Author: Solomon Israel

[ad_1] Multistate operator Jushi Holdings is trying to improve its efficiency and margins as it hopes for new adult-use cannabis markets in 2024. During a quarterly earnings call late Wednesday, Jushi CEO Jim Cacioppo cited initiatives to cut waste, improve post-harvest processing and get “new, higher-margin products” to market more quickly. “The main goal of these efforts is to improve our product quality and value to the consumer, as well as increase the potency and yield of our grower-processor under the existing canopy without deploying significant new capital – but rather, better utilizing capital previously spent,” Cacioppo said in prepared…

[ad_1] Marijuana multistate operator The Cannabist Co. is trying to improve its wholesale business as it moves on from what CEO David Hart described as “an arduous 2023.” “I have committed to the team that this business will look very different by the end of 2024,” Hart said during prepared remarks on a Wednesday conference call discussing The Cannabist’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 earnings. Hart took the helm at The Cannabist in January, not long after the company rebranded from Columbia Care following an aborted merger with Cresco Labs. Wholesale revenue comprised 12% of The Cannabist’s revenue in 2023. “We…

[ad_1] As a botanical drug that remains federally illegal, marijuana faces an uphill battle for acceptance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has approved very few cannabis-based drugs. Moving marijuana from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 of the Controlled Substances Act could help open the door to more traditional, phased drug trials, according to Dr. Jean Talleyrand. He is chief medical officer of the Clinical Endocannabinoid System Consortium (CESC), a California-based nonprofit that studies how people use marijuana products that are already on the market. Rescheduling remains beyond the horizon, but Talleyrand believes marijuana researchers still have ways…

[ad_1] Multistate cannabis operator Ascend Wellness Holdings says it has filed amended federal tax returns for several years and expects to receive refunds, becoming the latest U.S. marijuana company to seek the return of tariffs paid under Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code. Ascend revealed limited details of its tax strategy during a Tuesday earnings call to discuss its fourth-quarter earnings. Chief Financial Officer Mark Cassebaum said the New York-based company has amended its federal tax returns for 2020, 2021 and 2022. “We plan to file (our) 2023 federal return as a normal corporate taxpayer, excluding 280E,” Cassebaum said…

[ad_1] 2024 is “a much more stable landscape” for the marijuana sector than in 2023, the CEO of cannabis industry real estate investment trust (REIT) NewLake Capital Partners said as the company reported its fourth-quarter earnings. NewLake Chief Executive Anthony Coniglio acknowledged during a Monday earnings call that NewLake had been “a little bit gun-shy” in 2023. “Really, what we were doing in 2023 is, we were watching the landscape evolve, we wanted to make sure that we understood how the (cannabis) operators were going to respond and react to the difficult operating environment,” Coniglio said, responding to an analyst.…

[ad_1] Publicly traded cannabis industry lender AFC Gamma reported nearly $16 million in net interest income for its fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, down 18.9% from the same quarter a year before. Net interest income for the full 2023 fiscal year was 64.2 million, a 14% decrease from 2022 ($74.7 million). West Palm Beach, Florida-based AFC Gamma posted a quarterly net loss of $9.2 million, compared with net income of $2.9 million for the same quarter in 2022. The company’s full-year net income in 2023 was nearly $21 million, compared with $35.9 million in 2022. AFC Gamma paid out a…

[ad_1] Major marijuana multistate operator Curaleaf Holdings posted $345.3 million in net revenue for the fourth quarter of 2023, an increase of 1.5% over the same quarter the year before and 3.6% over the third quarter. New York-based Curaleaf, which is the largest publicly traded marijuana operator by market capitalization, reported a $57.7 million net loss from continuing operations for the quarter ended Dec. 31. Curaleaf’s full-year revenue was $1.35 billion, up 6% on a year-over-year basis, with an annual net loss of $290.3 million, a 23% improvement over 2022’s $376.9 million net loss. In prepared remarks made during a…

[ad_1] Marijuana multistate operator Planet 13 Holdings has priced a public offering to raise gross proceeds of at least $11.3 million. Las Vegas-based Planet 13 sell 18.75 million units at 60 cents per unit through the underwritten public offering. Each unit includes one common share with no par value and one warrant. The warrants permit purchasing one more share at 77 cents within five years, “subject to adjustments in certain events.” The underwriters, including Beacon Securities, have a 30-day over-allotment option to buy “up to an additional 2,812,500 shares and/or warrants,” Planet 13 said in a Monday news release. If…

[ad_1] Combined sales of legal medical and recreational marijuana in New Mexico have set a record, surpassing $1 billion less than two years after the state launched its adult-use market. The latest sales data from the New Mexico Regulation & Licensing Department (NMRLD) shows cumulative sales worth $1.01 billion since the state’s recreational cannabis market launched in April 2022, including: $678.5 million in adult-use sales across 15.7 million transactions. $331.6 million in MMJ sales across 6.5 million transactions. The sales record includes the latest monthly cannabis transaction data from the NMRLD. In February, the government agency tracked $35.7 million worth…

[ad_1] Aurora Cannabis says it has repaid the remaining balance of its convertible senior notes, a landmark in the Canadian producer’s efforts to cut its debt and save on interest payments. Edmonton, Alberta-based Aurora still has 47.9 million Canadian dollars ($35.3 million) worth of debt related to Bevo Agtech, a vegetable and flower grower in which the company took a controlling interest in 2022. Aurora said it paid the final balance of CA$7.2 million in principal on its convertible senior notes for CA$7.4 million, including interest. The company had signaled its plan to pay off the last of its convertible…

[ad_1] (This is a developing story and will be updated.) Multistate marijuana company Trulieve Cannabis Corp. revealed that it has received $113 million worth of tax refunds as it challenges what it owes under Section 280E of the IRS code. Florida-based Trulieve made waves in the U.S. marijuana industry when it announced the plan to seek $143 million worth of federal tax refunds in October 2023. Trulieve also is seeking $31 million in state tax refunds. In a fourth-quarter earnings report released Thursday, Trulieve said it has: Received $62 million worth of tax refunds during the quarter ended Dec. 31.…

[ad_1] Marijuana technology company Agrify Corp. has priced a public offering to raise gross proceeds of $2.6 million. The net proceeds will be used “for working capital and general corporate purposes, which may include capital expenditures and repayment of debt,” Troy, Michigan-based Agrify said in a Wednesday news release. The offering includes roughly 6.7 million shares, or prefunded warrants, at 38 cents per share. Agrify’s Nasdaq-traded shares (AGFY) opened at slightly less than 52 cents on Wednesday. Earlier this year, Agrify announced steps to reduce its liabilities, including increasing the maximum number of authorized shares. The company is working to…