The Société québécoise du cannabis’s weed sales continue to climb, as it says brick-and-mortar stores have opened in all regions of the province.
On Thursday, the SQDC released its earnings report for the third quarter ended Jan. 1, which shows the Crown corporation maintaining steady growth over the fiscal year.
The 34,582 kilograms of cannabis sold bumped sales up to $190.5 million this period, a 34-per-cent jump over last quarter.
As a result, net income reached $26.4 million, up 29 per cent from $19 million in Q2.
But expenses also went up this period, totalling $27.6 million for a ratio of net expenses to sales of more than 14 per cent. Net expenses were up 45 per cent compared to $19 million in the previous period.
In the first three fiscal quarters, the SQDC’s net income totalled $60.2 million from legal weed, up 25 per cent from $48.1 million at the same point last year.
Profits from cannabis sales are remitted to Quebec’s government to be reinvested primarily in cannabis-related research and prevention efforts. Taxes collected by provincial and excise taxes are added to that amount as well.
The total amount remitted for the third quarter was $56.3 million.
Most third-quarter sales came through SQDC’s store network, at around $180.9 million or 4.3 million transactions. The remaining sales were online.
Four more stores opened this period, and as of Jan. 1 the firm had 81 stores and 989 employees.
Read more: SQDC reports $142M in sales, net income up 28%
Read more: Quebec will require vaccine passports to buy cannabis and alcohol
With the opening of the Chibougamau store in October, the SQDC says it has a physical presence in each of the province’s administrative regions, “another step toward achieving one of the three orientations of its strategic plan, namely to increase accessibility to the legal market by expanding the store network.”
That’s key to diverting sales from the illicit market, the SQDC adds.
At the beginning of the year, Quebec required vaccine passports to enter cannabis stores but that came to an end on Wednesday. The province is gradually phasing out the vaccine passport program by mid-March.
🦠 À compter du 16 février, le passeport vaccinal 𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐠𝐞́ pour accéder l'aire de ventes des succursales. Le port du masque ainsi qu'une preuve d'âge demeurent obligatoires. #SQDC #PasseportVaccinal #PasseSanitaire #passevaccinale https://t.co/gXce58Clj5
— La_SQDC (@La_SQDC) February 15, 2022
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