Love Hemp
Love Hemp, which has had its shares suspended from trading on the Aquis Stock Exchange (AQSE) since May this year, announced to investors this week that its application to be listed on the Standard Segment of the London Stock Exchange has now also ‘lapsed’.
In an update to investors published earlier this week, Love Hemp said that its ongoing suspension and work to secure a new AQSE advisor has meant it has been ‘unable to make sufficient progress’ in its proposed uplisting to the larger LSE.
The CBD retailer first announced its plans to launch onto the Standard Segment of the LSE in November 2021, and the process was initially expected to take around three months to complete.
On December 3 2021, a month after Love Hemp announced its intention to target an uplisting, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) raised the minimum market capitalisation for companies in both the Standard and Premium segments of the main market from £700k to £30m.
While it is understood that Love Hemp submitted its application to list on the LSE before these changes were implemented, its market cap has plummeted from £21m to just over £5m since then.
According to Love Hemp, the FCA has ‘confirmed to the Company that the review of its application has lapsed due to the passage of time.’
“The Board understands this will be disappointing news for shareholders but reaffirms this does not preclude the company progressing any new or dual market listing for the company in the future. In the meantime, the company continues to focus on building its infrastructure, strengthening its controls and driving increased trading performance which must be its current priority.”
Meanwhile the company has announced more changes to its board of directors, welcoming Robert Smyth as its new Chief Financial Officer with ‘immediate effect’, who is credited with ‘leading the floatation of KP Renewables’ onto AIM.
Non-Executive Chairman Graham Mullis said Mr Smyth brings the financial and managerial experience to ‘make a significant impact to the running and planned growth of the business’.
He added: “We understand shareholders may be disappointed with the cessation of the listing process to the Standard Market of the LSE but we would like to reassure shareholders that the Company is developing exciting plans both corporately and operationally which it looks forward to sharing in the future.”
Cellular Goods
Cellular Goods has seen its stock jump by nearly 20% this week as it continued to regain share value from all time lows of around 1p in July.
The latest spike came after the company announced the launch of three new skincare products to its offering, alongside signing a new marketing deal with Danish supermodel Helena Christensen.
Investors will be hoping the three new ‘rejuvenating’ CBD/CBG products will help boost Cellular Goods’ revenue streams, which have been hampered by limitations on both what and where it can sell its products, coming in at just £13k for its first three months of sales.
Key to this will be the newly signed deal with Ms Christensen, with Cellular Goods banking on her considerable social media presence to overcome the barriers to advertising it’s been struggling with since it launched its products last year.
The new lineup will be available via Cellular Goods’ proprietary website, its Amazon Marketplace page and in its partner Voyager’s physical retail stores in Edinburgh.
While the developments have been well received by investors, as reflected in the share price bump, many have continued to raise concerns about its price positioning, with its new products ranging from £69-£89 for 50ml.
Despite the company’s relative recovery since the start of July, an article in Simply Wall Street points out that Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Alexis Abrahim, who purchased £155k worth of shares at 7.7p per share earlier this year, has now seen the value of their investment drop by £111k.
Stenocare
After announcing in January 2022 that it was set to become the sole supplier of medical cannabis oil in its home country of Denmark, Stenocare has now published the results from a study of a ‘new formulation’ it says ‘dramatically enhances the bioavailability’ and uptake of cannabinoids.
The pharmacokinetic study found that its new formulation, an ‘CBD LLT-oil’ based on Solural Pharma’s Lymphatic Targeting Technology, showed a significantly increased uptake into the bloodstream and reduced onset of action in dogs compared to the commonly used CBD MCT-oil.
Stenocare’s CEO Thomas Skovlund Schnegelsberg said he believes this new LTT-oil is ‘truly groundbreaking’ for both the industry and patients, as it meets the ‘key challenges’ in the medical cannabis industry.
He explained: “1) It increases the uptake of cannabinoid by a double digit figures, 2) It delivers a uniform uptake in the blood across individuals, 3) The maximum concentration of the drug is reached in half the time, and, finally, 4) It can be delivered in the body with a higher uniformity regardless of food consumption”.
‘Pending regulatory approval’, Stenocare says it plans to introduce the first products based on this formulation in the next 18-36 months.
The announcement is yet to have a significant impact on the company’s share price, seeing its dip by around 5% during the week.
