After wrapping 2023 with 6% increase in full-year revenue, Curaleaf is looking ahead to the impact of new adult-use cannabis markets.
Boris Jordan, executive chairman at Curaleaf, this week highlighted new or forthcoming adult-use cannabis state markets including New York, Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania along with European markets like Germany, the UK and Poland.
He said he was encouraged with early sales at Curaleaf’s first cannabis retail location in New York but pointed to the real opportunity in the state’s $5 billion to $6 billion market as wholesale. Curaleaf hopes its strong medical cannabis presence and brand awareness in the state will help land more wholesale accounts as more legal dispensaries open. But he chastised New York’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) for its handling of illicit operations.
“The OCM needs to do more to support the legal market with greater enforcement of illicit operators, which is paramount to creating the robust and safe marketplace we all want in the state,” said Jordan.
Curaleaf also offered an optimistic view on the chances that adult-use cannabis legalization makes it onto the November ballot in Florida. Jordan estimated Florida’s $2 billion market could double in its first full year of adult-use sales, a forecast that doesn’t include any incremental benefits from tourism.
Germany recently voted to liberalize cannabis by removing it from the narcotics list and Jordan said he expects other European countries including France, Spain, Italy and Czech Republic will follow suit.
“To put this opportunity into context, the total addressable market and population in Europe is double that of the United States,” he said.
Curaleaf’s full-year revenue for 2023 totaled $1.34 billion. While the company’s revenue trended up, its net losses shrunk, down to $290 million for 2023 compared to $377 million in 2022.
