Tilray CEO: Expand The Company's Medical Cannabis Business, 'Opportunities Are Tremendous'

Irwin Simon, CEO of Canada-based cannabis company Tilray TLRY, said Thursday on CNBC that the company intends to drive growth by building its medical business and potential M&A.

The M&A approach to growth, Simon noted, can fast-track the process because it allows Tilray to skip the hassles of building a business from scratch, wrote SeekingAlpha.

Simon stressed the opportunity in the medical cannabis field where he believes margins are better than those of the recreational segment. He also suggested that his company would lobby Canadian authorities to make its cannabis products available through the government's prescription plans.

“The opportunities in medical (cannabis) are tremendous. What we all really have to do is get the Canadian government to put it on prescriptions” Simon said.

Regarding the possibility of US legalization Simon says he is eyeing some of Tilray's Canadian

competitors for potential M&A. For now, the company is focused on consumer packaged goods that they can bring to the US. 

Financial Results

Tilray released its financial results on Thursday for the first fiscal quarter ended August 31, 2021, with net revenue of $168 million, up by 43% from $117 million in the same period of fiscal 2021. The firm reported revenues below the consensus estimates of $174.93 million.

The New York and Ontario-based company said that its revenue increase was driven by a 38% improvement in net cannabis revenue to $70 million. Recreational cannabis sales increased 77% while medical cannabis sales rose by 9%.