I am very pleased with our financial performance in the first quarter as we reported positive Adjusted EBITDA for the first time in our history.
Retail revenue for the first quarter of 2021 was $25.8 million, an increase of $8.3 million or 47% compared to the first quarter of 2020.
The year over year growth in wholesale revenue was primarily driven by increased capacity, coupled with maturing operations in the Company’s Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Illinois cultivation facilities.
Total gross profit for the first quarter of 2021 was $20.6 million, an increase of $10.7 million or 107% compared to the first quarter of 2020.
Adjusted EBITDA* for the first quarter of 2021 was $1.6 million, which was also a significant improvement to the Adjusted EBITDA* loss of $12.3 million in the first quarter of 2020 and a sequential improvement from the Adjusted EBITDA loss* of $3.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.
In addition to operating corporately owned production and cultivation facilities and retail dispensaries, Acreage manages operations on behalf of several third parties.
Additionally, during the first quarter of 2021, the company extended the maturity date related to $21 million of a $22 million term loan to June 2021 and subsequently filed a Form S-1 resale registration statement which was declared effective by the SEC, for shares underlying outstanding warrants held by our investors.
The Company continues to believe its refocused strategy is the key to continued improvements in its financial results and shareholder value.
Driving Profitability: The Company’s focus on improving operational and financial results has significantly improved profitability from reporting an EBITDA loss of $249.0 million in the first quarter of 2020 to reporting positive EBITDA of $1.6 million in the first quarter of 2021.
Strengthening the Balance Sheet: Strengthening the balance sheet is key to both providing the Company with the necessary capital to achieve its operational plans and building shareholder confidence.
As an example, the Company has an established footprint in key markets such as New York and New Jersey and expects to benefit in the coming months and years as a result of the recent passage of adult-use programs in these states.
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Acreage’s wide range of national and regionally available cannabis products include the award-winning The Botanist brand, the highly recognizable Tweed brand, the Prime medical brand in Pennsylvania, the Innocent edibles brand in Illinois and others.
For more information about the Amended Arrangement please see the Acreage proxy statement and management information circular dated August 17, 2020 and the respective information circulars of each of Acreage and Canopy Growth dated May 17, 2019, which are available on Acreage’s and Canopy Growth’s respective profiles on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and filed with the SEC on the EDGAR website at www.sec.gov.
All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking information, including, for greater certainty, statements regarding the Amended Arrangement, including the likelihood of completion thereof, the occurrence or waiver of the Triggering Event, the satisfaction or waiver of the closing conditions set out in the Arrangement Agreement and other statements with respect to the proposed transactions with Canopy Growth.
Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including, but not limited to financing and liquidity risks, and the risks disclosed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, dated March 25, 2021 and the Company’s other public filings, in each case filed with the SEC on the EDGAR website at www.sec.gov and with Canadian securities regulators and available on the issuer profile of Acreage on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Although Acreage believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information or forward-looking statements in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all.
We believe the adjusted results presented provide relevant and useful information for investors because they clarify our actual operating performance, make it easier to compare our results with those of other companies and allow investors to review performance in the same way as our management.
Since these measures are not calculated in accordance with GAAP, they should not be considered in isolation of, or as a substitute for, our reported results as indicators of our performance, and they may not be comparable to similarly named measures from other companies.