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Tilray discloses $1.2B quarterly loss, plan to buy cannabis rival Hexo for $56M

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Canadian cannabis producer Tilray Brands reported a net loss of $1.2 billion (1.5 billion Canadian dollars) for its quarter ended in February and said it agreed to buy troubled rival Hexo Corp. for $56 million.

According to a news release, Canada- and U.S.-based Tilray attributed the quarterly red ink to its declining market capitalization and a net asset reduction resulting from higher interest rates.

The company, which has offices in Leamington, Ontario, and New York, also booked an inventory valuation write-down worth $55 million.

Tilray said the steep loss has no impact on the company’s compliance with debt covenants, its cash flows or available liquidity.

Sales for the December-February quarter missed analysts’ expectations, coming in at $145.6 million, down from $151.9 million one year earlier.

Cannabis appeared to be a drag on the company’s revenue, with sales from its marijuana business falling to $47.5 million for the quarter, down from $55 million in the three months through Feb. 28, 2022.

By category:

  • Distribution revenue rose 4.5% over the same period last year to $65.4 million.
  • Net beverage alcohol revenue gained 5% to $20.6 million.
  • Wellness revenue decreased 18% year-over-year to $12.2 million.

Tilray said it projects delivering positive free cash flow by the end of the current financial year, which concludes later this spring.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the quarter came out to a positive $14 million.

International sales were another drag on Tilray’s business in the third quarter.

Tilray’s gross revenue from international cannabis products plunged 39% year-over-year to $9.7 million in the third quarter.

By market channel, gross revenue from:

  • Canadian medical cannabis products slipped 14.4% year-over-year to $6 million in the quarter.
  • Canadian adult-use cannabis products rose 4.2% to $45.3 million.
  • Wholesale cannabis products fell to $58,000, down sharply from $2.8 million in the previous December-February quarter.

Meanwhile, Tilray said in the release that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ottawa, Ontario-based Hexo for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $56 million.

Tilray plans to finance the deal by issuing 0.4352 of Tilray Common Stock for each outstanding Hexo share.

This comes after the two businesses entered a strategic alliance last year.

Hexo has lost just shy of CA$2 billion ($1.48 billion) since 2017.

Details on the acquisition arrangement between Tilray and Hexo are available here and here.

Tilray’s shares trade as TLRY on the Nasdaq and Toronto Stock Exchange.

Hexo’s  shares are traded as HEXO on the Nasdaq and Toronto Stock Exchange.

Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/tilray-discloses-1-billion-quarterly-loss-plan-to-buy-cannabis-rival-hexo-for-56-million/

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New Mexico cannabis operator fined, loses license for alleged BioTrack fraud

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New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.

The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.

Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.

The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.

The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.

Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.

After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.

In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.

The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.

At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.

Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.

Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.

The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:

Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.

Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/

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Marijuana companies suing US attorney general in federal prohibition challenge

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Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.

According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”

Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.

The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”

The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.

They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.

The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.

Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.

One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.

In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.

In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.

Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.

“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.

“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”

Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”

While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.

“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”

Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/marijuana-companies-suing-us-attorney-general-to-overturn-federal-prohibition/

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Alabama to make another attempt Dec. 1 to award medical cannabis licenses

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Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.

The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).

Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.

Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.

That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.

Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.

Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.

A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.

Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/

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