Ascend Wellness Holdings Archives - Green Market Report

StaffAugust 8, 2023
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4min00

The Daily Hit is a recap of the top financial news stories for Aug. 8, 2023.

On the Site

Tilray Leans into Beer in All-Cash Deal

Cannabis company Tilray Brands Inc. (Nasdaq: TLRY) (TSX: TLRY) continued to expand its alcohol footprint by acquiring eight beer and beverage brands from Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD) in an all-cash deal. Read more here.

Colorado Audit Finds Lax Cannabis Industry Oversight by State

Colorado state audit requested by lawmakers on inspections of marijuana dispensaries found that regulators hadn’t lived up to their mandate, with oversight spotty and incomplete between 2019 and 2022. Read more here.

Cronos Reports Reduced Revenue, Announces Asset Sale

Cronos Group Inc. (Nasdaq: CRON) (TSX: CRON) delivered its 2023 second-quarter earnings as lower flower sales in Israel caused total revenue to fall to $25.7 million. Cronos also reported a net loss of $8.4 million, withdrew guidance, and announced the sale of assets. Read more here.

Green Thumb Industries Continues Profitable Streak in Q2

While GTI’s latest quarterly performance was an increase from the first quarter, with profits up 46% from Q1’s $9.1 million in income, the numbers are down from the same time period a year ago, when GTI made $24.4 million. Read more here.

More Earnings:

AFC Gamma Falls Short on Revenue as Tenants Skip Rent
Ascend Wellness Delivers Solid Second Quarter
GrowGeneration Sees 15.1% Same-Store Sales Slump
Verano Posts Solid Second Quarter Revenue, Raises Guidance
Weedmaps Returns to the Black in Q2 with $1.9 Million Profit

In Other News

SMRB LLC

A cannabis company own er must pay nearly $700,000 in restitution and civil fines for his role in a scheme that ultimately defrauded investors out of $4.8 million, the Ninth Circuit has ruled, saying it didn’t matter the yacht he bought with investor money was worth less than the amount he “ultimately lost” in the scheme. Read more here.

BYND Cannasoft Enterprises

BYND Cannasoft Enterprises Inc. (Nasdaq: BCAN, CSE: BYND) reported revenue increased 21% to C$251,047 in Q2 2023 from C$207,653 in the same period a year ago. Net loss increased 242% to C$1.1 million. Read more here.

Missouri

Missouri’s application period for microbusinesses will close this week. Next month, the Missouri Lottery will pick six winners from each of the state’s eight congressional districts, for a total of 48 new small business licenses. Read more here.


StaffMay 9, 2023
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4min00

The Daily Hit is a recap of the top financial news stories for May 9, 2023.

On the Site

New Jersey Governor Signs 280E Cannabis Tax Law

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law on Monday to end the state’s unfair tax treatment of cannabis businesses. The legislation, written by the New Jersey Society of CPAs Cannabis Interest Group, decouples cannabis businesses from federal Internal Revenue Code Section 280E and creates a level playing field for cannabis businesses in the state. Read more here.

Illinois Cannabis Sales Stall in April

Illinois marijuana sales growth flattened last month for the first time since the state legalized recreational cannabis in 2020, hurt by declining prices and out-of-state competition. April sales totaled $132 million, compared with $131.8 million in same period a year earlier. Read more here.

Report: MSOs Bogart Market Share

A recent report from data provider BDSA found that big multistate operators dominate the dispensary shelves in mature markets – despite competition for local brands that have commanded local customer loyalty. Read more here.

Weedmaps Loses $4 Million in Q1 Despite Increase in Clientele

California-based WM Technology Inc., better known as Weedmaps, (Nasdaq: MAPS) shrank its losses to $3.9 million for the first quarter of 2023, from more than $31 million lost in the first quarter a year ago, while also increasing its client base by 12% compared to the same time period. Read more here.

More Earnings:

Ascend Wellness Revenues, Losses Improve in Q1
Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Delivers Solid Quarter
Cronos Group Revenue Slips, Updates 2023 Outlook

In Other News

GrowGeneration Corp.

GrowGeneration Corp. (Nasdaq: GRWG) reported first-quarter revenue fell 30.5% year-over-year to $24.9 million. The chain of specialty hydroponic and organic garden centers with 61 locations across 17 states maintained its revenue guidance for 2023 at between $250 million and $270 million. Read more here.

New York

A New York magistrate judge gave state cannabis regulators more time to respond to discovery demands after they claimed to be nearing a draft agreement with the Michigander who is suing over residency requirements for cannabis licenses, despite plaintiff accusations that settlement talks are “mere delay tactics.” Read more here.


StaffMarch 14, 2023
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3min00

The Daily Hit is a recap of the top financial news stories for March 14, 2023.

On the Site

Ascend Increases Revenue in Q4, but Still Not Profitable

New York-based Ascend Wellness Holdings Inc. (CSE: AAWH.U) (OTCQX: AAWH) got leaner and meaner while also expanding its footprint significantly in 2022, but that wasn’t enough to make the company profitable yet. Read more here.

Arkansas Medical Marijuana Sales Surge in First Two Months of 2023

Arkansas medical marijuana patients spent a total of $45.5 million on products in January and February, up 9.6% from the first two months of 2022. The total amount purchased by registered patients in that period was 8,832 pounds. Read more here.

Psychedelic Patent Battle Heats up Between Reunion Neuroscience and Mindset Pharma

Psychedelic clinical research firm Reunion Neuroscience Inc. (NASDAQ: REUN) is taking Mindset Pharma Inc. (OTCQB: MSSTF) to federal court over claims that the company copied its main psychedelic formula and presented it as its own invention while applying for a patent. Read more here.

Politicians at SXSW Suggest Narrow Window for Cannabis Rescheduling

There’s a narrow window for federal cannabis legalization, according to politicians speaking at this year’s SXSW conference in Austin, Texas. During the cannabis track, consultant Andrew DeAngelo challenged his panelists for answers on why federal legalization had not seen any progress. Read more here.

In Other News

Altopa

Altopa Inc., a company that markets a blender designed to blend cannabis oils into drinks, can’t escape a securities suit alleging it deceived investors. A North Carolina federal judge on Monday found that the bulk of the claims that Altopa misled investors were pled well enough to survive a challenge. Read more here.

Connecticut

Combined sales of recreational and medical cannabis in Connecticut totaled more than $18 million in February, the first full calendar month since the Jan. 10 launch of the legalized sale of recreational marijuana in the state. Read more here.


StaffJanuary 25, 2023
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5min00

The Daily Hit is a recap of the top financial news stories for January 25, 2023.

On the Site

New York Approves 30 More Cannabis Retailers

The New York Cannabis Control Board nearly doubled the number of licensed retailers to date during its Wednesday meeting with the approval of 30 new licenses. That brings the statewide total of locations approved so far to 66, with more still on the way. Read more here.

Ascend Wellness Expands into Maryland with $19 Million Acquisition Deal

New York-based Ascend Wellness Holdings (CSE: AAWH.U) (OTCQX: AAWH) announced its expansion into Maryland with its $19 million purchase of Devi Holdings, which runs four operational medical marijuana dispensaries. Read more here.

Michigan Developer Files $60M Lawsuit over Medical Marijuana Permits

Rubicon Real Estate Holdings, its principal Joseph Brown, and Brown Design Consultants allege in the suit filed in Oakland County Circuit Court that the city, and its clerk Garland Doyle, dragged its feet on issuing the permit for nearly four years, causing the developer’s lender to pull its $45 million in loans and led to the loss of several tenants for the proposed development. Read more here.

Apeks Sued For Faulty Extraction Machine Costing $357,000

Apeks is being sued for selling a $357,000 extraction machine that the buyers claim didn’t live up to the sales claims. Ryan Elmore and Warren Blesofsky, owners of California-based medical cannabis business LB Atlantis LLC, bought Apeks’s new “High Production Series” machine, which was marketed as being able to process “nearly 60 pounds of raw material per day when operating for 23 hours per day with a 90% cannabinoid extraction rate.” Read more here.

MariMed Finds $35 Million in New Funds

MariMed, Inc. (CSE: MRMD) (OTCQX: MRMD) has closed on a $35 million secured credit facility, with Chicago Atlantic as the lead lender. MariMed said it has already borrowed $30 million at close and can draw down up to an additional $5 million over the next six months. Read more here.

In Other News

The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd.

The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (CSE: TGOD) (OTC: TGODF) plans to become BZAM Ltd. after its board of directors approved the name change. The move is still subject to regulatory approval including that of the Canadian Securities Exchange. Read more here.

Georgia medical cannabis

The state commission in charge of Georgia’s medical marijuana program adopted a rules Wednesday for the manufacture and sale of low-THC cannabis oil to patients suffering from a variety of diseases. The rules will govern various aspects of the program including the facilities that will produce the oil, the dispensaries where the oil will be sold, and the independent laboratories that will test the product. Read more here.

New York cannabis

The NY Committee on Open Government published an advisory opinion on Jan. 20, after medical marijuana patient Tim Mitchell inquired about the legality of certain Office of Cannabis Management and Dormitory Authority of the State of New York public meeting practices. Read more here.


Adam JacksonNovember 23, 2022
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5min00

Cannabis investment veteran Emily Paxhia has resigned from her post as board member of Ascend Wellness Holdings (CSE: AAWH.U) (OTCQX: AAWH).

The company on Wednesday said that Dan Neville, AWH’s interim co-CEO and CFO, as well as longtime investment strategist Joshua Gold, has been tapped to rotate into the board roster. Gold is a general partner of Boston firms Inverness LLC and Blue Flag Partners LLC. He served as a managing director at Jefferies & Co, as well as in various roles at Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns. Gold was also on the board of the San Diego cannabis boutique chain Urbn Leaf.

In a statement, AWH said that it would be reshuffling its board, “in connection with the company’s ongoing leadership transition.”

“On behalf of the Board and everyone at AWH, we would like to thank Emily for her contributions and dedication during her tenure here,” said former CEO and now executive chairman Abner Kurtin. “Emily was one of our earlier investors and has supported Ascend from the beginning. We wish her the very best in her continued leadership in the industry.” The company went on to say that Paxhia’s resignation letter indicated that her decision to resign from the Board was not the result of any disagreement with the corporation’s operations, policies, or practices.

The news comes weeks since the ex-chief was charged with battery after a witness told authorities that they saw him “striking” his girlfriend while they were parked in a car. Police arrested him later that day based on the witness statement and the marks officers observed on his partner’s head. State prosecutors decided to forgo pursuing criminal charges while Kurtin transitioned to a post as executive chairman of the board.

In a statement after the case dismissal, Kurtin thanked Miami Beach police and the “due process of law,” adding that the two “were involved in a verbal argument that was never physical at any point.”

Domestic violence charges can be dropped if there are questionable facts or if the victim decides not to pursue charges.

“I have apologized to her privately for my verbal actions, and we both moved on with our relationship in a positive manner,” Kurtin said at the time.

Mum was the word from the board of directors as the company launched an internal investigation into the circumstances around his arrest.

“As the company prepares to enter the next phase of its growth story, the board determined that now was the right time to initiate this transition,” the Sept. 6 statement read.

Offering

After the market closed on Tuesday, Ascend filed for an offering to issue  $100 million of shares. The use of proceeds is stated for general corporate purposes, but the company could use the money to make acquisitions. Currently, 36% of the common stock voting power is held by former CEO and Co-Founder Kurtin and the current interim Co-CEO Francis Perullo.

“While we do not have immediate plans to issue Securities under the Registration Statement or the Canadian Prospectus, we deemed it prudent to prepare ourselves to take advantage of markets should they evolve into a more accretive financing alternative,” said Dan Neville, Interim Co-CEO and CFO. “This filing allows us the flexibility to pursue additional financing opportunities should they become in the best interest of our shareholders.”


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