Raj Grover, CEO of High Tide, Weighs In On Q3
In the latest Trade To Black podcast presented by Flowhub, hosts Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell continue their earnings-season coverage as M&A momentum builds. High Tide founder and CEO Raj Grover joins for segment one to discuss preliminary Q3 numbers, followed by FundCanna CEO Adam Stettner for his weekly segment on consolidation. We open on a Michigan tax fight, then dig into record guidance and the financial signals behind the deal wave.
First, the headlines: Michigan Representative James DeSana has filed HB 6224, a one-sentence bill to repeal the state’s 24% wholesale cannabis tax that took effect January 1. As Varrell details from his newsletter, the tax was projected to raise $420 million a year for road repair but is running well short — potentially a $210 million shortfall by year end — and it landed on the cheapest legal cannabis market in the country, where adult-use flower has fallen to roughly $58 an ounce, down nearly 40% from a couple of years ago.
Grover then walks us through High Tide’s (NASDAQ: HITI) preliminary Q3 guidance, where even the low end tops the highest analyst estimate on all three metrics: revenue of CAD $195–200 million, gross profit of CAD $51–53.5 million, and adjusted EBITDA of CAD $15.2–16.5 million, with full results due September 14. He credits continued scale and operating leverage — plus added flexibility from a new CAD $40 million senior secured credit facility — across both growth engines: Canada’s Canna Cabana, back to positive same-store sales, and Germany’s Remexian, which shipped a record 10-plus tonnes and holds roughly 14% share. We also get his asset-light philosophy, his U.S. ambitions if rescheduling opens the senior exchanges, and his read on the Curaleaf–Aurora news and where High Tide fits in the consolidation story.
In segment two, Stettner returns to unpack the Curaleaf–Aurora bid, reading it as a megaphone signal that M&A is here — an efficient, currency-funded way to buy into international scale while valuations are depressed, provided the back-end execution and cost synergies actually materialize. He shares what he’s hearing across capital markets, weighs Vireo Growth’s roll-up playbook as the model to watch, and notes FundCanna’s own milestone: landing on the Inc. 5000 as the 434th fastest-growing company in America — and 36th in finance — on the back of smoothing cannabis cash-flow cycles that have grown its average client’s top line by more than 50%.
Give the full episode a listen.
