Fire & Flower 08:23 AM EDT, 06/14/2022 (MT Newswires) -- Fire & Flower Holdings (FAF.TO) on Tuesday said it is stepping back from seeking a listing on the Nasdaq Exchange due to "challenging" market conditions as its fiscal first-quarter loss narrowed despite weaker sales.
The cannabis retailer said it lost C$9.91 million, or C$0.27 per share, in the quarter ended April 30, compared with a loss of C$61.6 million, or C$2.06, in the year-prior period which included a C$54.11-million charge. Sales fell 7.1% to C$40.94 million.
The company said it had a free cashflow deficit of C$9.91 million in the quarter, compared with a year-prior deficit of C$61.6 million, and it will focus on delivering positive free cash flow in future quarters. It intends to optimize its retail network, expand a home delivery service and focus on its customer retail network under the leadership of new chief executive Stephane Trudel, who joined the company at the start of the month from global convenience-store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO), Fire & Flower's largest shareholder.
Trudel is having Fire & Flower retreat from plans to list its shares on Nasdaq to focus on improving the company's operations and its financial results.
"Competitive pressures, license expansion outpacing market growth, and a growing value-oriented customer base have created challenging market conditions for the industry as a whole. With these market conditions, we look to optimize our retail network ... We remain focused on improving near term financial performance and remain steadfastly focused on our ultimate goal of financial sustainability through driving towards positive free cash flow," Trudel said in a release.
Fire & Flower shares closed down C$0.16 to C$3.02 Monday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.