The Week In Cannabis: Aphria Earnings, Canopy's Distribution Deal, And A Big Conference

Market Trading EssentialsOctober 16, 2020

5 minutes read

This was an exciting week for the cannabis industry, marked by the ninth edition of the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference.

Benzinga’s last big cannabis event of 2020 took place virtually, featuring almost 100 speakers from all around the world. Read some of the key takeaways:

In other news, Aphria Inc. (TSX: APHA) (NASDAQ: APHA) achieved record gross revenue of CA$69.6 million in the first quarter. That’s up by 23% compared to the previous period. It was the Leamington, Ontario-based company’s sixth consecutive quarter of growth.

“Our strong first-quarter results reflect the continued robust growth and development of Aphria’s adult-use cannabis brands in Canada,” explained chairman and CEO Irwin Simon. See the full results here. Following the results, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Pablo Zuanic named Aphria his top stock pick among Canadian LPs.

Canopy Growth Corp. (NYSE: CGC) (TSE: WEED) announced a new distribution partnership with two major alcohol distributors: Reyes Beer Division and Manhattan Beer. The company will leverage these partnerships to bring its sports hydration brand, BioSteel, to U.S. consumers in a ready-to-drink format.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE: ACB) opted to part ways with Australia-based Cann Group. The Canadian cannabis company sold its 12% stake via off-market trades “to a small number of undisclosed buyers.

Aurora is also selling its assets in Uruguay, per MJ Biz Daily. Alejandro Antalich, the CEO overseeing the company’s South American operations, exited the company, the report continued. Both developments came on the heels of Aurora’s fourth-quarter earnings report.

ETFs were mostly down. Over the five trading days of the week:

The ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (NYSE: MJ): lost 3.6%
The AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF (NYSE: YOLO): was down 2%
The Cannabis ETF (NYSE: THCX): tumbled 2.9%
The Amplify Seymour Cannabis ETF (NYSE: CNBS): closed the week down 4.4%
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY) was up 0.8%

More News

MedMen Enterprises Inc. (CSE: MMEN) (OTCQX: MMNFF) announced a net revenue decline of 40% to $27.4 million in the fourth quarter. Indus Holdings Inc. (CSE: INDS) (OTCQX: INDXF), Flower One Holdings Inc. (CSE: FONE) (OTCQX: FLOOF), cbdMD Inc. (NYSE: YCBD) and Harborside Inc. (CSE: HBOR) (OTCQX: HBORF) reported preliminary results.

See details on all of these results and more on Benzinga Cannabis’ Earnings Center.

“The new trend seems to be cannabis companies releasing unaudited preliminary earnings that only talk about revenues,” Green Market Report CEO Debra Borchardt told Benzinga. “These companies neglect to say anything about profits or losses, which means they have net losses. It’s pretty annoying because the companies hope to get lift in the stock price because they only spin the revenue figures. It also means two different press releases because they’ll have to officially announce the real earnings. Hopefully this trend will burn itself out as companies mature.”

Greenlane Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: GNLN) will be distributing Marley Natural accessories worldwide. This is an exclusive deal that will bring the iconic brand to specialty locations in Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Europe. The Marley Natural accessories line pays homage to the legacy of Bob Marley, the musical pioneer and activist who is synonymous with cannabis culture.

“Greenlane is excited to expand Marley Natural’s footprint and introduce its subtle, yet intuitive collections to retail shelves worldwide. As an iconic heritage brand, Marley Natural holds a deep-rooted connection to both cannabis and music. This distribution expansion is just one of many ways Greenlane continues to grow and reach communities on a global scale,” Eric Hammond, VP of Greenlane Brands, told Benzinga.

Shield Compliance, a compliance management platform for banking legal marijuana-related businesses (MRBs), partnered with Credit Union 1. Besides providing a full range of banking services to MRBs, Credit Union 1 extends its services to MRB employees, including mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, home equity loans, and other financial services.

“We’ve always seen it as our responsibility to provide banking services to the community, especially to customers who are underserved,” Todd Gunderson, President and CEO of Credit Union 1 said. “Supporting cannabis companies operating in a legal environment seems to fit the exact definition of that mission. As we developed our cannabis banking program, we made it very clear to regulators and other stakeholders that we would create transparency. We want to help the states of Illinois and Nevada track funds, so they get the full tax revenue from the sale of legal cannabis, while also reducing the amount of cash on the streets to help remove the criminal element.”

Some of world’s most awarded and sought after cannabis strains have arrived in Michigan with the launch of SKYMINT x DNA Genetics. Available at SKYMINT adult-use retail locations throughout the state, the collaboration features a premium collection of seven flower strains, all of which have won multiple national and international best-in-class awards.

“All signs suggest that when it comes to cannabis in Michigan, the SKY is the limit. We not only have the fastest growing recreational market per capita outside of California, but we also have world-class, homegrown, premium cannabis. Our SKYMINT x DNA Genetics collaboration is a perfect example. It’s literally the best cannabis currently available in Michigan,” Skymint Brands CEO Jeff Radway said.

Benzinga Cannabis’ content is now available in Spanish on El Planteo.

Cbd.mg released the “Hemp CBD Consumer Price Data Report.” It analyzed 150 CBD products from 47 different brands in an effort to help answer the surprisingly complex question of how much CBD costs.

Data points studied include the price per milligram of CBD tinctures, capsules and gummies and which U.S state the hemp was sourced from. The study concluded with hypotheses about how the CBD market will evolve going into 2021.

“After spending so much time in the weeds, I am very bullish on the CBD industry. It’s starting to mature. You can tell that the top companies are making a concerted effort to improve their product offerings and provide more affordable CBD products to the end-consumer,” said Matt Aaron, chief data officer at cbd.mg.

Vertosa announced new brand partnerships:

SHOKi Beverages, Corp., a Black and women-owned beverage and lifestyle brand that creates spirit-free, THC-infused cocktails;
Cann, one of the first low-dose cannabis-infused beverages;
Good Stuff Tonics;
Lucent Botanicals.

Hawaii-based Mana Artisan Botanics, a plastic-negative CBD company, enrolled in rePurpose Global’s “One for One Impact Guarantee Program.” It has committed to funding the collection, processing, and reuse of one pound of ocean-bound plastic waste for every product it sells.

“Our company supports regenerative farming practices and sources most of our ingredients from local farmers in Hawaii to reduce our carbon footprint while supporting our local economy,” said Mana Artisan Botanics co-founder Steve Sakala. “We only allow the absolutely necessary parts of our packaging, such as the outer piece of the dropper, to be made from plastic and are looking for other alternatives for those as well.”

Surfside released wider availability of Motion Signals, its proprietary data-led platform that allows cannabis brands and advertisers to access consumer-level insights such as purchases, visitation, demographics and behaviors associated directly with their online and offline customer data.

“This new capability will enable cannabis companies to significantly increase profitability, gain competitive advantage, and utilize technology that has otherwise only been available to major retailers,” said Surfside co-founder Michael Blanche. “We want to encourage clients to take creative reign of their datasets while maintaining ownership and portability as they begin to derive value from their data across different marketing and business efforts.”