European Cannabis Stocks Review: Stenocare Sales Double, CannAssure To De-list From Stock Exchange & More From SEED Innovations

Stenocare

This week the Danish medical cannabis company unveiled its unaudited Q4 and full year results, seeing sales more than double while losses remained flat.For the full-year 2022, Stenocare reported sales of DKK4.4m (£520K), up 137% on 2021 when the company reported sales of DKK1.8m (£210k).The majority of these sales were made during Q4 following the launch of new products in Denmark and Norway, seeing net sales hit DKK2.8m (£330k), up from no sales in the same period a year earlier.During the year, Stenocare reported EBITDA losses of DKK13.22m (£1.56m), almost exactly in line with losses in 2021 (DKK13.24m) despite the growth in sales.In Q4, EBITDA losses also halved year-on-year from DKK4.6m to DKK2.3m, with the company stating previously it expects to reach break-even status by the end of 2023 ‘without raising further capital’.The results follow news in October that Stenocare had been approved by Danish regulators to become the sole supplier of a new CBD medical cannabis oil product for its pilot programme, after having its THC oil approved months earlier.

SEED Innovations 

Earlier this week AIM-listed investment vehicle SEED announced that it has now requested a full repayment of a convertible loan note (CLN) worth over £100k from its investee company South West Brands.In October 2021 as part of a £300k funding round for South West Brands, SEED invested £150k via a one-year CLN at 8%.Months later in August 2022, before the initial loan was due to mature in October the same year, SEED made a further £50,000 investment in South West Brands via a three-year 8% convertible loan note, bringing its total investment in the company to £500k, representing around 3.25% of SEED’s total Net Asset Value.This second investment was part of a larger funding round to raise up to £1m, of which £570k was secured.In an update to investors in November 2022, SEED announced that it had agreed to extend the terms of the loan until January 16 2023, after the original maturation date had passed.“As the CLN has now matured, SEED has requested full repayment of the CLN as set out in the terms detailed in the original RNS dated 4 October 2021, including accrued interest,” the company informed investors earlier this week.“SEED is currently in discussions with the SWB management team on how the repayments will be made. SEED has a total of £500,000 invested in SWB by way of a number of Convertible Loan Notes valued at £543,000 as at 30 September 2022.”The young CBD retailer announced last summer that its brands Fewe and LoveMeMeMe were set to be stocked at major UK retailers Superdrug and ASOS respectively.While the company continues to garner attention across social media platforms, it is yet to publicly disclose any figures relating to its financial performance.

CannAssure Theraputics

Israeli medical cannabis operator CannAssure, listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the ticker CSURE, this week announced that it was exiting the stock exchange.Pending shareholder approval, with a vote to take place on March 27, the embattled company will exit trading on the stock market via a sale of its activities to Paragon Retail.According to the Israeli Cannabis Magazine, Paragon will acquire CannAssure free of charge, but will take on its considerable debt obligations of around  ₪30m (£6.8m).In exchange, Paragon will acquire the company’s indoor cultivation facility, factory and laboratory.Paragon is understood to be 100% owned by Ada Bar-Kama, who is also the current CEO of CannAssure and also owns 50% of Solver, the controlling owner in CannAssure.Since listing on the TASE, CannAssure’s stock has dropped by around 93%, and it has reported aggregate losses of ₪45.3m (£10m) since 2020, after investing millions of its accrued debt into establishing a growing operation.It came just months after leading Israeli cannabis company Panaxia unexpectedly announced plans to close its current cannabis-related operations and sidestep into the finance industry.It was preceded by at least four other Israeli public cannabis companies including Canomed, Intelicana, Pharmacan and Togder, which have all announced their intention to either diversify their operations or leave cannabis altogether.