
The company is actively trying to stem growing losses.
The company is actively trying to stem growing losses.
The Daily Hit is a recap of the top financial news stories for May 1, 2023.
Oregon Audit Forces State Official to Resign Cannabis Consultancy
Oregon’s secretary of state on Monday cut ties with a marijuana business she’d been consulting with after the business arrangement came to light following a state audit of Oregon’s cannabis industry. Read more here.
Cookies Partner Says 1 of 2 Lawsuits Dismissed, Blasts Press Coverage
A business partner of California-based global cannabis brand Cookies on Friday vigorously defended the company leadership following news last week of two pending lawsuits against the business and several of its executives. Read more here.
Akerna Sells Cannabis Assets to MJ Freeway Acquisition Corp. for $5M
Marijuana tech firm Akerna (Nasdaq: KERN) agreed to sell its cannabis-focused software assets to a special purpose acquisition company known as MJ Freeway Acquisition Co. for $5 million, a bid that a few weeks ago sidelined another potential buyer, POSaBIT. Read more here.
Cannabis Testing Lab Accuses Michigan of ‘Stonewalling’ Evidence Disclosure in Recall Fight
Bay City-based Viridis North LLC and the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency have been wrapped up in litigation for two years over the recall of products tested by the lab. The state agency alleged Viridis’ testing results on 64,000 pounds of marijuana product contained “inaccurate and/or unreliable results.” The value of the recalled product at the time was roughly $229 million. Read more here.
Today’s Cannabis Earnings
• Acreage Holdings Posts Flat Q4 Sales in Solid 2022
• BZAM Reports Rising Revenue, But Also A Short Runway On Cash
• Cansortium Revenue Jumps In Fourth Quarter
• Curaleaf Posts $370 Million Loss for 2022
• PharmaCielo Sees Sales Jump In The Fourth Quarter
Jones Soda
One of the nation’s most popular craft soda companies is ready to roll out a line of cannabis-infused drinks in Michigan. The Jones Soda Company’s “Mary Jones” will be made available soon in Michigan, Washington and Nevada. Read more here.
AVD (Advanced Vapor Devices)
The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled definitively in favor of U.S. cannabis vaporization company AVD (Advanced Vapor Devices) in a year-long patent infringement investigation initiated by Chinese e-cigarette maker Shenzhen Smoore Technology Limited, which owns CCELL. Read more here.
PharmaCielo Ltd. (TSXV: PCLO) (OTCQX: PCLOF), the Canadian parent of Colombia’s premier cultivator and producer of dried flower and medicinal-grade cannabis extracts, PharmaCielo Colombia Holdings S.A.S., released its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2022. The company reported $1.5 million in sales for the quarter versus last year’s $339k for the same time period. This was also much higher than the third quarter revenue of $475k. The net loss for the quarter was trimmed to $2.9 million versus last year’s net loss of $4.1 million for the same time period. All figures are in Canadian dollars.
For the full year, PharmaCielo had revenue of $5.3 million versus $1.9 million in 2021. The net loss for the year was also cut to $14.5 million versus 2021’s net loss of $26.6 million.
Bill Petron, Chairman and CEO of PharmaCielo, commented, “Against an environment in 2022 that was challenging for all cannabis companies, our team succeeded in growing revenue by almost three-times our 2021 results, while bringing Sales, General and Administrative expenses down by over 40% compared to last year. There were many positive developments during the year, including the opening of psychoactive flower export from Colombia, which we see as a massive opportunity for PharmaCielo. Our fully built-out facilities, ability to scale quickly and structural cost advantage position us as a formidable competitor to EU imports from Canada and other producing countries. We expect to continue shifting our sales mix toward dried flower and higher value Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients during 2023, while growing revenue as a whole. Likewise, we will maintain strict cost discipline and a focus on efficiency, in order to move the Company closer to generating profitability and cash flow. The opportunity ahead of us is large, and while the evolution of the market is still in its early stages, I am confident that we have the right team in place to build a very profitable business, while generating returns for shareholders.”
In 2022, the company reported it reduced its Adjusted EBITDA loss from $16.4 million in 2021 to $7.2 million. Management also said it continues to focus on reducing discretionary expenses to lower the Company’s use of cash and ensure a leaner organization with a lower cost base, while continuing to invest in the sales team, to drive top line growth. PharmaCielo has recently initiated additional steps in this ongoing efficiency plan, which it expects will result in a reduction of its annualized fixed costs by approximately 25% compared to 2022.
PharmaCielo had cash equivalents of $0.2 million on December 31, 2022 versus $5.3 million on December 31, 2021. On August 30, 2022, the company announced that its previously disclosed non-brokered private placement of debenture units was oversubscribed, with a total of $15.1 million raised or committed. In 2023, year-to-date, the company has raised $1,510,000 as part of the third tranche of the offering.
The company said that it has re-focused PharmaCielo’s product strategy to emphasize THC broad-spectrum products, as well as dried flower. These products are expected to have long-term high-margin profiles that are more sustainable than CBD isolate. The Company has had several recent wins, including a sales agreement with a Brazilian Phyto-therapeutic customer for a proprietary CBD derivative formulation; a shipment of CBD full spectrum oil and to another Brazilian customer; a shipment of 300kg of CBD Full Spectrum Oil to a Spanish pharmaceutical company; and an agreement to supply THC final products to be commercialized in Germany. Most recently, PharmaCielo received ICANN G.A.P & GACP Certifications, which open commercial access to the Israeli market. The company said it expects to begin shipping dried flower to Israel in the second half of 2023.
Sales drop dramatically from the second quarter.
It’s time for your Daily Hit of cannabis financial news for June 6, 2019.
Cresco Capital Partners (Cresco Capital) announced today that it has closed an oversubscribed fund of $60 million. Founded in 2014, Cresco Capital was one of the first and largest private equity firms to focus solely on the legal cannabis industry.
Italy’s top court has banned the sale of cannabis products, on the heels of threats by the country’s deputy prime minister to close shops who sell legal derivatives of the plant. Deputy Prime Minister and far-right League leader Matteo Salvini had declared war on so-called “cannabis light” shops in the run up to the European Parliament elections.
Harborside Inc. has announced that it has filed its listing statement with the Canadian Securities Exchange and that it will begin trading shares of the company on June 10, 2019 under the ticker symbol “HBOR.” “The start of trading represents a significant milestone for Harborside, and we’re grateful for the support that we’ve received from the CSE throughout the process,” said Harborside CEO Andrew Berman. “We’re excited to move forward as a public company, with a vehicle that attracts growth capital from new investors, and continue maintaining Harborside’s status as California’s premier cannabis operator.”
PharmaCielo Ltd. (TSXV: PCLO) has entered into an implementation agreement to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares and listed options of the global medical cannabis company Creso Pharma Ltd. for A$122 million. Under the agreement, PharmaCielo will pay A$0.63 per share, which is a premium of 50% over the closing trading price of the Creso Pharma shares on May 31, 2019. “PharmaCielo’s acquisition of Creso Pharma, harnessing the synergies between us, creates a combined company that is poised to become a global powerhouse in the medicinal cannabis industry,” said David Attard, CEO of PharmaCielo. “Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company will quadruple our global footprint with presence in more than a dozen countries spanning North and Latin America, Switzerland, Europe, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.”
Aleafia Health Inc. (TSX: ALEF) (OTC: ALEAF) (FRA: ARAH) reports that it is offering 35,000 convertible debenture units of the company, at a price of $1,000 per unit, for a total of $35 million. Leading the offering is Mackie Research Capital Corporation and BMO Capital Markets, which is acting on behalf of a syndicate of agents including Canaccord Genuity Corp. The proceeds of the offering will be used for working capital requirement and other general corporate purposes.
Medicine Man Technologies, Inc. (OTCQX: MDCL) has entered into a securities purchase agreement for the sale of up to $14 million of the company’s common stock from an affiliate of the private equity firm Dye Capital & Company. The company will use the proceeds to fund growth initiatives. The company also announced a series of pending acquisitions, including MedPharm Holdings, Colorado’s first licensed cannabis research & phytopharmaceutical company; Medicine Man Denver; Los Sueños Farms, North America’s largest sustainable cannabis farm; and Mesa Organics, a cannabis products manufacturing company. “Dye Capital is the right partner for our Company with a unique set of skills and experience in merger and acquisition transactions, integration experience, and scaling operations. Our entire team is excited about teaming with Dye Capital,” said Medicine Man Technologies Co-Founder and CEO Andy Williams.
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