Ayr Wellness Facing Increased Competition in Q2 Earnings

MIAMI, Aug. 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AYR Wellness Inc. (CSE: AYR.A, OTCQX: AYRWF) (“AYR” or the “Company”), a leading vertically integrated U.S. multi-state cannabis operator, is reporting financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024. Unless otherwise noted, all results are presented in U.S. dollars.

David Goubert, President & CEO of AYR, said, “Our team remains acutely focused on laying the groundwork for AYR’s next phase of growth. This includes advancing the progress made over the last 18 months to improve operations across our markets, continuing to invest in our CPG brands and retail experience, and ensuring that AYR is best positioned to capitalize on the anticipated transition to adult-use in three of our core markets: Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania.

We continue to believe AYR has more upside from these three markets than any other company in our industry

“We are also encouraged by the progress made towards the reclassification of cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, a change which would eliminate the onerous and unjust 280E tax penalty.

The recent closure of the comment period was an important step forward for our industry and represented overwhelming support for rescheduling cannabis. This positive momentum underscores the growing acceptance of cannabis in a mainstream sense.

“While we are encouraged by the progress we’ve made in our operations, the second quarter presented challenges due to both internal and external factors including wholesale pricing pressure, tightening consumer wallets from persistent inflation, and margin pressure in select markets where we have recently increased our cultivation and production, but which are not yet optimized.”

Despite their near-term setbacks, the company believes they’re well positioned for growth and margin expansion in the second half of 2024 as both the adult-use growth catalysts materialize in Ohio, along with pending rescheduling news.