Here’s the press release via Market Watch
Aphria Inc. told investors Wednesday that cannabis sales jumped 65% in its most recent quarter, but pull-backs from wholesale buyers across Canada due to COVID-19 forced the company to rescind guidance for the full year.
U.S.-traded shares of Aphria APHA, -5.30% rose 3.8% in afternoon trading.
Aphria Chief Financial Officer Carl Merton yanked the company’s full-year guidance of C$575 million ($413.5 million) to C$625 million, telling investors in a conference call early Wednesday that executive were unable to “accurately forecast the company’s year-end results” due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Aphria’s fiscal year ends in May and the company had already slashed its guidance when it reported second-quarter earnings.
Several provinces such as Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia were closed to deliveries for a week at the end of March to perform year-end inventory counts, he said, and several have scaled back purchasing overall. Ontario, the country’s most populous province, cancelled two weeks of cannabis purchases due to COVID-19. Alberta is ordering 40% less pot and in British Columbia, stores are closing voluntarily as they convert to curbside pickup, Merton said.
Quebec is proving a bright spot thus far, with sales at bricks-and-mortar stores up 40% and e-commerce sales ballooning 200% since the pandemic-related restrictions went into effect, Merton said.
