STENOCARE: One-off return of products from Norway

STENOCARE A/S
NASDAQ FIRST NORTH GROWTH MARKET, DENMARK
TICKER:  STENO

This information is information that STENOCARE A/S is obliged to publish in accordance with the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was provided by the contact person below for publication on Nov 6, 2023.

Return of products: On 28 October 2022, STENOCARE was able to proudly announce its access to the Norwegian market, making STENOCARE the first and only supplier of full spectrum oil based medical cannabis products in Norway. The initial projections for number of patients were based on historic pain treatment data in Norwegian pain centres. Then, during Q4, 2022, STENOCARE shipped products to its new local partner, Apotek 1, the leading distributor and pharmacy chain in Norway to supply these patients with their full spectrum medical cannabis oil products. However, it turned out that the management of the pain centres (hospitals) decided to hold back the budget for treatment with all cannabis-based products – which slowed down sales run rate and resulted in products expiring. Due to this situation in Norway, products worth DKK 2,1m have now been returned to STENOCARE.

Financial adjustment: This leads to a pro-forma adjustment of the revenue of the Q4-2022 from DKK 2.8m to just DKK 0,7m. Technically, this adjustment will have to be accounted for in Q3-2023, despite the fact that it is unrelated to the actual sales in 2023.

Lesson learned: STENOCARE has implemented new procedures to secure the largest possible assurance of sell through to patients prior to delivery to all new markets in the future. This eliminates or sharply reduces the risk of repetitions going forward, as the just-in-time logistical model enable STENOCARE to manage spikes and drop-offs in individual markets.

Going forward: The Norwegian (and Swedish) market are so-called magistral markets. This means that they do not yet have general legalization in place similar to the Danish and many other European markets.  When operating in markets such as Norway, without a developed legal- and treatment framework for this new type of medicine, STENOCARE depends upon and works closely with local pharma partners and doctors to make the products accessible for patients. This model is showing results, with growth in sales and delivery to an increasing number of patients through doctors that STENOCARE works with closely.

CEO of STENOCARE, Thomas Skovlund Schnegelsberg comments: “We planned 2023 to be the year of sales growth and it is rewarding to see that we are reaching more and more patients each quarter in several markets. The one-off return of products in Norway was not expected, but we have implemented appropriate steps to avoid similar large returns in the future. The actual sales (excl returns) make us optimistic and energized about the coming years.”

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