Gold Flora reports $13.7 million quarterly loss to open 2024

California-based Gold Flora Corp. (Cboe Canada: GRAM), formerly The Parent Company, posted a $13.7 million loss for the first quarter of the year, to follow up its $42.7 million annual loss in 2023.

Revenue was up 13% sequentially to $32.2 million, including $26.9 million in retail revenue and another $5.2 million from wholesale sales, up 6% and 72% respectively. Revenue also more than doubled the $15.6 million from the first quarter of 2023.

Net loss also shrunk sequentially by a whopping 68%, down from the $42.1 million the company lost in the fourth quarter last year, but up from the $9.3 million loss in the first quarter of 2023, the company reported.

Gold Flora is carrying almost a quarter-billion dollars in total liabilities and warned investors in its most recent regulatory filing that it’ll likely need another cash infusion to continue operations. At the end of the first quarter, the company had a shareholder’s deficit of $20.7 million.

Gold Flora stocked up its inventory during the quarter after finishing construction at two California cultivation facilities in San Jose and Desert Hot Springs to prep for even more growth, given its bet on a vertical integration strategy. The company now has 107,000 square feet of canopy for growing marijuana, “with increased volume and margin expected in the second half of 2024” as the new facilities ramp up. After the end of the quarter, Gold Flora struck another deal to add yet another 53,000 square feet of canopy to its growing capacity.

The company also slashed its operating expenses by more than 30% to $4.4 million from $6.4 million, debuted its new brand Gramlin in March, and now plans to focus on market penetration and building brand loyalty.

“We laid the groundwork throughout late 2023, building out the capacity to support future retail, wholesale, and distribution growth, as well as identifying and implementing significant cost savings to optimize our business for future profitability,” CEO Laurie Holcomb said in a press release.

“With our expanded cultivation footprint running successfully, we are now focused on post-harvest production to convert our high-quality flower into high-margin products, as well as further refining our genetics and growing methods for profitability and productivity,” Holcomb said.

As of March 31, Gold Flora had $51.4 million in total assets, including $14.2 million in cash, against $241.3 million in total liabilities.