And considering the dynamics out there, our other complementary business lines supporting our brick-and-mortar businesses, our e-commerce platforms catering to the consumption accessories business, which remain very healthy because we have one of the — some of the most searchable websites in the world when it comes to consumption accessories. So what we were talking about here is we are going to slow down on larger M&A transactions such as we have conducted in 2021. We explored many opportunities in 2022 but did not press the trigger on it, considering what was happening in the macro markets and given inflationary times that we’re all living in and how it’s affecting the macro environment and how it’s affecting CBD sales and other items because consumers have to prioritize their spending.
So we’re just moving down on that portion of the business. Our brick-and-mortar is going very strong. Our strategy is working. And like I said, we have a ton of inbound opportunities. These are not also — we’re not even soliciting 10 groups that we want to do M&A. But given the right opportunity, the right location — locations are very critical to us. If we get the right anchor locations we are looking for, we know when we put our model in there, it’s going to do twice as much better. Like I mentioned, our Alberta average sales are over 2 times the average unit sales in Alberta, provincial average, and almost 3 times Ontario average. So we’re going to continue on that trajectory, build upon our 87% of our core brick-and-mortar business accretive M&A, and the rest to organic growth.
But we are going to slow down on online opportunities unless we get a very good one that we cannot refuse at a very, very good multiple. So that’s where we’re at right now.
Andrew Partheniou: I appreciate that clarification. Thank you. And for my second question, just maybe following on something that you mentioned here. I’m talking about valuation multiples. I think, last year, you paid somewhere under one-time sales on average and between 4.5 to 5 times EBITDA for your stores. I’m wondering what are you seeing in terms of multiples now, and what your thresholds might be? And also attached to that is, how are you thinking about funding these? You just announced a credit agreement, and considering last year, I think only two had cash components — two transactions
Raj Grover: Correct. So Andrew, just for clarification, most of our deals last year were between 3.5 and 4 times EBITDA. Most of them were conducted in Ontario and Saskatchewan and also some in Alberta. But only the one deal that we did in British Columbia was over a 5 multiple. I believe it was 5.25, which is commanded in the BC market because it’s a very limited-license opportunity market. So we’re very disciplined in terms of what we paid for these stores, and we are going to remain very disciplined. And to answer your question on what I see the multiples being this year, if our own stock — in our opinion, our stock is very undervalued at the moment. So — and our stock is, I believe, currently trading at enterprise value to current annual run rate sales multiple of 0.4 times.
And if you take our EBITDA multiples of less than 9 times last quarter, annualized, plus with the addition of Jimmy, so not even including our obvious growth ahead. So, Andrew, we are very mindful in terms of how we do M&A, and the multiples are going to be relevant to where our multiples have come down to. So we may even do better deals than what we’ve done last year, but it doesn’t get a whole lot better at 3.5 times EBITDA. If you looked at any other mature industries, you look at restaurants, you look at retail stores, there’s nothing available for less than 3.5, 4 times EBITDA. I think these are very reasonable multiples to pay, and we are a fair acquirer. So it will remain along those lines. And now, look, there’s two ways of doing M&A, right?
