Canopy Growth’s latest quarter shows why international medical cannabis has become an important part of its business. The company reported November 6 that revenue for the three months ended September 30 reached C$81.4 million, up 22 percent from a year earlier. International cannabis revenue grew substantially faster, although Canada still supplied most of the cannabis segment’s sales. The figures offer a view of a business trying to expand patient markets while managing the costs of a larger operation.

Where the growth came from

In its November 6 release, Canopy attributed international growth primarily to medical cannabis sales in Germany and Poland. It also described an expansion into the United Kingdom through distribution partner GROW Group. Those developments concern medical supply channels. They tell readers where the company is pursuing patients and distribution relationships, while leaving countrywide demand and individual patient access as separate questions.

The management discussion’s revenue table puts the scale in perspective. International cannabis revenue rose to C$12.3 million from C$5.1 million. Canadian medical revenue reached C$25.8 million and Canadian adult-use revenue reached C$28.1 million. Storz & Bickel, the device business reported separately from cannabis, generated C$15.1 million. Its sales declined four percent. That is why the growth rate for cannabis differs from the growth rate for the company overall.

A percentage gain is easiest to interpret alongside the starting number. The international business more than doubled from a smaller base, making it a substantial contributor to the increase without making it the largest part of the company. For someone comparing operators, both observations matter. A rapidly growing channel can change the future shape of a business even while the existing channels account for most of the current revenue.

Read the acquisition alongside the sales figures

Canopy linked Canadian growth in part to the acquisition of MTL Cannabis. That gives readers a reason to look beyond the headline percentage. Adding a business can bring its sales into the reporting group. It can also change the range of products sold and the costs associated with serving customers. To assess the growth of the previously existing business, a reader would need a comparison that accounts for the acquired operation.

This is a useful distinction when considering what an earnings report means at the counter. Higher company revenue can reflect more products, more customers, a different mix of sales or a larger reporting group. It does not establish that every brand is gaining ground in every store. A shopper looking for a particular flower or format still needs a current menu. An aggregate quarterly number cannot identify which item is available nearby today.

Our coverage of Waveform’s distribution launch examined a different part of the route from producer to store. Together, these stories offer two ways to follow cannabis businesses. Distribution announcements describe how products may reach accounts, while financial statements show the sales recognized over a defined period. Neither provides the same information as a live inventory list or a patient’s experience obtaining a prescription.

Growth and profitability need separate checks

The quarterly financial statements are the place to follow the income statement, cash flow and balance sheet together. Canopy’s reported net loss was C$40.7 million. A loss can include items that do not represent a cash payment in that quarter, so it is useful to read the notes before treating the bottom line as a measure of cash spent. Conversely, a smaller cash outflow does not by itself establish that the company has become profitable.

Management also uses adjusted measures to describe operating performance. These calculations can help explain which expenses the company considers relevant to a recurring comparison, but readers need the reconciliation to see what has been removed. When comparing two operators, start with the same accounting measure and the same reporting period. Similar names for adjusted figures do not guarantee that two companies made identical adjustments.

The next quarter will provide another test of the balance between international expansion and the Canadian operation. Look for the size of each channel, the costs associated with supplying it and how much of any increase comes from the acquired business. Those questions are more informative than treating a single growth percentage as a verdict on the whole company. For now, the report establishes stronger sales across the cannabis segment, with international medical markets accounting for a growing share of the story.

Keep the currency and calendar in view as well. Canopy calls this its second quarter of fiscal 2027, although the period ended in September 2026. The dollar amounts here are Canadian dollars. Those details matter when comparing the release with a U.S. operator reporting on a calendar year.

Illustrative pharmacy shelves in Massachusetts. Photo: David Trinks / Unsplash.

TerrAscend reported $68.2 million in third-quarter revenue on November 5, up from $65.1 million a year earlier. The North American cannabis operator also narrowed its net loss from continuing operations to $5.5 million, compared with $9.9 million in the same quarter of 2025. Pennsylvania helped drive the sales gain, according to the company. For readers tracking the cannabis business, the quarter shows how growing sales, improving profitability and generating cash can tell different parts of the same story.

Pennsylvania helped drive the increase

TerrAscend’s quarterly earnings release covers the three months ended September 30. The company pointed to retail and wholesale growth in Pennsylvania. Retail revenue comes from sales to customers at stores the company operates. Wholesale revenue reflects sales to other businesses. The same consumer may see a brand on shelves in both channels without necessarily knowing which company operates the store.

That distinction makes Pennsylvania more useful as a clue than as an explanation for the entire business. A company can gain ground by selling more through its own stores, by getting products into additional outlets, or by doing both. The financial results identify where TerrAscend saw growth, but a statewide sales trend would require separate market data. Likewise, greater wholesale sales do not necessarily mean an individual dispensary carries a wider selection. A retailer can increase the volume it orders of products already on its shelves.

The reporting boundary matters too. The comparison is for continuing operations, and Michigan is treated separately as a discontinued operation. A reader comparing the release with older headlines should check which markets each figure includes before drawing conclusions. Revenue across an earlier, larger operating footprint answers a different question from revenue for the businesses the company continues to operate. The company’s earnings exhibit provides the tables for checking those comparisons.

A smaller loss is one part of the quarter

Gross margin rose to 52.3% from 52.1% a year earlier. Gross margin compares gross profit with revenue, so it helps show how much of each sales dollar remains after the costs included in producing or acquiring what the business sold. The change was small. Higher sales can still increase the dollars available to cover other expenses even when the share left over from each sale barely changes.

The continuing-operations loss gives a wider view because it reflects costs beyond those captured in gross profit. The loss narrowed by $4.4 million year over year, but the company still reported a loss on that measure. Gross margin indicates what remains after the direct costs reflected in that calculation. Net income or loss accounts for a broader set of costs and other items. Looking at both helps readers distinguish an improvement in the economics of sales from a profitable quarter overall.

Cash flow is another way to read the report. Operating cash flow tracks cash generated or used by operating activities during the period. Timing matters. A sale recognized this quarter can be collected later, and payments for inventory or other obligations can fall in different periods from the related sales. A cash flow figure therefore has value alongside the income statement, especially when readers can compare it across several quarters and see which movements repeat.

What to watch in the next filing

The next report can help show whether Pennsylvania’s retail and wholesale gains persist. It will also give readers another data point for deciding whether stronger sales translate into a sustained improvement in gross profit and a smaller continuing-operations loss. A single year-over-year comparison cannot establish how the business will respond to changes in pricing, operating expenses or what consumers buy.

For a dispensary customer, the more immediate question is whether products are available locally and what they cost. TerrAscend’s release gives a company-level view. It does not list current stock, show what any one store charges or reveal which brands a particular retailer plans to reorder. Current menus and direct information from stores are better sources for those details.

For anyone comparing TerrAscend with another operator, start with the period, the businesses included and the accounting measure. Two companies can report higher revenue while facing very different costs. They can also describe growth across different channels, making a comparison more informative once retail and wholesale are separated. TerrAscend’s November report establishes that the continuing business sold more than a year earlier and recorded a smaller quarterly loss. Whether that combination persists is a question for the next set of results.

The next comparison will also show whether the latest margin holds as the mix of retail and wholesale sales changes.

Illustrative greenhouse photograph. Evan Strock / Unsplash.

UK Anti-Doping disclosed on November 5 that rugby league player Owen Trout had served a one-month suspension following a March test for a THC metabolite. The announcement closes a case that began at a Super League match between Wakefield Trinity and Leigh Leopards, Trout’s club at the time. It also shows how a cannabis finding can trigger a violation even when an expert concludes the player most likely consumed THC outside the competition window.

What happened and when

The statement published by the Rugby Football League says UK Anti-Doping collected a urine sample on March 20 during competition. Analysis identified carboxy-THC, a metabolite of tetrahydrocannabinol. UKAD provisionally suspended Trout on May 22 and charged him on July 20 under the rule governing the presence of a prohibited substance, its metabolites or markers. He admitted the charge.

UKAD credited Trout for time spent under provisional suspension. It therefore treated the one-month sanction as running from May 22 through June 21. By the time the decision was announced in November, he was free to participate in sport. The announcement date, the date of the test and the dates of the ban describe three different steps. A reader who sees the statement this week should understand that the sanction had already expired.

Why the date of use mattered

Under the rule described by UKAD, THC is prohibited in competition. That distinction applies to the testing context. It does not mean that an athlete who uses cannabis before the competition window can assume the substance or a metabolite will be absent when a sample is collected. In Trout’s case, an independent scientific expert concluded that his ingestion most likely occurred outside the window, before 11:59 p.m. on March 19.

That finding helped determine the length of the sanction. UKAD explains that when an athlete establishes that use of a designated substance of abuse occurred outside competition and was unrelated to sports performance, the rules provide for a three-month period of ineligibility. Completing an approved treatment program can reduce that period to one month. UKAD said Trout supplied satisfactory evidence that he had completed an approved program. The one-month outcome followed the evidence and the process in this case.

The distinction between the finding and the sanction is important. The charge concerned what was present in a sample collected during competition. The inquiry into timing addressed how the rules applied to the circumstances of use. Those are separate questions, and the expert’s conclusion about timing did not undo the laboratory result. It gave UKAD evidence it could consider in determining how long the sanction should last.

What competitors can take from the case

Start by checking which anti-doping rules govern the sport and competition. The term in competition has a defined meaning, and a match’s kickoff time alone does not establish when the testing window begins. A player planning around a fixture also needs to consider that the timing of consumption and the timing of a detectable result are distinct. The dates in this case explain UKAD’s decision. They cannot be used to predict what a future sample from a different athlete will show.

Product names can also obscure what matters. A gummy, oil or other preparation may be sold under a broad cannabis or hemp label. An athlete needs the applicable rules and reliable information about the product’s contents before making a decision about it. Even within one sport, it is worth checking current guidance from the governing body for the relevant season instead of relying on a headline about another league or another country.

For coaches and teams, the case offers a practical reason to make the rules easy to find before the season begins. Players should know where to check the current list, whom to ask about a specific ingredient and where to get confidential help interpreting the policy. A short briefing on the difference between a prohibited substance, a positive finding and the factors that influence a sanction would also make decisions like this one easier to understand when they become public.

For fans following Trout’s case, the clearest reading is chronological. A March sample produced a finding. UKAD later brought a charge and considered evidence about when use occurred and whether an approved program had been completed. Credit for the provisional suspension meant the sanction ended in June. November brought public disclosure of the decision, several months after the period of ineligibility had already run.

The case also illustrates why public announcement dates are a poor proxy for whether an athlete is currently eligible to play.

Illustrative stock photo. Sergey Omelchenko / Unsplash.