Hollister Biosciences Inc. Commends the State of Arizona for starting Adult-Use Cannabis Sales ahead of schedule, Venom Extracts it's 100% owned subsidiary is a category leader with over 4 million grams sold throughout the state in 2020

VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 25, 2021 /CNW/ - Hollister Biosciences Inc. (CSE: HOLL) (OTC: HSTRF) (FRANKFURT: HOB) (the "Company", "Hollister Cannabis Co." or "Hollister") a diversified cannabis branding company with products in over 98 dispensaries throughout Arizona, is pleased to commend the state of Arizona for its efficient activation of adult-use cannabis sales. Legal sales of adult use cannabis in Arizona commenced mid-day on Friday January 22^nd, 2021, several months ahead of industry expectations, and the fastest that any of the 15 states with recreational marijuana has gone from voter approval to actual sales.

The company's wholly owned subsidiary, Venom Extracts ("Venom") product suite is a category leader with over 4 million grams sold in 2020, accounting for up to 30 percent of category sales state-wide. Venom is positioned for continued growth in Arizona, it has a strong brand recognition and distribution network, its products are available at leading retailers including Harvest Health and Recreation (CSE: HARV, OTCQX: HRVSF), Curaleaf (CSE: CURA, OTCQX: CURLF), Bloom, MuV and Oasis Cannabis dispensaries among others.

Arizona voted to legalize adult use cannabis in November, "Marijuana Business Daily projects that the state's recreational market could generate up to $400 million in revenue its first year and more than $700 million by 2024".

"Medical-marijuana dispensaries that got approved to sell recreational marijuana on Friday include 13 of the 15 Harvest shops in the state, all eight Curaleaf shops, The Mint locations in Guadalupe and Mesa, three Territory Dispensary locations, and dozens of others in places across the state, including in Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff, Cottonwood and Sedona. Arizona Department of Health Services spokesman Steve Elliott said Friday that the department had approved 86 applications. Some dispensaries in the state are still waiting to file their applications because they are not yet prepared to offer recreational sales, which are expected to bring substantially more traffic to their stores". As reported by AZ Central on January 22^nd, 2021.

In 2020, sales of medical cannabis in Arizona grew by greater than 27%, as such Venom has been a catalyst for revenue growth of the Company. On March 26^th, 2020 (see press release dated March 30th, 2020), Hollister Biosciences acquired Venom Extracts and since the closing, in the three quarters following, Venom contributed approximately CDN$38 million to the company's 2020 revenue.  In the entire year of 2020, Venom Extracts generated greater than CDN$ 40 million in revenue (and CDN$4.8 million in adjusted EBITDA), up from CDN$16.4 million in 2019 a 144% year over year increase, and ending the year with a record month of sales for December totaling approximately CDN$5.5 million. These unaudited numbers represent record sales for the company, and the expectation is that sales growth will continue in 2021. 

In addition to continued revenue growth, the company plans to focus on core growth area's including; enhancing; unit margins, market penetration, loyalty and same-store sales.

Some additional highlights of the company include:

• Branded Products now on sale in over 370 cannabis dispensaries in Arizona and California
• 4 owned brands, and 3 brand collaborations
• Over 4 million grams sold
• Over 96,000 lbs. of cannabis biomass converted into finished products in Arizona
• Total sales for 2020 increased 3233% from 2019 and are estimated to be approximately CDN $40 million
• December 2020 sales totaled greater than CDN$6 million

The Company looks forward to continuing execution of its business plan and growth targets in 2021, primarily focused on the exponential growth anticipated in Arizona and continued market penetration of branded products throughout California. 

About Hollister Biosciences Inc.

Hollister Biosciences Inc. is a multi-state company with a portfolio of innovative, high-quality cannabis & hemp branded consumer products and white-labeling manufacturing.  Our products are sold in 370 dispensaries across Arizona and California. As of March 26^th, 2020 (see press release dated March 30th, 2020), Hollister Biosciences acquired 100% of Venom Extracts, a category leading brand which sold over 4 million grams of product in 2020, accounting for up to 30 percent of category sales in Arizona.

Website:www.hollistercannabisco.com

The CSE, nor its regulation services provider, does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Information: This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "would", "project", "should", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. These statements speak only as of the date of this News Release. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks including various risk factors discussed in the Company's disclosure documents which can be found under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com

This press release includes reference "EBITDA" and "adjusted EBITDA", which are non-International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") financial measures. Non-IFRS measures are not recognized measures under IFRS, do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The Company defines EBITDA as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA adjusted by removing other non-recurring or non-cash items, including the unrealized change in fair value and realized fair value adjustments on inventory sold in the period, share-based compensation expenses, depreciation of right-of-use assets, revaluation adjustments of financial assets and liabilities measured on a fair value basis and non-recurring transaction costs included in operating expenses. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA have no direct comparable IFRS financial measures. The Company has used or included these non-IFRS measures solely to provide investors with added insight into the Company's financial performance. Readers are cautioned that such non-IFRS measure may not be appropriate for any other purpose. Non-IFRS measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.

SOURCE Hollister Biosciences Inc.

Investor Relations Contact, Melanie Barbeau: [email protected], Tel: [phone] or [phone], www.renmarkfinancial.com; Company Contact, Kelvin Lee: [email protected], Tel: [phone]