Cannabis Professional’s daily roundup of industry news. View archive here.
Valens hikes revenue outlook, commences share-buyback plan
Valens GroWorks Corp. said Monday it has announced revenue guidance for the recently completed fourth quarter, 2019, in the range of $27-million to $30-million. The range represents a significant increase over Q3 2019 revenue of $16.5-million. Kelowna, B.C.-based Valens said it expects to report that it has extracted more than 24,400 kilograms of cannabis and hemp biomass in the fourth quarter of 2019. This is roughly in-line with the amount of biomass processed in Q3 2019 and reflects “the anticipated shift in focus to white label manufacturing and the demand from our customers to launch a breadth of ‘Cannabis 2.0’ products into the market.”
Analysts Jenny Wang and Brian Lee of Eight Capital says Valens’ revenue guidance “indicates higher pricing on Cannabis 2.0 and white label products. ... The revenue ramp is due to greater per gram input pricing charged by Valens for the extraction and manufacturing of Cannabis 2.0 and white label products, albeit smaller lot sizes.”
Valens also announced Monday that it intends to commence a share buyback for the purchase and cancellation of up to 6,275,204 of its common shares, or 5 per cent of the issued and outstanding shares. Valens says the NCIB will be funded with cash on hand and the company’s current positive cash flow from operations.ext.
– Staff
Alberta pot shops get green light to open on Christmas
Cannabis stores in Alberta will be permitted to open their stores on Christmas Day, the provincial regulator said.
Alberta, Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) said it will now permit retail cannabis and liquor venues to operate on Dec. 25 if they choose.
This is the adult-use cannabis industry’s second Christmas holiday season, since recreational use was legalized in October 2018.
- Staff
Fire & Flower revenue edges higher
Retailer Fire & Flower Inc. said today it generated revenue of $13.7-million in the third quater of 2019 ended Nov. 2, including cannabis and cannabis-related accessory sales of $11.9-million in the retail channel, $1.2-million in the wholesale channel and digital development revenue of $0.6-million. That compared to revenue of $11.1.-million in the previous quarter ended Aug. 3, 2019. Edmonton-based Fire & Flower said it expects revenues to continue to increase as the company acquires new licences, opens additional retail cannabis stores, and continues to commercialize its Hifyre(TM) digital retail and analytics platform.
Total gross profit for the quarter was $4.8-million, compared to $4-million for the thirteen weeks ended August 3, 2019. The company recorded net comprehensive income of $10.2-million, or net income per share of $0.08 or $0.07 on a fully diluted basis for the thirteen weeks ended November 2, 2019.
- Staff
Auxly says Imperial Brands exercised its subscription agreement
Auxly Cannabis Group Inc. announced today that Imperial Brands PLC has exercised its pre-emptive right to subscribe for an aggregate amount of 6,315,574 common shares of Auxly for $5.2-million. By subscribing for the purchased shares, Auxly says, Imperial Brands will maintain its 19.9-per-cent ownership of the company, following its initial investment of $123-million by way of convertible debentures in a transaction announced July 25, 2019. “We are delighted that Imperial Brands continues to support our vision of being a global leader in branded cannabis products,” said Hugo Alves, CEO of Auxly.
- Staff