Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance (NASDAQ:REFI), a cannabis-focused commercial real estate finance company, announced on Tuesday its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024. Q1 2024 Financial Highlights Net interest income stands at about $13.2 million, marking a sequential decline of 10.8% from the $14.8 million recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023. This downturn stems from the absence of prepayments and related fees received during the first quarter of 2024, compared to $1.8 million in prepayment fees and accelerated original issue discounts in the three months ended December 31, 2023. Total expenses amount to around $4.1 million before the provision for current expected credit losses, reflecting a sequential drop of 28.4%. This decline is mainly attributed to decreases in management and incentive fees. Net Income stands at approximately $8.7 million, or $0.47 per weighted average diluted common share, showing a sequential decrease of 7.8% per share. The total reserve for current expected credit losses sees a sequential increase of $0.4 million, reaching $5.4 million. This reserve amounts to roughly 1.4% of the portfolio’s principal balance, which is $377.6 million as of March 31, 2024. Distributable Earnings amount to about $9.7 million, ...