Net income of $20.6 million for the SQDC’s first quarter

Montreal, September 14, 2023 – The Société québécoise du cannabis has reported net and comprehensive income of $20.6 million for its business operations during the first quarter of its new fiscal year, ended June 17, 2023. The amount is remitted in full to the Québec government and reinvested primarily in cannabis-related prevention efforts and research.

To that figure can be added business-related tax revenues in the form of consumer and excise taxes, estimated at $49.8 million ($35.6 million to Québec and $14.2 million to the federal government). In all, $70.4 million is being paid to the two governments, $56.2 million of which is destined for the Québec treasury.

Quarterly highlights

• The SQDC’s overall sales for the period from March 26 to June 17, 2023, totalled $142.6 million, compared with $139 million for the same quarter of the preceding fiscal year. The company legally sold 25,675 kg of cannabis during the quarter.
• The store network sold 23,961 kg of cannabis for a total of $133.5 million.
• Online sales reached 1,714 kg of cannabis for a total of $9.1 million.
• Some 3.4 million transactions were completed during the quarter.
• Net expenses amounted to $24.8 million representing 17.4% of sales.
• During the quarter, the SQDC opened its 98th store in Montréal’s Mile End neighbourhood. In doing so, it reached an objective set in its first strategic plan, which called for providing physical accessibility to all customers across the province, thereby helping it fulfill its mission. At the same point last year, the SQDC had 89 stores.
• To better serve its customers, which is the main focus of its new strategic plan, the SQDC is continuing to implement its multichannel strategy. For example, the SQDC.ca website has been improved in various ways. By using the sort-by-most-recent-date option, visitors can now view the products most recently added to the planogram. In addition, new payment methods, namely Apple Pay and Google Pay, are now available on the website and will become so in stores in the coming months. The real-time chat tool with advisors from the store network also celebrated its first anniversary last month and has been added to every page of the website in recent months, further facilitating the access to advice on informed and responsible use.

For all the details of this first quarter, please refer to the  Rapport financier intermédiaire T1 2023-24 (FRENCH ONLY).

About labour relations

As of September 14, the employees of 24 stores among the 26 accredited by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) are on strike, corresponding to around a quarter of the network’s employees. The strike-affected stores remain open on a reduced schedule and are operated by managerial staff. In 2022, the employees of the stores accredited by the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) signed a four-year collective agreement. It should be noted that negotiations with the CUPE are taking place with the chief conciliator of the ministère du Travail.

About the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC)

The SQDC is a government corporation mandated to distribute and sell cannabis in Québec with a focus on protecting customers’ health and safety. The company is committed to offering quality products as well as informing and raising awareness among consumers about the impact of cannabis on their health. The objective is to reduce the scope of the illegal cannabis market in Québec. All the SQDC’s profits are remitted to the Fonds de lutte contre les dépendances, a fund managed by the Ministère des Finances du Québec, and reinvested primarily in cannabis-related education, prevention efforts and research. For more information, visit SQDC.ca.