08:03 AM EST, 11/08/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Canopy Growth ( CGC ) on Friday reported a narrowing of its net loss for the second quarter of its fiscal year 2025 as Storz & Bickel net revenue increased 32% in the period.

The net loss attributable to Canopy Growth ( CGC ) fell to $128.293 million or $1.48 basic and diluted loss per share, compared to a net loss of $310.014 million or $4.33 basic and diluted loss per share a year earlier.

Net revenue in the quarter decreased 9% to $63.0 million compared to the second quarter ended Sept. 30, 2023. Excluding net revenue from businesses divested during the prior fiscal year, net revenue increased 3%. The company noted net revenue increased year-over-year by 16% in Canada and 12% in international markets.

Among other highlights, consolidated gross margin increased by 100 basis points to 35% in Q2 FY2025 compared to Q2 FY2024 primarily due to the realized benefit of the company's cost savings program as well as a shift to higher-margin medical cannabis sales.

Operating loss from continuing operations was $46 million, compared to a loss of $7 million in Q2 FY2024, with last year's results benefitting from the sale of a facility in Smiths Falls, Ontario.

"We delivered a solid second quarter led by strong growth across our Storz & Bickel, Canadian medical, and European cannabis businesses and we are well positioned to accelerate momentum in the second half of our fiscal year. In addition, we remain highly optimistic about the momentum building within Canopy USA as this strategy was uniquely designed to succeed independent of the need for federal legalization," said Chief Executive David Klein.

"We've demonstrated another quarter of progress towards profitability driven by improvement in gross margins as well as a reduction in SG&A expenses. With expected improvement in top-line growth in the second half of the fiscal year and continued cost discipline, we believe we remain on a path to achieve positive Adjusted EBITDA at the consolidated level in the coming quarters," added Chief Financial Officer Judy Hong.

Canopy was up $0.18 or 2.9% on the TSX yesterday.