Canadian marijuana producer Aurora Cannabis was the first to kick earnings season off for the big marijuana companies.
The company reported its results for the quarter ended December 31st, 2018 and the results blew Wall Street away.
Sales for the company soared as the quarter included 11 weeks of recreational marijuana sales in Canada. Canada began legal recreational marijuana sales last October.
Revenue for the second quarter jumped 363% compared to the year ago period and was an 83% increase over the first quarter.
Over 41% of Aurora’s Q2 revenue came from sales of recreational pot in Canada and this was the first quarter the company had revenue from these sales in the country.
The company had said that it dominated a market share of around 20% in Canada’s recreational marijuana market for the quarter. Months ago, Aurora had predicted that it would capture around 30% of the market.
“Based on available data released by Health Canada for the Q2 2019 period, Aurora accounted for approximately 20% of all consumer sales across the country”
International sales were however kind of slow, with Europe’s cannabis sales only growing 1.8% over the first quarter.
Forthe quarter, the company also disclosed losses of C$237.8 million on net revenue of C$54.2 million. This is compared to a profit of C$7.7 million on sales of C$11.7 million a year ago.
Two analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting revenue of only C$51.8 million. Marijuana sales in the reported quarter rose to 6,999 kg from 1,162 kg.
Aurora Cannabis also announced that it completed its first commercial export of cannabis oil to the United Kingdom. Now specialist doctors in the U.K. can legally issue prescriptions for cannabis-based medicines when they agree that their patients could benefit from it.
“Being one of the first Canadian companies to commercially supply cannabis-based medicines into the UK under the new legal framework reflects Aurora’s ability to do business in international markets that have complex and evolving regulatory systems,” stated Aurora Chief Global Business Development Officer Neil Belot.
During the earnings call Aurora Cannabis said, “Last quarter, we provided 2,446 kilograms of dry cannabis and 746 kilograms equivalence of cannabis extract to this segment, an increase of over 20% from the previous quarter. On the inception of the legal consumer cannabis market in Canada the federal government brought in 10% excise tax on cannabis sales. Unlike any other prescription medication sold in Canada medical cannabis patients are taxed for access to their treatment. Aurora disagrees with this practice and we’re not collecting tax from our medical patients, but rather are absorbing the cost despite the slight negative effect on our revenues.”
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