EDMONTON, Alberta, Nov. 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alcanna Inc. (the “Company” or “Alcanna”) (TSX: CLIQ) today reported its results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018.



“During the third quarter, Alcanna continued investing significantly in assets, people and pricing strategy to position ourselves to achieve our growth opportunities in both our liquor and cannabis businesses,” said Mr. Burns. “While these investments are, we believe, temporarily impacting our operating profits as we have been intentionally lowering gross margin to regain lost market share in our core business we are beginning to see the benefits with a positive same-store sales increase this quarter in Canada for the first time in 5 quarters.”

“The solid foundation that we have built for our new cannabis retail business since the beginning of the year allowed Alcanna to successfully launch our first 5 of our anticipated 37 Alberta cannabis retails stores under the NOVA Cannabis brand on October 17, 2018. The combined sales of these 5 stores over the first nineteen days from opening to November 4, 2018 totaled approximately $3.7 million. Alcanna’s experience in controlled-substance retail and financial strength enabled us to have sufficient inventory on hand to meet the customer demand and expectations throughout this launch period.”

FINANCIAL RESULTS (In thousands of Canadian dollars

except per share amounts, unaudited) Three months ended September 30 Nine months ended September 30

2018 2017 2018 2017 Sales 168,836 163,975 455,734 454,169 Operating profit before amortization1 788 4,384 285 13,459 Net (loss) earnings from continuing operations (3,977 ) 1,039 (7,024 ) 503 Basic and diluted (loss) earnings per share from continuing operations (0.11 ) 0.04 (0.20 ) 0.01 As adjusted1: Operating profit before amortization 2,859 9,131 6,792 19,639 Net (loss) earnings from continuing operations (2,451 ) 8,267 (2,228 ) 9,755 Basic and diluted (loss) earnings per share from continuing operations (0.07 ) 0.30 (0.07 ) 0.34

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1 Same-store sales. operating profit before amortization, adjusted operating profit before amortization, adjusted net (loss) earnings from continuing operations, and adjusted basic and diluted (loss) earnings per share are non-IFRS measures that do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. For more information on these non-IFRS measures, see the ‘Non-IFRS Financial Measures’ in our Management Discussion and Analysis (“MD&A”) and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, which is available on the Company’s website (www.alcanna.ca/investors) and on the SEDAR website (www.sedar.com).



UPDATE TO THE COMPANY’S BYLAWS

The Company further announces that its Board of Directors approved the adoption of a new By-Law No. 1 to reflect recent amendments to the Canada Business Corporations Act, authorizing the directors to set the size of the board, modernizing the by-laws and simplifying provisions for ease of understanding and application. These changes are subject to shareholder confirmation at the next Annual General Meeting.

CONFERENCE CALL

Alcanna Inc. will host an analyst and investor conference call on November 9, 2018 to discuss results for the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2018. The conference call will take place at 10:00 a.m. M.T.

To participate in the call, please dial (416) 340-2216 or toll-free (800) 273-9672. An archived recording of the conference call will be available approximately one hour after the completion of the call, by dialling: (905) 694-9451 or Toll-Free Access: (800) 408-3053. The required passcode is: 6146693.

ABOUT ALCANNA INC.

Alcanna is one of the largest private sector retailers of alcohol in North America and the largest in Canada – owning and operating 227 locations in Alberta, B.C. and Alaska. With revenues in excess of $600 million per year, Alcanna processes over 20 million individual retail transactions of beverage alcohol. As of October 17, 2018 Alcanna, opened the first five of its new retail cannabis stores under the “Nova Cannabis” brand in the Province of Alberta.

Alcanna's common shares and convertible subordinated debentures trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols "CLIQ" and "CLIQ.DB", respectively.

Additional information about Alcanna Inc. is available at www.sedar.com and the Company’s website at www.alcanna.com . Further information about NOVA Cannabis can be found on our consumer website at www.novacannabisstore.com .

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains forward-looking statements or information (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as “anticipate”, "will", "should", “plan” and similar words suggesting future events or future performance. All statements and information other than statements of historical fact contained in this news release are forward-looking statements. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements pertaining to: the number of cannabis stores that the Company intends to open in the first year following legalization; and the Company’s cannabis retail strategy.

With respect to forward-looking statements contained in this news release, the Company has made assumptions regarding, among other things: the ability of management to execute the Company’s strategic plan and growth strategy, including its capital allocation strategy and specifically its ability significantly grow its cannabis retail store locations.

Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements, and the assumptions on which such forward-looking statements are made, are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations and assumptions will prove to be correct. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements included in this news release. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual performance and financial results to differ materially from any estimates, forecasts or projections. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things: the risk that we will be unable to execute our strategic plan and growth strategy, including the capital allocation and retail cannabis strategy, as planned without significant adverse impacts from various factors beyond our control; dependence on suppliers; potential delays or changes in plans with respect to capital expenditures and the availability of capital on acceptable terms; risks inherent in the liquor retail industry; competition for, among other things, customers, supply, capital and skilled personnel; changes in labour costs and markets; incorrect assessments of the value of acquisitions; general economic and political conditions in Canada (including Alberta), Alaska and globally; industry conditions, including changes in government regulations; fluctuations in foreign exchange or interest rates; unanticipated operating events; failure to obtain regulatory and third‐party consents and approvals when required; changes in tax and other laws that affect us and our security holders; the potential failure of counterparties to honour their contractual obligations; stock market volatility; and the other factors described in the Company’s public filings (including the Annual Information Form) available at www.sedar.com . Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive.

The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof. Except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation, Alcanna does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

For Further Information

David Gordey

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Alcanna Inc.

(780) 497-3262