This week marijuana company Tilray, Inc. reported its first quarter 2020 financial results.
For the quarter the company saw revenue increase 126% to $52.1 million or C$70.7 million from the same quarter a year ago. It was also an 11% increase from the fourth quarter of 2019.
According to the company’s press release, growth was driven by cannabis sales, which experienced meaningful increases across all channels with the exception of bulk, and the inclusion of the Manitoba Harvest acquisition for a full quarter in 2020 compared to a partial quarter in the prior year.
“We are pleased to report strong sequential quarterly revenue growth across each of our core business segments for the first quarter of 2020,” says Brendan Kennedy, Tilray’s Chief Executive Officer. “We remain focused on executing on our long-term growth opportunities and our goal of generating positive Adjusted EBITDA by the end of the fourth quarter.”
He added, “As evidenced by our International Medical sales in the quarter, we expect this segment to demonstrate continued growth and positively impact margins.
During and since the first quarter, we took significant steps to drive efficiencies across our business, enabling us to realize annualized cost savings of approximately $40 million compared to fourth quarter 2019 run rates.”
The company also made several additions to its executive leadership team during the quarter. Jon Levin, formerly of Revlon, joined the Company as Chief Operating Officer and Michael Kruteck, formerly of Molson Coors and Pharmaca, joined the Company as Chief Financial Officer.
It was in January that Tilray signed a 2.5 tonne strategic partnership agreement with Canndoc (an Israeli Medical Cannabis Agency) to export medical cannabis from Tilray’s European Union facility in Portugal to Israel.
According to the earnings report, the Company’s priority during the COVID-19 outbreak remains the health, safety and well-being of its global workforce, patients, customers and communities where it operates. Over the course of several weeks, the Company enacted response protocols and contingency plans to prepare for events in relation to the global pandemic. The Company has implemented remote work arrangements for all office personnel and restricted business travel as of mid-March.
The Company’s operational sites remain open, but with enhanced measures to protect the safety of its workforce including rotating shifts of self-quarantined staff, reducing the sites to business-critical personnel only, physical distancing incorporated into manufacturing lines and cultivations sites, sanitation protocols and other enhanced safety measures. These protocols are being evaluated and adapted in accordance with government and health authority recommendations on a daily basis.
Disclaimer: We have no position in Tilray Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY) and have not been compensated for this article.
