Calgary’s renowned cannabis retailer High Tide Inc. (Nasdaq: HITI) (TSX-V: HITI) has opened its first Canna Cabana store in Alberta’s oil sands.
Sales at the Fort McMurray shop started on Saturday in the Timberlea shopping plaza on the north side of the municipality. The company now has 79 dispensaries in Alberta and 163 throughout Canada. High Tide aims to eventually have 300 stores throughout the country.
“We believe that this strategically located, first Canna Cabana store in Fort Mac is poised for great success and should perform above our provincial average,” Raj Grover, Founder of High Tide, said. “Especially given the fact that its population is made up of a large percentage of highly paid oil sands workers.”
Grover was recently recognized as one of Grow Up’s top 50 Canadian cannabis leaders.
High Tide holds a 19 per cent retail market share in the province, approximately. The Wood Buffalo municipality has about 100,000 residents, making it one of the most highly populated areas in Alberta.
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High Tide sets sights on Germany
In addition to the company’s goal of expanding its Canadian presence by nearly 100 per cent, High Tide aims to establish a foothold in the German cannabis industry. The country plans to open its adult-use market by April this year.
“We’re leading the way here in Canada and we want to bring this experience to Germany,” Grover said in a recent interview. “It’s a very affluent market with 85 million people.”
The country currently has one of the most lucrative medical cannabis markets in Europe. In 2022, it was valued at over €200 million. Other Canadian companies like Village Farms International, Inc. (NASDAQ: VFF) and Organigram Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: OGI) (TSX: OGI) chose to enter the German market last year.
“While we remain focused on our core Canadian business, like any forward-thinking company, we are always looking at what opportunities may exist to expand our Canna Cabana brand internationally,” Grover said in the company’s most recent financial report.
High Tide reported a significantly improved rate of free cash flow for the fiscal year ended Oct 31, 2023. The company had C$847,000 in Q1 and C$5.7 million in Q4.
However, the major cannabis operator still has about C$28.8 million in debt. The company’s shares have shot up by about 11 per cent in the past year.
rowan@mugglehead.com
