EnWave Corporation (CVE:ENW) posted the highest quarterly revenue in the dehydration firm’s history, the company reported on Wednesday.
Its 120% revenue boost for the fourth quarter 2019 was largely thanks to a large distribution increase to super retailer Costco for its Most Valuable Member coupon program, as well as a higher number of its proprietary REV machines sold, the Vancouver-based company said.
Total revenue during the quarter came to C$16.2 million compared to $7.4 million during the same three-month period a year ago.
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The company also posted record revenues for fiscal year 2019, growing sales by 88% over the previous year, as demand for its Moon Cheese snack product took off.
The year also saw the highest-ever number of REV machine sales contracts secured for the company, helping it to generate record revenue of $42.8 million compared to C$22.8 in fiscal 2018.
Fourth quarter highlights
EnWave’s fourth quarter, which ended September 30, was marked by new machine deliveries, equipment orders and licensing agreements across the globe that saw the company generating royalties from companies using its technology.
The firm’s REV machine is applicable across numerous industries, with the cannabis and food industries taking a particular shine to the dehydrator. In July, EnWave made its first move into the US hemp market through a royalty-bearing license deal with Tennessee’s Electric Farms LLC, which cultivates hemp flower in the state.
Another royalty agreement came in the form of a deal with Ontario’s Glasshouse Botanics Inc, producers of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis, signed in August. In total, EnWave signed 14 new royalty-bearing commercial license agreements for the fiscal year 2019.
But it is the food industry, and Moon Cheese, in particular, that drove revenue for the firm throughout the year. The company invested heavily in the snack product during the fourth quarter as part of a rebrand of its packaging and the introduction of a new one-ounce package size, as well as two new flavours.
EnWave did post a loss in its fourth quarter of C$425,000 compared to an income of C$75,000 during the year-ago quarter, primarily due to non-cash expenses and increased investment in sales and marketing, the company said.
First steps into New Zealand
Also on Wednesday, the firm reported that it signed another royalty-bearing agreement with Helius Therapeutics Ltd, New Zealand’s largest licensed medical cannabis company.
Helius has a state-of-the-art biotechnology facility in Auckland, New Zealand, with large-scale indoor controlled growing systems, integrated extraction site, an advanced cannabinoid research laboratory and manufacturing operations. The agreement gives Helius exclusive rights to use EnWave’s REV machine to dry cannabis in New Zealand, with the ability to sublicense to additional third-party cannabis companies.
EnWave will receive a royalty based on the weight of cannabis dried using the REV machine, the company said.
Helius purchased a 10 kW REV machine and must purchase an additional machine with a 60 kW or more power by June 2021 in order to retain exclusivity and sub-licensing rights.
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