Sales of legal recreational cannabis in New Brunswick for the year ending April 3, 2022 were $83.8 million according to year-end results of Cannabis NB for the fiscal year 2021-22. This represents an 11% rise ($8.3 million) from the previous 52-week fiscal year for the only legal retailer of recreational cannabis in New Brunswick.
Sales in Q4 were $21 million, which represents a 6% rise from the same period last year.
Another positive for the eastern province is the 22% increase in net income ($4.2 million) for the abovementioned fourth quarter ended April 3, 2022. This is compared to the same period the previous year which yielded a net income of $3.4 million.
Category Sales
Some of the key differences between Cannabis NB’s fourth quarter results in 2022 compared to those from 2021 are as follows:
● Online sales dropped to 1.1% of total sales for the quarter ended in 2022, a decrease of 1.7% from the year prior
● In-store purchases represented a massive 98.9% of sales for the quarter ended in 2022, rising from 98.3% the previous year.
● Concentrates shot up by 25.9%.
● Edibles increased even further by 47.1%.
● Dried flower dropped by 3.3%.
● Extracts dropped by 18.9%.
● Cannabis accessories rose by 5.1%.
● Topicals increased by nearly 20% (19.1).
● Seeds totaled 0.2% of sales for the quarter ended in 2022.
Expressing pride and delight over those results was Cannabis NB President and CEO Lori Stickles. “I’m extremely proud of the CNB team for their continued commitment to serving New Brunswickers,” she says.
“This fiscal year, we saw great growth and success thanks to our dedicated team who continued to drive the business forward despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re very proud to have contributed over $1 million to the province that will be used to fund valuable programs and services in communities across New Brunswick.”
Impressive Financials
“Preliminary, draft and unaudited product sales for the 53-week fiscal year ended April 3, 2022 were $83.8 million, up $8.3 million (11%) from the previous 52-week fiscal year (2020-2021), which ended March 28, 2021. Preliminary, draft and unaudited net earnings for the year were $16.4 million, up 51.7% compared to fiscal year 2020-2021’s results of $5.6 million. Audited statements will be included in the corporation’s annual report,” Stickles adds.
At the recent Retail Cannabis Forum, Lara Wood, VP Operations at Cannabis NB advised that they have paid off all their start-up costs and are now profitable. The team has been a very careful building strategy so they don’t put profitability at risk. Wood notes that mobile units and pop-up stores will let them “right-size business and test new markets.”
With 20 stores across 15 New Brunswick communities, Cannabis NB’s results are done through a retail reporting cycle, which is typically a 52-week year. This manner of retail reporting results in a 53-week year every 5 to 6 years with 2021-2022 being one of those slightly longer fiscal years.
Cannabis NB will be adding private stores this year which should result in even higher sales next fiscal year.