Debra Borchardt
The Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) posted total sales of $601.9 million, compared with $600.5 million for the preceding fiscal year.
The SQDC is a government corporation mandated to distribute and sell cannabis in Québec.
After four years of sustained expansion of its sales network, the SQDC said it has now reached a plateau in its growth. The company said in a statement, “From both a volume and a dollar standpoint, the company’s sales remained stable in comparison to the preceding fiscal year, this despite the addition of 10 new stores, bringing the number of points of sale in operation to 97 at March 25, 2023, and 98 today. In fiscal 2022-2023, the SQDC’s overall sales totalled $601.9 million, corresponding to 106,526 kg of cannabis, compared with $600.5 million and 106,448 kg in fiscal 2021-2022.”
Net Income Grows
On a positive note, the company reported net income of $94.9 million versus $75.7 million in fiscal 2021-2022. It generated tax revenues of $193.8 million in taxes for government revenues. $137.8 million of that went to Québec and $56 million to the federal government. The SQDC’s total contribution to the Québec treasury was $232.7 million.
The $94.9 million in net income and the Québec portion of the excise tax are remitted in full to the Ministère des Finances du Québec and reinvested primarily in cannabis-related prevention efforts and research and the fight against the adverse effects of psychoactive substances.
On Strike
Even though the SQDC opened more stores, it noted that there is an ongoing labor dispute affecting a quarter of the company’s stores. Specifically, 24 stores whose employees are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) are currently on strike, 22 of these stores since late May 2022. The SQDC said that the stores are being currently run by their two managers and that the affected stores have remained open albeit on a reduced schedule. All other SQDC stores are operating normally and the company said talks were ongoing.
Sales by network
The SQDC’s 97-store network, three of whose stores opened their doors in the last weeks of the fiscal year, generated sales of $567.8 million ($564.4 million in 2022, with an 87-store network). Volume sales in the store network totaled 100,254 kg of cannabis (100,026 kg in fiscal 2022). For its part, online sales on the SQDC.ca website reached $34.1 million ($36.2 million in 2022) with a total volume of 6,272 kg (6,462 kg in 2022).
The SQDC reported that it completed 13.9 million transactions in its stores and online in fiscal 2022-2023, with an average transaction price of $49.70, taxes included. The average sales price of one gram of cannabis sold was $6.48, taxes included, exactly the same price as for the preceding fiscal year. The SQDC sells dried cannabis products at prices ranging from $3.43 to $18.80 per gram.
