TREES APPOINTS CAMPBELL BECHER AS NEW INTERIM CEO

TORONTO, Sept. 19, 2022 /CNW/ - Trees Corporation (NEO: TREE) (the "Company" or "Trees"), announces that Campbell Becher has been appointed as interim Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") of the Company in response to the receipt of resignation from Michael Klein as CEO and Director of the Company. 

Mr. Becher (newly appointed interim CEO), who joined the Board of Directors of the Company on June 16, 2022 with over 20 years of investment banking and capital markets experience said "Trees retail business has seen tremendous gains in recent months through growing consumer loyalty on account of the Company's emphasis on a differentiated retail experience and diverse product selection.  In the months ahead, we will be laser focused on achieving corporate profitability, a milestone earned by only a few of our national brand competitors.  With a relentless focus on corporate cost control, we will continue to seek operating efficiencies to further accelerate our near-term profitability.  I would like to thank the Board for their confidence shown in me through this appointment during this critical time in our corporate development."

Jeff Holmgren, President and CFO added "Mr. Becher's wealth of experience will be a tremendous addition to our executive leadership team.  I am excited to work closely with him in the months ahead as we transition into corporate profitability and continued growth."

The Company and its board of directors would like to thank Mr. Klein for his contributions and wishes him every success in his future endeavors.

The Board will be commencing a search for a permanent CEO and is concurrently evaluating alternatives with respect to appointing a new independent director.

About Trees

Trees is a cannabis company at the intersection of community, content, and commerce. Publicly traded, Trees offers a differentiated retail experience, combined with digital platforms that aim to educate and amplify, unlocking emerging consumer segments and need states that allows Trees to uniquely engage the 360-cannabis consumer. The Company currently has 13 Trees branded storefronts in Canada, including eight (8) stores owned and operated in Ontario and five (5) stores operated in BC, subject to the closing of the acquisition of the assets of 101 pursuant to the terms of the APA. The closing of the transactions contemplated by the APA is subject to certain conditions precedent, including the receipt of certain licensing approvals and related regulatory consents, the latter of which has now been received in respect of one of the five locations.  Now with the completion of due diligence approval from the British Columbia Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch, Trees anticipates the receipt of regulatory approvals for the remaining 4 stores imminently. Until such time as the closing of the acquisition of the assets under the terms of the APA, the BC stores will remain subject to a brand license agreement and will be included when reporting System-Wide Retail Sales.¹

(1)

System-wide retail sales represents the sum of the revenue reported to Trees by (i) brand licensed retail cannabis stores, which are subject to a brand license agreement providing Trees with a royalty interest, and (ii) Company-owned retail cannabis stores. Management believes this measure is useful to the investment community in evaluating brand scale and market penetration and is used by management of Trees to assess the financial and operational performance of the Company and the strength of the Company's market position relative to its competitors.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking information" ("forward-looking information") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking information and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that discusses predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking information. 

Forward-looking statements in this document include, among others, statements relating to the Trees' expectations regarding the closing of the transactions contemplated by the APA and receipt of regulatory approvals in connection therewith, expectations regarding revenue growth resulting from the acquisition contemplated by the APA, expectations regarding the Company's ability to unlock and capture emerging consumer segments across its platforms, expectations regarding the Company's ability to engage its customers and new consumer segments and need states, the expectation that the Company will be successful in its growth strategy, and other statements that are not historical facts. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, among others: (a) the Company may require additional financing from time to time in order to continue its operations which may not be available when needed or on acceptable terms and conditions acceptable; (b) compliance with extensive government regulation; (c) domestic and foreign laws and regulations could adversely affect the Company's business and results of operations; (d) the stock markets have experienced volatility that often has been unrelated to the performance of companies and these fluctuations may adversely affect the price of the Company's securities, regardless of its operating peers; (e) adverse changes in the public perception of cannabis; (f) the impact of COVID-19; and (g) general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information contained in this press release.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of the Company as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

The NEO Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release and accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. 

SOURCE Trees Corporation

Trees Corporation, Jeffrey Holmgren, President and Chief Financial Officer, Email: [email protected]