Recreational marijuana has been legal in Canada for a short time now. Here is what the CEOs of four of the largest licensed companies dealing with cannabis had to say about how the industry is geared up for the process.
The interviews are from the Financial Post.
Aphria is a Canadian medical cannabis company. It is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and has a market capitalisation of $3 billion. It’s President and Chief executive officer Vic Neufeld said the company had enough product to meet supply commitments in the long term and that it is actively building facility to meet new demand. Aphria is also using all types of automated methods to keep the number of employees low. The delay in the first day of sales has helped out the entire cannabis industry; he said since companies have had more time to prepare for launches.
Aurora Cannabis is a Canadian licensed marijuana producer, headquartered in Vancouver, BC, with additional offices in Edmonton, Pointe-Claire, and Toronto. It trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange as ACB and has a market cap of around $4.8 billion. Its CEO Terry Booth said they were in good shape regarding the product to meet supply commitment. Facility building is on schedule, and the Aurora hopes to see more product availability. “If we’re going to truly compete with the grey market and the black market as per Trudeau and the Liberal government’s mandate, then we need to be able to provide some more products, and that includes your vapable oil and your edibles.” The company also has international demand and said it was not too concerned about recreational use being delayed a bit.
Canopy Growth Corporation, formerly Tweed Marijuana Inc, is a medical marijuana company based in Smiths Falls, Ontario. It trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange as WEED. Its CEO Bruce Linton said the company produces more cannabis than any other company. Canopy Growth has about $100 million of inventory and is ramping up production. “About three weeks ago, we took an aircraft full of baby plants to our 1.3 million square foot greenhouse in British Columbia. Our other greenhouse is now getting closer to being 1 million square feet, and we have 650,000 square feet of other stuff,” Bruce Linton said.
“We have inventory and the ability to expand inventory.” He added. The company had a staff of around 500 people a year ago and has since added around 250 new employees and is looking at adding more employees.
MedReleaf, which has an approximate market cap of $1.8 billion, said it has enough to initially supply all those retailers that will want to put MedReleaf product on their shelves. “The million-dollar question is how quickly is it going to sell through? How many stores are they going to have open in July versus October? You look at Ontario, for example. They say they’re going to have 40 stores, acknowledging though that in three years they’re going to have 120 stores. Are people going to be willing to stand in line for hours at one of these 40 stores? Or are they just going to say, ‘To heck with it, I’m just going to wait another year before they open up 40 more’? We don’t know.” Its CEO Neil Closner said. The company has launched a beer, San Rafael 71 and has a licensing deal with Woodstock.
