Canada’s biggest cannabis underdog SNDL delivers transformational year
Cannabis company and liquor retailer, SNDL Inc., had a record net revenue of $240.4 million in Q4 – 4% higher than in the previous quarter and more than 10x its Q4 2021 sales, reports Fintel.
For the full year, it generated $712.2 million in revenue, 1,170% higher than in 2021, however, had a net loss of $372.4 million, 64.2% higher than in 2021. Its adjusted EBITDA loss for the year was 48% lower than in 2021 at $15.8 million, and is down 30.4% year-to-date and 72.9% over the past 12 months.
The publication writes that 2022 was a year of immense change for SNDL – financially, operationally and strategically – and that the company is no longer a small vertically integrated cannabis company, but also the largest private operator of liquor stores in the country.
Georgia’s medical cannabis program could have oil on shelves in weeks
Wabe reports that two in-state producers in Georgia are expected to have products available by this summer after the state’s eight-year path to legal access to medical cannabis.
According to the publication, the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission will now be granting dispensing licenses for producers of low-THC oil, Botanical Sciences and Trulieve Georgia, which would be used to open up to 12 stores across the state.
Currently, the state has around 27,000 patients on its low-THC oil registry, but Commission Executive Director Andrew Turnage said it expects that number to increase to around 100,000 “based on similar states with registries that started at similar size with medical-only programs somewhat like Georgia’s”.
Australia’s medical cannabis sales might surpass Canada’s in near future
Australia’s medical cannabis industry continues to experience brisk growth in patients and sales, and experts say the market could even surpass Canada’s medical sector this year, reports MJ Biz Daily.
Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) data shows that the number of Special Access Scheme Category B patient approvals for medical cannabis increased sharply every year from January 2018 to January 2022, and that medical cannabis approvals through an Authorized Prescriber (AP) have increased dramatically since late 2019.
Rhys Cohen, global partnerships and engagement adviser at the Victoria, Australia-based Penington Institute, a drug policy organization, told the publication that the increase was: “…probably due to a combination of the November 2021 reforms, which made it easier to become an AP, and ongoing growth in the number and size of medicinal cannabis clinics, which prefer to use the AP pathway.”