It’s time for your Daily Hit of cannabis financial news for June 16, 2020.

On The Site

Fire & Flower

Fire & Flower Holdings Corp. (OTCQX: FFLWF) reported total revenue of $23.1 million for the first-quarter fiscal 2020 ending May 2, versus revenue of $9.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2019 – representing a 142% increase in revenue year-over-year. Unfortunately, the cost of those goods increased 166% for the quarter.

Fire & Flower delivered a net comprehensive loss of $(12.7) million, or net loss per share of $0.08. The company attributed the losses in part to expenses including $4.3 million of impairment charges. Other expenses were made up of finance costs of $6.7 million, partially offset by gains on derivative liabilities.

Vireo

Vireo Health International, Inc. (OTCQX: VREOF) reported total revenue for the quarter ending in March of $12.1 million increased 34% sequentially and 110% year-over-year versus $5.8 million in the first quarter of 2019. The first-quarter net loss was $2.0 million versus the net loss of $3.4 million in the same time period in 2019. Adjusted net loss for Q1 2020 was $8.1 million, as compared to a loss of $4.8 million in the prior-year quarter.

Expenses rose in the first quarter to $9.7 million versus $3.7 million in the first quarter of 2019, with the increase primarily attributable to increased salaries and wages, professional fees, and general and administrative expenses necessary to support the company’s growth. While the company was raising salaries for some, it also laid off 9% of its workforce. During the first quarter, the company closed its New York corporate office and the related termination of an office lease.

Pride

The shared history between cannabis and the LGBTQ+ community is long, including the landmark moment when HIV/AIDS activists pushed through medical marijuana legalization in California in 1996. There is a commonality of lived experience as well. As articulated by Laila Makled and Caroline Phillips in an April 2019 article for The Washington Blade, “Both cannabis and LGBTQIA community have lived on the fringes of society for decades, navigating a country where their acceptance was, and often still is, hard to attain.”

Several cannabis companies are stepping up to support and commemorate Pride month. In addition to donating $15,000 to GLAAD for Pride month, edibles brand Kiva Confections has re-released their tropical-flavored Proud Camino gummies. San Francisco-based company SPARC has launched its exclusive Unicorn OG cartridge, and is donating $1 per sale to the GLBT Historical Society.

In Other News

Indus Holdings, Inc. (CSE:INDS; OTCQX: INDXF), a leading, vertically-integrated cannabis company, today announced that Jenny Montenegro, its Vice President of Commercialization has been promoted to the role of the company’s Chief Operating Officer effective immediately and will report directly to the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Mark Ainsworth.

ETFMG, a leading thematic ETF issuer behind the world’s largest cannabis ETF, MJ, the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (NYSE Arca: MJ), has declared a $12,124,000 quarterly dividend, which equates to $0.28 cents per share. Across 2020, investors in MJ received a cumulative $16,404,000 in quarterly dividend payouts. This quarter’s dividend projects an annualized yield of 8.17%,1 or 7.42% after deducting the Fund’s 0.75% expense ratio. The dividend will be paid June 18, 2020 to shareholders of record as of the close of business, June 16, 2020

Care By Design, a wholly-owned CannaCraft brand, announced today the launch of its Care By Design Hemp line. Formulated and manufactured by the same team of scientists and experts that created the brand’s top-selling signature ratio line for the California medical cannabis market, Care By Design Hemp is now sold online direct to consumers and retailers and ships nationwide.