The cannabis industry was buzzing with the unconfirmed news that Aphria (APHA) and Tilray (TLRY would be merging. The news as reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday said that Aphria shareholders will receive 0.8381 shares of Tilray’s for each Aphria stock they own. Aphria will own about 62% of the combined company, however, the merged company will supposedly be known under the Tilray name and would trade with the TLRY stock ticker. Both stocks moved higher on the news, which neither company has commented on.

The combined revenue of the two companies would be approximately $685 million, making it the largest in terms of sales, but the combined market cap is still lower than competitor Canopy Growth (NASDAQ: CGC). The reporting also stated that Aphria’s current chairman and CEO, Irwin Simon would remain as the merged company leader, while Tilray CEO Brendan Kennedy would move over to a board seat, along with another Tilray executive.

Tilray’s Sales Have Been Disappointing

In November, Tilray reported that its total revenue for the third quarter was flat at $51.4 million and up 2.0% sequentially. The company attributed the disappointing results to the discontinuation of bulk sales and a slight decrease in Canada medical sales which caused cannabis segment revenue to fall by 11% to $31.4 million. Total cannabis kilogram equivalents sold decreased 53% to 5,107 kilograms from 10,848 kilograms in the prior year’s third quarter. Adult-Use and International Medical sales grew 26% and 42%, respectively. Excluding the year-over-year impact related to bulk sales, total cannabis revenue increased by 24%. Hemp segment revenue increased 28% to $20.0 million (C$26.5 million).

Aphria has been delivering much better results as the company reported in October that its gross revenue was $69.6 million in the first quarter for the fiscal year 2021. This represented strong growth, showing a 23% increase from the prior quarter, as well as the sixth consecutive quarter of growth. The company’s net cannabis revenue totaled $62.5 million, showing a whopping increase of 103% from the same quarter last year. The company reported an adjusted EBITDA of $10.4 million for the cannabis business, representing an 11% increase from the prior quarter.

Aphria’s total net revenue from the first quarter reached $145.7 million, an increase of 16% from last year’s quarter. The company did report a 4% decrease in total net revenue from the prior quarter, however, this is solely due to circumstances and lower distribution revenue stemming from COVID-19, specifically from CC Pharma in Germany. Especially considering the COVID-19 curve balls that every company has had to navigate, Aphria ended the first quarter with a bang. They finished with a strong balance sheet and liquidity; which includes $400 million of cash and cash equivalents to fund the company’s growth, both in Canada and internationally.

Aphria in November said it would enter the U.S. via an agreement to buy craft brewer Sweetwater Brewing Co. for around $300 million. SweetWater is known for beers that use terpenes and hemp flavoring. Aphria said the brand was “closely aligned with a cannabis lifestyle.” Tilray owns Manitoba Harvest, a hemp company that sells products in the U.S. and Canada.