Tilray sees profit in Canada on the horizon

Tilray Inc. will be profitable in Canada in the “next quarter or two” and in Europe in the next two to three quarters, according to company chief executive Brendan Kennedy.

“We’ll continue to invest in new regions and new countries, but on an existing basis in terms of our existing footprint, we see profitability within the next half year to year,” Kennedy said in an interview on Bloomberg TV.

The pot producer’s stock jumped more than 10 per cent to close at US$ 32.4 in New York following Kennedy’s comments.

It had lost 36 per cent over the previous five sessions after Tilray reported a wider- than- expected loss of US$ 17.9 million before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Kennedy said last week that the industry is still in a growth phase and “you’d be constraining yourself if you were focused on profitability at this point.”

Investors, however, are increasingly rewarding cannabis companies that turn a profit, or at least show a path to profitability, and punishing those that don’t. Canopy Growth Corp. fell 14 per cent last Thursday after CEO Mark Zekulin said it won’t report a net profit for three to five years.

Tilray said Wednesday it has signed its first agreement to supply a European Union country with cannabis from its recently opened facility in Portugal.

The contract is with Cannamedical Pharma Gmbh to export US$ 3.3 million worth of cannabis to medical patients in Germany.

Last week, the Nanaimo, B. C.- based company reported a wider- than- expected Ebitda loss, offsetting revenue that beat analyst estimates.