🗽 New York Cannabis Board Settles Lawsuit
🗽 New York Cannabis Board Settles Lawsuit
Grassdoor shuts down. MariMed $58.7M Secured Credit Facility. MariMed loses $646K in email fraud. Mindset Capital leads $2M investment into Garden Society. Alabama tosses our previous scores.
💬 Look forward to seeing some of you in Vegas this week!
🌿 Industry
New York cannabis regulators approve deal to settle lawsuits that have blocked recreational dispensaries from opening. The settlement still needs a judge's approval before it can take effect. The state's Cannabis Control Board did not immediately release the terms of the settlement. — AP News
The deal would lift a court order that has blocked the state from processing or issuing retail marijuana licenses since August, following lawsuits over rules that promised many of the first licenses to people with past drug convictions
Going forward, 436 retail license holders caught up in the litigation would be able to open shops and begin making deliveries, including 23 dispensaries that were ready to open before the stoppage
Green Wednesday data:
Jane Technologies show sales on Green Wednesday 2023 were $9,209,061.73, up 18.1% compared to 2022 Green Wednesday sales of $7,795,803.80
Eaze reported Delivery was up 103% (+104% in CA, +44% in MI)
Headset shows average ticket values and items per basket are both increasing, indicating that customers are buying more. Retailers seem to have avoided overusing discounts, which would have negated the potential revenue increase
Curaleaf (*all data compared to an average Wednesday) showed a 90% increase in sales, 106% increase in units sold and 68% increase in transactions
Leaf Trade (below)
Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission tosses out scores used to rank business license applicants. All 90 business applicants are again under consideration. The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission voted to disregard scores from third-party evaluators that had been used to rank applicants for business licenses.
Missouri sales slide for the third straight month with $113.1 million in October vs. $117.8 million for September and $119.0 million for August.
Massachusetts has issued 327 recreational dispensary licenses. The CCC noted that only five dispensaries have surrendered licenses or let their license expire in September. However, these statistics don’t offer the full picture as companies hold onto their license after they shut down in the hope of finding a buyer.
Pennsylvania House Passes Bill to allow all 25 medical cannabis growers to obtain retail licenses. The legislation, which now heads back to the Senate for final approval, would lift a restriction in Pennsylvania’s 2016 medical cannabis law that allows only five grower/processor licensees to sell products directly to patients.
💵 Deals
MariMed Closes $58.7 Million Secured Credit Facility with Needham Bank. Interest will be at a lower fixed rate vs. the Chicago Atlantic term loan. After the first five years, the rate will be reset for the remaining 5 years. Interest only payments for the first 12 months. After the first 12 months, payments will be based on a 20-year amortization schedule. Importantly, the terms of the transaction do not include warrants or other equity or dilutive instruments. $46.8 million of the loan were used to pay off the existing term loans with Chicago Atlantic and Bank of New England and a sellers note from the Ermont acquisition.
Mindset Capital leads $2 million convertible debt investment into Garden Society.
Body and Mind closes Long Beach asset purchase transaction that was entered into in late June 2019 (see press release July 3, 2019). As a result of finalization of seller liabilities during closing, the Company will be releasing 1,030,032 shares of common stock previously issued and held in escrow pending closing to the seller and will be returning 1,650,974 shares of common stock to the Company's treasury.
SNDL and Nova mutually terminate implementation agreement, dated December 20, 2022. In connection with the termination of the Implementation Agreement, SNDL and Nova have extended the maturity date of Nova's credit facility with SNDL to March 31, 2024. The 2022 arrangement called for 26 dispensaries to be transferred to Nova while retaining a MSA with the retailer, replacing a credit facility and returning 14.3 million Nova shares to Nova for cancellation.
Cronos enters into sale-leaseback with Future Farmco Canada, a vertical farming company, for the sale and leaseback of its Peace Naturals Campus for C$23 million cash. The parties also plan to enter into a lease agreement upon closing for portions of the Peace Naturals Campus, ensuring continued operations.
📄 Company Updates / Earnings
Grassdoor shuts down (thanks to Cristian Gomez for sharing).
MariMed loses $646,000 due to email fraud, which comes shortly after its CFO resigned without explanation.
4Front Ventures systemwide pro forma revenue from continuing operations of $28.0 million, Adjusted EBITDA of $3.5 million, the company ceased California operations and associated cash burn with profitability improvements expected immediately. $2.7 million of cash, $19.1 million in notes payable.
SLANG Worldwide revenue of $9.1 million for Q3 2023, up 11.4%, EBITDA of $(0.4) million compared to $(3.4) million in Q3 2022. $10.8 million in cash and restricted cash.
Agrify revenue was $5.8 million for Q1 2023 (note: company is two Qs behind on reporting) compared to $26.0 million for Q1 2022. Net loss attributable was ($10.3 million) or ($9.63 per diluted share). $1.5 million of cash and $24.6 million of debt.
Agrify Receives Nasdaq Notification of Non-Compliance with Listing Rule 5250(c)(1).
Greenlane receives Nasdaq Listing Deficiency Notice.
🏬 Retail
AYR Wellness opens AYR Dispensary Dayton, its third in Ohio. The new location closely follows the recent openings of AYR Woodmere and AYR Goshen.
AWH opens Ascend Dispensary Outlet in Northlake, IL. The dispensary marks Ascend's 10th in the state of Illinois and 32nd across its seven-state footprint.
Gotham has mastered sophistication and personal service without the high price tag as one of NYC’s first adult-use dispensary.
Higher Collective introduces Connecticut's first drive-thru services and a strategic partnership with Green Coach Delivery.
Flor in Union City, CA sees third attempted robbery in the last two years.
Woody Harrelson opens bar right next door to his Cannabis Lounge, The Woods.
🌱 Product
AIRO launches ORIA, the company’s edible brand in Maryland with SunMed Growers. The six SKUs are natural, vegan, and gluten-free , infused with Live Resin + Distillate.
The Cannabist Company partners with Airo Brands to bring Airo’s cannabis vaporization brand to The Cannabist Company’s dispensaries and wholesale system in Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania over the next few months.
Verano reimagines (the) Essence Brand and Introduces (the) Essence Nectar Line in core markets. In addition to the brand evolution, the Company has enhanced (the) Essence product portfolio by introducing (the) Essence Nectar line of full-spectrum, terpene-rich resin vapes, and soon will launch single-strain cured resin gummies available in O.G. Strawberry and Bonsai Berry flavors. Formerly part of the Verano namesake brand portfolio, the now standalone (the) Essence branded line of products is available across the Company’s national footprint in nine core markets.
Alpine IQ x Treez — Businesses can now connect their Alpine IQ accounts to Treez through enhanced integration, providing effortlessly customer data and transaction histories management, unique API keys for each store location for customized data handling, and an age gate compliance feature to meet industry standards.
Treez x Metrc partner to create the first ever global Product Catalog for Cannabis. With this strategic partnership, Treez and Metrc will streamline the process of creating product information in Metrc, the existing source of truth for such data while removing the need to upload and maintain product data across downstream platforms in the supply chain. By eliminating duplicates and inefficiencies associated with manual data entry, this collaboration not only reduces labor hours for operators but also enhances the overall consumer experience.
Planet 13 will implement Lucid Green's LucidIDs across Planet 13's brands and retail operations, enhancing the overall customer experience and optimizing end-to-end supply chain management. Lucid Green's platform provides retailers and distributors with a touchless inventory management solution – increasing supply chain efficiencies and cost-savings; and provides brands with a channel to connect directly with consumers. More than 400 brands have outfitted upwards of 45 million products with Lucid Green's intelligent "LucidID" 2D barcode to date.
EVOL by Future x House of Dank for Michigan.
🧔 People
Lorna McMurrey’s Family sues Trulieve over death. Her family's lawsuit blames the condition of that facility, saying McMurrey was exposed to dust and mold.
🎙️ Interviews
Can Alcohol and Legal Cannabis Coexist? | The VinePair Podcast
Green Wednesday and Vapor Pen Insights | High Rise
Jason Wild: Not all EBITDA numbers are created equally | Cannabis Investing