Halo Collective Receives Local Approvals for Budega™ Dispensary in Los Angeles’s NoHo Arts District

All Figures in U.S. Dollars Unless Otherwise Stated

TORONTO, Jan. 15, 2022 /CNW/ – Halo Collective Inc. (“Halo” or the “Company”) (NEO: HALO) (OTCQB: HCANF) (Germany: A9KN) today announced that it has received approval from the Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation to commence adult-use sales at its Budega-branded retail dispensary in Arts District of North Hollywood (“NoHo”). The last significant regulatory step to open the store to the public is state-level regulatory approval and licensure from the California Department of Cannabis Control, which the Company expects to receive by the end of February. The NOHO location is the second Budega-branded dispensary planned to open in Southern California over the next few months.

Halo Collective Receives Local Approvals for Budega™ Dispensary in Los Angeles’s NoHo Arts District (CNW Group/Halo Collective Inc.)

The 1,200 square foot retail facility is strategically located at the northwest corner of Lankershim Boulevard and Hesby Avenue in the NoHo Arts District, one of the most vibrant and heavily trafficked areas of metropolitan Los Angeles. NoHo is also fast developing, with over $1 billion being invested over the coming years in a series of large-scale housing and commercial development projects1.

“Budega’s NoHo store is officially locally compliant and awaiting state approval to open. We expect the store to open in a matter of weeks as soon as the state gives us the green light, “said Katie Field, President, and Director of Halo.

Retail Strategy Budega

The NoHo location is expected to generate nearly $10 million annually of retail sales at maturity2. The company is also licensed for delivery, and this additional service is expected to increase top-line sales and help capture overall market share. The NoHo location’s delivery service area will include Studio City, North Hollywood, Hollywood Burbank, and the Eastern San Fernando Valley.

Budega will offer a product assortment exceeding 1,000 SKUs, including the many top-tier California brands and the debut of the Budega-branded product lineup. The Budega dispensaries will also stock Halo’s Hush™ branded cartridges and pre-rolls. Ms. Field commented further, “Not only will the opening of Noho significantly increase our topline net revenue but, furthermore, the Company expects to increase profit before tax margins by stocking up to twenty percent of Budega shelf space with Halo brands and products.”

Story continues

California remains the highest-grossing state for cannabis retail sales in the United States but also has among the lowest per capita density among other mature recreational markets. There are only approximately 250 licenses3 in Los Angeles County for a population of 3.9 million across 500 square miles, compared to Oregon, which has a population of 4.3 million people and approximately 800 stores4 across 98,466 square miles5. In California, licensed cannabis shops offering legal goods are sparsely scattered across the state. There are roughly two per 100,000 people, one of the lowest rates in the nation among states that support legal recreational sales. By comparison, Oregon has 18 retail shops for every 100,000 residents. Colorado boasts a similar ratio, and Washington state’s rate is more than triple California’s6.

1 https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-11-17/district-noho-housing-office-retail-transit-complex-planned-north-hollywood

2 Based on a standard 12-month ramp based on Management’s experience in space and considering standard proforma matrix, time to saturate market with branding and consumer awareness. The topline projection number were arrived at Management’s retail algorithm using known market factors/conditions, size of store, historical data, traffic counts and estimated market / consumer size and other data sources.

3 Downloaded from DCC license database https://search.cannabis.ca.gov/.

4 Downloaded from https://www.oregon.gov/olcc/marijuana/Pages/Marijuana-Market-Data.aspx

5 Population figure sources include US Census Bureau. Square miles are sourced from https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/los-angeles-ca-population.

6 https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/23/california-legal-illicit-weed-market-516868

About Halo Collective Inc.

Halo is a leading, vertically integrated cannabis company that cultivates, extracts, manufactures, and distributes quality cannabis flower, oils, and concentrates and has sold approximately eleven million grams of oils and concentrates since inception. The Company continues to expand its business and scale efficiently, partnering with trustworthy leaders in the industry who value Halo’s operational expertise in bringing top-tier products to market.

Halo currently operates in the United States in Oregon and California. The Company sells cannabis products principally to dispensaries in the U.S. under its brands Hush™, Mojave, and Exhale, and under license agreements with Papa’s Herb®, DNA Genetics, Terphogz, and FlowerShop*, a cannabis lifestyle and conceptual wellness brand that includes G-Eazy as a partner and key member.

As part of continued expansion and vertical integration in the U.S., Halo boasts several grow operations throughout Oregon and two planned in California. In Oregon, the Company has a combined 11 acres of owned and contracted outdoor and green house cultivation, including East Evans Creek, a six-acre grow site in Jackson County with four licenses owned and operated by Halo and two third-party licenses under contract to sell all of their product to Halo; Winberry Farms, a one-acre grow site located 30 miles outside of Eugene in Lane County with a license owned and operated by Halo; and William’s Wonder Farms, a three-acre grow site in Applegate Valley, under contract to sell all of its product to Halo pending the closing of Halo’s acquisition of its licenses and business assets. Halo has recently acquired Food Concepts LLC, a master tenant of a 55,000 square foot indoor cannabis cultivation, processing, and wholesaling facility in Portland, Oregon operated by the Pistil Point entities.

In California, the Company is building out Ukiah Ventures, a planned 30,000 square foot indoor cannabis grow and processing facility, which aims to include up to an additional five acres of industrial land to expand the site. Recently, Halo partnered with Green Matter in California to purchase the Farm in Lake County, developing up to 63 acres of cultivation, comprising one of the largest licensed single site grows in California. Halo also plans to expand its operations in California by opening three dispensaries under the Budega™ brand in North Hollywood, Hollywood, and Westwood.

In Canada, Halo acquired three KushBar retail cannabis stores located in Alberta as a first in its planned entry into the Canadian market, leveraging its Oregon and California brands. With the KushBar retail stores as a foundation, the Company plans to expand its foothold in Canada.

Halo has also acquired a range of software development assets, including CannPOS, Cannalift, and, more recently, CannaFeels. In addition, Halo owns the discrete sublingual dosing technology, Accudab. The Company intends to spin-off these assets and its intellectual property and patent applications into its subsidiary Halo Tek Inc. and expects to complete a distribution to shareholders on a record date to be determined by Halo.

Halo recently completed the sale of certain of its non-U.S. operations to Akanda Corp., whose mission is to provide high-quality and ethically sourced medical cannabis products to patients worldwide. As an independent company, Akanda is seeking to deliver on this promise while driving positive change in wellness, empowering individuals in Lesotho, and uplifting the quality of the lives of employees and the local communities where it operates, all while limiting its carbon footprint. Akanda combines the scaled production capabilities of Bophelo Bioscience & Wellness Pty. Ltd., a Lesotho-based cultivation and processing campus located in the world’s first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) containing a cannabis cultivation operation, with distribution and route-to-market efficiency of CanMart Ltd., UK-based fully approved pharmaceutical importer, and distributor that supplies pharmacies and clinics within the UK. With a potential maximum licensed canopy area of 200 hectares (495 acres), Bophelo has scalability that is arguably unmatched in the world today. Following the sale, Halo is Akanda’s largest shareholder.

For further information regarding Halo, see Halo’s disclosure documents on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Connect with Halo Collective: Email | Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Statements [NTD: To be updated once finalized]

This press release contains certain “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and may also contain statements that may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only Halo’s beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of Halo’s control. Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “plans”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will be taken”, “will continue”, “will occur” or “will be achieved”. Forward-looking information may relate to anticipated events or results including, but not limited to the anticipated licensing and opening of the Company’s Budega-branded retail dispensaries in California and the prospects thereof, management’s plans regarding its portfolio of cannabis businesses, the Company’s expansion plans regarding Canada, the expected size and capabilities of the final facility planned at Ukiah Ventures, the size of Halo’s planned cultivation facility in Northern California, and the ability of Bophelo and Canmart to serve the UK market and the proposed spin-off by Halo Tek Inc.

By identifying such information and statements in this manner, Halo is alerting the reader that such information and statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such information and statements. In addition, in connection with the forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release, Halo has made certain assumptions. Although Halo believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information and statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and statements, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information and statements. Among others, the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information and statements are the following: inability of management to successfully integrate the operations of acquired businesses, changes in the consumer market for cannabis products, changes in the expected outcomes of the proposed changes to Halo’s operations, delays in obtaining required licenses or approvals necessary for the build-out of Oregon operations, dispensaries or Canadian operations, the proposed spin-out with Halo Tek Inc., delays or unforeseen costs incurred in connection with construction, the ability of competitors to scale operations in Northern California, delays or unforeseen difficulties in connection with the cultivation and harvest of Halo’s raw material, changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; and the other risks disclosed in the Company’s annual information form dated March 31, 2021 and other disclosure documents available on the Company’s profile at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information or statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.

The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and Halo does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and/or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking information and statements attributable to Halo or persons acting on its behalf is expressly qualified in its entirety by this notice.

Third Party Information

This press release includes market and industry data that has been obtained from third party sources, including industry publications. The Company believes that the industry data is accurate and that its estimates and assumptions are reasonable, but there is no assurance as to the accuracy or completeness of this data. Third party sources generally state that the information contained therein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but there is no assurance as to the accuracy or completeness of included information. Although the data is believed to be reliable, the Company has not independently verified any of the data from third party sources referred to in this press release or ascertained the underlying economic assumptions relied upon by such sources

Non-Solicitation

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell nor the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

Halo today announced that it has received approval from the Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation to commence adult-use sales at its Budega-branded retail dispensary in Arts District of North Hollywood (“NoHo”) (CNW Group/Halo Collective Inc.)

www.haloco.com (CNW Group/Halo Collective Inc.)

SOURCE Halo Collective Inc.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2022/15/c6484.html