The Aurora Sun facility in Medicine Hat - Photo by Colton McKee

By Charles Lefebvre

Aurora Sun

Aurora deferring completion of Medicine Hat facility following first quarter results

Nov 14, 2019 | 10:12 PM

EDMONTON, AB – Aurora Cannabis is deferring construction at its Aurora Sun facility in Medicine Hat following the release of its most recent quarterly report.

The company, based in Edmonton, released its earnings report for the first quarter of 2020 late Thursday, reporting $75.2 million (all figures Canadian) in net revenue, down from $98.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Cannabis net revenue was only $70.8 million dollars in the quarter, a drop from $94.6 million in Q4 2019, and Canadian consumer cannabis revenues were $30 million, a 33 per cent decline from the last quarter.

Regarding the decline in consumer cannabis revenue, Aurora said in a news release, “provincial ordering slowed considerably during the summer as distributors worked through inventories and as the industry was impacted by the slow pace of retail store licensing.”

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The company says they made several decisions to streamline its operations, including deferring “the majority of the final construction and commissioning activities at its Aurora Sun facility for the foreseeable future which is expected to conserve approximately $110 million of cash.”

The company is also immediately halting construction at its Aurora Nordic 2 facility in Denmark, which will save approximately $80 million over the next 12 months.

The release states both Aurora Sun and Nordic 2 are fully enclosed following the work completed to date.

“The Company expects to have at least six flower rooms completed and in operation at Aurora Sun in 2020, for a total of 238,000 square feet,” the release states. “As global demand develops, or as Aurora’s market share in the global cannabis market increases, we will reactivate these projects.”

Aurora Sun was announced in 2018. In April, the company announced it was expanding the size of the facility to 1.62 million square feet.

Aurora finished the day trading at $4.38 per share on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The full report can be read here.