Rubicon Organics & SNDL Earnings Breakdown Analysis
On the latest Trade To Black podcast presented by Flowhub, hosts Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell break down a busy stretch of cannabis earnings with two very different operators. In segment one, Margaret Brodie, CEO of Rubicon Organics Inc. (TSXV: ROMJ, OTCQX: ROMJF), checks in to walk through their latest numbers. The company delivered record full-year revenue of $59.5 million, up 22% year-over-year, along with $5 million in adjusted EBITDA. Then in segment two, Zach George, CEO of SNDL Inc. (NASDAQ: SNDL, CSE: SNDL), joins the show following a strong year financially. SNDL reported $946.4 million in revenue, $49.9 million in adjusted EBITDA, and $58.1 million in operating cash flow — while sitting on over $252 million in cash and no debt.
The Tuesday episode opened with news that Cannabis Inc. had entered Chapter 15 bankruptcy proceedings, initiating a formal fire sale of its remaining assets across Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Colorado, and New York. Varrell noted the development was telegraphed when the company sold its Virginia assets in January, and while expressing genuine personal regard for the executives who had tried to right the ship, he framed it as an inevitable casualty of the industry’s maturation rather than a systemic warning sign for other operators who have already completed their refinancings.
Margaret Brody, CEO of Rubicon Organics, joined first to discuss record full-year revenue of $59.5 million, up 22 percent, achieved despite an eight-week retail disruption in British Columbia. She attributed the performance to brand consistency and premium positioning, noting that Rubicon’s 1964 brand held the number one premium brand ranking in Canada for the year. The company’s recently acquired Cascadia facility has produced its first harvest, and Brody confirmed a brand launch into at least one international market in 2026, though she declined to specify which. She described Canada’s legal cannabis market as still growing, driven particularly by pre-rolls and all-in-one vapes, while cautioning that the key to sustained success is delivering a consistent consumer experience that builds genuine brand loyalty rather than relying on marketing — something Canadian regulations largely prohibit anyway.
SNDL CEO Zach George followed with an overview of the company’s 2025 results, which included $946 million in total revenue, over $400 million from cannabis, nearly $50 million in adjusted EBITDA, and $58 million in operating cash flow — representing 16 consecutive quarters of improvement. He described the Canadian market as approaching saturation in certain provinces, particularly Ontario, and argued that organic same-store sales growth will increasingly give way to mergers and acquisitions as the primary driver of value creation. George indicated SNDL is well positioned to participate in that consolidation wave, with Canadian retail remaining the top capital allocation priority. On the US side, he noted that pending litigation around the Parallel foreclosure had been resolved, clearing a path toward completion of that process in the second quarter.
Dales and Varrell closed the episode by clarifying how the federal CBD pilot program’s economics actually work, correcting what they acknowledged were some inaccuracies from the previous day’s broadcast. Rather than revenue flowing directly to CBD companies, Medicare patients will receive a $500 stipend via their accountable care organization after participating in a physician-directed protocol — meaning there is no guarantee that money is spent on CBD products at all. The real economic opportunity lies not in the pilot itself but in a potential Medicare Advantage expansion in 2027, which would represent a far broader and more direct market for pure-play CBD businesses if the pilot data proves favorable.
