Celadon Pharmaceuticals
Celadon Pharmaceuticals has become the latest major European publicly listed cannabis company to announce plans to de-list its shares from the London Stock Exchange.
Alongside its intention to de-list, Celadon said four non-executive directors and the chairman of the board of directors are set to depart from the company in a major shakeup of its management team.
It comes as the company remains in financial limbo, with numerous funding agreements seemingly on hold and only enough sufficient cash at hand to fund its operations to April 2025.
Celadon’s CEO James Short, who owns just under 40% of the company, called for delisting from the AIM section of the LSE in efforts to ‘significantly reduce operational costs and also enable the company to more easily access capital, and on more attractive terms’.
According to the company, the board had ‘not been supportive of the delisting proposal’ up to March 19, and as such on March 21 Robert Barr, Elizabeth Shanahan, David Firth and Dr Steven Hajioff all tendered their resignations with immediate effect.
This means only Short and Alexander Anton remain as directors of the company, and following the board changes Celadon will push ahead with its proposal to delist its shares from public trading via a general meeting.
“Mr Anton intends to review his position as chairman of the company following the result of the Cancellation general meeting. In the event that the cancellation is approved, Mr Anton anticipates he will resign from the board,” Celadon explained in an RNS.
Should the delisting be approved, the company will make arrangements for a ‘matched bargain facility’ to assist shareholders in trading ordinary shares.
Celadon is the latest in a string of companies to opt to delist their shares and go private, following years of poor liquidity and continually falling share prices.
In December 2024, the first-ever cannabis company to list on the LSE, Argent Biopharma (formerly MGC Pharmaceuticals) announced its intention to delist citing a lack of liquidity and poor share performance.
It follows in the footsteps of Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies, another of the first wave of companies to launch on the LSE when the listing rules were amended in 2021.
In May, OCT said it expects to have a ‘far larger pool of capital’ available to it from private funding markets, while citing similar cost efficiencies related to the reporting requirements of a publicly traded company.
At the time, CEO, Clarissa Sowemimo-Coker, told Business of Cannabis that she predicted OCT would not be the last company to opt for an exit on the public markets.
Allied Corp
International cannabis operator Allied Corp’s newly instated management team put forward its new strategy and detailed $15m in contracts across multiple markets this week.
In late February, the company announced an overhaul of its leadership team, announcing the appointment of a new CEO, Chairman of the Board, and two new directors.
Allied’s new CEO, Michael Moses, who has worked with the company as Chief Business Development Officer for the last 18 months, penned his first update to investors since taking the helm this week.
Mr Moses hailed a ‘new chapter’ in its business, highlighting the company’s progress since its board room overhaul, and sharing its strategy for expansion moving forward.
A key part of its strategy continues to rest on its Colombian cultivation operation, which Moses argued offers ‘established supply chains, a stable political environment supportive of cannabis’ alongside top industry talent.
Its cultivation facility in Mesa de Los Santos, Colombia, benefits from year-round production cost-effective conditions which it says gives it a competitive edge over higher-cost peers in Canada and Europe.
“Moreover, the country legalised medical cannabis cultivation in 2016, allowed flower exports in 2022, and has seen growing industry discussions on expanding domestic market access.”
As such, Allied has capitalised on the welcoming market and considerable cost efficiencies in the market, and has ‘established itself as one of the few Colombian producers consistently exporting to regulated markets’.
This is backed by successful exports to Portugal, Switzerland and Australia, with additional contracts signed in Germany, the UK, and Poland, with Allied stating it has now fulfilled over 10 international shipments, positioning itself to leverage the rapidly expanding European market, projected to hit $12bn by 2033.
Allied has now launched a new $2 million financing to fund its key objectives over the next 12 to 18 months.
This will drive the delivery of its $15 million in contracts, expand cultivation capacity through the construction of three new greenhouses, and secure EU-GACP certification, with EU-GMP on the horizon.
“Allied is now in a phase of execution,” said Moses. “We’ve secured the contracts, proven our exports, and strengthened our infrastructure—now we’re scaling to meet global demand.”
Chill Brands
CBD and wellness retailer Chill Brands also announced another update on its precarious financial position this week.
Months after its shares were suspended on the LSE, Chill Brands said it was working to complete its statutory audit for the year ending March 31, 2024 earlier this month. W
At the time it said this was expected to be completed in Q1 2025, enabling it to apply for the resumption of share trading.
In an update this week, Chill says that the publication of its accounts will now be delayed until April 2025, as it is waiting on ‘secondary technical and engagement quality reviews’ by its auditors.
Chill now expected to publish its unaudited interim accounts for the six months to September 30, 2024, shortly after the publication of its long-awaited FY24 accounts.
