Business
General Cannabis Announces Record 2017 Fourth Quarter Revenues and Elimination of Debt
General Cannabis Announces Record 2017 Fourth Quarter Revenues and Elimination of Debt.
About this update from Trees Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n DENVER, Feb. 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- General Cannabis Corp (OTCQB:CANN), the comprehensive national resource to the regulated cannabis industry, today announced revenue results for the quarter ended December 31, 2017.\n Revenue results For the three months ended December 31, 2017, we reported our highest quarterly revenues on record of approximately $990,000, representing an increase of 27% in total revenues when compared to the three months ended December 31, 2016.  Annual revenues in 2017 increased by $540,000 to approximately $3,522,000, or 15%, when compared to annual 2016 revenues of approximately $2,982,000. These increases were driven by record revenues in our Operations segment, Next Big Crop, which had increased revenues of 323% and 193%, respectively, for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2017, compared to the same periods for 2016.  As the number of states with regulated marijuana markets has increased, Next Big Crop has found a steady increase in demand for its services.Our Marketing segment, Chiefton, experienced 95% and 26%, respectively, increases in revenue during the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2017 when compared to 2016.  We added a new managing director in August 2017 to focus on our apparel business, which positively impacted revenues for both apparel sales and design revenue.Our Security segment, Iron Protection Group, experienced 11% and 16%, respectively, decreases in revenue during the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2017, when compared to 2016.  As previously discussed, IPG is impacted by the drop in wholesale cannabis prices in Colorado.  In late August 2017, we acquired Mile High Protection Services, which provides us the opportunity to expand our security business into the non-cannabis space, as we believe that provides an opportunity for growth.  We have also obtained our license to operate in California, and expect IPG to see significant growth in that market in 2018. Elimination of debt Effective today, General Cannabis has paid down all of its existing long term debt.  In addition to raising $4 million through a capital raise in 2017, we have received an additional $3.5 million in funds through the exercise of warrants and stock options in 2018.  We used a portion of these funds to pay off the remaining $1,621...