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Tilray shares boosted by higher profit, revenue

FILE PHOTO: Cannabis plants grow inside the Tilray factory in Cantanhede

(Reuters) -Tilray on Wednesday reported a rise in quarterly core profit and revenue, helped by strong demand for its vapes, cannabis flowers and pre-rolls, sending shares of the Canadian pot producer up as much as 30%.

Tilray and Canadian pot producer Aphria combined last month in a reverse merger to create the world's largest cannabis producer by sales and expand further in the United States.

Tilray Chief Executive Officer Irwin Simon said the company had saved about $35 million in costs from the deal and was on track to save $80 million over the next 16 months from lower shipping costs, better packaging deals and by doing away with office spaces, redundant senior positions.

On Thursday, Tilray stockholders are scheduled to meet and vote for a proposal to issue more shares that can be used for acquisitions that have received backing from proxy advisory firms Glass Lewis and ISS.

Tilray's net revenue rose 25.3% to $142.2 million during the fourth quarter, but fell short of analysts' average estimate of $146.2 million, according to Refinitiv IBES estimates.

The company posted a net income of $33.6 million in the three months ended May 31, compared with a net loss of $84.3 million a year earlier. The reported quarter included a one-time adjustment of $19.9 million, resulting from excess inventory quantities due to the Aphria merger.

On an adjusted basis, core earnings rose nearly four-fold to $12.3 million.

"Tilray's quarterly profit and revenue growth is a very good thing for the cannabis space overall and showing a positive effect on almost all cannabis stocks," said Dan Ahrens, portfolio manager of the AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF.

(Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)