 
Total accounts receivable  4,986,745   2,360,016   4,591,353   4,643,396 
Allowance for bad debt  (88,005)  (88,005)  (615,487)  (615,487)
Accounts receivable, net $4,898,740  $2,272,011  $3,975,866  $4,027,909 

 

10

6. Inventories

 

A summary of inventories, net is as follows:  

 

 December 31, March 31,  June 30, March 31, 
 2017  2017  2019  2019 
Non-perishables $9,869,578  $8,339,787  $7,415,357  $8,762,634 
Perishables  1,720,797   1,535,777   1,455,389   1,723,882 
Inventories  11,590,375   9,875,564   8,870,746   10,486,516 
Allowance for slow moving or defective inventories  (70,759)  (78,580)  (55,381)  (75,150)
Inventories, net $11,519,616  $9,796,984  $8,815,365  $10,411,366 

 

7. Advances and receivables - related parties

 

A summary of advances and receivables - related parties is as follows:

 

 December 31, March 31,  June 30, March 31, 
Entities 2017 2017  2019  2019 
New York Mart, Inc. $1,124,919 $142,791 
New York Mart N. Miami Inc. - 6,511,427 
New York Mart Elmhurst Inc $59,357  $- 
Pacific Supermarkets Inc. 1,032,091 591,404   -   437,863 
NY Mart MD Inc. 3,380,982 4,165,339   244,932   335,374 
New York Mart CT Inc. - 871,966 
iFresh Harwin Inc  430,335  - 
Advances - related parties $5,968,327 $12,282,927  $304,289  $773,237 
             
New York Mart, Inc. 667,004 476,884   605,265   605,265 
Pacific Supermarkets Inc. 521,899 604,469   273,873   428,237 
NY Mart MD Inc. 2,172,855 1,426,303   3,197,344   3,181,011 
iFresh Harwin Inc 222,449 -   229,039   232,797 
New York Mart CT Inc.  -  61,500 
Receivables – related parties  3,584,207  2,569,156   4,305,521   4,447,310 
Total advances and receivables – related parties $9,552,534 $14,852,083  $4,609,810  $5,220,547 

 

11

The Company has advanced funds to related parties and accounts receivable due from the related parties with the intention of converting some of these advances and receivables into deposits towards the purchase price upon planned acquisitions of some of these entities, which are directly or indirectly owned, in whole or in part, by Mr. Long Deng, the majority shareholder and the Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Accounts receivable due from related parties relate to the sales to these related parties (see Note 15)16). The advances and receivables are interest free, repayable on demand, and guaranteed by Mr. Long Deng. Most of these entities are newly established and have limited or no operations since their inception. As of the date of these financial statements, the Company completed the acquisition of New York Mart N. Miami Inc. and New York Mart CT Inc.

8. Property and Equipment 

 

 December 31, March 31,  June 30, March 31, 
 2017  2017  2019  2019 
Furniture, fixtures and equipment $16,404,615  $12,112,418  $19,980,983  $19,957,600 
Automobiles  2,121,148   2,226,746   2,222,506   2,214,306 
Leasehold improvements  6,629,230   2,082,214   9,099,328   8,849,422 
Software  6,735   6,734   6,735   6,735 
Total property and equipment  

25,161,728

   16,428,112   31,309,552   31,028,063 
Accumulated depreciation and amortization  (8,287,366)  (7,137,438)
Accumulated depreciation  (11,302,521)  (10,740,877)
Property and equipment, net $16,874,362  $9,290,674  $20,007,031  $20,287,186 

 

Depreciation expense for the nine months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 was $1,277,863 and $1,165,643, respectively. For the three months ended December 31, 2017June 30, 2019 and 2016, depreciation expense2018 was $445,196$561,644 and $387,135$459,945, respectively.

 

9. Intangible Assets

 

A summary of the activities and balances of intangible assets are as follows:

 

 Balance at
March 31,
     Balance at
December 31,
  Balance at
March 31,
     Balance at
June 30,
 
 2017  Additions  2017  2019  Additions  2019 
Gross Intangible Assets              
Acquired leasehold rights $2,500,000  $-  $2,500,000  $2,500,000  $-  $2,500,000 
Total intangible assets $2,500,000  $-  $2,500,000  $2,500,000  $-  $2,500,000 
Accumulated Amortization                        
Total accumulated amortization $(1,199,999) $(99,999) $(1,299,998) $(1,466,663) $(33,333) $(1,499,996)
Intangible assets, net $1,300,001  $(99,999) $1,200,002  $1,033,337  $(33,333) $1,000,004 

10

  

Amortization expense was $99,999$33,333 and $99,999 for the nine months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively and$33,333 for the three months ended December 31, 2017June 30, 2019 and 2016 was $33,333 and $33,333.2018, respectively. Future amortization associated with the net carrying amount of definite-lived intangible assets is as follows: 

 

Year Ending December 31,   
2018 $133,333 
2019  133,333 
Year Ending June 30,   
2020  133,333  $133,333 
2021  133,333   133,333 
2022  133,333   133,333 
2023  133,333 
2024  133,333 
Thereafter  533,337   333,339 
Total $1,200,002  $1,000,004 

  

12

10. Debt

 

A summary of the Company’s debt is as follows:

   

  December 31,  March 31, 
  2017  2017 
Revolving Line of Credit-KeyBank National Association $3,200,000   - 
Less: current portion  -   - 
Borrowings against Revolving Line of Credit, non-current $3,200,000  $- 
         
Delayed Term Loan-KeyBank National Association  1,006,250   - 
Less: current portion  (105,000)  - 
Bank Loan-Term Loan, non-current $901,250  $- 
         
Term Loan-KeyBank National Association  13,841,196   14,791,281 
Less: Deferred financing cost  (730,000)  (866,875)
Less: current portion  (1,086,224)  (1,144,568)
Bank Loan-Term Loan, non-current $12,024,972  $12,779,838 
  June 30,  March 31, 
  2019  2019 
Revolving Line of Credit-KeyBank National Association $4,950,000   4,950,000 
Delayed Term Loan-KeyBank National Association  4,369,983   4,494,983 
Term Loan-KeyBank National Association  12,096,482   12,342,206 
Less: Deferred financing cost  (456,250)  (501,875)
Total  20,960,215   21,285,314 

 

KeyBank National Association (“KeyBank”) – Senior Secured Credit Facilities

 

On December 23, 2016, NYM, as borrower, entered into a $25 million senior secured Credit Agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) with Key Bank National Association (“Key Bank” or “Lender”). The Credit Agreement provides for (1) a revolving credit of $5,000,000 for making advance and issuance of letter of credit, (2) $15,000,000 of effective date term loan and (3) $5,000,000 of delayed draw term loan. The interest rate is equal to (1) the Lender’s “prime rate” plus 0.95%, or (b) the Adjusted LIBOR rate plus 1.95%. Both the termination date of the revolving credit and the maturity date of the term loans are December 23, 2021. The Company will pay a commitment fee equal to 0.25% of the undrawn amount of the Revolving Credit Facility and 0.25% of the unused Delayed Draw Term Loan Facility. $3,200,000$4,950,000 of the revolving credit was used as of December 31, 2017.June 30, 2019.

 

$15,000,000 of the term loan was fully funded by the lender in January 2017. The Company is required to make fifty-nine consecutive monthly payments of principal and interest in the amount of $142,842 starting from February 1, 2017 and a final payment of the then entire unpaid principal balance of the term loan, plus accrued interest on the maturity date. On December 23, 2016, the Company used the proceeds from the loan term to pay off the outstanding balance under the Bank of America credit line agreement and HSBC line of credit.

 

The Delayed Draw Term Loan shall be advanced on the Delayed Draw Funding date, which is no later than December 23, 2021. A withdrawal of $1.05 million under the Delayed Draw Term Loan has been made as of September 30, 2017 to acquire iFresh E. Colonial, Inc.

 

The senior secured credit facility is secured by all assets of the Company and is jointly guaranteed by the Company and its subsidiaries and contains financial and restrictive covenants. The financial covenants require NYM to deliver audited condensed consolidated financial statements within one hundred twenty days after the fiscal year end and to maintain a fixed charge coverage ratio not less than 1.1 to 1.0 and senior funded debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) ratio less than 3.0 to 1.0 at the last day of each fiscal quarter, beginning with the fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2017. As of June 30, 2019 and March 31, 2019, the Company has negative EBITDA, thus the ratio was negative and the Company was not in compliance with the financial covenants of the KeyBank loan. Except as stated below, the senior secured credit facility is subject to customary events of default. It will be an event of default if Mr. Long Deng resigns, is terminated, or is no longer actively involved in the management of NYM and a replacement reasonably satisfactory to the Lender is not made within sixty (60) days after such event takes place. The Company violated the loan covenant when Mr. Long Deng, CEO and major shareholder of the Company sold an aggregate of 8,294,989 restricted shares to HK Xu Ding Co., Limited on January 23, 2019, representing 51% of the total issued and outstanding shares of the Company as of December 31, 2018. The Company failed to obtain a written consent for the occurrence of the change of ownership. As a result, effective as of March 1, 2019, interest was accrued on all loans at the default rate and the monthly principal and interest payment due under the effective date term loan will be $155,872 instead of $142,842.


On May 20, 2019 (the “Effective Date”), the Company entered into a forbearance agreement (the “Forbearance Agreement”) with KeyBank, pursuant to which KeyBank has agreed to delay the exercise of its rights and remedies under the Loan agreement based on the existence of the events of shares transfer defaults for certain period of time.  The Forbearance Agreement contains customary forbearance covenants and other forbearance covenants and defined certain events of defaults. Starting from May, 2019, the monthly payment decreased to $142,842 as originally required per the credit facility agreements. 

 

Maturities of borrowings against the term loan under this credit facility for each of the next five years are as follows:

 

Year Ending December 31,   
2018 $1,373,724 
2019  1,496,932 
Year Ending June 30   
2020  1,535,410  $1,521,862 
2021  1,574,953   1,576,334 
2022  12,066,427   17,862,019 
Total $18,047,446  $20,960,215 

 

Simultaneously, the Company entered into an escrow agreement with Carnelian Bay Capital Inc. (“CBC”), a stockholder of E-Compass, and Loeb & Loeb LLP, acting as the escrow agent, pursuant to which, the Company agreed to set aside $1,030,000 (the “Escrow Fund”) from the proceeds received from the effective date term loan to pay for certain expenses associated with the Merger. As of March 31, 2017, the escrow account has been fully withdrawn for merger expense payments.

13

11. Notes Payable

 

Notes payables consist of the following:

 

  December 31,  March 31, 
  2017  2017 
Expressway Motors Inc.      
Secured by vehicle, 0%, principal of $490 due monthly through April 9, 2019 $-  $12,247 
Secured by vehicle, 2.99%, principal and interest of $593 due monthly through February 1, 2021  -   25,281 
Secured by vehicle, 0%, principal of $515 due monthly through April 24, 2019  -   11,780 
Hitachi Capital America Corp.        
Secured by vehicle, 6.95%, principal and interest of $2,109 due monthly through September 18, 2019, paid off in December 2017  -   57,927 
Secured by vehicle, 7.35%, principal and interest of $2,219 due monthly through November 7, 2017  -   17,269 
Secured by vehicle, 7.10%, principal and interest of $2,094 due monthly through March 28, 2018  6,208   24,186 
Secured by vehicle, 6.99%, principal and interest of $2,170 due monthly through March 10,2019  31,086   48,478 
Triangle Auto Center, Inc.        
Secured by vehicle, 4.02%, principal and interest of $890 due monthly through January 28, 2021  30,871   37,810 
Colonial Buick GMC        
Secured by vehicle, 8.64%, principal and interest of $736 due monthly through February 1, 2020  17,375   22,660 
Milea Truck Sales of Queens Inc.        
Secured by vehicle, 8.42%, principal and interest of $4,076 due monthly through July 1, 2019, paid off in December 2017  -   103,276 
Secured by vehicle, 4.36%, principal and interest of $1,558 due monthly through February 20, 2018  3,098   16,768 
Isuzu Finance of America, Inc.        
Secured by vehicle, 6.99%, principal and interest of $2,200 due monthly through October 1, 2018  21,308   39,455 
Koeppel Nissan, Inc.        
Secured by vehicle, 3.99%, principal and interest of $612 due monthly through January 18, 2021  21,226   25,790 
Secured by vehicle, 0.9%, principal and interest of $739 due monthly through March 14, 2020  19,747   26,310 
Secured by vehicle, 7.86%, principal and interest of $758 due monthly through September 1, 2022  33,835   39,025 
Lee’s Autors, Inc.        
Secured by vehicle, 0.9%, principal and interest of $832 due monthly through July 22, 2017  -   3,321 
Silver Star Motors        
Secured by vehicle, 4.22%, principal and interest of $916 due monthly through June 1, 2021  36,483   42,684 
BMO        
Secured by vehicle, 5.99%, principal and interest of $1,924 due monthly through July 1, 2020  74,307   87,687 
         
Wells Fargo        
Secured by vehicle, 4.01%, principal and interest of $420 due monthly through December 1, 2021  18,589   - 
Toyota Finance        
Secured by vehicle, 0%, principal and interest of $632 due monthly through August, 2022  35,414   - 
Secured by vehicle, 4.87%, principal and interest of $761 due monthly through July, 2021  29,853   - 
Secured by vehicle, 0%, principal and interest of $633 due monthly through April 1, 2022  32,884   - 
Total Notes Payable $412,284  $641,954 
Current maturities  (143,056)  (262,578)
Long-term debt, net of current maturities $269,228  $379,376 

  June 30,  March 31, 
  2019  2019 
Triangle Auto Center, Inc.      
Secured by vehicle, 4.02%, principal and interest of $890 due monthly through January 28, 2021  16,338   18,823 
Colonial Buick GMC        
Secured by vehicle, 8.64%, principal and interest of $736 due monthly through February 1, 2020  4,248   6,350 
Koeppel Nissan, Inc.        
Secured by vehicle, 3.99%, principal and interest of $612 due monthly through January 18, 2021  10,663   12,378 
Secured by vehicle, 0.9%, principal and interest of $739 due monthly through March 14, 2020  6,628   8,826 
Secured by vehicle, 7.86%, principal and interest of $758 due monthly through September 1, 2022  23,630   25,415 
Silver Star Motors        
Secured by vehicle, 4.22%, principal and interest of $916 due monthly through June 1, 2021  21,040   23,546 
BMO        
Secured by vehicle, 5.99%, principal and interest of $1,924 due monthly through July 1, 2020  45,125   50,172 
         
Wells Fargo        
Secured by vehicle, 4.01%, principal and interest of $420 due monthly through December 1, 2021  11,964   13,096 
Toyota Finance        
Secured by vehicle, 0%, principal and interest of $632 due monthly through August, 2022  24,031   25,928 
Secured by vehicle, 4.87%, principal and interest of $761 due monthly through July, 2021  22,134   24,031 
Secured by vehicle, 0%, principal and interest of $633 due monthly through April 1, 2022  17,928   19,978 
Total Notes Payable $203,729  $228,543 
Current notes payable  (95,130)  (98,475)
Long-term notes payable, net of current maturities $108,599  $130,068 

All notes payables are secured by the underlying financed automobiles. 

14

  

Maturities of the notes payables for each of the next five years are as follows:

 

Year Ending December 31,   
2018 $143,056 
2019  105,973 
Year Ending June 30,   
2020  89,661  $95,130 
2021  54,503   79,749 
2022  19,091   27,585 
2023  1,265 
Total $

412,284

  $203,729 

 

12. Capital lease obligationsLease

 

The following capitalCompany’s material leases consist of store, warehouse, parking lots and its offices with expiration dates through 2027. In general, the leases have remaining terms of 1-20 years, most of which include options to extend the leases. The lease obligations are included interm is generally the condensed consolidated balance sheets:

  December 31,  March 31, 
  2017  2017 
Capital lease obligations:      
Current $60,498  $51,376 
Long-term  83,410   59,907 
Total obligations $143,908  $111,283 

Interest expense on capital lease obligations forminimum noncancelable period of the nine months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 amounted to $6,213 and $1,942 and $2,254and $538 forlease. The Company does not include option periods unless the three months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.Company determines that it is reasonably certain of exercising the option at inception or when a triggering event occurs.

 

Future minimumBalance sheet information related to the Company’s operating and finance leases (noting the financial statement caption each is included with) as of June 30, 2019  was as follows:

  As of
June 30,
2019
 
Operating Lease Assets:    
Operating Lease $64,881,376 
Total operating lease assets  64,881,376 
Operating lease obligations:    
Current operating lease liabilities  5,767,554 
Non-current operating lease liabilities  65,852,541 
Total Lease liabilities $71,620,095 

Weighted Average Remaining Lease Term Operating Lease $13.78 years 
Weighted Average discount rate $4.3%


  June 30,  March 31, 
  2019  2019 
Finance lease Assets      
Vehicles under finance lease $1,033,131  $1,033,131 
Accumulated depreciation  280,250   244,116 
Finance lease assets, net $752,881  $789,115 

  June 30,  March 31, 
  2019  2019 
Finance lease obligations:      
Current $146,679  $148,778 
Long-term  380,901   413,225 
Total obligations $527,580  $562,003 

Weighted Average Remaining Lease Term Operating Lease2.63 years
Weighted Average discount rate7.1%

Supplemental cash flow information related to leases was as follows:

  As of
June 30,
2019
 
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities:   
Operating Lease $2,062,703 
Finance lease  34,424 

The estimated future lease payments under the capitaloperating and finance leases are as follows:

 

Year Ending December 31,   
2018 $71,059 
2019  52,038 
 Capital Operating, 
 Lease  lease 
2020  29,054   188,028   8,599,004 
2021  3,802   163,061   8,757,803 
2022  146,831   8,628,318 
2023  120,645   8,604,784 
2024  1,564   8,233,773 
Thereafter  -   52,434,190 
Total minimum lease payments  155,953  $620,129  $95,257,872 
Less: Amount representing interest  (12,045)  (92,549)  (23,637,775)
Total $143,908  $527,580  $71,620,095 

 

15

14

 

13. Segment Reporting

 

ASC 280, “Segment Reporting”, establishes standards for reporting information about operating segments on a basis consistent with the Company’s internal organizational structure as well as information about geographical areas, business segments and major customers in financial statements for details on the Company’s business segments. The Company uses the “management approach” in determining reportable operating segments. The management approach considers the internal organization and reporting used by the Company’s CODM for making operating decisions and assessing performance as the source for determining the Company’s reportable segments. Management, including the CODM, reviews operation results by the revenue of different products or services. Based on management’s assessment, the Company has determined that it has two operating segments as defined by ASC 280, consisting of wholesale and retail operations.

  

The primary financial measures used by the Company to evaluate performance of individual operating segments are sales and income before income tax provision.

 

The following table presents summary information by segment for the nine months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively:

  Nine months ended December 31, 2017 
  Wholesale  Retail  Total 
          
Net sales $20,426,869  $81,304,740  $101,731,609 
Cost of sales  15,600,495   59,327,757   74,928,252 
Retail occupancy costs  -   5,670,852   5,670,852 
Gross profit $4,826,374  $16,306,131  $21,132,505 
             
Interest expense, net $20,490  $570,345  $590,835 
Depreciation and amortization $189,396  $1,325,341  $1,514,737 
Capital expenditure $60,712  $1,853,329  $1,914,041 
Segment income before income tax provision $665,940  $(1,492,925) $(826,984)
Income tax provision (benefit) $243,701  $(546,336) $(302,635)
Segment assets $12,605,082  $36,404,816  $49,009,898 

  Nine months ended December 31, 2016 
  Wholesale  Retail  Total 
          
Net sales $17,430,676  $79,663,230  $97,093,906 
Cost of sales  13,743,782   57,818,437   71,562,219 
Retail occupancy costs  -   5,396,778   5,396,778 
Gross profit $3,686,894  $16,448,015  $20,134,909 
             
Interest expense, net $145,051  $7,500  $152,551 
Depreciation and amortization $173,657  $1,091,985  $1,265,642 
Capital expenditure $327,096  $405,233  $732,329 
Segment income before income tax provision $306,231  $1,593,184  $1,899,415 
Income tax provision $29,853  $824,890  $854,743 
Segment assets $6,764,786  $38,614,581  $45,379,367 

16

The following table presents summary information by segment for the three months ended December 31, 2017June 30, 2019 and 2016,2018, respectively:

  

 Three months ended December 31, 2017  Three months ended
June 30, 2019
 
 Wholesale  Retail  Total  Wholesale  Retail  Total 
              
Net sales $7,670,169  $28,193,022  $35,863,191  $4,532,105  $19,295,677  $23,827,782 
Cost of sales  5,802,969   20,704,592   26,507,561   3,193,655   13,905,013   17,098,668 
Retail occupancy costs  -   1,834,247   1,834,247   -   1,930,619   1,930,619 
Gross profit $1,867,200  $5,654,183  $7,521,383  $1,338,450  $3,460,045  $4,798,495 
                        
Interest expense, net $2,332 $212,120 $214,452 $(3,040) $(606,705) $(609,745)
Depreciation and amortization $58,562  $465,592  $524,154  $326,843  $2,592,644  $2,354,881 
Capital expenditure $38,117  $417,469  $455,586 
Segment income before income tax provision $236,372  $(556,483) $(320,111)
Income tax provision $20,325  $(59,386) $(39,061)
Capital expenditures $-  $479,396  $479,396 
Segment loss before income tax provision $365,856  $(3,831,919) $(3,466,063)
Income tax provision (benefit) $10,338  $(108,275) $(97,937)
Segment assets $12,605,082  $36,404,816  $49,009,898  $17,638,285  $91,914,715  $109,553,000 

  

 Three months ended December 31, 2016  Three months ended
June 30, 2018
 
 Wholesale  Retail  Total  Wholesale  Retail  Total 
              
Net sales $7,019,624  $27,897,490  $34,917,114  $5,188,545  $25,899,596  $31,088,141 
Cost of sales  5,893,051   19,828,626   25,721,677   3,831,897   18,999,424   22,831,321 
Retail occupancy costs  -   1,791,325   1,791,325   -   1,831,074   1,831,074 
Gross profit $1,126,573  $6,277,539  $7,404,112  $1,356,648  $5,069,098  $6,425,746 
                        
Interest expense, net $58,495  $3,765  $62,260  $(3,393) $(242,310) $(245,703)
Depreciation and amortization $62,438  $358,030  $420,468  $59,084  $491,225  $550,309 
Capital expenditure $-  $124,796  $124,796 
Segment income before income tax provision $(31,878) $1,138,373  $1,106,495 
Income tax provision $17,391  $480,538  $497,929 
Capital expenditures $18,313  $3,057,729  $3,076,042 
Segment income (loss) before income tax provision (benefit) $156,539  $(1,719,368) $(1,562,829)
Income tax provision (benefit) $43,831  $270,002  $313,833 
Segment assets $6,764,786   38,614,581  $45,379,367  $11,817,248  $38,829,721  $50,646,969 


14. Shareholder’s Equity

 

On October 19, 2018, the Company and certain institutional investors entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”), pursuant to which the Company agreed to sell to such investors an aggregate of 1,275,000 shares of common stock (the “Common Stock”) in a registered direct offering and warrants to purchase up to approximately 1,170,000 shares of the Company’s Common Stock in a concurrent private placement, for gross proceeds of approximately $2.55 million (the “Financing”). The warrants will be exercisable immediately following the date of issuance and have an exercise price of $2.25. The warrants will expire 5 years from the earlier of the date on which the shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants may be sold pursuant to an effective registration statement or may be exercised on a cashless basis and be immediately sold pursuant to Rule 144. The purchase price for each share of Common Stock and the corresponding warrant is $2.00. Each warrant is subject to anti-dilution provisions that require adjustment of the number of shares of Common Stock that may be acquired upon exercise of the warrant, or to the exercise price of such shares, or both, to reflect stock dividends and splits, subsequent rights offerings, pro-rata distributions, and certain fundamental transactions.

17

 

14.Management determined that these warrants are equity instruments because the warrants are both a) indexed to its own stock; and b) classified in stockholders’ equity. The warrants were recorded at their fair value on the date of grant as a component of stockholders’ equity. As of June 30, 2019, all warrants have been exercised.

15. Income Taxes

 

iFresh is a Delaware holding company whothat is subject to the U.S. income tax.

 

NYM is taxed as a corporation for income tax purposes and as a result of the “Contribution Agreement” entered into in December 31, 2014 NYM has elected to file a consolidated federal income tax return with its eleven subsidiaries. NYM and the shareholders of the eleven entities, as parties to the Contribution Agreement, entered into a tax-free transaction under Section 351 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 whereby the eleven entities became wholly owned subsidiaries of the Company. As a result of the tax-free transaction and the creation of a consolidated group, the subsidiaries are required to adopt the tax year-end of its parent, NYM. NYM was incorporated on December 30, 2014 and has adopted a tax-year end of March 31.

 

Certain of the subsidiaries have incurred net operating losses (“NOL”) in tax years ending prior to the Contribution Agreement. The net operating losses are subject to the Separate Return Limitation Year (“SRLY”) rules which limit the utilization of the losses to the subsidiaries who generated the losses. The SRLY losses are not available to offset taxable income generated by members of the consolidated group.

 

Based upon management’s assessment of all available evidence, the Company believes that it is more-likely-than-not that the deferred tax assets, primarily for certain of the subsidiaries SRLY NOL carry-forwards will not be realizable; and therefore, a full valuation allowance is established for SRLY NOL carry-forwards.fully realizable. The valuation allowance for deferred tax assets was approximately $805,721$5,099,925 and $4,166,595 as of December 31, 2017June 30, 2019 and $788,039 as of March 31, 2017.2019.

 

The Company has approximately $3,145,000$14,181,339 and $2,318,000$10,715,275 of US NOL carry forward of which approximately $3,145,000 and $2,318,000 are SRLY NOL as of December 31, 2017June 30, 2019 and March 31, 2017,2019, respectively. For income tax purpose, those NOLs will expire in the year 20302032 through 2034.2038.

  


Income Tax Provision (Benefit)

The provision (benefit) for income taxes consists of the following components: 

 

 Nine months ended  For the three months ended 
 December 31,  June 30 
 2017  2016  2019  2018 
Current:          
Federal $-  $304,983  $-  $- 
State  -   237,394   -   - 
  -   542,377   -   - 
Deferred:                
Federal  (195,102)  277,575   (73,453)  235,375 
State  (107,533)  34,791   (24,484)  78,458 
  (302,635)  312,366   (97,937)  313,833 
                
Total $(302,365) $854,743  $(97,937) $313,833 

Tax Rate Reconciliation

 

Following is a reconciliation of the Company’s effective income tax rate to the United State federal statutory tax rate:

  

  Nine months ended
December 31,
 
  2017  2016 
Expected tax at U.S. statutory income tax rate  34%  34%
State and local income taxes, net of federal income tax effect  14%  12%
Other non-deductible fees and expenses  1%  1%
Impact of change of federal income tax rate on deferred tax  (13%)  - 
Other  1%  (2%)
         
Effective tax rate  37%  45%

  Three months ended
June 30,
 
  2019  2018 
Expected tax at U.S. statutory income tax rate  21%  21%
State and local income taxes, net of federal income tax effect  7%  14%
Other non-deductible fees and expenses  (0.8%)  3%
Valuation allowance  (24.4%)  (58%)
         
Effective tax rate  2.8%  (20%)

  

18

Deferred Taxes

 

The effect of temporary differences included in the deferred tax accounts as follows:

 

 December 31, March 31,  June 30, March 31, 
 2017  2017  2019  2019 
Deferred Tax Assets/ (Liabilities):             
Deferred expenses $97,662  $123,260  $223,604  $101,829 
Sec 263A Inventory Cap  190,286   215,248   271,221   208,514 
Deferred rent  2,189,871   2,467,259 
Leasing liabilities/Deferred rent  2,117,531   2,092,128 
Depreciation and amortization  (2,088,384)  (2,718,968)  (2,398,831)  (2,305,164)
Net operating losses  805,721   788,039   4,869,241   3,898,744 
163 (j) business interest  132,748   286,133 
Valuation allowance  (805,721)  (788,039)  (5,001,988)  (4,166,595)
Net Deferred Tax Assets $389,435  $86,799  $213,526  $115,589 

 


15.16. Related-Party Transactions

 

Management Fees, Advertising Fees and Sale of Non-Perishable and Perishable Products to Related Parties

 

The following is a detailed breakdown of significant management fees, advertising fees and sale of products for the nine and three months ended December 31, 2017June 30, 2019 and 20162018 to related parties, which are directly or indirectly owned, in whole or in part, by Mr. Long Deng, a majority shareholder and the CEO, and not eliminated in the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements. In addition, the outstanding receivables due from these related parties as of DecemberJune 30, 2019 and March 31, 2017 and 20162019 were included in advances and receivables – related parties (see Note 7)8).  

  

Nine months ended December 31, 2017
Related Parties Management
Fees
  Advertising
Fees
  Non-Perishable & Perishable
Sales
 
New York Mart, Inc. $42,756  $28,028  $1,656,862 
Pacific Supermarkets Inc.  62,440   30,368   2,606,133 
NY Mart MD Inc.  43,721   7,171   2,442,017 
El Monte  8,868   800   105,177 
iFresh Harwin Inc  4,240   800   141,377 
Spring Farm Inc.  -   -   4,798 
Spicy Bubbles, Inc.  -   -   59,395 
Pine Court Chinese Bistro  -   -   120,252 
  $162,025  $67,167  $7,136,011 
Three months ended June 30, 2019
Related Parties Management
Fees
  Advertising
Fees
  Non-Perishable & Perishable
Sales
 
Dragon Seeds Inc  1,650   -   - 
NY Mart MD Inc.  29,300   3,680   455,377 
NYM Elmhurst Inc.  24,612   2,210   279,004 
Spring Farm Inc.  3,300   -   - 
Pine Court Chinese Bistro  -   -   8,726 
  $58,862  $5,890  $743,107 

 

Three months ended June 30, 2018
Related Parties Management
Fees
  Advertising
Fees
  Non-Perishable & Perishable
Sales
 
New York Mart, Inc. $11,651  $3,780  $193,741 
Pacific Supermarkets Inc.  28,057   5,770   660,284 
NY Mart MD Inc.  18,761   880   526,734 
El Monte  4,944   1,600   - 
iFresh Harwin Inc  2,279   2,600   9,677 
Spring Farm Inc.  -   -   1,358 
Tampa Seafood  550       - 
Pine Court Chinese Bistro  -   -   24,524 
  $66,242  $14,630  $1,416,318 

19

Nine months ended December 31, 2016
Related Parties Management
Fees
  Advertising
Fees
  Non-Perishable & Perishable Sales 
New York Mart, Inc. $36,503  $20,852  $1,419,441 
Pacific Supermarkets Inc.  44,026   23,014   2,629,879 
NY Mart MD Inc.  36,182   -   1,966,086 
Spring Farm Inc.  -   -   6,806 
Spicy Bubbles, Inc.  -   -   77,203 
Pine Court Chinese Bistro  -   -   119,612 
  $116,711  $43,866  $6,219,027 

Three months ended December 31, 2017
Related Parties Management
Fees
  Advertising
Fees
  Non-Perishable
& Perishable
Sales
 
New York Mart, Inc. $15,845  $5,770  $565,816 
Pacific Supermarkets Inc.  22,237   6,550   749,033 
NY Mart MD Inc.  16,704   2,080   755,178 
El Monte  5,575   800   17,673 
iFresh Harwin Inc  4,240   800   44,445 
Spring Farm Inc.  -   -   607 
Spicy Bubbles, Inc.  -   -   6,768 
Pine Court Chinese Bistro  -   -   20,728 
  $64,601  $16,000  $2,160,248 

 

Three months ended December 31, 2016
Related Parties Management
Fees
  Advertising
Fees
  Non-Perishable
& Perishable
Sales
 
New York Mart, Inc. $12,356  $12,206  $592,939 
Pacific Supermarkets Inc  14,824   12,687   1,007,051 
NY Mart MD Inc  12,467   -   928,667 
Spring Farm Inc.  -   -   1,392 
Spicy Bubbles, Inc.  -   -   25,383 
Pine Court Chinese Bistro  -   -   34,434 
 ��$39,647  $24,893  $2,589,866 

Long-Term Operating Lease Agreement with a Related Party

 

The Company leases a warehouse and stores from a related partyparties that is owned by Mr. Long Deng, the majority shareholderCEO of the Company, and will expire on April 30, 2026. Rent incurred to the related party was $877,381 and $521,000 for the nine months ended on December 31, 2017 and 2016, and $523,381 and $177,000$292,460and $292,460 for the three months ended on December 31, 2017June 30, 2019 and 2016, respectively.2018.

 

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16. Operating Lease Commitments

The Company’s leases include stores, office and warehouse buildings. These leases have an average remaining lease term of approximately 10 years as of December 31, 2017.

Rent expense charged to operations under operating leases in the nine months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 amounted to $6,160,596 and $4,662,132 and $2,904,346 and $1,543,223 for the three months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

Future minimum lease obligations for operating leases with initial terms in excess of one year at December 31, 2017 are as follows:

  Non-related
parties
  Related
party
  Total 
2018 $7,417,778  $1,120,524  $8,538,302 
2019  7,584,322   1,132,883   8,717,205 
2020  7,738,634   1,147,340   8,885,974 
2021  7,479,802   1,159,680   8,639,482 
2022  7,513,984   1,174,080   8,688,064 
Thereafter  60,038,858   4,448,525   64,487,383 
Total payments $97,773,378  $10,183,032  $107,956,10 

17. Contingent Liability

 

The Company is exposed to claims and litigation matters arising in the ordinary course of business and uses various methods to resolve these matters in a manner that the Company believes best serves the interests of its stakeholders. These matters have not resulted in any material losses to date.

 

Rent DisputeLeo J. Motsis, as Trustee of the 140-148 East Berkeley Realty Trust v. Ming’s Supermarket, Inc.

 

Ming’s Supermarket, Inc. (“Ming”), the subsidiary of the Company, is a tenant at a building located at 140-148 East Berkeley Street, Boston, MA (the “Property”), pursuant to a lease dated September 24, 1999 (the “Lease”). The Lease had a 10-year initial term, followed by an option for two additional 10-year terms. Ming has exercised that first option and the Lease has approximately 15 years remaining to run if the second option is also exercised. The Lease also gives Ming a right of first refusal on any sale of the building.

 

On February 22, 2015, a sprinkler pipe burst in the Property. This caused the Inspectional Services Department of the City of Boston (“ISD”) to inspect the Property. The ISD found a number of problems which have prevented further use of the Property. The ISD notified both landlord and tenant that the Property was only permitted for use as an elevator garage and that its use as a warehouse was never permitted and that a conditional use permit must be obtained from the City of Boston to make such use lawful. Moreover, the Property was found to have major structural issues requiring repair, as well as issues with the elevator and outside glass. The result of the ISD’s findings are that Ming was ordered not to use the Property for any purpose unless and until the structural and other repairs are completed and its use as a warehouse is permitted by the Boston Zoning Board.

 

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While the Lease provides that the elevator (approximate cost $400,000) and glass repairs (approximate cost $30,000) are the responsibility of the tenant, the structural repairs (approximate cost $500,000) are the landlord’s responsibility under the Lease, unless the structural damage was caused by the tenant’s misuse of the Property. In this regard Ming has retained an expert who will testify the structural damage to the building was caused by long term water infiltration and is not the result of anything Ming did. Ming initially sought for the landlord to perform the structural repairs and agreed that upon completion of those repairs, Ming would repair the elevator and the broken glass. In addition, Ming asked the landlord to cooperate in permitting use of the Property as a warehouse. 

 

The landlord refused to either perform structural repairs or to cooperate on the permitting. As a result, as of April 2015, Ming stopped paying the landlordbegan withholding rent, since itMing was barred from using the Property by order of the ISD. The landlord then sued Ming for breach of the Lease and unpaid rent, and Ming counterclaimed for constructive eviction and for damages resulting from the landlord’s breach of its duty to perform structural repairs under the Lease.

 

It would appearThe case was tried before a jury in August 2017. The jury awarded Ming judgment against the landlord wishes to usein the current circumstances to terminateamount of $795,000, plus continuing damages of $2,250 per month until the lease or to cause Ming to abandon it.structural repairs are completed. The Lease is at considerably below market and impairscourt found that the landlord’s abilityactions violated the Massachusetts unfair and deceptive acts and practices statute and therefore doubled the amount of damages to sell$1,590,000 and further ruled that Ming should also recover costs and attorneys’ fees of approximately $250,000. The result is a judgment in favor of Ming and against the Property for a high price.landlord that will total approximately $1.85 million. The judgment requires the landlord to repair the premises and obtain an occupancy permit. The landlord is claiming damages of approximately $470,000 in unpaid rent and additional rent charges under the leaseresponsible to date, plusMing for the cost of repairs. Ming is claiming damages in the mountamount of lost profits of $20,000 to$30,000$2,250 per month resulting fromuntil an occupancy permit is issued. The judgment also accrues interest at the loss if its warehouse space and for the landlord’s failure to undertake its responsibilities under the lease. Ming’s damages also include lossrate of the benefit of its below market lease. Ming is also seeking an order of the Court directing the landlord to perform the structural repairs. 12% per year until paid.

 

The parties have been unablelandlord filed a Notice of Appeal, which will delay ultimate resolution of this matter for potentially one year or more. Ming has filed a lien against the landlord’s real estate as security for the judgment.

On May 31, 2018, the ISD issued an occupancy permit, triggering Ming’s requirement to agree on terms ofresume regular rental payments. The result is a settlement and a trial was necessary to resolve this matter. The case went to trial on August 21, 2017 and concluded on August 29, 2017 with a jury verdictjudgment in favor of the Company. The JURY VERDICT FORM issued on August 31, 2017, which affirmed thatMing and against the landlord breached the lease by failing to make the necessary structural repairs to the Premises and take responsibility to recover Ming’s damages from the breach. After the jury verdict, the landlord filed an appeal immediately. A new verdict of this case was issued in the Company’s favor on September 29, 2017. The judge awarded the Company double damages and attorney’s fees in this case. Thatthat will result in a total judgment of $1,590,000, including $795,000 for damage compensation plus the attorneys’ fees and interest and costs. In addition, the landlord was ordered to make repairs to the building with additional damages of $2,250 for each month until completed. The jury verdict waived claims for breach of contract against Ming.approximately $1.85 million.  

 

However, it

The appeal hearing was held in July 12, 2019 and a decision is the Company’s understanding that the landlord is planningexpected to file another appeal.be made within 90 days. No guaranties or predicationspredictions can be made at this time as to ultimate final outcome of this case. The Company believes that the facts and the law are favorable for Ming’s as to both its continuing liability for rent and its affirmative claim to recover damages.

 


Trade order disputeHDH, LLC v. New York Mart Group Inc.

 

A subsidiary of the Company, New York Mart Group, Inc., entered into a lease with HDH, LLC for a warehouse located at 55-01 2nd Street, Long Island City, New York 11101 for the period March 15, 2011 through February 28, 2021. The landlord sued the tenant for breaching the lease by altering the premises without the landlord’s permission and without obtaining necessary government permits. The landlord also sued the tenant for failing to pay rent and additional fee. The trial court entered a judgment on September 28, 2018. The landlord claims it is entitled to $372,667 in damages and other related fees. On July 8, final stipulation was signed and the petitioner agreed to waive $222,667 of the arrears, leaving a balance due of $150,000. The Company has previously accrued $200,000 for the potential loss and expense associated with this case.

Voice Road Plaza, LLC v. New York Mart Group Inc

A subsidiary of the Company, New York Mart Group, Inc., entered into a lease with Voice Road Plaza, LLC for the Company’s new store Glen Cov located at Carle Place, NY 11514. The landlord sued the Company for failing to pay rent and additional fee. In April 2019, landlord was awarded money judgment of $207,975 and judgment of passion and warrant of eviction. The landlord has also requested legal order to withhold the Company’s bank account for $415,950 on May 3, 2019. On June 19, 2019, the Company signed Stipulation of Settlement with landlord to pay for the unpaid rent and execute warrant of eviction by July, 24, 2019. The Company has accrued around $210,000 expense associated with this case. The Company is planning to file a notice of appeal to sue the landlord not timely provide documents requested in order for the Company to obtain required license to operate.

Hartford Fire Insurance Company v. New York Mart Group Inc

On November 28, 2018, a lawsuit has beenwas filed against New York Mart Group, Inc. by Hartford Fire Insurance Company (“NYMG”Hartford”), who seeks contractual indemnification from the Company and other defendants relating to certain supersedeas bonds issued by Hartford in connection with the unsuccessful appeal of state court litigation by iFresh’s codefendant. Hartford alleges that iFresh guaranteed performance of the bonds and therefore seeks to enforce the indemnification terms thereof against iFresh in addition to the other defendants. On June 14, 2019, Hartford filed a subsidiarymotion for summary judgment against iFresh, arguing that Hartford is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The deadline for iFresh and New Sunshine Group, LLC (“New Sunshine”), by SKKR Trading, LLC (“Plaintiff”) for breachto respond to that motion has not yet occurred. In view of contract and failurethe uncertainties inherent in litigation, we are unable to pay. Theform a judgment as to the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome. If the plaintiff is seeking from NYMG and New Sunshine for principal damageswas to prevail on the merit, it could obtained a judgment against iFresh in the amount of $116,878 representingits alleged loss under the totalbonds for the amount of invoices Plaintiff is claiming pass due, penalty of $256,000$424,772, in addition to attorney’s fee, costs and interest. The Company has accrued $500,000 for the past due invoicespotential loss and attorney cost which was estimatedexpense associated with this case.

Winking Group LLC v. New York Supermarket E. Broadway Inc

A subsidiary of the Company, New York Supermarket E. Broadway Inc., entered into a lease with Winking Group LLC for the Company’s store located at 75 East Broadway, NY, 10002. The landlord sued the Company for failing to pay rent and additional fee of around $355,000. The Company is currently negotiating an agreement with the landlord to settle the case. A hearing will be $80,000 to $90,000.held on August 20, 2019. All unpaid rent has been fully accrued as of June 30, 2019.

18. Subsequent Event

 

The Plaintiff claimedCompany’s management reviewed all material events that NYMG and New Sunshine failed to pay for a shrimp order. NYMG and New Sunshine have raised various defenses, most ofoccurred after the balance sheet date through the date which center onthese financial statements were issued. Based upon this review, the arguments that NYMG and New Sunshine abandoned the Distribution Agreement and did not order, receive or benefit from the shrimp at issue. Rather, the shrimp was ordered by a tenant of NYMG, Hong Hai, who was a completely separate corporation than NYMG or New Sunshine.

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The case went to trial on March 12 to15, 2017. On April 17, 2017, the Count ruled in favor of Plaintiff and against NYMG and New Sunshine in the amount of $385,492. NYMG hired a new law firm to appeal the case. The appeal process will take approximately 1 year. During the appeal, NYMG will not be required to pay the amount under the Final Judgment. While discovery is ongoing and no guaranties or predications can be made at this time as to ultimate outcome, the Company and its attorney believe a fair estimate of the chance the Company will prevail on the appeal of the Final Judgment is approximately 50%.

Most recently, on August 11, 2017, approximately $196,000 in funds held in one of New York Mart’s bank accounts at TD Bank was ordered by the Court to be frozen until the appeal has been concluded, after plaintiff trying to seize these funds as part of an effort to enforce the aforementioned judgement.  

 Once the appeal is concluded, the ownership of the $196,000 will be determined. SKKR is not permitted to take any other action to enforce this judgment, including attempting to seize any other funds in the TD Bank accounts, any other funds, any assets owned by NYM. Accordingly, NYM is able to continue to use all bank accounts at TD Bank (with the exception of the frozen $196,000 which has been set aside) without the threat of those accounts being seized by SKKR.

The principal shareholder of the Company, Mr. Long Deng, made a personal pledge to pay for the entire amount of the damage if the appeal is ruled against NYMG. The Company did not accrueidentify any of this potential liability.

The Company evaluates contingencies on an ongoing basis and will establish loss provisions for matters in which losses are probable and the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated, and is not currently a party to any legal proceeding that management believes could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s results of operations, cash flows or balance sheet.

18. Subsequent Event

For purpose of preparing these consolidated financial statements, the Company considered events through February 14, 2018, which is the date the consolidated financial statements were available for issuance. There were no material subsequent events that would have required recognitionadjustment or additional disclosure in these consolidatedthe financial statements.

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Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Forward-Looking Statements

 

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Qreport includes forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “continue,” or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. Factors that might cause or contribute to such a discrepancy include, but are not limited to, those described in our other Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings.  References to “we”, “us”, “our,” “iFresh” or the “Company” are to iFresh Inc., except where the context requires otherwise.  The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our unaudited condensed financial statements and related notes thereto included elsewhere in this report.

  

Overview

  

iFresh Inc. (“we,” “us,” “our,” or “iFresh” or the “Company”) is a Delaware company incorporated in July 2016 in order to reincorporate E-Compass Acquisition Corp. (“E-Compass”) to Delaware pursuant to the Merger Agreement (as defined below). Immediately following the reincorporation, we acquired NYM Holding, Inc.Inc (“NYM”). E-Compass was a blank check company formed for the purpose of entering into a share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. NYM is a fast growing Asian/Chinese grocery supermarket chain in the north-eastern U.S. providing food and other merchandise hard to find in mainstream grocery stores. Since NYM was formed in 1995, NYM has been targeting the Chinese and other Asian population in the U.S. with its in-depth cultural understanding of its target customer’s unique consumption habits. iFresh currently has nineten retail supermarkets across New York, Massachusetts and Florida.Florida, with in excess of 6,224,500 sales transactions in its stores in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019. It alsocurrently has twoone in-house wholesale businesses, Strong America Limited (“Strong America”) and New York Mart Group, Inc. (“NYMG”), covering more than 6,000 wholesale products and servicing both NYM retail supermarkets and over 1,000 external clients that range from wholesalers to retailing groceries and restaurants. NYM has a stable supply of food from farms in New Jersey and Florida, ensuring reliable supplies of the most popular vegetables, fruits and seafood. Its wholesale business and long term relationships with farms insulate NYM from supply interruptions and sales declines, allowing it to remain competitive even during difficult markets.

 

On July 25, 2016, iFresh entered into a merger agreement (the “Merger Agreement”) with E-Compass Acquisition Corp., a Cayman Islands company and parent of iFresh, iFresh Merger Sub Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of iFresh, or “Merger Sub,” NYM, the stockholders of NYM, and Long Deng, as representative of the stockholders of NYM. Pursuant to the terms of the Merger, on February 10, 2017, E-Compass merged with and into iFresh in order to redomesticate the Company into Delaware. After the redomestication, Merger Sub merged with and into NYM, resulting in NYM being a wholly owned subsidiary of iFresh. At the time of the Redomestication, each E-Compass ordinary share was converted into one share of common stock of iFresh and each E-Compass Right was converted into one substantially equivalent right (“iFresh Right”) to receive one-tenth (1/10) of a share of iFresh Common Stock on the consummation of the Business Combination. In connection with the Redomestication, E-Compass ceased to exist and iFresh is the surviving corporation.

At closing on February 10, 2017, iFresh issued iFresh’s stockholders an aggregate of: (i) $5 million in cash, plus, (ii) 12,000,000 shares of our common stock. In addition, iFresh executed an option agreement to acquire up to an additional four supermarkets prior to March 31, 2017 for aggregate consideration of $10 million in cash. In connection with the closing, holders of 1,937,967 of E-Compass’s ordinary shares elected to redeem their shares and the Company paid $20,154,857 in connection with such redemption. The option agreement subsequently expired unexercised.

On July 13, 2017, the Company acquired Mia Supermarket in Orlando FL, a 20,370 square-foot grocery store located at 2415 E. Colonial Drive, from Michael Farmers Supermarket, LLC. The new store, which is called iFresh East Colonial, will be the first iFresh store in Orlando and the second in Florida. iFresh acquired the supermarket for $1,050,000 in cash. The purchase included property and equipment, and inventory of the old store.

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Also on July 13, 2017, the Company acquired all of the shares of iFresh Glen Cove Inc. (“Glen Cove”) from Long Deng, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, for 50,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. The transaction was approved by the Company’s Board of Directors and the price was agreed to be based upon a review of the assets and financial statements of Glen Cove. Glen Cove is setting up a 22,859 square-foot brand new grocery store in Garden City, New York located at 192 Glen Cove Road, within the Roosevelt Field Mall business district. This will be the Company’s first store in Long Island and the sixth in New York. The Company expects iFresh Glen Cove to open in the first quarter of 2018.

On October 2, 2017, the Company acquired all of the shares of New York Mart CT, Inc. (“NYM CT”) from Long Deng, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, for $3,500,000. The store is currently under renovation and the Company expects the Connecticut store to open in the first quarter of 2018.

Also on October 2, 2017, the Company acquired all of the shares of New York Mart N. Miami Inc. (“NYM N. Miami”) from Long Deng, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Yang Yu Gao for $3,500,000 and 45,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. The store is currently under construction. The Company expects the store to open in the first quarter of 2018.

Both transactions were approved by the Company’s Board of Directors and the price was agreed to based upon reviews of the assets and financial statements of NYM CT and NYM N. Miami. The purchase included the business, lease and equipment of the stores.

Business Outlook

 

iFresh is an Asian Chinese supermarket chain in the U.S. northeastern region with nine retail super markets and two wholesale facilities. iFresh plans to strategically expand along the I-95 corridor and its goal is to cover most of the Statesall states on the east coast of the United States, with focus in the area where there is a large Asian population. iFresh believes that the following are among its advantages in the market:coast.

 

 a.iFresh provides unique products to meet the demands of the Asian/Chinese American Market;
 b.iFresh has established a merchandising system backed by an in-house wholesale business and by long-standing relationships with farms;
 
c.iFresh maintains an in-house cooling system with unique hibernation technology that is has developed over 20 years to preserve perishables, especially produce and seafood;
 d.iFresh capitalizes on economies of scale, allowing strong negotiating power with upstream vendors, downstream customers and downstream customers;sizable competitors; and
 e.iFresh has a proven and replicable track record of management, operation, acquisition and organic growth.

 


iFresh’s net sales were $101.7$23.8 million and $97.1$31.1 million for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2017June 30, 2019 and 2016,2018, respectively. In terms of sales by category, perishablesPerishables constituted approximately 59.9%55.6% of the total sales for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2017. iFresh incurred aJune 30, 2019. iFresh’s net loss of $0.52 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2017, a decrease of $1.6 million, or 150%, from $1.04 million of net income for the nine months ended December 31, 2016. iFresh had net loss of $0.3was $3.4 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017, a decreaseJune 30, 2019, an increase of $0.89$1.5 million, or 80%, from $0.6$1.9 million of net loss for the three months ended June 30, 2018. Adjusted EBITDA was $-2.3 million for the three months ended December 31, 2016. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.1June 30, 2019, an decrease of $1.4 million, or 175%, from $-0.8 million for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2017, a decrease of $2.8 million, or 71%, from $4.0 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2016. For additional information on Adjusted EBITDA, See the section entitled “iFresh’s Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Adjusted EBITDA,” beginning on page 27.June 30, 2018.

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Factors Affecting iFresh’s Operating Results

 

Seasonality

 

iFresh’s business shows seasonal fluctuations. Sales in its first and second fiscal quarters (ending June 30 and December 31,September 30, respectively) are usually 5% to 10% lower than in third and fourth quarters (ending December 31 and March 31, respectively). In iFresh’sits third fiscal quarter, customers make holiday purchases for Thanksgiving and Christmas. In iFresh’sits fourth fiscal quarter, customers make purchases for traditional Chinese holidays, such as the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year, in January or February).

  

ParkingCompetition

 

The availability of parking is important to iFresh’s sales volume, and changes in the availability of parking would affect iFresh’s sales volume. For example, one of the two parking lots serving iFresh’s Ming store in Boston was required to be temporarily leased to a farmers’ market on Sundays by the city of Boston from April to October 2016, which reduced sales at the store by about 10% during this period.

Competition

iFreshCompany faces competition from smaller or dispersed competitors focusing on the niche market of Chinese and other Asian consumers. However, withsupermarkets. In the rapid growthfiscal year 2019, two of our stores located in Boston and New York experienced significantly decreased sales due to competition from newly opened grocery stores. In first quarter of fiscal year 2020, the Company contracted these two stores to third party to operate and are collecting contracting fees. The gross margin was low in these stores since the Company’s distribution center in New York area could not lower the purchase cost of the Chinese and other Asian population and their consumption power, other competitors may also begin operatingstores in this niche market inMA For the future. Those competitors include: (i) national conventional supermarkets, (ii) regional supermarkets, (iii) national superstores, (iv) alternative food retailers, (v) local foods stores, (vi) small specialty stores, and (vii) farmers’ markets.three months ended June 30, 2019, the Company’s retail sales decreased significantly due to the change of operations of these two stores.

 

Payroll

 

Minimum wage rates in some states and cities are scheduled to increase every year on December 31 until they reach $15.00 per hour.increased. For example, the minimum wage rate increasedrose from $11 on December 31, 2016$13 to $13$15 per hour on December 31, 2017 in New York City. Payroll and related expenses increaseddecreased by $2.4$1.2million, or 7.7% for the year ended March 31, 2019and decreased by $0.9 million or 23%22.9% for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2017June 30, 2019 as compared to the same period of last year as a result of increase of wages and head count, and the addition of its business operation and financial reporting department since iFresh became a public company in February 2017. iFresh plansworkforce reduction to implement ERP systems in the future to improve operating efficiency and reduce labor costs. In addition, the Company is in the process of implementing ADP’s comprehensive personnel management system to enhance the monitoring of employees’ worktime and reduce the cost of human resources.

  

Vendor and Supply Management 

 

iFresh believes that a centralized and efficient vendor and supply management system isare the keykeys to business success and profitability. iFresh operates its own wholesale facilities, which supplied about 41%19.6 % and 14.8% of its products as of Decemberprocurement for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017.2019 and three months ended June 30, 2019, respectively. iFresh recently centralized the management of its vendors and procurement. It believes that suchits centralized vendor management enhances iFresh’s negotiating power and improves its ability to turnover inventory and vendor payables. Any changes to the vendor and supply management could affect iFresh’s purchasing costs and operating expenses. Starting from Q4 of fiscal year 2019, the Company’s wholesale business gradually slows down and the retail stores are heavily relied on third party vendors for inventory supplies instead of centralized supply system.

 

Store Maintenance and Renovation

 

From time to time, iFresh conducts maintenance on the fixtures and equipment for its stores. Any maintenance or renovations could interrupt the operation of our stores and result in a decline of customer volume, and therefore sales volume, but will, in the opinion of management, boost sales after they are completed. Significant maintenance or renovation would affect our operation and operating results. As of June 30, 2019, two iFresh stores are under renovation and have not opened yet. iFresh incurred $449,948 in expenses for these stores for the year ended March 31, 2019. One store was under renovation for 10 months in the year of 2019 and incurred $871,709 in expense. Because these stores are being renovated, sales are affected.  

 

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Store Acquisitions and Openings

 

iFresh expects the new stores it acquires or opens to be one of the primary driversdriver of its sales, operating profit and market share gains. iFresh’s results will be materially affected by the timing and number of new store additions and the amount of new store opening costs. For example, iFresh would incur rental, utilities and employee expenses during any period of renovation, which would be recorded as expenses on the income statement and would decrease iFresh’s profit.profit when a store opens. iFresh may incur higher than normal employee costs associated with set-up,setup, hiring, training, and other costs related to opening a new store. Operating margins are also affected by promotional discounts and other marketing costs and strategies associated with new store openings, primarily due to overstocking, and costs related to hiring and training new employees. Additionally, promotional activities may result in higher than normal net sales in the first several weeks following a new store opening. A new store builds its sales volume and its customer base over time and, as a result, generally has lower margins and higher operating expenses, as a percentage of sales, than our more mature stores. A new store could take more than a year to achieve a level of operating performance comparable to our existing stores. For the nine month ended December 31, 2017, the Company acquired four additional stores, twoIn January 2019, one of which are located in Miami, Florida, one is located in Garden City, New York,our Glen Cove has been fully operated and the other is located in Connecticut.started to generate revenue.

 

How to Assess iFresh’s Performance

 

In assessing performance, iFresh’s management considers a variety of performance and financial measures, including principal growth in net sales, gross profit and Adjusted EBITDA. The key measures that we use to evaluate the performance of our business are set forth below:

 

Net Sales

 

iFresh’s net sales comprise gross sales net of coupons and discounts. We do not record sales taxes as a component of retail revenues as we considerit considers it a pass-through conduit for collecting and remitting sales taxes.

 

Gross Profit

 

iFresh calculates gross profit as net sales less cost of sales and occupancy costs. Gross margin represents gross profit as a percentage of its net sales. Occupancy costs include store rental costs and property taxes. The components of our cost of sales and occupancy costs may not be identical to those of its competitors. As a result, our gross profit and gross margin may not be comparable to similar data made available by our competitors.

 

Cost of sales includes the cost of inventory sold during the period, including the direct costs of purchased merchandise (net of discounts and allowances), distribution and supply chain costs, buying costs and supplies. iFresh recognizes vendor allowances and merchandise volume related rebate allowances as a reduction of inventories during the period when earned and reflects the allowances as a component of cost of sales as the inventory is sold. Shipping and handling for inventories purchased are included in cost of goods sold.

   

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

 

Selling, general and administrative expenses primarily consist of retail operational expenses, administrative salaries and benefits costs, marketing, advertising and corporate overhead.

 

Adjusted EBITDA

 

iFresh believes that Adjusted EBITDA is a useful performance measure and can be used to facilitate a comparison of NYM’s operating performance on a consistent basis from period-to-period and to provide for a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting our business than GAAP measures alone can provide. iFresh also uses Adjusted EBITDA as one of the primary methods for planning and forecasting overall expected performance and for evaluating on a quarterly and annual basis actual results against such expectations, and as a performance evaluation metric in determining achievement of certain compensation programs and plans for employees, including senior executives. Other companies in the industry may calculate Adjusted EBITDA differently than iFresh does, limiting its usefulness as a comparative measure.

 

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iFresh’s management defines Adjusted EBITDA as earnings before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization expense, store opening costs, and non-recurring expenses. All of the omitted items are either (i) non-cash items or (ii) items that we do not consider in assessing its on-goingongoing operating performance. Because it omits non-cash items, iFresh’s management believes that Adjusted EBITDA is less susceptible to variances in actual performance resulting from depreciation, amortization and other non-cash charges and more reflective of other factors that affect its operating performance. iFresh’s management believes that the use of these non-GAAP financial measures provides an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends and in comparing the company’s financial measures with other specialty retailers, many of which present similar non-GAAP financial measures to investors.

 

Results of Operations for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2017June 30, 2019 and 20162018

 

  For the nine months ended
December 31,
  Changes 
  2017  2016  $  % 
Net sales-third parties $94,595,598  $90,874,879  $3,720,719   4%
Net sales-related parties  7,136,011   6,219,027   916,984   15%
Total Sales  101,731,609   97,093,906   4,637,703   5%
Cost of sales-third parties  69,164,715   66,960,139   2,204,576   3%
Cost of sales-related parties  5,763,537   4,602,080   1,161,457   25%
Occupancy costs  5,670,852   5,396,778   274,074   5%
Gross Profit  21,132,505   20,134,909   997,596   5%
Selling, general and administrative expenses  22,721,595   18,841,217   3,880,378   21%
Income (Loss) from operations  (1,589,090)  1,293,692   (2,882,782)  -223%
Interest expense  (590,835)  (152,551)  (438,284)  287%
Other income  1,352,941   758,274   594,667   78%
Income (Loss) before income tax provision  (826,984)  1,899,415   (2,726,399)  -144%
Income tax (benefit) provision  (302,635)  854,743   (1157,378)  -135%
Net income (loss) $(524,349) $1,044,672  $(1,569,021)  -150%
Net income (loss) attributable to common shareholders $(524,349) $1,044,672  $(1,569,021)  -150%

Net Sales

  For the nine months ended
December 31,
  Changes 
  2017  2016  $  % 
Net sales of retail $81,304,740  $79,663,230  $1,641,510   2%
Net sales of wholesale-third parties  13,290,858   11,211,649   2,079,209   19%
Net sales of wholesale-related parties  7,136,011   6,219,027   916,984   15%
Total Net Sales $101,731,609  $97,093,906  $4,637,703   5%
  For the three months
ended June 30,
  Changes 
  2019  2018  $  % 
Net sales-third parties $23,084,675  $29,671,823  $(6,587,148)  (22.2)%
Net sales-related parties  743,107   1,416,318   (673,211)  (47.5)%
Total Sales  23,827,782   31,088,141   (7,260,359)  (23.4)%
Cost of sales-third parties  16,516,099   21,602,917   (5,086,818)  (23.5)%
Cost of sales-related parties  582,569   1,228,404   (645,835)  (52.6)%
Occupancy costs  1,930,619   1,831,074   99,545   5.4%
Gross Profit  4,798,495   6,425,746   (1,627,251)  (25.3)%
Selling, general, and administrative expenses  8,575,894   8,075,441   500,453   6.2%
Income from operations  (3,777,399)  (1,649,695)  (2,127,704)  129%
Interest expense  (609,745)  (245,703)  (364,042)  148.2%
Other income  921,080   332,569   588,511   177%
Income before income tax provision  (3,466,064)  (1,562,829)  (1,903,235)  121.8%
Income tax provision (benefit)  (97,937)  313,833   (411,770)  (131.2)%
Net income  (3,368,127)  (1,876,662)  (1,491,465)  79.5%
Net income attributable to common shareholders $(3,368,127) $(1,876,662) $(1,491,465)  79.5%

   

Net Sales

  For the three months
ended June 30,
  Changes 
  2019  2018  $  % 
Net sales of retail-third parties $19,295,677  $25,899,596  $(6,603,919)  -25.5%
Net sales of wholesale-third parties  3,788,998   3,772,227   16,771   0.4%
Net sales of wholesale-related parties  743,107   1,416,318   (673,211)  -47.5%
Total Net Sales $23,827,782  $31,088,141  $(7,260,359)  -23.4%

28


iFresh’s net sales were $101.7$23.8 million for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2017, an increaseJune 30, 2019, a decrease of $4.6million,$7.3 million, or 5%,23.4 %, from $97.1$ 31.1 million for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2016.June 30, 2018. 

 

Net retail sales increasedto third parties decreased by $1.6$6.6 million, or 2%,25.5 %, from $79.7$25.9 million for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2016,June 30, 2018 to $81.3$19.3 million for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2017.June 30, 2019.  The increasedecrease resulted mainly from the new stores opened in 2017, which contribute $1.8our Quincy (Zen Store) and Boston (Ming Store), Massachusetts stores. Ming and Zen contributed $5.3 million of retail sales. However, Hurricane Irma had significant impact on our sales infor the three months ended June 30, 2018. Starting from the fiscal year 2019, these two stores located in Florida, includingexperienced significantly decreased sales due to competition from newly opened grocery stores. On April 1, 2019, the E. Colonial store.Company contracted the two stores to other company to operate and is collecting management fees from these companies. Management fees are $40,000 per months for the six months and $50,000 after six months, for 36 months. In addition, duethe Company bills the other party for rent and utilities expense incurred and the other party will be responsible for payroll and employee benefits. The Company sold all inventories at net book value of $1.5 million, but keep the ownership of all property and equipment. The depreciation and amortization expense were approximately $140,000 for the three months ended June 30, 2019 which could be covered by the management fee billed. In addition, sales from our stores in NYC decreased by $1.9 million because we contracted part of vegetables and fruits business to the warehouse dispute with the landlord of Ming’sthird parties in our store sales has been affected due to the logistics restraint. improve our margin.

Our total net wholesale sales increaseddecreased by $3.0$0.7 million from $17.4$5.2 million for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2016June 30, 2018 to $20.4$4.5 million for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2017, which wasJune 30, 2019, attributable to an increase of $0.9 million inthat our sales to related parties and $2.1decreased by $0.7 million from the three months ended June 30, 2018 to third party duethe three months ended June 30, 2019, attributable to iFresh focusing on improving its central procurement system through its wholesale facilities. that New York Mart Group. Inc is going out of business.

 

Cost of sales, Occupancy costs and Gross Profit

 

Retail Segment For the nine months ended
December 31,
  Changes 
  2017  2016  $  % 
Cost of sales $59,327,757  $57,818,437  $1,509,320   2.6%
Occupancy costs  5,670,852   5,396,778   274,074   5.1%
Gross profit  16,306,131   16,448,015   (141,884)  -0.9%
Gross margin  20.1%  20.6%  -0.5%    

Retail Segment For the three months
ended June 30,
  Changes 
  2019  2018  $  % 
Cost of sales $13,905,013  $18,999,424  $(5,094,411)  -26.8%
Occupancy costs  1,930,619   1,831,074   99,545   5.4%
Gross profit  3,460,045   5,069,098   (1,609,053)  (31.7)%
Gross margin  17.9%  19.6%  -1.7%  - 

For the retail segment, gross profit was $16.3cost of sales decreased by $5.1 million, and $16.4from $19.0 million for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Gross margin was 20.1% and 20.6%June 30, 2018, to $14.0 million for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2017June 30, 2019. The decrease was consistent with the sales decreased and 2016, respectively. The gross profit decreased mainly due to inventory damagedchanges we made to Ming and Zen store in Hurricane Irma that was written off,MA mentioned above. The cost decreased by 26.8%, compared to sales decrease of 25.5%, lead to higher margin which was amountedcalculated before adding the occupancy cost in the total cost. This is expected when the strategic decision was made to $360,000.

Cost of sales increased by $1.5 million, or 2.6%, from $57.8 million forcontract the nine months ended December 31, 2016stores to $59.3 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2017. The increase was in line with the increased sales for the nine months.others to operate.

 

Occupancy costs consist of store-level expenses such as rental expense,expenses, property taxes, and other store specific costs. Occupancy costs increased by approximately 5.1%, from $5.4 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2016 to $5.7 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2017, which was mainly attributable to increased taxes and store specific costs and the additional rent paid for the newly acquired E. Colonial Store.

Wholesale Segment For the nine months ended
December 31,
  Changes 
  2017  2016  $  % 
Cost of sales $15,600,495  $13,743,782  $1,856,713   13.5%
Gross profit $4,826,374   3,686,894   1,139,480   30.9%
Gross margin  23.6%  21.2%  2.4%    

For the wholesale segment, cost of sales increased by $1.9 million, or 13.5%, from $13.7 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2016 to $15.6 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2017. The increase was in line with increased wholesales in current period.

29

Gross profit increased by $1.1 million, or 30.9%, from $3.7 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2016 to $4.8 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2017. Gross margin increased by 2.4% from 21.2% to 23.6%. which was due to the increased sales of fruit and vegetables to the total sales made in the current compared to the same period in last year. Fruit and vegetable usually have higher gross margin comparing to other products. We believe the increase is a result of seasonal fluctuations.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses was $22.7 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2017, an increase of $3.9 million, or 21%, compared to $18.8 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2016, which was mainly attributable to $0.3 million of professional service fees, increased payroll expenses of approximate $2.4 million and the additional expenses of $1.1 million related to the four stores newly acquired in July and October 2017, three of which are in the process of being renovated and have no revenue. 

Interest Expense

Interest expense was $590,835 for the nine months ended December 31, 2017, an increase of $438,284, or 287%, from $152,551 for the nine months ended December 31, 2016, primarily attributable to an increase of $1.5 million in our line of credit, the drawdown of $1.05 million of delayed term loan to acquire the E. Colonial store, and a full year of interest on the $13.8 million term loan, which was closed in December 2016.

Other income

Other income was $1.35 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2017, an increase of $0.6 million, or 78%, from $758,000 for the nine months ended December 31, 2016, primarily attributable to the insurance reimbursement for Ming’s fire damage occurred in March for $0.5 million and the settlement gain of the lease dispute from U2.

Income Taxes Provision (Benefit)

iFresh is subject to U.S. federal and state income taxes. We utilized income tax benefit of $0.3 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2017, a decrease of $1.2 million, or 135%, compared to $0.85 million of income tax provision for the nine months ended December 31, 2016, which was mainly attributable to the decrease in taxable income. For the nine months ended December 31, 2017, the Company had a loss before tax of $0.8 million compared to income before tax of $1.9 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2016. In addition, due to the tax rate change in 2018, the Company’s deferred tax assets have decreased from the prior period.

Net Income

  For the nine months ended
December 31,
  Changes 
  2017  2016  $  % 
Net income $(524,349) $1,044,672  $(1,569,021)  -150%
Net Profit Margin  -0.52%  1.08%  -1.6%    

Net loss was $0.5 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2017, a decrease of $1.6 million, or 150%, from $1 million of net income for the nine months ended December 31, 2016, mainly attributable to the impact of Hurricane Irma, increased general and administrative expenses and higher interest expenses as stated above.

30

Adjusted EBITDA

  For the nine months ended
December 31,
  Changes 
  2017  2016  $  % 
Net income (loss) $(524,349) $1,044,672  $(1,569,021)  -150%
Interest expenses  590,835   152,551   438,284   287%
Income tax provision (benefit)  (302,635)  854,743   (1,157,378)  -135%
Depreciation  1,277,863   1,165,643   112,220   10%
Amortization  99,999   99,999   -   -%
Merger expenses(1)  -   634,000   (634,000)  -100%
Adjusted EBITDA $1,141,713  $3,951,608  $(2,809,895)  -71%
Percentage of sales  1.1%  4.1%  -3.0%    

(1)Merger expenses were professional fees paid to a financial advisor, legal counsel and auditors in connection with the business combination transaction with E-Compass, which are non-recurring expenses and added back for adjusted EBITDA.

Adjusted EBITDA was $1.1 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2017, a decrease of $2.8 million or 71%, as compared to $3.95 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2016, mainly attributable to the decreased of net income of $1.6 million, decrease of income tax expense of $1.2 million, merger expenses of $0.6 million offset by the increase of interest expense of $0.4 million. The ratio of Adjusted EBITDA to sales was 1.1% and 4.1% for the nine months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

Results of Operations for the three months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016

  For the three months ended
December 31,
  Changes 
  2017  2016  $  % 
Net sales-third parties $33,702,943  $32,327,248  $1,375,695   4%
Net sales-related parties  2,160,248   2,589,866   (429,618)  -17%
Total Sales  35,863,191   34,917,114   946,077   3%
Cost of sales-third parties  24,696,520   23,805,176   891,344   4%
Cost of sales-related parties  1,811,041   1,916,501   (105,460)  -6%
Occupancy costs  1,834,247   1,791,325   42,922   2%
Gross Profit  7,521,383   7,404,112   117,271   2%
Selling, general and administrative expenses  7,760,568   6,485,191   1,275,377   20%
Income (Loss) from operations  (239,185)  918,921   (1,158,106)  -126%
Interest expense  (214,452)  (62,260)  (152,192)  244%
Other income  133,526   249,834   (116,308)  -47%
Income before income tax provision  (320,111)  1,106,495   (1,426,606)  -129%
Income tax provision  (39,061)  497,929   (536,990)  -108%
Net income $(281,050) $608,566  $(889,616)  -146%
Net income attributable to common shareholders $(281,050) $608,566  $(889,616)  -146%

Net Sales

  For the three months ended
December 31,
  Changes 
  2017  2016  $  % 
Net sales of retail $28,193,022  $27,897,490  $295,532   1%
Net sales of wholesale-third parties  5,509,921   4,429,758   1,080,163   24%
Net sales of wholesale-related parties  2,160,248   2,589,866   (429,618)  -17%
Total Net Sales $35,863,191  $34,917,114  $946,077   3%

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iFresh’s net sales were $35.9 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017, an increase of $0.9 million, or 3%, from $34.9 million for the three months ended December 31, 2016.

Net retail sales increased by $0.3 million, or 1%, from $27.9 million for the three months ended December 31, 2016, to $28.2 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017. The increase resulted mainly from the sales contributed from the newly acquired E. Colonial store in Florida of $1.0 million. However, Hurricane Irma had significant impact on our sales in two stores located in Florida, including the E. Colonial store. In addition, due to the warehouse dispute with the landlord of Ming’s store, sales has been affected due to the logistics restraint. Our total net wholesale sales increased by $0.7 million, from $7.0 million for the three months ended December 31, 2016 to $7.7 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017, which was attributable to an increase of $1.1 million in sales to third parties and offset by the decrease of $0.4 million to related parties due to iFresh focusing on improving its central procurement system through its wholesale facilities. 

Cost of sales, Occupancy costs and Gross Profit

Retail Segment For the three months ended
December 31,
  Changes 
  2017  2016  $  % 
Cost of sales $20,704,592  $19,828,626  $875,966   4.4%
Occupancy costs  1,834,247   1,791,325   42,922   2.4%
Gross profit  5,654,183   6,277,539   (623,356)  -10%
Gross margin  20.1%  22.5%  -2.4%    

For the retail segment, gross profit was $5.7 million and $6.3 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Gross margin decreased by 2.4% for the three months ended December 31, 2017 from 22.5% for the three months ended December 31, 2016. The higher in gross profit in 2016 was due to a higher purchases amount with low price from our wholesale sector through our central procurement system, which resulted a profit shift from wholesale segment to retail segment. The overall gross margin from the two segments as whole were 21.0% and 21.2% for the three months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The fluctuation in gross margin is in the normal range. 

Cost of sales increased by $0.9 million, or 4.4%, from $19.8 million for the three months ended December 31, 2016 to $20.7 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017. The increase was in line with the increase in sales for the three months.

Occupancy costs consist of store-level expenses such as rental expense, property taxes and other store specific costs. Occupancy costs increased by approximately $43,000, or 2.4 %, from $1.79 million for the three months ended December 31, 2016 to $1.83 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017,$0.1million, which was mainly attributable to increased taxes and store specific costs and the rent of the newly acquirediFresh E. Colonial store.store which was newly open in the end of fiscal year 2018.

   

Wholesale Segment For the three months ended
December 31,
  Changes 
  2017  2016  $  % 
Cost of sales $5,802,969  $5,893,051  $(90,082)  -2%
Gross profit  1,867,200   1,126,573   740,627   66%
Gross margin  24.3%  16.0%  8.3%    

For the wholesale segment, cost of sales decreased by $90,000 from $5.89Gross profit was $3.5 and $5.1 million for the three months ended December 31, 2016June 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Gross margin was 17.9% and 19.6% for the three months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The gross profit decreased due to $5.80the increase of rent expense and decreased sales from stores operated by the Company.

Wholesale Segment For the three months
ended June 30,
  Changes 
  2019  2018  $  % 
Cost of sales $3,193,655  $3,831,897  $(638,242)  (16.7)%
Gross profit  1,338,450   1,356,648   (18,198)  (1.3)%
Gross margin  29.5%  26.1%  3.4%  - 

For our wholesale segment, the cost of sales for the three months ended June 30, 2019 decreased by $0.6 million, or 16.7%, from $3.8 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017.

32

Gross profit increased by $0.7 million, or 66%, from $1.1June 30, 2018 to $3.2 million for the three months ended December 31, 2016 to $1.87June 30, 2019. The decrease is consistent with the significant decrease of sales from the wholesale segment in 2019.

Gross profit for the three months ended June 30, 2019 decreased by around $18,000, or 1.3%, from $1.36 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017. Gross margin increased by 8.3%, from 16.0%June 30, 2018 to 24.3%. The lower gross profit in 2016 was due to an higher sale amount with low margin to our retail sector through our central procurement system, which results a profit shift from wholesale segment to retail segment. 

The overall gross margin from the two segments as a whole were 21.0% and 21.2%$1.34 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.June 30, 2019. Gross margin increased by 3.4% from 26.1% to 29.5%. The fluctuation in grossincrease was due to the significant sales decrease to its related parties, of which the margin is in the normal range.lower than sales made to third parties.

 

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

 

Selling, general, and administrative expenses was $7.8were $8.6 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017,June 30, 2019, an increase of $1.3$0.5 million, or 20%6.2%, compared to $6.5$8.1 million for the three months ended December 31, 2016,June 30, 2018, which was mainly attributable to increased payroll expensesthe $0.5 million of stock compensation to employees and $1.5 million of expense associated with warrant exercise in this quarter, offsetting of $0.8 million expense decrease was due to that we contracted two stores in MA and we do not operate these two stores ourselves thus we are decreasing selling, general and administrative expense from these two stores .  Due to the additional expenses relatedchange of majority shareholder from Mr. Long Deng to four stores newly acquired on July and October, 2017, three ofHK Xu Ding Co., Limited, which areis qualified as “fundamental transaction” defined in the process of being renovated and havewarrant agreements dated in October 23, 2018. The shareholders exercised its warrants at no revenue.cost

 

Interest Expense

 

Interest expense was $0.2$0.6 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017,June 30, 2019, an increase of $152,000,$0.4 million, or 244%148%, from $62,000$245,000 for the three months ended December 31, 2016, primarilyJune 30, 2018, attributable to an increase of $3.2 million in the line of credit, the drawdown of $1.05 million of delayed termincreased average outstanding loan to acquire the E. Colonial store, andbalance from $19.7 from three months ended June 30, 2018 to $21.2 for the three months ended June 30, 2019, as well as increased interest rate from 5.7% for the three months ended June 30, 2018 to 6.45% for the three months ended June 30, 2019. In addition, the Company paid approximately $150,000 of interest onforbearance fee to Key Bank in May due to the $13.8 million term loan, which was closed in December 2016.violation of covenant.

 

Other income

 

Other income was $133,000$0.9 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017, a decrease of $0.1June 30, 2019, which included management and advertising fee income, rental income, lottery sales, and other miscellaneous income. Other income increased $0.6 million, or 50%177%, from $250,000$0.3 million for the three months ended December 31, 2016, primarily as a result of decreased chargeJune 30, 2018. For the three months ended June 30, 2019, the Company collected $0.1 million of management fee advertising fee from relatedcontracting Ming and Zen in MA to third parties and third parties.for operation. In addition, the Company has subleased some spaces in its stores for small vendors to sell prepared foods. Rental income increased by $0.3 million.

 

Income Taxes Provision

 

iFresh isWe are subject to U.S. federal and state income taxes. Income tax benefit was $39,000around $98,000 for the three months ended December 31, 2017, a decrease of $0.5 million, or 108%,June 30, 2019, compared to $0.5 million$313,000 of income tax expense for the three months ended December 31, 2016, whichJune 30, 2018. The effective income tax rate was 2.8% and -20% for the three months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. For the three months ended June 30, 2018, the Company made reserve for deferred tax asset due to the significant loss incurred. For the three months ended June 30, 2019, the Company recognized deferred tax result from deferred expense, inventory cap and lease liabilities.


Net Income (loss)

  For the three months
ended June 30,
  Changes 
  2019  2018  $  % 
Net income $(3,368,127) $(1,876,662) $(1,491,465)  79.5%
Net Loss Margin  -14.14%  -6.04%  -8.1%    

Net loss was $3.4 million for the three months ended June 30, 2019, an increase of $1.5 million, or 79.5%, from $1.9 million of net loss for the three months ended June 30, 2018, mainly attributable to the decreased gross margin and increase in selling, general, and administrative expenses described above. Net loss as a percentage of sales was -14.14% and -6.04% for the three months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Adjusted EBITDA

  For the three months
ended June 30,
  Changes 
  2019  2018  $  % 
Net income $(3,368,127) $(1,876,662) $(1,491,465)  79.5%
Interest expense  609,745   245,703   364,042   148.2%
Income tax provision  (97,937)  313,833   (411,770)  -132.2%
Depreciation  561,644   459,945   101,699   22.1%
Amortization  33,333   33,333   -   0%
Adjusted EBITDA $(2,261,342) $(823,848) $(1,437,494)  174.5%
Percentage of sales  -9.5%  -2.7%  -6.8%    

Loss before income tax, depreciation, and amortization was $2.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2019, an increase of $1.4 million, as compared to income before income tax, depreciation, and amortization of $0.8million for the three months ended June 30, 2018, mainly attributable to the decrease in taxable income. For the three months ended December 31, 2017, the Company had loss before tax of $0.3 million, compared to $1.1 million income before tax for the three months ended December 31, 2016. In addition, due to the tax rate change in 2018, the Company’s deferred tax assets have decreased from prior period.

Net Income

  For the three months ended
December 31,
  Changes 
  2017  2016  $  % 
Net income (loss) $(281,050) $608,566  $(889,616)  -146%
Net Profit Margin  -0.78%  1.74%  -2.53%    

Net loss was $0.3 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017, a decrease of $0.9 million, or 146%, from $0.6 million of net income for the three months ended December 31, 2016, mainly attributable to impact of Hurricane Irma, increasedresulting from decreased sales and increase in selling, general, and administrative expenses and higher interest expenses as stateddescribed above.

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Adjusted EBITDA

  For the three month ended
December 31,
  Changes 
  2017  2016  $  % 
Net income $(281,050) $608,566  $(889,616)  -146%
Interest expenses  214,452   62,260   152,192   244%
Income tax provision  (39,061)  497,929   (536,990)  -108%
Depreciation  445,196   387,135   58,061   15%
Amortization  33,333   33,333   -   0%
Merger expenses(1)  -   144,000   (144,000)  -100%
Adjusted EBITDA $372,870  $1,733,223  $(1,360,353)  -78%
Percentage of sales  1%  5.0%  -4%    

(1)Merger expenses were professional fees paid to a financial advisor, legal counsel and auditors in connection with the business combination transaction with E-Compass, which are non-recurring expenses and added back for adjusted EBITDA.

Adjusted EBITDA was $0.4 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017, a decrease of $1.4 million or 78%, as compared to $1.7 million for the three months ended December 31, 2016, mainly attributable to the decreased net income of approximately $0.9 million, decrease of income tax expense of $0.5 million and decrease of merger expenses of approximately $144,000, offset by the increase of interest expense for $152,000. The ratio of Adjusted EBITDA to sales was 1% and 5.0% for the three months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

 

Liquidity and Capital Resources

 

As of December 31, 2017,June 30, 2019, iFresh had cash and cash equivalents of approximately $1.0$1.3 million. iFresh had operating losses three months ended June 30, 2019 and had negative working capital of $26.9 million and $21.6million as of June 30, 2019 and March 31, 2019, respectively. iFresh had negative equity of $1.4 million as of June 30, 2019. The long-term KeyBank loan of $21 million has been presented as short-term because the Company is not in compliance with the KeyBank loan covenants and KeyBank has the option to accelerate payment at any time. The Company did not meet certain financial covenants required in the credit agreement with KeyBank National Association (“KeyBank”). As of June 30, 2019, the Company has outstanding loan facilities of approximately $21.4 million due to KeyBank. Failure to maintain these loan facilities will have a significant impact on the Company’s operations. iFresh had funded working capital and other capital requirements in the past primarily by equity contribution from shareholders, cash flow from operations, and bank loans. Cash is required to pay purchase costs for inventory, rental, salaries, office rental expenses, income taxes, other operating expenses and repay debts. Although iFresh’s management believes that the cash generated from operations will be sufficient to meet its normal working capital needs for at least the next twelve months, its ability to repay its current obligation will depend on the future realization of its current assets. iFresh’s management has considered the historical experience, the economy, trends in the retail industry, the expected collectability of the accounts receivables and the realization of the inventories as of December 31, 2017.June 30, 2019. iFresh’s ability to continue to fund these items may be affected by general economic, competitive and other factors, many of which are outside of our control. If the future cash flow from operations and other capital resources are insufficient to fund its liquidity needs, iFresh may be forced to reduce or delay its expected new store acquisition and openings, sell assets, obtain additional debt or equity capital or refinance all or a portion of its debt. Our working capital position benefits from the fact that it generally collects cash from sales to customers the same day or, in the case of credit or debit card transactions, within a few business days of the related sale and the quick inventory turnover.


We had $9.6have $4.6 million of advances to and receivables from the related parties. In addition,parties that we had $5.8 million of unused credit line from Key Bank, which includes a revolving credit of $1.8 million for makingintend to collect or acquire, and these advances and the issuance of letters of credit, and $4 million of a delayed draw term loan. We also planreceivables will be used to issue additional stock in lieu of cash asoffset part of the acquisition consideration and plan to raise additional capital through sales of our stock if necessary. We intend to use part of the cash generated from our operations to fund our online sales initiative. If wefor such related parties.

The Company’s principal liquidity needs are not able to turn over our inventory and collect our receivables in time as we have done in the past, Mr. Long Deng, the majority shareholder and Chief Executive Officer of iFresh, has indicated that he will personally fund iFresh’s operations as needed. Based on the above considerations, iFresh’s management is of the opinion that iFresh has sufficient funds to meet its working capital requirements, operating expenses, and capital expenditure and debt obligationsobligations. As of June 30, 2019, the Company remains in noncompliance with the financial covenants of the KeyBank Loan. These conditions continue to raise doubt as they become due.to the Company’s ability to remain a going concern.

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The following table summarizes iFresh’s cash flow data for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2017June 30, 2019 and 2016.2018.

  

  For the three months
ended June 30,
 
  2019  2018 
Net cash used in operating activities $(620,468) $(3,466,885)
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities  329,249   (1,808,660)
Net cash provided by financing activities  552,745   5,192,868 
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents $261,526  $(82,677)

  For the nine months ended
December 31,
 
  2017  2016 
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities $(636,761) $4,740,574 
Net cash used in investing activities  (3,778,488)  (6,553,219)
Net cash provided by financing activities  2,809,710   10,290,346 
Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents $(1,605,539) $8,477,701 

 

Operating Activities

 

Net cash used in operating activities consists primarily of net income adjusted for non-cash items, including depreciation, and amortization, changes in deferred income taxes, loss on early extinguishment of debt, and the effect of working capital changes. Net cash used in operating activities was approximately $ 0.6$0.6 million for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2017,June 30, 2019, a decrease of $5.4$2.8 million, or 113%82%, compared to $4.7 million of cash provided by$3.5million used in operating activities for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2016.June 30, 2018. The increase was a result of an increase of $3 million from change of working capital mainly resulting from decrease from inventory, offset by decrease in our cash from operating activities was mainly because net income decreased in current period, and we collected less accounts receivables, spent more on inventory and prepaid expenses and paid more in accounts payable for the nine months ended December 31, 2017 than for the nine months ended December 31, 2016.

of $1.5 million.

 

Investing Activities

 

Net cash provided by investing activities was approximately $330,000 for the three months ended June 30, 2019, an increase of $2.1million, compared to $1.8 million used in investing activities was approximately $3.8 million for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2017, an decrease of $2.8 million, compared to $6.6 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2016.June 30, 2018. The decrease in our investment spendingincrease was primarily attributable to the decreased advances made to related partiesdecrease of $2.5 million in the current period.acquisition of property and equipment in 2019.

 

Financing Activities

 

Net cash provided by financing activities was approximately $2.8$0.55 million for the ninethree months ended December 31, 2017,June 30, 2019, which mainly consisted of net cash paid for bank loans of $0.5 million, cash received from capital contribution of $1.1 million, offset by $60,000 cash paid notes payable, and capital leases. Net cash provided from financing activities was $5.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2018, which mainly consisted of net cash flow from borrowing against bank loans and lines of credit of $3.3 million. Net$5.7 million, offset by $74,000 cash provided by financing activities was $10.3 millionpaid for the nine months ended December 31, 2016, which mainly consisted of $15million from borrowings against lines of credit and term loans, notes payable offsetting the repayment of credit lines and notes payable correspondingly, as well as increase of restricted cash in bank required business acquisition between E-Compass and NYM Holding, Inc.capital leases.


KeyBank National Association – Senior Secured Credit Facilities

 

On December 23, 2016, NYM, as borrower, entered into a $25 million senior secured Credit Agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) with Key Bank National Association (“Key Bank” or “Lender”). The Credit Agreement provides for (1) a revolving credit of $5,000,000 for making advance and issuance of letter of credit, (2) $15,000,000 of effective date term loan and (3) $5,000,000 of delayed draw term loan. The interest rate is equal to (1) the Lender’s “prime rate” plus 0.95%, or (b) the Adjusted LIBOR rate plus 1.95%. Both the termination date of the revolving credit and the maturity date of the term loans are December 23, 2021. The Company will pay a commitment fee equal to 0.25% of the undrawn amount of the Revolving Credit Facility and 0.25% of the unused Delayed Draw Term Loan Facility. $4,950,000 of the revolving credit was used as of December 31, 2018.

$15,000,000 of the term loan was fully funded by the lender in January 2017. The Company is required to make fifty-nine consecutive monthly payments of principal and interest in the amount of $142,842 starting from February 1, 2017 and a final payment of the then entire unpaid principal balance of the term loan, plus accrued interest on the maturity date.

A Delayed Draw Term Loan was available and would be advanced on the Delayed Draw Funding date (as defined in the Credit Agreement, which is no later than December 23, 2021. A withdrawal of $5 million under the Delayed Draw Term Loan was made as of June 30, 2019.

The senior secured credit facility is secured by all assets of the Company and is jointly guaranteed by the Company and its subsidiaries and contains financial and restrictive covenants. The financial covenants require NYM to deliver audited consolidated financial statements within one hundred twenty days after the fiscal year end and to maintain a fixed charge coverage ratio not less than 1.1 to 1.0 and senior funded debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) ratio less than 3.0 to 1.0 at the last day of each fiscal quarter, beginning with the fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2017. Except as stated below, the senior secured credit facility is subject to customary events of default. It will be an event of default if Mr. Long Deng resigns, is terminated, or is no longer actively involved in the management of NYM and a replacement reasonably satisfactory to the Lender is not made within sixty (60) days after such event takes place. The Company violated the loan covenant when Mr. Long Deng, CEO and major shareholder of the Company sold an aggregate of 8,294,989 restricted shares to HK Xu Ding Co., Limited on January 23, 2019, representing 51% of the total issued and outstanding shares of the Company as of December 31, 2018. The Company failed to obtain a written consent for the occurrence of the change of ownership. As a result, effective as of March 1, 2019, interest was accrued on all loans at the default rate and the monthly principal and interest payment due under the effective date term loan will be $155,872 instead of $142,842.

On May 20, 2019 (the “Effective Date”), the Company entered into a forbearance agreement (the “Forbearance Agreement”) with KeyBank, pursuant to which KeyBank has agreed to delay the exercise of its rights and remedies under the Loan agreement based on the existence of the events of defaults for certain period of time.  The Forbearance Agreement contains customary forbearance covenants and other forbearance covenants and defined certain events of defaults. Starting from May, 2019, the monthly payment decreased to $142,842 as originally required per the credit facility agreements.

The Company has been repaying this facility in accordance with its terms. The financial covenants of the Credit Agreement require the Company to maintain a senior funded debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) ratio for the trailing 12-month period of less than 3.00 to 1.00 at the last day of each fiscal quarter. As of June 30, 2019 and March 31, 2019, the Company has negative EBITDA, thus the ratio was negative and the Company was not in compliance with the financial covenants of the KeyBank loan.

While KeyBank has not yet acted to accelerate payment of the facility, KeyBank considers the Company to be in default and will not make any further advances under the Credit Facility until the Company comes into compliance with the Credit Agreement.


Commitments and Contractual Obligations

 

The following table presents the Company’s material contractual obligations as of December 31, 2017:June 30, 2019:

 

Contractual Obligations (unaudited) Total  Less than 1 year  1-3 years  3-5 years  More than 5 years 
Bank Loans $18,047,446  $1,459,488  $3,032,342  $13,555,616   - 
Estimated interest payments on bank loans  1,521,826   359,613   605,861   556,352   - 
Notes payable  412,284   143,056   195,634   73,594   - 
Capital lease obligations  155,953   71,059   81,092   3,802   - 
Operating Lease Obligations(1)  107,956,410   8,538,302   17,603,179   17,327,546   64,487,383 
  $128,093,919  $10,571,518  $21,518,108  $31,516,910  $64,487,383 

Contractual Obligations (unaudited) Total  Less than
1 year
  1-3 years  3-5 years  More than
5 years
 
Bank Loans $20,960,215  $1,521,862  $19,438,353  $    
Estimated interest payments on bank loans  1,204,458   509,744   694,714       
Notes payable  203,729   95,130   107,334   1,265    
Capital lease obligations including interest  620,129   188,028   309,892   122,209    
Operating Lease Obligations(1)  95,257,872   8,599,004   17,386,121   16,838,557   52,434,190 
  $118,246,403  $10,913,768  $37,936,414  $16,962,031  $52,434,190 

    

(1)Operating lease obligations do not include common area maintenance, utility and tax payments to which iFresh is obligated, which is estimated to be approximately 50% of operating lease obligation.

 

Off-balance Sheet Arrangements

 

iFresh is not a party to any off-balance sheet arrangements.

 

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Critical Accounting Estimates

 

The discussion and analysis of iFresh’s financial condition and results of operations are based upon its financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. These principles require iFresh’s management to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, sales and expenses, cash flow and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. The estimates include, but are not limited to, revenue recognition, inventory valuation, impairment of long-lived assets, lease, and income taxes. iFresh bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that it believes to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates. To the extent that there are material differences between these estimates and the actual results, future financial statements will be affected.

 

iFresh’s management believes that among their significant accounting policies, which are described in Note 3 to the auditedunaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of iFresh included in this Form 10-K,10-Q, the following accounting policies involve a greater degree of judgment and complexity. Accordingly, iFresh’s management believes these are the most critical to fully understand and evaluate its financial condition and results of operations.

 

Revenue Recognition

 

For retail sales,In accordance with Topic 606 revenue is recognized at the pointtime the sale is made, at which time our walk-in customers take immediate possession of sale. Discounts providedthe merchandise or delivery is made to our wholesale customers. Payment terms are established for our wholesale customers atbased on the timeCompany’s pre-established credit requirements. Payment terms vary depending on the customer. Based on the nature of salereceivables no significant financing components exist. Sales are recognizedrecorded net of discounts, sales incentives and rebates, sales taxes and estimated returns and allowances. We estimate the reduction to sales and cost of sales for returns based on current sales levels and our historical return experience.

Topic 606 defines a performance obligation as a reductionpromise in salesa contract to transfer a distinct good or service to the customer and is considered the unit of account. The majority of our contracts have one single performance obligation as the discounted products are sold. Sales taxes arepromise to transfer the individual goods is not includedseparately identifiable from other promises in revenue. Proceeds from the sale of coupons are recorded as a liability at the time of sale,contracts and recognized as sales when they are redeemed by customers. For wholesales sales, revenue is, recognized at the date of shipment to customers when a formal arrangement exists, the price is fixed or determinable, the delivery is completed, the Company has no other obligations and collectability is reasonably assured. Payments received before all of the relevant criteria for revenue recognition are recorded as customer deposits.therefore, not distinct.

 

We had no material contract assets, contract liabilities or costs to obtain and fulfill contracts recorded on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet as of June 30, 2019. Revenue recognized from performance obligations related to prior periods was insignificant.


Inventories

 

Inventories consist of merchandise purchased for resale, which are stated at the lower of cost or market. The cost method is used for wholesale and retail perishable inventories by assigning costs to each of these items based on a first-in, first-out (FIFO) basis (net of vendor discounts).

 

The Company’s wholesale and retail non-perishable inventory is valued at the lower of cost or market using weighted average method.

 

Impairment of Long-Lived Assets

 

iFresh assesses its long-lived assets, including property and equipment and finite-lived intangible assets, for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset group may not be recoverable. The Company groups and evaluates long-lived assets for impairment at the individual store level, which is the lowest level at which independent identifiable cash flows are available. Factors which may indicate potential impairment include a significant underperformance relative to the historical or projected future operating results of the store or a significant negative industry or economic trend. Recoverability of assets to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of an asset to the future undiscounted cash flows expected to be generated by that asset. If impairment is indicated, a loss is recognized for any excess of the carrying value over the estimated fair value of the asset group. The fair value is estimated based on the discounted future cash flows or comparable market values, if available.

   

Leases

On April 1, 2019 the Company adopted Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-02. For all leases that were entered into prior to the effective date of ASC 842, we elected to apply the package of practical expedients. Based on this guidance we will not reassess the following: (1) whether any expired or existing contracts are or contain leases; (2) the lease classification for any expired or existing leases; and (3) initial direct costs for any existing leases. The adoption of Topic 842 resulted in the presentation of $64,881,376 of operating lease assets and $71,620,095 operating lease liabilities on the consolidated balance sheet as of June 30, 2019. See Note 12 for additional information.

The Company determines if an arrangement is a lease at inception. Operating leases are included in operating lease right-of-use (“ROU”) assets, current portion of obligations under operating leases, and obligations under operating leases, non-current on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets. Finance leases are included in property and equipment, net, current portion of obligations under capital leases, and obligations under capital leases, non-current on our consolidated balance sheets.

Operating lease ROU assets and operating lease liabilities are recognized based on the present value of the future minimum lease payments over the lease term at commencement date, adjusted by the deferred rent liabilities at the adoption date. As most of the Company’s leases do not provide an implicit rate, the Company uses its incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at commencement date in determining the present value of future payments. The operating lease ROU asset also includes any lease payments made and excludes lease incentives and initial direct costs incurred. The Company’s terms may include options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that the Company will exercise that option. Lease expense for minimum lease payments is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. 

Income Taxes

 

iFresh must make certain estimates and judgments in determining income tax expense for financial statement purposes. The amount of taxes currently payable or refundable is accrued, and deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets are also recognized for realizable loss and tax credit carryforwards. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates in effect for the fiscal year in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities for a change in income tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date.

 

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iFresh apply the provisions of the authoritative guidance on accounting for uncertainty in income taxes that was issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB. Pursuant to this guidance, and may recognize the tax benefit from an uncertain tax position only if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on examination by the taxing authorities based on the technical merits of the position. The tax benefits recognized in the consolidated financial statements from such a position should be measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement. The authoritative guidance also addresses other items related to uncertainty in income taxes, including derecognition, measurement, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in interim periods, disclosure and transition.

 

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

In January 2017,June 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-01, “Business Combinations (Topic 805): Clarifying2018-07, “Improvements to Nonemployee Share-Based Payment Accounting”, which simplifies the Definitionaccounting for share-based payments granted to nonemployees for goods and services. Under the ASU, most of a Business”. The amendments in this ASU clarify the definition of a businessguidance on such payments to nonemployees would be aligned with the objective of adding guidancerequirements for share-based payments granted to assist entities with evaluating whether transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions (or disposals) of assets or businesses. Basically these amendments provide a screen to determine when a set is not a business. If the screen is not met, the amendments in this ASU first, require that to be considered a business, a set must include, at a minimum, an input and a substantive process that together significantly contribute to the ability to create output and second, remove the evaluation of whether a market participant could replace missing elements. These amendmentsemployees. The changes take effect for public businessescompanies for fiscal years starting after Dec. 15, 2018, including interim periods within that fiscal year. For all other entities, the amendments are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 20172019, and interim periods within those periods, and all other entities should apply these amendments for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, and interim periods within annual periods beginning after December 15, 2019.2020. Early adoption is permitted, but no earlier than an entity’s adoption date of Topic 606. The Company does not expect the adoption of this guidance will have a material impact on its unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

In February 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-05 (“ASU 2017-05”) to provide guidance for recognizing gains and losses from the transfer of nonfinancial assets and in-substance nonfinancial assets in contracts with non-customers, unless other specific guidance applies. The standard requires a company to derecognize nonfinancial assets once it transfers control of a distinct nonfinancial asset or distinct in substancenon financial asset. Additionally, when a company transfers its controlling interest in a nonfinancial asset, but retains a noncontrolling ownership interest, the company is required to measure any noncontrolling interest it receives or retains at fair value. The guidance requires companies to recognize a full gain or loss on the transaction. ASU 2017-05 is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2017, including interim periods within that reporting period. The effective date of this guidance coincides with revenue recognition guidance. The Company does not expectexpects that the adoption of this guidance will have a material impact on its unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

No other new accounting pronouncements issued or effective had, or are expected toASU would not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

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Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.

 

As of December 31, 2017,June 30, 2019, we were not subject to material market or interest rate risk.

 

Item 4. Controls and Procedures.

 

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

 

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial and accounting officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2017,June 30, 2019, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act. Based on this evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial and accounting officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2017,June 30, 2019, due to our lack of experience being a public company and lack of professional staffsstaff with adequate knowledge of SEC’s rules and requirements.

 

Disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in our Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

 

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

 

There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the fiscal quarter covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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PART II - OTHER INFORMATION

 

Item 1. Legal Proceedings.

 

In the ordinary course of our business, we are subject to periodic lawsuits, investigations and claims, including, but not limited to, contractual disputes, premises claims, and employment, environmental, health, safety and intellectual property matters. Although we cannot predict with certainty the ultimate resolution of any lawsuits, investigations, and claims asserted against the Company, we do not believe any currently pending legal proceedings to which the Company is a party will have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, prospects, financial condition, cash flows, or results of operations other than the following:

Rent DisputeLeo J. Motsis, as Trustee of the 140-148 East Berkeley Realty Trust v. Ming’s Supermarket, Inc.

 

Ming’s Supermarket, Inc. (“Ming”), the subsidiary of the Company, is a tenant at a building located at 140-148 East Berkeley Street, Boston, MA (the “Property”), pursuant to a lease dated September 24, 1999 (the “Lease”). The Lease had a 10-year initial term, followed by an option for two additional 10-year terms. Ming has exercised that first option and the Lease has approximately 15 years remaining to run if the second option is also exercised. The Lease also gives Ming a right of first refusal on any sale of the building.

 

On February 22, 2015, a sprinkler pipe burst in the Property. This caused the Inspectional Services Department of the City of Boston (“ISD”) to inspect the Property. The ISD found a number of problems which have prevented further use of the Property. The ISD notified both landlord and tenant that the Property was only permitted for use as an elevator garage and that its use as a warehouse was never permitted and that a conditional use permit must be obtained from the City of Boston to make such use lawful. Moreover, the Property was found to have major structural issues requiring repair, as well as issues with the elevator and outside glass. The result of the ISD’s findings are that Ming was ordered not to use the Property for any purpose unless and until the structural and other repairs are completed and its use as a warehouse is permitted by the Boston Zoning Board.

 

While the Lease provides that the elevator (approximate cost $400,000) and glass repairs (approximate cost $30,000) are the responsibility of the tenant, the structural repairs (approximate cost $500,000) are the landlord’s responsibility under the Lease, unless the structural damage was caused by the tenant’s misuse of the Property. In this regard Ming has retained an expert who will testify the structural damage to the building was caused by long term water infiltration and is not the result of anything Ming did. Ming initially sought for the landlord to perform the structural repairs and agreed that upon completion of those repairs, Ming would repair the elevator and the broken glass. In addition, Ming asked the landlord to cooperate in permitting use of the Property as a warehouse. 

 

The landlord refused to either perform structural repairs or to cooperate on the permitting. As a result, as of April 2015, Ming stopped paying the landlordbegan withholding rent, since itMing was barred from using the Property by order of the ISD. The landlord then sued Ming for breach of the Lease and unpaid rent, and Ming counterclaimed for constructive eviction and for damages resulting from the landlord’s breach of its duty to perform structural repairs under the Lease.

 

The case was tried before a jury in August 2017. The jury awarded Ming judgment against the landlord in the amount of $795,000, plus continuing damages of $2,250 per month until the structural repairs are completed. The court found that the landlord’s actions violated the Massachusetts unfair and deceptive acts and practices statute and therefore doubled the amount of damages to $1,590,000 and further ruled that Ming should also recover costs and attorneys’ fees of approximately $250,000. The result is a judgment in favor of Ming and against the landlord that will total approximately $1.85 million. The judgment requires the landlord to repair the premises and obtain an occupancy permit. The landlord is claiming damages of approximately $470,000 in unpaid rent and additional rent charges under the leaseresponsible to date, plusMing for the cost of repairs. Ming is claiming damages in the mountamount of lost profits of $20,000 to$30,000$2,250 per month resulting fromuntil an occupancy permit is issued. The judgment also accrues interest at the loss if its warehouse space andrate of 12% per year until paid.


The landlord filed a Notice of Appeal, which will delay ultimate resolution of this matter for potentially one year or more. Ming has filed a lien against the landlord’s real estate as security for the landlord’s failure to undertake its responsibilities under the lease. Ming’s damages also include loss of the benefit of its below market lease. Ming is also seeking an order of the Court directing the landlord to perform the structural repairs. judgment.

 

On May 31, 2018, the ISD issued an occupancy permit, triggering Ming’s requirement to resume regular rental payments. The parties have been unable to agree on terms ofresult is a settlement and a trial was necessary to resolve this matter. The case went to trial on August 21, 2017 and concluded on August 29, 2017 with a jury verdictjudgment in favor of the Company. The JURY VERDICT FORM issued on August 31, 2017, which affirmed thatMing and against the landlord breached the lease by failing to make the necessary structural repairs to the Premises and take responsibility to recover Ming’s damages from the breach. After the jury verdict, the landlord filed an appeal immediately. A new verdict of this case was issued in the Company’s favor on September 29, 2017. The judge awarded the Company double damages and attorney’s fees in this case. Thatthat will result in a total judgment of $1,590,000, including $795,000 for damage compensation plus the attorneys’ fees and interest and costs. In addition, the landlord was ordered to make repairs to the building with additional damages of $2,250 for each month until completed.approximately $1.85 million.  

 

However, it

The appeal hearing was held in July 12, 2019 and a decision is the Company’s understanding that the landlord is planningexpected to file another appeal.be made within 90 days. No guaranties or predicationspredictions can be made at this time as to ultimate final outcome of this case.

HDH, LLC v. New York Mart Group Inc.

A subsidiary of the Company, New York Mart Group, Inc., entered into a lease agreement with HDH, LLC for a warehouse located at 55-01 2nd Street, Long Island City, New York 11101 for the period March 15, 2011 through February 28, 2021. The landlord sued the tenant for breaching the lease by altering the premises without the landlord’s permission and without obtaining necessary governmental permits. The landlord also sued the tenant for failing to pay rent and additional fee. The trial court entered a judgement on September 28, 2018. The landlord claims it is entitled to $372,667 in damages and other related fees. On July 8, final stipulation was signed and the petitioner agreed to waive $222,667 of the arrears, leaving a balance due of $150,000. The Company believeshas previously accrued $200,000 for the potential loss and expense associated with this case.

Voice Road Plaza, LLC v. New York Mart Group Inc

A subsidiary of the Company, New York Mart Group, Inc., entered into a lease with Voice Road Plaza, LLC for the Company’s new store Glen Cove located at Carle Place, NY 11514. The landlord sued the Company for failing to pay rent and additional fee. In April 2019, landlord was awarded money judgment of $207,975 and judgment of passion and warrant of eviction. The landlord has also requested legal order to withhold the Company’s bank account for $415,950 on May 3, 2019. On June 19, 2019, the Company signed Stipulation of Settlement with landlord to pay for the unpaid rent and execute warrant of eviction by July 24, 2019. The Company has accrued around $210,000 expense associated with this case. The Company is planning to file a notice of appeal to sue the landlord not timely provide documents requested in order for the Company to obtain required license to operate.

Hartford Fire Insurance Company v. New York Mart Group Inc

On November 28, 2018, a lawsuit was filed against New York Mart Group, Inc. by Hartford Fire Insurance Company (“Hartford”), who seeks contractual indemnification from the Company and other defendants relating to certain supersedeas bonds issued by Hartford in connection with the unsuccessful appeal of state court litigation by iFresh’s codefendant. Hartford alleges that iFresh guaranteed performance of the bonds and therefore seeks to enforce the indemnification terms thereof against iFresh in addition to the other defendants. On June 14, 2019, Hartford filed a motion for summary judgment against iFresh, arguing that Hartford is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The deadline for iFresh to respond to that motion has not yet occurred. In view of the uncertainties inherent in litigation, we are unable to form a judgment as to the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome. If the plaintiff was to prevail on the merit, it could obtain a judgment against iFresh in the amount of its alleged loss under the bonds for the amount of $424,772, in addition to attorney’s fee, costs and interest. The Company has accrued $500,000 for the potential loss and expense associated with this case.

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Winking Group LLC v. New York Supermarket E. Broadway Inc

A subsidiary of the Company, New York Supermarket E. Broadway Inc., entered into a lease with Winking Group LLC for the Company’s store located at 75 East Broadway, NY, 10002. The landlord sued the Company for failing to pay rent and additional fee of around $355,000. The Company is currently negotiating an agreement with the landlord to settle the case. A hearing will be held on August 20, 2019. All unpaid rent has been fully accrued as of June 30, 2019.

Regulatory Compliance

On July 2, 2019, the Company received a notification letter (the “Notification”) from the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Staff of The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) stating that the facts andCompany is no longer in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule. Nasdaq 5550(b)(3) requires listed companies to maintain net income of $500,000 from continuing operations in the law are favorablemost recently completed fiscal year, or in two of the three most recently completed fiscal years. The Company’s Form 10-K for Ming’sthe period ended March 31, 2019 reported net loss from continuing operations of $12,003,443, below the net income requirement set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(d)(3). Further, as of July 1, 2019, the Company did not meet the alternative compliance standards under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(b) of (i) market value of listed securities of at least $35 million, or (ii) stockholders’ equity of at least $2.5 million.

The notification received has no immediate effect on the listing of the Company’s common stock on Nasdaq. Under the Nasdaq Listing Rules, the Company has until August 16, 2019 to bothsubmit a plan to regain compliance (the “Compliance Plan”). If the Compliance Plan is accepted, Nasdaq can grant an extension of up to 180 calendar days from the date of the Notification. If Nasdaq does not accept the Company’s plan, the Company will have the right to appeal such decision to a Nasdaq hearings panel.

The Company intends to submit to Nasdaq, within the requisite period, a plan to regain compliance. There can be no assurance that Nasdaq will accept the Company’s plan or that the Company will be able to regain compliance with the applicable listing requirements.

On July 30, 2019, the Company held its continuing liabilityannual meeting of shareholders. Reference is made to the current report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on August 2, 2019.

On August 5, 2019, the Company received a letter from Nasdaq Listing Qualification informing the Company that the staff has determined that the Company complies with the annual meeting requirement for rent and its affirmative claim to recover damages.continued listing on TheNasdaq Capital Market set forth in Listing Rules 5620.

 

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

 

ThereOther than the risk factor related to the Company that is further discussed in this section, there have been no changes with respect to risk factors as previously disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2017.2018. Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. Before you invest you should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below and in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2017,2018, under the caption “Risk Factors”,Factors,” our Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations set forth in Item 2 of Part I of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, our consolidated financial statements and related notes included in Item 1 of Part I of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our consolidated financial statements and related notes, as well as our Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and the other information in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2017.2018. Readers should carefully review those risks, as well as additional risks described in other documents we file from time to time with the SEC.

 

If we fail to effectively operate our self-insured health plan, we may not be able to retain employees and may be subject to tax penalties and legal proceedings.

Under The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees must offer health insurance to certain of their employees and their dependent children, and if coverage meeting certain minimum requirements is not offered the employer may face non-deductible tax penalties.

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We and our subsidiaries operate self-insurance health plan for our employees. We could be subject to payment of health care claims from employees, which vary from time to time. If we do not settle such health care claims in time, we may be subject to various tax penalties, legal or administrative claims and proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business. Litigation or any other legal or administrative proceeding, regardless of the outcome, is likely to result in a substantial cost and diversion to our resources, including our management’s time and attention. Any tax penalties may adversely affect our financial performance.

 

Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds from Registered Securities.

 

None. On June 1 and June 5, 2019, respectively, the Company, and two holders (the “Holders”) of the Company’s warrants (the “Existing Warrants”) issued pursuant to that certain Securities Purchase Agreement dated October 19, 2018, entered into certain Exchange Agreements, whereby the Company agreed to issue to the Holders an aggregate of 1,170,000 shares  (“Exchange Shares”) of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.0001 per share and warrant to purchase an aggregate of 1,170,000 shares of common stock (the “Exchange Warrants”) as the negotiated purchase price for the Existing Warrants based on the Black Scholes Value as a result of a certain transaction which was deemed as a Fundamental Transaction (as defined in the Existing Warrants) pursuant to Section 3(e) of the Existing Warrants.

 

Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities.

 

None.On December 23, 2016, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, NYM Holding, Inc. (“NYM”), as borrower, entered into a $25 million senior secured Credit Agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) with KeyBank National Association (“KeyBank” or “Lender”). The Credit Agreement provides for (1) a revolving credit of $5,000,000 for making advance and issuance of letter of credit, (2) $15,000,000 of effective date term loan and (3) $5,000,000 of delayed draw term loan. The interest rate is equal to (1) the Lender’s “prime rate” plus 0.95%, or (b) the Adjusted LIBOR rate plus 1.95%.

Although the Company has been timely repaying the KeyBank facility in accordance with its terms, the Company failed to timely pay federal income taxes in the aggregate principal amount of $1,187,693, which resulted in the IRS imposing a tax lien on the Company on June 11, 2018 in the amount of $1,236,831. Although the Company subsequently paid the tax liabilities in full in June 2018 and the IRS released the tax lien by July 30, 2018, the Company was in default under the KeyBank Credit Agreement as of March 31, 2018 for having failed to timely pay federal taxes and because the IRS imposed a tax lien.

Additionally, the financial covenants of the KeyBank loan require the Company to maintain a senior funded debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (“EBITDA”) ratio for the trailing 12 month period of less than 3.0 to 1.0 as of the last day of each fiscal quarter. As of June 30, 2019, the Company has negative EBITDA, thus the ratio was negative and the Company was not in compliance with the financial covenants of the KeyBank loan. In addition, on February 7, 2019, the Company received a notice from Keybank indicating Keybank does not consent to the transaction contemplated by the Share Purchase Agreement by and between Long Deng and HK Xu Ding Co. Limited and that the monthly principal and interest payment amount shall be adjusted to $155,872.35 to fully amortize the current outstanding principal balance of the loan over the number of months remaining on the original ten year amortization period at the interest rate now in effect. 

Due to the Company’s failure to timely pay federal taxes, the IRS’s imposition of a tax lien, the Company’s failure to satisfy the financial covenants of the Credit Agreement, the Company is currently in default under the Credit Agreement. The Company has advised KeyBank of the default, and while KeyBank has not yet acted to accelerate payment of the facility, KeyBank does consider the Company to be in default and will not make any further advances under the Credit Facility until the Company complies with its obligations under the Credit Agreement. Keybank indicated in its notice to the Company on February 7, 2019 that as a result of the events of default occurred so far, effective March 1, 2019, interest will accrue on all loans at the default rate. The Company’s inability to draw down amounts under the credit facility significantly impairs the Company’s growth plans and limits its liquidity. In addition, if KeyBank were to decide to accelerate repayment of the Credit Facility, the Company’s financial condition and operations would be negatively impacted. Although the Company anticipates being able to obtain a waiver from KeyBank regarding the Company’s default, there is no guarantee that the Company will be successful in doing so. 


On May 20, 2019, the Company, NYM, certain subsidiaries of NYM, Mr. Long Deng and KeyBank National Association entered into a forbearance agreement (the “Forbearance Agreement”) with respect to that certain Credit Agreement, dated as of December 23, 2016, as amended, pursuant to which KeyBank National Association, “Keybank” the or “Lender”, made available to NYM, the “Borrower”, a revolving credit facility, a term loan facility, and other credit accommodations. Pursuant to that certain Guaranty Agreement, dated as of December 26, 2016, as amended by several joinder agreements, the Company, certain subsidiaries of NYM and Mr. Long Deng (collectively, the “Guarantors”, and together with the Borrower, the “Loan Parties”) have agreed to guarantee the payment and performance of the obligations of the Borrower under the Credit Agreement (“Obligations”). The Lender has agreed to delay the exercise of its rights and remedies under the Loan Agreement based on the existence of certain events of default (the “Specified Events of Default”) until the earlier to occur of: (a) 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the 90th day from Effective Date; and (b) a Forbearance Event of Default.

 

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosure.

 

Not applicable.

 

Item 5. Other Information.

 

None.

 

Item 6. Exhibits.

 

Exhibit 
No.
 Description
   
31.1 Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14 and Rule 15d-14(a), promulgated under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
   
31.2 Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14 and Rule 15d-14(a), promulgated under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
   
3232.1 Certification of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
   
101.INS XBRL Instance Document
  
101.SCH XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
  
101.CAL XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
  
101.DEF XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
  
101.LAB XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document
  
101.PRE XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document

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SIGNATURES

 

In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, the registrant caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

 

 iFresh, Inc.Inc.
   
Date: August 14, 2019By:/s/ Long Deng
  Long Deng
  Chairman of the Board and
Chief Executive Officer
(Principal executive officer)
   
 By:/s/ Alfred Chung-Chieh YingLong Yi
  Alfred Chung-Chieh YingLong Yi
  Chief Financial Officer
(Principal financial and accounting officer)

 

Date: February 14, 2018 

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