– Q4 Revenue up 9% YoY to a Record $25.5 Million – 9th Consecutive Quarter of Positive Cash Flow from Operations TAMPA, Fla., April 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cansortium Inc. (CSE:TIUM) (OTCQB:CNTMF) ("Cansortium" or the "Company"), a vertically-integrated, multi-state cannabis company operating under the FLUENT™ brand, today announced financial and operating results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2023. Unless otherwise indicated, all financial results are presented in U.S. dollars. "We delivered record revenue and positive cash flow generation during the fourth quarter as we continued to execute on our growth objectives," said CEO Robert Beasley. "We are making the critical investments needed to lay the foundation for growth and support our future plans and remain excited about the opportunities ahead." "In Florida, we continue to ramp our new dispensaries while driving cultivation improvements, leading to production of more high quality, high THC products. These operating improvements drove higher retail prices and higher average basket size during the quarter." "Looking ahead, we will continue to drive improvements across our footprint in Florida and Pennsylvania, while capitalizing on our first mover advantage in Texas as we plan to open our brick-and-mortar delivery center in Houston by early 2025." Q4 2023 Financial Highlights (vs. Q4 2022) Revenue increased 9% to $25.5 million compared to $23.4 million. Florida revenue increased 11% to $21.6 million compared to $19.4 million. Adjusted gross profit¹ was $12.6 million or 49.4% of revenue, compared to $0.7 million or 3.1% of revenue. Adjusted EBITDA was $6.9 million compared to $7.9 million, with the decrease primarily driven by higher SG&A spend due to additional stores. Cash flow from operations for the three months ended December 31, 2023 was $1.4 million compared to $3.6 million in the prior year. At December 31, 2023 the Company had approximately $10.5 million of cash and cash equivalents and $61.2 million of total debt, with approximately 300 million shares outstanding. Full Year 2023 Financial Highlights (vs. Full Year 2022) Revenue increased 11% to $97.3 million compared to $87.7 million. Florida revenue increased 11% to $81.2 million compared to $73.0 million. Adjusted gross profit¹ was $49.5 million or 50.9% of revenue, compared to $44.0 million or 50.1% of revenue. Adjusted EBITDA was $27.2 million compared to $25.1 million, with the increase primarily driven by higher revenue on higher customer transactions, slightly offset by higher SG&A due to new dispensary locations. Cash flow from operations for the full year ended December 31, 2023 was $18.5 million compared to $19.1 million in the prior year. Restatement of 2023 Earnings The Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of the Company, in consultation with the Company's management, concluded that the Company's previously issued consolidated financial statements for the quarterly periods ended March 31, 2023, June 30, 2023 and September 30, 2023 contained an error related to the accounting for the following items:  Biological assets: Process errors related to beginning of period balances resulted in a $6.7 million mis-classification of expense between COGS and Realized FV of Inventory. There is no impact to Net Income from this mis-classification, but it does impact Adjusted EBITDA. The affected periods are the first three quarters of 2023. Depreciation: A misclassification led to $2.4 million of Depreciation being booked to SG&A instead of COGS. There is no impact to Net Income or Adjusted EBITDA. The affected periods are the second and third quarters of 2023. ERTC Claim: Due to uncertainties surrounding the ERTC program, the Company has removed income from the $3.4 million sale of its ERTC to a third party. This adjustment impacts Net Income for the third quarter of 2023 but does not impact Adjusted EBITDA. Recent Operational Highlights In Florida, Cansortium opened four dispensaries during 2023. The Company has opened 2 new locations in Florida thus far in 2024 and currently operates 35 locations in the state. Conference Call The Company will host a conference call and live audio webcast today at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time to discuss its financial and operational results, followed by a question-and-answer period. Interested parties may submit questions to the Company prior to the call by emailing Date: Monday, April 29, 2024Time: 4:30 p.m. Eastern time Toll-free dial-in number: (800) 319-4610International dial-in number: (604) 638-5340Conference ID: 10023399Link: Cansortium Conference Call Please call the conference telephone number 5-10 minutes prior to the start time. An operator will register your name and organization. The conference call will also be available for replay via the News & Events section of the Company's investor relations website at https://investors.getFLUENT.com/. About Cansortium Inc. Cansortium is a vertically-integrated cannabis company with licenses and operations in Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas. The Company operates under the Fluent™ brand and is dedicated to being one of the highest quality cannabis companies for the communities it serves. This is driven by Cansortium's unrelenting commitment to operational excellence in cultivation, production, distribution and retail. The Company is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Cansortium Inc.'s Common Shares trade on the CSE under the symbol "TIUM.U" and on the OTCQB Venture Market under the symbol "CNTMF". For more information about the Company, please visit www.getFLUENT.com. Forward-Looking Information Certain information in this news release may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and may also contain statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "targets", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "an opportunity exists", "is positioned", "estimates", "intends", "assumes", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections, or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent the Company's expectations, estimates, and projections regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Company's control. Forward-looking information is necessarily based on many opinions, assumptions, and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of this news release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the factors described in the public documents of the Company available at www.sedar.com. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect the Company; however, these factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements containing any forward-looking information, or the factors or assumptions underlying them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. For further information: www.getFLUENT.com. Company ContactRobert Beasley, CEO(850) 972-8077investors.getFLUENT.com Investor Relations   Cansortium Inc. Consolidated Statements of Financial Position As of December 31, 2023 and 2022 (Amounts expressed in thousands of United States Dollars unless otherwise stated)     December 31,     2023   2022 Assets         Current assets         Cash   $ 10,521     $ 8,359   Trade receivable     215       28   Inventory, net     9,244       8,973   Biological assets     331       996   Prepaid expenses and other current assets     1,882       883   Total current assets     22,193       19,239             Property and equipment, net     27,642       31,743   Intangible assets, net     93,593       94,291   Right-of-use assets, net     31,943       30,464   Goodwill     1,525       1,526   Other assets     907       768   Total assets   $ 177,803     $ 178,031             Liabilities         Current liabilities         Trade payable   $ 5,525     $ 6,931   Accrued liabilities     9,779       5,534   Income taxes payable     22,009       13,952   Derivative liabilities     9,109       8,676   Current portion of notes payable, net     213       741   Current portion of lease liabilities     2,872       2,123   Total current liabilities     49,507       37,957             Notes payable, net     61,189       56,969   Lease liabilities     37,242       33,922   Deferred tax liability     17,398       20,290   Other long-term liabilities     3,882       1,333   Total liabilities     169,218       150,471             Shareholders' equity         Share capital     183,690       180,954   Share-based compensation reserve     6,739       6,395   Equity conversion feature     6,677       6,677   Warrants     29,634       28,939   Accumulated deficit     (217,821 )     (195,071 ) Foreign currency translation reserve     (334 )     (334 ) Total shareholders' equity     8,585       27,560             Total liabilities and shareholders' equity   $ 177,803     $ 178,031                               Cansortium Inc. Statement of Operations For the twelve months ending December 31, 2023 and 2022 (Amounts expressed in thousands of United States Dollars unless otherwise stated)     For the Years Ended December 31,       2023       2022   Revenue, net of discounts   $ 97,290     $ 87,692   Cost of goods sold     47,814       43,731   Gross profit before fair value adjustments     49,476       43,961             Fair value adjustments on inventory sold     12,659       2,622   Unrealized loss on changes in fair value of biological assets     (14,602 )     (9,620 ) Gross profit     47,533       36,963             Expenses         General and administrative     10,022       8,288   Share-based compensation     638       545   Sales and marketing     20,193       17,510