interesting readQuinsam earns $3.7-million in Q1 2019-05-27 07:35 ET - News Release Mr. Roger Dent reports QUINSAM REPORTS STRONG Q1/2019 RESULTS AND PROVIDES CORPORATE UPDATE Quinsam Capital Corp. has released strong first quarter 2019 results, with net income of $3.7-million (three cents per share basic, three cents fully diluted) versus net income of $7.1-million (seven cents per share basic, five cents fully diluted) in the first quarter of 2018. "With a pretax return on assets of over 10 per cent, Quinsam had a very solid first quarter," said Roger Dent, chief executive officer of Quinsam. "EPS was down from last year's Q1, which was a truly exceptional quarter. Also, since last year we have used up our tax losses so income tax expense has become a material factor. "At March 31, 2019, we had net assets of approximately 40 cents per share outstanding (42.5 cents before deferred taxes)," said Mr. Dent. Important contributors to the company's Q1 performance include Cannabis One Holdings, Westleaf, Sproutly, Halo Labs, Eve & Co. and C21 Investments, all of which had large gains in the quarter. "We remain optimistic about the outlook for the cannabis sector, both in Canada and internationally. We continue to see a large number of interesting prepublic cannabis investment opportunities. Given overall equity market volatility, we are trying to control our risk by structuring our investments including a debt instrument where possible," said Mr. Dent. Investors can access the company's full financial statements on SEDAR. Recent activity Since its last report, Quinsam has made a number of new investments. The company extended a $1.1-million loan to Budd Hutt, a Western-Canada-focused cannabis retail applicant. The one-year loan bears interest at 10 per cent and also provided Quinsam with 2.5 million shares of Budd Hutt at nominal cost. The company has purchased $500,000 of convertible debenture units to be issued by Inner Spirit Holdings, another Canadian retail cannabis operation. The issuer is listing both the debentures and the warrant included in this unit, which the company views as being attractive. The company invested $330,000 in convertible debentures issued by Eden Empire, another Western-Canada-focused cannabis retail operation. It expects a public listing by the issuer in 2019. The company purchased $300,000 (U.S.) of convertible debentures issued by Cannus Partners (doing business as Ikanik Farms), a California-focused cannabis company. The company expects a listing by this issuer in 2019. The company was presented with an opportunity to acquire privately a block of shares of Nutritional High related to a prior acquisition by Nutritional High. The company acquired approximately three million shares in the transaction at an attractive price. The company made a number of divestitures in the first quarter of 2019 as part of its continuing portfolio management activity. Holding reductions included Zenabis, Halo Labs and Sproutly. Also, Quinsam has sold its position in Acreage Holdings over the course of the first quarter and second quarter. The company was of the view that the announced acquisition by Canopy Growth largely capped its upside while at the same time exposing the company to risk if an overall market or sector correction occurred. The company's portfolio changes can be determined by reviewing its quarterly management's discussion and analysis, which includes comprehensive portfolio disclosure.