High Tide Inc. (“High Tide” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: HITI) (TSXV: HITI) (FSE: 2LYA), a leading retail-focused cannabis company with bricks and mortar as well as global e-commerce assets, announces that it has completed the process of filing its audited annual financial statements and management discussion & analysis for the financial years ended October 31, 2021 and 2020, and the CEO and CFO certificates, all as required by National Instrument 51-102 and National Instrument 52-109 (collectively, the “Annual Financials”). The Annual Financials are available on the Company’s website at www.hightideinc.com, its profile pages on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and EDGAR at www.sec.gov.
With the filing of these Annual Financials, along with the Company’s annual information form, as required by National Instrument 51-102, the Company has now filed all the documents which were late, bringing it back into good standing with applicable securities commissions and stock exchanges, and avoiding any regulatory actions, including the possible management cease trade order outlined in the news release dated February 1, 2022.
The Company is pleased to now be in a position to confirm the financial results announced on January 27, 2022, on an audited basis, other than an adjustment to the following selected financial information for the fourth quarter and year ended October 31, 2021, which now includes impairment losses within Total Operating Expenses:
Selected financial information for the fourth quarter and year ended October 31, 2021:
(Expressed in thousands of Canadian Dollars)
| Three Months Ended October 31 | Year Ended October 31 | |||||
| 2021 $ | 2020 $ | % Change | 2021 $ | 2020 $ | % Change | |
| Revenue | 53,867 | 24,876 | 117% | 181,123 | 83,265 | 118% |
| Gross Profit | 17,538 | 8,725 | 101% | 63,983 | 30,812 | 108% |
| Gross Profit Margin (i) | 33% | 35% | (2%) | 35% | 37% | (2%) |
| Total Operating Expenses | (22,332) | (8,050) | 177% | (82,657) | (30,721) | 169% |
| Adjusted EBITDA (ii) | 1,641 | 3,625 | (55%) | 12,503 | 7,974 | 57% |
| Net (Loss) Income from Operations | (4,794) | 675 | NM | (18,674) | 91 | NM |
| Net loss | (4,176) | (1,323) | 216% | (35,037) | (6,354) | 451% |
| Loss per share (Basic) | (0.09) | (0.46) | (80)% | (0.84) | (0.46) | 83% |
| Loss per share (Diluted) | (0.09) | (0.46) | (80)% | (0.84) | (0.46) | 83% |
(i) Gross Profit Margin is a non-IFRS financial measure. Gross Profit Margin is calculated by dividing total Gross Profit by total Revenue.
(ii) Adjusted Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) is a not a recognized measure under IFRS, and accordingly, the Company’s use of such term may not be comparable to similarly defined measures presented by other entities. A reconciliation of the Adjusted EBITDA to Net (Loss) income is found under “EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA” in this MD&A.
“I would like to apologize to all of High Tide’s shareholders for the delay in completing the filing of our 2021 audited annual financial statements, which confirmed the unaudited results that we shared last week,” said Raj Grover, President and Chief Executive Officer of High Tide. “Although this delay occurred due to personnel shortages related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, I have never been one to make excuses, and I will be taking steps to ensure that systems are put in place to prevent this from occurring in the future” added Mr. Grover.
The Company intends to file its Q1 2022 financial statement, for the period ending January 31, 2022, on or before the deadline of March 17, 2022, and as disclosed in the January 27, 2022 news release, the Company expects to report over $70 million in sales which would result in High Tide achieving the third-highest quarterly revenue level amongst all Canadian cannabis companies.
