Higher Pot Sales Mean Less Profit For NSLC
HALIFAX—Rising cannabis sales cut into the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation’s profit last quarter.
The Crown corporation says pot sales drifted nearly 14 percent higher, to $25.2-million, between October 4 and January 2.
But those strong sales hurt the corporation’s bottom line. Overall, the NSLC reported a 1.3 percent reduction in earnings, coming in at $74-million for the quarter.
Cannabis sales played a part in that reduction because pot carries a lower markup than other products. It also comes with increased freight costs.
The NSCL has also been gradually lowering the price it charges for cannabis. That’s reflected in the number and value of “retail transactions” for cannabis.
Cannabis-related transactions were up by more than 18 percent last quarter, but the amount of money customers spent dropped by almost 4 percent, to $39.90.
This is because the average price per gram fell 16 percent “with the maturing of the industry.”
The NSLC also opened three new cannabis stores last quarter, which bumped up its payroll costs.
The new stores are in Dominion in Cape Breton, and Porter’s Lake and Eastern Passage in Halifax.
Those new stores mean the corporation now has 36 cannabis stores across the province—triple the number they had when pot was first legalized.
Outside of Cannabis, the NSLC says customers continue to prioritize local products.
The corporation saw growth in every product category and says buying local is “now imbedded in the behaviour of Nova Scotia customers.”
Spirits led the growth in sales of local beverage alcohol products at 15.7 percent, to $4.4-million, while local cannabis sales grew 46.9 percent, to $6.6 million.
Nova Scotia craft beer, meanwhile, saw good growth of 11.3 percent, to $6.7-million.
At a higher level, the NSLC’s total sales were $215.0 million for the quarter, which was an increase of $5.1-million, or 2.4 percent.
Alcohol sales were more or less the same as last quarter and represented $189.8-million of the NSLC’s total sales.