/R E P E A T -- Halo Collective Announces Preliminary Results for North Hollywood Dispensary and Sets Date for Westwood Dispensary Grand Opening/

All Figures in U.S. Dollars Unless Otherwise Stated

TORONTO, May 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Halo Collective Inc. ("Halo" or the "Company") (NEO: HALO) (OTCQB: HCANF) (Germany: A9KN) today announced continued progress in its Budega retail growth strategy in Los Angeles, including strong preliminary store level performance for its first dispensary in North Hollywood (NOHO) and a firm "Grand Opening" date for its second dispensary in Westwood on May 27, 2022.

Budega North Hollywood ("NOHO") is generating strong store level performance highlighted by a nearly 300% increase in gross sales in April as compared to the first month of operations in March. NOHO's growth is being driven by positive trends in store metrics such as foot traffic, ticket numbers and basket size. Additionally, 96% of customers are enrolling in Budega's loyalty program. To further improve store performance Halo is planning the imminent full launch of Budega Delivery which the Company anticipates will add 33% to topline sales¹.

Commented Beau McKeon, SVP of Retail Operations, "Budega Noho is off to a promising start in only its second month of operation, with gross sales tripling and almost all of our customers joining our loyalty program. It's clear that the community has welcomed us as a new neighbor, and we continue to build momentum with market share."

Halo is pleased to announce that the grand opening of Budega Westwood is scheduled for May 27. This will be the second Budega location in Los Angeles. The Westwood dispensary is ideally situated in a dynamic and heavily trafficked area, boasting over 161,000 daily vehicles within three blocks. Westwood is a central regional district for shopping, dining, movie theaters, and other entertainment. Additionally, neighboring Century City is one of the most prominent employment centers in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, with a workforce of approximately 244,000².

Halo has continued to evolve and innovate Budega's in-store customer experience, elevating the normal "weed" transaction. The Company's marketing and store operations teams have collaborated and executed captivating campaigns like "Weed Love to Meet You" that invite, inspire and compel customers to make Budega part of their daily routine. Additionally, Budega continues to offer a product assortment exceeding 1,000 SKUs, including many top-tier California brands such as Jungle Boys, Cookies, Kiva and the customer favorite Budega-branded product lineup. Budega dispensaries will also stock Halo's Hush™ branded cartridges, gummies, and pre-rolls.

Added Katie Field, President of Halo, "Budega's early success is due to our laser focus on guest service standards and commitment to providing vast product assortment. By placing customers first and creating an inviting and welcoming shopping experience, we have instilled loyalty and for that we are deeply grateful. We expect that by building our customer relationships local market share will continue to shift to Budega."

Both the North Hollywood and Westwood stores operate Monday through Sunday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Visit www.budega.com for more information.

Halo is a multi-national, incubation company with assets and operations centered in both THC and non-THC sectors. For the THC sector, Halo is focused on the West Coast of the United States where it has vertically integrated operations covering the entire value chain from seed to sale. Halo cultivates, extracts, manufactures, and distributes quality cannabis flower, pre-rolls, vape carts, edibles, and concentrates. Halo sells these products under a portfolio of brands including Hush™, Winberry Farms™, Williams Wonder Farms, its retail brand Budega™, and under license agreements with Papa's Herb®, DNA Genetics, and FlowerShop*. Halo has opened a dispensary in Los Angeles under the Budega™ brand in North Hollywood and plans to open two more in Hollywood, and Westwood in the second quarter of 2022. Halo also operates three Kushbar retail cannabis stores located in Alberta, Canada.

In the non-THC sector, Halo is expanding into health and wellness categories including CBD and functional supplements such as nootropic nutraceuticals and non-psychotropic mushrooms. Halo, through a series of acquisitions, has product offerings in the form of beverages (H2C Beverages), dissolvable strips (Dissolve Medical), capsules (Hushrooms™), and topical supplements (Hatshe) with proposed national distribution via a strategic agreement with SWAY Energy Corporation. Halo has entered into a letter of intent to acquire Phytocann Holdings, one of Europe's leading wellness CBD consumer packaged goods companies with a portfolio of value and premium brands including Ivory, Harvest Laboratoires, Easy Weed, Kanolia, Herboristerie Alexandra, Buddies and Ghosty Buds.

As an incubator, Halo has successfully acquired and integrated a variety of companies which were subsequently reorganized to create Akanda Corp. (NASDAQ: AKAN), an international medical cannabis and wellness company, of which Halo currently owns approximately 44% of the common shares. Halo has also acquired a range of software development assets, including CannPOS, Cannalift, CannaFeels, and a discrete sublingual dosing technology, Accudab. Halo intends to reorganize these entities (including their intellectual property and patent applications) into a subsidiary called Halo Tek Inc., and to complete a distribution of the shares of Halo Tek Inc. to shareholders on record, at a date to be determined.

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

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

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.

SOURCE Halo Collective Inc.