Standard Wellness Holdings LLC secured a $14 million senior secured credit facility from Advanced Flower Capital (NASDAQ: AFCG), the companies announced Thursday.

The vertically integrated cannabis company will use the funding to refinance existing debt, including full repayment of its debt facility with Focus Growth Capital Partners and early repayment of a seller note with Columbia Care, according to the announcement. That debt was incurred when Standard Wellness acquired the Cannabist dispensary in Springville, Utah.

Additionally, the funds will fully finance the acquisition of a dispensary license in St. Louis, though that acquisition remains subject to regulatory approval.

The new credit facility bears an interest rate of 12.5% with AFC, a longstanding lender to the cannabis industry, specifically privately owned companies.

Kyle Ciccarello, CFO of Standard Wellness, said the repayment of the Focus Growth debt and early retirement of the Columbia Care note “reflect Standard Wellness’s proactive approach to managing its financial obligations and optimizing its capital structure.”

The AFC credit facility will help Standard streamline its debt structure, eliminate legacy obligation and invest in strategic acquisitions, according to Maloof.

The St. Louis dispensary acquisition is described as a key component of the company’s long-term growth strategy.

Founded in 2017 in Ohio, Standard Wellness operates across Ohio, Missouri and Utah, and has cultivation, processing and dispensary licenses in Maryland. The company operates five retail locations under The Forest brand and employs approximately 350 people.

Standard made the first-ever legal marijuana sale in Ohio through its dispensary The Forest Sandusky and completing the first delivery to a Utah pharmacy in February 2020, according to the company.

Gramercy Capital Group LLC (through INTE Securities LLC) served as financial advisor, while Feuerstein Kulick LLP acted as legal counsel to Standard Wellness.

Advanced Flower Capital, formerly AFC Gamma, (NASDAQ: AFCG) announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended Dec. 31, 2024.

AFC reported a net loss of $1 million, or 5 cents per basic weighted average common share, and distributable earnings of $6.3 million, or 29 cents per basic weighted average common share, for the fourth quarter of 2024. This fell from 2023’s fourth-quarter distributable earnings of $10 million or 49 cents. The company declared a dividend of 33 cents for the fourth quarter, which also fell from last year’s fourth-quarter dividend of 48 cents.

For the full year, the company reported GAAP net income of $16.8 million, or 78 cents per basic weighted average common share, and distributable earnings of $34.9 million, or $1.68 per basic weighted average common share. This was a drop from 2023’s distributable earnings of $41.4 million or $2.04.

The company’s interest income for 2024 was $51.9 million versus 2023’s interest income of $70.2 million. Total expenses fell from $22.3 million in 2023 to $17.2 million in 2024.

The company said in its filing that the interest income decreased by approximately $18.3 million, or 26%, for 2024 versus 2023.

“This decrease was driven by lower interest income of approximately ($17.9) million driven by Subsidiary of Private Company G, Private Company K and Private Company A on nonaccrual status during fiscal year 2024, lower interest income of approximately ($7.7) million driven by less capital deployed relating to loan exits and prepayments, partially offset by higher fee income of approximately $3.8 million driven by loan exits and prepayments during the year ended December 31, 2024, and higher OID income of approximately $3.5 million due to the acceleration of unaccreted OID of current year loan exits and prepayments during the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2023, respectively.”

“We believe that the capital supply and demand imbalance in the cannabis sector will remain in the medium-term, given the Republican sweep in November and the lack of progress on Federal reform. This provides the opportunity for AFC to deploy capital into deals with strong risk adjusted returns,” stated Daniel Neville, AFC’s chief executive officer.

He added, “We continue to put capital preservation at the forefront of our investments and remain disciplined on providing debt capital in a challenging environment for operators. As we have done over the last year and plan to do in the coming year, we continue to focus on diversifying our portfolio and providing debt capital to operators who have previous success executing in the cannabis industry.”

AFC told investors that during 2024 it funded approximately $128.8 million of new loans and additional principal, had approximately $53.4 million of principal repayments of loans held at carrying value and sold $90 million in the aggregate of our investments in the Subsidiary of Public Company H and Subsidiary of Public Company M.

On March 11, the company declared a regular cash dividend of 23 cents per common share for the first quarter of 2025. This is a huge drop from last year’s first-quarter dividend of 48 cents per share.

Privately held multistate operator Story Cannabis received a second cash infusion from Florida-based Advanced Flower Capital (Nasdaq: AFCG), formerly known as AFC Gamma, to the tune of $15 million, which it intends to use to fund more expansion in Ohio.

The loan – which was technically awarded to an Ohio-specific subsidiary of Arizona-based Story – comes less than half a year after AFC also loaned Story $41 million to build out operations in Maryland in October.

AFC CEO Daniel Neville said in a press release that Story has proven itself as one of the more creditworthy companies in the U.S. marijuana trade, with a team that has “consistently executed in a volatile cannabis market.”

The new $15 million loan was secured by the value of licenses held by Story in both Ohio and Georgia, along with real estate the company owns in both states, as collateral. The funds will be used to purchase and build out new dispensaries in Ohio, Story said in a release.

Story also has a footprint in New Jersey, according to the company website.

The cash infusion news comes at a time when capital has been scarce for U.S. cannabis companies, with more and more companies choosing to rely on debt financing over selling equity stakes. Those financial struggles have also hit home for AFC, which reported a sharp decline in cannabis industry income in the third quarter last year.