???? BATTLE ROYALE
Battle of the brands
After a lacklustre year in federal cannabis legislation in the US, Amplify Seymour Cannabis ETF manager Tim Seymour told CNBC that 2022 will be all about building brand awareness in the cannabis industry.
Tilray’s Irwin Simon echoed the sentiment: “What do you do in the U.S. while you wait for legalization? You build out brands and categories with adjacency to the cannabis industry like the spirits business, like the beer business, like the food and hemp business,” he said.
The takeaway
Cannabis ETFs dropped by between 20-40% in 2021, and the theory is brand-building will “insulate” public companies against margin pressures. “If you think about valuations for the sector, we come into 2022 cheaper than we went into 2021,” Seymour said. “This is a sector that offers higher growth than many other sectors outside of cannabis at much lower valuations.”
Enjoy Cannabis Daily each morning at 7 a.m.
???? NOT EASY BEING GREEN
Indoor cultivation isn’t so green
Canopy Growth’s new environmental, social and governance (ESG) report reveals that the company’s 2020 emissions were “ equivalent to burning more than 65 million pounds of coal,” reports Mother Jones. Recent reports from Vancouver’s Rubicon Organics and Toronto’s Khiron Life Science reflect a similarly brutal environmental impact.
Why it matters
With investors increasingly looking for higher ESG ratings and sustainability, the pressure is on for cannabis companies to reduce their carbon footprints.
The takeaway
“As we work towards creating sustainable long-term profitability, we’re cognizant of the link between business models that create shared value for a wider stakeholder group being more likely to succeed over time, versus those that operate in the singular pursuit of profit,” explained Canopy’s chief advocacy officer Hilary Black.
GUESS WHO’S BACK
Former Canopy CEO Bruce Linton defends his role at Ruckify
Former Canopy Growth CEO Bruce Linton defended his actions as CEO of now-defunct Ruckify, a peer-to-peer rental marketplace designed to allow people monetize their assets, on LinkedIn.
According to Linton, Ruckify had six months of cash left when he took over, and:
- Under the former CEO, Ruckify generated just $7,000 in rental income
- Gross revenue was slightly higher, but losses were almost $8 million
- The accumulated deficit was more than $14 million
“I could not save Ruckify,” he wrote. “I took over as CEO in January 2021. It had six months of cash remaining. I went so far as self-funding Ruckify until the end of 2021 while restructuring operations and attempting to merge with a viable entity. Still failed.”
The background
According to the post, a co-founder of Ruckify had previously posted the following: “Unfortunately, a year after stepping down, and with the new vision of the co-founder being implemented, which included a new technology stack, a failed acquisition, monthly bookings declines and the inability to raise additional funding, resulted in Rückify having to cease oppositions.” Linton claimed he’d been blocked from seeing the post.
Among the lessons he learned, he said: “Be careful about starting a business with neighbours or friends.”
CBD IN ?????????
Will CBD flower sales remain banned in France?
The hemp and CBD industry will find out if the government ban on CBD flower sales will be overturned by the courts this week, reports BusinessCann.
The Hemp Professional Syndicate and the Union of CBD Professionals (UPCBD) have both formally requested to dismiss the ban on Dec. 31, arguing that it’s an “emergency situation,” with 70% of sales coming from dried flower sales.
“I have dozens of accounting documents which prove that the flower represents two-thirds of sales in our shops,” said lawyer and UPCBD president Charles Morel.
