CELLULAR Goods has announced that health and beauty industry veteran Anna Chokina has replaced Alexis Abraham as its new CEO with immediate effect.
Ms Chokina’s surprise appointment comes just days after Cellular Goods launched its inaugural range of products, and she will be tasked with guiding the ‘future direction of the company’ as it ‘enters its revenue generating phase’.
Mr Abraham, who has led the company since February, will retain his position on the board but will transition to a more brand-focused role as Chief Strategy Officer, responsible for ‘brand positioning and product development’.
While Mr Abraham is credited with overseeing the ‘first stage’ of the company’s development including its IPO and maiden product launch, Ms Chokina brings with her some 20-years of executive experience.
Pre-Revenue Loss
She joins from a three-year stint at beauty brand Avon, where she most recently held the position of Vice President of Global Colour Cosmetics and is credited with launching the brands’ first ever CBD skincare range.
Prior to this Ms Chokina has held senior positions at L’Oreal Paris, Pepsi and Procter and Gamble.
Cellular Goods released its first set of annual results since launching its IPO days before announcing the appointment.
“Anna’s appointment heralds an exciting new chapter for Cellular as the Company enters its revenue generating phase and her deep expertise will help guide the future direction of the Company,” Cellular Goods’ chairman Peter Wall said.
“She has a proven track record with several global consumer brands and is the right leader to drive Cellular to the next level. Our ambition for the Company is significant and clear and the entire Company and the Board look forward to working with her.”
The company reported no revenues and losses of £3.3m in the 12 months to August, marking a tenfold increase on the same period a year earlier, and up from losses of £2.12m it reported during its interim results.
According to Mr Wall, the losses were attributable to ‘start-up costs, expenses relating to our IPO’ and a one off £900,000 cost relating to ‘share-based incentives’ for management and staff.
After becoming the third cannabis company in history to list on the LSE In February this year raising £13m before expenses, Cellular Goods said it had net cash of £9.15m as of December 1.
Mr Wall added that these funds will be required to make ‘ongoing investments’ in the business in order to achieve its ‘long term strategic goals’.
Stock Fluctuations
The financial update came just days after Cellular Goods launched its inaugural product range of ‘lab-made cannabinoid’ products through its own ecommerce platform.
This included a CBG skincare product line via its supply partnership with Willow Biosciences, launched in June 2021, and a range of CBD ingestibles via a separate supply partnership with Chanelle McCoy Health (CMH) announced in August.
In a market statement Cellular Goods says CMH’s ‘ultra-pure CBD products that are fully compliant with the new novel food regime which came into force in the UK and EU earlier this year’, although BusinessCann understands CMH is one of the few companies to have passed the Validation phase.
While news of the upcoming product launch sent the company’s stock skyrocketing over 50% throughout November, it has fallen back dramatically since the range launched on December 1.
From highs of 10.66p on November 30, Cellular Goods stock fell back to 6.85p over on December 7.
Some investors cited the price point as a cause for concern, with prices starting at around £44 placing the company firmly in the highly competitive premium category.
However, the majority took issue with the apparent lack of advertising behind its new product range, an issue Cellular Goods addressed directly in its annual report.
“A comprehensive omni-channel marketing campaign will commence in February 2022 to support our sales drive, in-line with industry best-practice whereby new beauty and wellness products typically go on sale early in the year to coincide with consumers’ focus on self-care and forming positive habits. The timing will also avoid the hyper competitive pre-Christmas rush where return on advertising spend is poor for new entrants.”
Looking ahead, Cellular Goods said it plans to launch a third product line aimed at the after sports market, which it expects to be ready for launch some time in 2022.
