Canopy Growth Corp.’s co-chief executive says he is expecting a “growth quarter” ahead and foresees the cannabis company will generate $1 billion in revenue during its next financial year.
Bruce Linton says the Smiths Falls-based licensed producer has ramped up the pace of its packaging and shipping processes and anticipates sales growth to accelerate by the final quarter of the calendar year as more stores open their doors and edibles hit the market.
His bullish comments on the sidelines of a Toronto cannabis industry conference come one day after shares of licensed producer Aphria slipped by as much as 15 per cent after its quarterly revenues and earnings fell short of estimates.
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Aphria in its latest quarter ended Feb. 28 sold fewer kilograms of cannabis than in the previous three-month period as it faced supply shortages and packaging and distribution challenges.
Linton told reporters at the GMP Securities Conference that Canopy has increased the amount of units it can package and ship, from 300,000 units in October to 1.3 million in March.
He expects the cannabis producer to generate more than $1 billion in revenue globally during its new fiscal year, which started on April 1, but he doesn’t expect profitability just yet as Canopy invests in clinical trials and other initiatives to “create a long future.”
The firm also expanded its global footprint on Tuesday with an all-cash acquisition of Spain’s Cafina, one of three companies in the temperate European nation licensed to produce and distribute medical-use cannabis as well as hemp. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Canopy said in a release that it intends to augment Cafina’s existing 1,600-square-foot greenhouse with its own expansion in the country. The firm added that it will continue to use its reserve cash to acquire assets to help it scale in global markets.
Elsewhere Tuesday, the Smiths Falls firm’s investment arm, Canopy Rivers, announced it has acquired an 18.4 per cent stake in High Beauty Inc. for US$2.5 million.
High Beauty makes beauty products using cannabis sativa seed extracts, which are legal and free of psychoactive substances. Founder Melissa Jochim says the partnership will help the company, which has a distribution agreement with Sephora, focus its energy on creating a new product line using cannabis-derived extracts.
– With files from OBJ staff
