Aurora Cannabis reports CA$51.9 million loss in first quarter

Canadian producer Aurora Cannabis reported a net loss of 51.9 million Canadian dollars ($39.1 million) for the first quarter of its 2023 fiscal year.

Net revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was CA$49.3 million, down 2% from the previous quarter and down 18% from the same quarter a year before.

The Alberta-based company reported a CA$618.7 million loss in its previous quarter, primarily due to large impairment charges.

Aurora management reiterated a previously announced goal to achieve profitability on an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) basis by the end of this calendar year, alongside a plan to achieve as much as CA$170 million in annualized cost savings by year’s end.

The company said it has repurchased about $160 million in convertible debt year-to-date.

Aurora, which has refocused its business on medical marijuana, reported CA$31.6 million in medical cannabis net revenue for the quarter, accounting for nearly two-thirds of its consolidated net revenue.

That figure includes CA$8.2 million of medical cannabis sold in countries other than Canada.

The company’s net medical cannabis revenue decreased 14% from the previous quarter and decreased 23% from the same quarter a year before.

The sequential decrease in medical cannabis net revenue “was primarily attributable to timing of shipments into certain international markets during the prior quarter, with sales expected to normalize in Q2 2023,” Aurora said in a news release.

“The decrease from the prior year quarter was driven by $7.9 million of sales to Israel and a strategic choice to shift our Canadian medical business towards the higher-margin insured patient base.”

Meanwhile, adult-use cannabis revenue totaled CA$13.7 million, up 9% from the previous quarter and down 28% from the same quarter a year before.

“The decrease from the prior year quarter was attributable to a reduction in the volumes sold of discount, low-margin brands, and replaced with premium higher-margin brands,” according to the Aurora release.

The company said quarterly adult-use cannabis revenues were affected by both a cyberattack on the Ontario Cannabis Store wholesaler and a strike in British Columbia.

Aurora shares trade as ACB on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq.

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