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OCS Ends Year with $536M in Cash

The Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) ended the 2022-23 fiscal year with $535.69 million in cash according to their recently released financial statements.

The OCS fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31. The company started the year with $385.93 million in cash. The cash stockpile includes millions of dollars in interest revenue. The amount has since fallen after the OCS only recently started paying a dividend to the Ontario government in late September 2023.

Report Highlights

In 2022-23, the OCS made $234.25 million in profit compared to $184.43 million the prior year. Its interest income on bank balances was $16.77 million compared to $2.12 million last fiscal.

The OCS had $1.47 billion in revenue which breaks down as follows:

  • $1.43 billion in wholesale revenue compared to $1.11 billion the prior year
  • $42.79 million in e-commerce revenue down from $72.69 million the prior year
  • $483,000 from the data subscription program compared to $382,000 the prior year

Its cost of sales in 2022-23 was $1.15 billion, broken down as follows:

  • $1.12 billion cost of goods sold compared to $890.25 million the prior year
  • $33.79 million in delivery fees compared to $23.95 million the prior year
  • $241,000 in transaction fees compared to $328,000 the prior year

Ordered to Pay Dividends

On September 29, 2023, almost five years after legalization, an Order in Council was released to set the wholesaler’s dividend payment schedule to government.

On or before September 29, the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation was required to pay its net profits into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) in the amount of $150 million from its cash balance as at March 31, 2023.

It will now pay into the CRF its net profits by quarterly payments each fiscal year equal to its annual budgeted net income less finance income as reported in the audited financial statements for that year.

Most Lucrative Cannabis Agency

The OCS is now the most lucrative provincial cannabis agency in Canada after four consecutively profitable years selling recreational cannabis. It was the top tax collector in the province in total dollar terms hauling in $310 million in excise tax and an estimated $148 million of sales tax this last fiscal year, for a total of $458 million.

The OCS was also the country’s highest-earning cannabis agency, even though it is mostly a wholesaler. Its $234 million profit easily topped the $95 million made by Quebec’s agency, the $18 million of New Brunswick’s, and the $2.9 million of Prince Edward Island’s.

However, as Michael Armstrong shared in a recent article, it is unclear as to why it paid no dividends to the provincial government.

The OCS is just one of several finance ministers and government agencies that have slowly released their 2022-23 financial results.

Tags: Canadian Cannabis (118), cannabis profit (2), OCS (44), Ontario Cannabis Retail (27), Ontario Cannabis Store (79), Ontario Cannabis stores (16)