Debra Borchardt
Good luck making sense of Cronos Group Inc. (CRON.TO) (CRON.TO) 2019 fourth quarter and full-year business results. The company said it will restate its unaudited interim financial statements for the first, second and third quarters of 2019. The icing on the earnings cake was that it will also reduce revenue for the three months ending March 31, 2019, by C$2.5 million and the three months ended September 30, 2019, by C$5.1 million.
“We are pleased that the Audit Committee has completed its review and that Cronos Group is now current with the filing of our financial reports. As we move forward, we are committed to improving our internal controls and financial reporting practices, maintaining the highest standards of transparency and accountability, and enhancing our capabilities and resources across functions to support our strategy,” said Mike Gorenstein, CEO of Cronos Group.
Fourth Quarter
Despite the restatements, the company reported net revenue of $7.3 million in the fourth quarter that topped last year’s fourth quarter by $3.0 million. The kicker is that the quarterly expenses were $43 million. The company spent $13 million in sales and marketing and another $14 million in general and administrative expenses. This is in one quarter for $7 million in revenue.
The company attributed the increase to a rise in the volume of products sold in the Rest of World segment and the Redwood acquisition, but that this was partially offset by a decrease in the price of products sold in the Rest of World segment.
Cronos also deliver an operating loss of ($63.9) million in the quarter driven by the inventory write-down of one-time charges related to the repurposing of certain facilities at the Peace Naturals Campus, an increase in general and administrative expenses in order to support Cronos Group’s growth strategy, an increase in sales and marketing in order to create, build and develop brands and an increase in R&D costs.
Full Year
For the full year of 2019, the company reported a net revenue of $23.8 million and an operating loss of ($121.5) million primarily driven by inventory write-downs in 2019. Cronos wrote down $29.4 million, made up of a one-time charge of $1.9 million, related to the repurposing of certain facilities at the Peace Naturals Campus, and a $27.5 million write-down on cannabis plants, based on the estimated market value of the specific strains previously in production, and cannabis oil, primarily driven by downward pressure in market prices during the year.
However, due to a $118 million unrealized gain on the revaluation of financial liabilities, primarily resulting from the non-cash change in the fair value of financial derivative liabilities associated with the investment by Altria Group, Inc. Cronos Group recorded a pre-tax unrealized gain of $1.2 billion.
