There’s Still Major Momentum in Cannabis
In our latest Trade To Black podcast presented by Flowhub, hosts Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell welcome Raj Grover, founder and CEO of High Tide (NASDAQ: HITI) (TSXV: HITI), along with FundCanna CEO Adam Stettner and Dr. Paul Shields, chief medical officer at Vantage Hemp.
High Tide posted record third-quarter revenue of $198.8 million, up 33%, along with record net income of $12.7 million and $7.0 million in free cash flow. That puts the company on an annualized run rate of about $800 million. Grover credits cost discipline and the Cabana Club model, which he says is now driving profit growth well ahead of revenue.
Remexian distributed a record 10.2 tonnes of medical cannabis in Germany, lifting High Tide’s share of that market from 6.5% to 10.5%. Grover’s long-term target is 15 to 20%. With Germany’s market still growing and Canna Cabana at 232 stores on the way to 350, he says he’s in no rush to enter the UK.
In the U.S., Grover plans to bring his asset-light, retail-focused playbook, tailored state by state, once his NASDAQ listing allows it. He’d also consider hemp THC, but only under regulations that put it on equal footing with cannabis.
In segment two, Stettner calls the rescheduling pause procedural noise. He says the sell-off came from short-term traders rather than long-term holders, while operators press ahead and investment bankers are moving faster. One bank even approached FundCanna about administering a loan program. His general counsel agrees nothing in the GAO report breaks the industry’s momentum, though Stettner notes that a fuller review could delay the process by months.
In the Vantage Standard segment, Shields explains that in New York, certifying providers already need a DEA registration. That makes insurance coverage the real divide between certifying and prescribing. He doubts dispensaries will take insurance and says inconsistent dispensary products remain the biggest hurdle to treating cannabis as medicine. He points to Europe’s Sativex as a model for true cannabis pharmaceuticals.
