Cronos books only $165,000 in overseas revenue for first quarter of 2020

Canadian cannabis producer Cronos Group reported $165,000 in net revenue from customers outside Canada and the United States in its latest quarter.

Potential revenues of cannabis products overseas – especially in Europe – underpin valuations for many Canadian marijuana firms.

So far, those sales have not materialized, with most publicly traded marijuana companies reporting negligible global revenues.

In Cronos’ disclosure this week, it said its cannabis facility in Israel “continues to move closer to operational readiness and is expected to become a growth driver for the Company in the back half of 2020 and onward.”

However, in a disclosure almost two years ago, Cronos noted that cultivation in Israel was “expected to commence in the first half of 2019.”

Cronos reported its financial results for the quarter ending March 31 – largely dodging analyst expectations.

Net revenue for the quarter was $8.4 million, a slight improvement over the previous quarter’s $7.3 million but well below most forecasts of around $10 million.

By region, Cronos recorded $6.1 million in net revenue in Canada and $2.2 million in the U.S. The remainder came from unidentified “other countries.”

Cronos, which is headquartered in Toronto, did not disclose the revenue it made in Canada for the quarter ending Dec. 31.

The company’s Canadian revenue doubled from the same period one year earlier, primarily driven by continued growth in the nascent adult-use cannabis market and sales from the launch of marijuana vaporizers, including both the recreational and medical markets.

Cronos incurred an inventory write-down of $8 million for the quarter.

“We anticipate further inventory write-downs in the short term due to pricing pressures in the marketplace and the impact of the company’s operational repurposing of the Peace Naturals Campus,” the company said in a statement.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) came in at negative $37.1 million for the three months ending March 31, about five times higher than Cronos’ loss one year earlier.

Cash and cash equivalents were $1.1 billion.

The company’s overseas subsidiaries and investments include companies in Australia, Colombia, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg and Malta.

Cronos trades as CRON on the Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange.