The head of Tilray Brands Inc. says he's aiming to make the pot company a top beverage firm, in part by pouring resources into revitalizing a number of alcohol brands his business recently bought from Anheuser-Busch Cos.<\/p>\n
"These brands have not had innovation done with them in the last couple of years, so I feel good about the innovation," Irwin Simon, chief executive of Leamington, Ont.-based Tilray, said on a Tuesday call with analysts.<\/p>\n
Tilray bought eight of Anheuser-Busch's brands — Shock Top, Breckenridge Brewery, Blue Point Brewing Co., 10 Barrel Brewing Co., Redhook Brewery, Widmer Brothers Brewing, Square Mile Cider Co., and HiBall Energy — in a US$85 million deal brokered last summer.<\/p>\n
The brands joined Tilray's other beverage companies like Breckenridge Distillery, Green Flash Brewing Co., Alpine Beer Co. and Montauk Brewing Co., which it purchased over the last five years.<\/p>\n
The acquisitions are part of Simon's goal to turn Tilray, which begun as a cannabis company, into a powerhouse in the beverage industry.<\/p>\n
He plans to reach his goal by innovating in the flavoured malt and ready-to-drink cocktails and spirit categories and experimenting with selling multi-brand variety packs and installing more multi-brand tap rooms.<\/p>\n
But "we're not going to be just a beer business," Simon warned.<\/p>\n
"We're going to expand into some water business, energy drink business and some other categories" he said.<\/p>\n
Simon's plans for Tilray's beverage arm come as the company reported a net loss of US$46.2 million in its latest quarter while revenue rose 34 per cent compared with a year ago.<\/p>\n
The cannabis company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, said the loss amounted to seven cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Nov. 30.<\/p>\n
The result compared with a loss of US$61.6 million or 11 cents per diluted share a year earlier.<\/p>\n
Net revenue for what was Tilray's second quarter totalled US$193.8 million, up from US$144.1 million in the same quarter a year earlier.<\/p>\n
Tilray's results were helped along by its alcohol ventures, which saw their net revenue increase to US$47 million in the second quarter from US$21 million in the prior year quarter.<\/p>\n
The company's cannabis net revenue totalled US$67 million compared with $50 million a year earlier.<\/p>\n
However, Simon sees some turbulence ahead for the cannabis market, where competition has escalated as brands have worked to cut costs since cannabis was legalized in Canada.<\/p>\n
"More licensed producers will go away," he said.<\/p>\n
But there are also more opportunities to be had, he hinted.<\/p>\n
"More consumers will get educated about cannabis and the cannabis market will grow," he said.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 9, 2024.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Companies in this story: (TSX:TLRY)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The head of Tilray Brands Inc. says he's aiming to make the pot company a top beverage firm, in part by pouring resources into revitalizing a number of alcohol brands his business recently bought from Anheuser-Busch Cos. "These brands have not had innovation done with them in the last couple of years, so I feel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":362,"featured_media":729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"guid":"","source":"The Canadian Press","byline":"Tara Deschamps","published":"2024-01-09T03:12:16","updated":"2024-01-09T22:00:00","_infotelid":"IT102575","_prepressid":"102575","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[379,2,391,381],"tags":[],"region":[309,310,311,312],"class_list":["post-730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured3","category-in420","category-nonit","category-topnews","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/in420\/news\/730\/tilray-looks-to-pour-resources-into-revitalizing-alcohol-brands\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Tilray looks to pour resources into revitalizing alcohol brands","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/in420\/news\/730\/tilray-looks-to-pour-resources-into-revitalizing-alcohol-brands\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/in420\/news\/730\/tilray-looks-to-pour-resources-into-revitalizing-alcohol-brands\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/in420\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/MediaItemID102575-2391.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/in420\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/MediaItemID102575-2391.jpg"},"articleSection":"featured3","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Howard Alexander"}],"creator":["Howard Alexander"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iN420","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2024-01-09T11:12:16Z","datePublished":"2024-01-09T11:12:16Z","dateModified":"2024-01-10T06:00:00Z"},"rendered":"