Cantourage
German-listed cannabis distributor Cantourage informed investors this week that it expects to see ‘double digit’ sales growth and ‘a break-even result at EBITDA level’ in 2023.
The full year guidance came amid the publication of its interim results in which it reported sales of €11.1m in the first half of the year.
This represented growth of around 90% year-on-year, in line with preliminary reports in April of 95% sales growth during its first quarter.
Cantourage also reported modest EBITDA profits for the period of around €200,000, ‘following first-time profitable growth in the first quarter’.
CFO Bernd Fischer said: “For fiscal year 2023 as a whole, we expect sales growth to be in the higher double-digit percentage range compared to the previous year. At the same time, we are aiming to remain operationally profitable.”
He added that the company was also ‘reviewing various financing options including capital market financing’ in order to support future growth.
These funds would be used to enable the company to ‘adapt and innovate’ in the current market, which has seen significant regulatory changes of late.
Specifically, as Business of Cannabis reported earlier this month, Germany’s recently published proposals for a two-pillar cannabis legalisation roll-out would see cannabis removed from the list of narcotic substances, potentially having a significant positive impact on its medical market.
In a press release published earlier this month, Cantourage said it ‘welcomed the new proposals’, adding: “Our ability to manufacture high quality medical cannabis products under these stringent quality requirements puts us in an excellent position to meet the expected higher demand.
“Our platform, along with our extensive partner network, puts us in a strong position to capitalise on such market changes and further establish cannabis from pharmacies.”
Cantourage echoed this in its latest update, in which it said it was ‘well positioned to benefit from such market developments’.
This was further emphasised in early July amid the announcement of a new partnership with Costa Canna, seeing its ‘product portfolio of more than 45 items’ be made available to the German medical market via Cantourage for the first time.
Apollon Formularies
Aquis Stock Exchange-listed Apollon Formularies announced a new ‘exclusive licence agreement’ with South African medical cannabis company PureCann this week.
The deal will see Apollon receive a one-off licensing fee of £100k, alongside 6% royalties of gross profit on sales by PureCann for the entire term of the licence.
PureCann is reportedly in the process of rolling out 28 medical cannabis dispensaries across South Africa and had around 200 patients on its books to date.
According to a recent press release: “The licence includes the rights to distribute Apollon proprietary medicinal products to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and throughout the African continent where medical cannabis is legally available once the relevant export licences have been secured by PureCann for these regions.”
Notably, the deal will give PureCann the rights to Apollon’s patent applications, proprietary formulations, patient protocols and access to the technology relating to formulations which showed successful cancer cell killing in the BIOENSIS pre-clinical studies.
It comes as Apollon continues lengthy discussions with Global Hemp Group, with which it signed a ‘binding letter of intent’ in January this year.
The deal, which bares a resemblance to its agreement with PureCann would see Apollon receive $US250,000 in cash alongside 10m GHG shares in exchange for ‘exclusive licence to certain of Apollon’s international patent applications and proprietary intellectual property with supporting third-party pre-clinical test data in the following territories: The United States, Canada, and Mexico, as well as Israel and the European Union with extension to Morocco.’
Originally intended to be completed by May, the discussions are still reportedly ongoing, and it is not yet clear how the two deals will impact one another.
During its most recent update, Apollon said it was due to get an update from GHG ‘in the coming days’, but that it needed ‘to carry on with our usual course of business.’
“Apollon is very pleased to have been able to conclude this Exclusive Licence with PureCann. As soon as possible we will inform the market on the status of our deal with Global Hemp Group in a forthcoming press release to the market.”
MGC Pharmaceuticals
MGC Pharmaceuticals managed to recover slightly from a significant drop in share price a week earlier following the announcement of a new £700,000 fundraise.
On July 14, MGC informed investors via an RNS that it had ‘conditionally raised £650,000’ by way of a placing and subscription of 541,666,667 new ordinary shares at a price of 0.12p, with CEO Roby Zomer investing another £50,000.
According to the company, the raise is intended to ‘bridge the company’s general working capital requirements’, while management explores ‘additional cost reduction measures that could increase working capital.
“The Directors consider that these funding discussions are progressing well and are reasonably confident that a funding solution will be forthcoming, however there is no certainty that the Company will be able to raise any additional funding,” it said.
Due to the new shares being issued at a 57% discount from the closing price as of July 12, 2023 on the LSE and 62% on the ASX, the company’s share price fell significantly over the proceeding days.
However, since then the company has managed to claw back some share value, seeing its share price rise from 13p to 15p at the time of writing.
