In this week's "Rising High," The Fly's recurring series focused on cannabis stock news, The Fly looks back at a workforce restructuring, CEO transitions and the receipt of an EU GMP certification.
TILRAY CUTTING 10% OF STAFF: Tilray (TLRY) is cutting roughly 10% of its workforce as the cannabis producer seeks to reduce costs across its global operations in an effort to become profitable, BNN Bloomberg's David George-Cosh reported Tuesday. "Tilray restructured its global organization to meet the needs of the current industry environment and for continued growth in 2020 and beyond," CEO Brendan Kennedy said. "These changes include an approximately 10 per cent reduction in staff. By reducing headcount and cost, Tilray will be better positioned to achieve profitability and be one of the clear winners in the cannabis industry, which will drive value for our investor and employee shareholders." The company has about 1,443 staff globally, which includes workers in Canada, Germany, Portugal, Ireland, the United States, Australia and Czech Republic.
MEDMEN CEO STEPS DOWN: MedMen Enterprises (MMNFF) announced Friday that Adam Bierman, co-founder and CEO has decided to step down from his CEO role. The board of directors is in the process of forming a committee of directors that will be responsible for identifying and appointing a new CEO, it said, adding that the committee expects to consider internal and external candidates and may engage a national search firm to aid in its efforts. In the interim, the board of directors has named COO and CTO Ryan Lissack, as interim CEO. Bierman has agreed to continue to serve on the company's board of directors, including as part of the board to be elected at the company's upcoming shareholder meeting. In addition, Bierman has agreed to surrender all of his Class A super voting shares back to the company.
WEEDMD APPOINTS CEO: WeedMD (WDDMF) announced Tuesday that it has appointed Angelo Tsebelis as CEO, replacing Keith Merker, who has elected to step down from the CEO and board director roles. Responsible for setting the strategic commercialization, and product development initiatives for both WeedMD and Starseed, Tsebelis previously held positions of increasing responsibility with Shoppers Drug Mart and Loblaw Corporation. Additionally, the company announced that its shareholders voted in favor of the resolutions approving the private placement and exercise of subscription receipts with the LiUNA Pension of Central and Eastern Canada for gross proceeds of $25M, which was completed as part of WeedMD's acquisition of Starseed Holdings and the board nomination rights and voting covenants with certain shareholders of the company.
AURORA RECEIVES EU GMP CERTIFICATION: Aurora Cannabis (ACB) announced Monday that its Aurora River production facility, located in Bradford, Ontario, has received European Union Good Manufacturing Practice certification. EU GMP certification is a requirement for the export of medical cannabis products into most European markets. In addition, Aurora has received all necessary approvals from local regulators in Germany for sales of its medical cannabis products, following a temporary sales suspension on certain products in December 2019. Aurora will fulfill existing sales orders from inventory currently held in Germany.
IIPR ACQUIRES GREEN THUMB FACILITY: Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR) announced Monday that it closed on a sale-leaseback transaction with Green Thumb Industries (GTBIF) for its licensed cannabis processing facility in Toledo, Ohio. The purchase price for the property was $2.9M. GTI is also expected to make certain improvements to the property, for which IIP has agreed to provide reimbursement of up to $4.3M. Assuming full reimbursement for such improvements, IIP's total investment in the property will be $7.2M. This sale-leaseback transaction mark IIP's second acquisition and lease with GTI, with a prior sale-leaseback transaction for GTI's licensed medical cannabis cultivation and processing facility in Pennsylvania completed in November of last year.
OTHER CANNABIS STOCKS: Other publicly-traded companies in the space include Akerna (KERN), Aleafia (ALEAF), Aphria (APHA), Biome Grow (BIOIF), CannTrust (CTST), Canopy Growth (CGC), Canopy Rivers (CNPOF), Cresco Labs (CRLBF), Cronos Group (CRON), CV Sciences (CVSI), Delta 9 (VRNDF), DionyMed Brands (DYMEF), Elixinol Global (ELLXF), General Cannabis (CANN), Greenlane (GNLN), GrowGeneration (GRWG), Harborside (HSDEF), Hemp Inc. (HEMP), Hexo (HEXO), India Globalization Capital (IGC), Indiva (NDVAF), ICC International Cannabis (WLDCF), Khiron Life Sciences (KHRNF), Liberty Health Sciences (LHSIF), MediPharm Labs (MEDIF), MJardin (MJARF), Organigram (OGI), Origin House (ORHOF), Planet 13 Holdings (PLNHF), Real Brands (RLBD), Sproutly (SRUTF), Sunniva (SNNVF), Tetra Bio-Pharma (TBPMF), Trulieve (TCNNF), Valens (VLNCF),Vireo Health (VREOF), Wayland Group (MRRCF), WeedMD (WDDMF), Westleaf (WSLFF) and Zynerba (ZYNE).
