CannTrust eyes U.S. deals and partners, describes move as “fundamental” to global strategy: CEO 

CannTrust may be the next Canadian company eyeing a deal south of the border. Canntrust CEO Peter Aceto told BNN Bloomberg the cannabis producer is in active talks to enter the U.S. with potential partners, describing a cross-border move as a “fundamental part of our strategy” as the company reported a first-quarter net profit in its domestic operations. Shares of CannTrust surged on the Toronto Stock Exchange after the news broke, at one point moving 12 per cent higher. Aceto declined to specify who those multiple partners may be, or when the company will settle on an agreement, but signaled that the company will likely pursue an arrangement similar to Canopy Growth’s deal for Acreage Holdings. CannTrust’s Chairman told Bloomberg News in October the company was in discussions with potential partners in the beverage, cosmetics and food industries.

Tilray beats with lower-than-expected loss

B.C.-based producer Tilray reported its first-quarter results on Tuesday with a revenue beat of $23 million and a lower-than-expected adjusted EBITDA loss of US$14.6 million. The company’s average net per-gram selling price declined to US$5.60 from US$5.94 over the prior year period. The company also announced the closing of two acquisitions, acquiring Manitoba Harvest for US$310 million and the not-at-all-confusingly-named Natura Naturals licensed cannabis cultivation facility in Leamington, Ont. for US$54 million.

Aphria president to step down amid broader management shakeup

Aphria shook up its management ranks Tuesday, announcing its president Jakob Ripshtein was resigning while it made several other changes in the executive suite. The company said it hired James Meiers, formerly of Hain Celestial, as chief operating officer of its greenhouse, Aphria Leamington, while it also named Tim Purdie as chief information officer and chief information security officer, and Maureen Berry as vice-president, corporate human resources. Ripshtein will remain in his current role until June 7, the company said. While chairman Irwin Simon is Aphria’s interim CEO, it is still looking for a permanent chief executive since Vic Neufeld announced in January he would be stepping away from the role.

MediPharm signs multi-year extraction supply deal with Cronos Group   

MediPharm Labs is entering a multi-year supply agreement with Cronos Group to provide the cannabis producer with a “private label cannabis concentrate” over the next 18 months. The value of the supply agreement is worth $30 million but the deal with Cronos’ subsidiary Peace Naturals Project is subject to certain renewal and purchase options which could make it worth up to $60 million over the next 24 months. That includes a right of first offer to purchase an additional approximately $18 million of cannabis concentrate over the same period. There have already been several similar cannabis extraction deals that MediPharm and other players such as Valens GroWorks have announced as marijuana producers stockpile concentrated cannabis ahead of the launch of edibles and other products later this year.

TGOD gets Health Canada approval for Hamilton facility expansion 

Shares of The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings were up on Tuesday after the company announced it obtained approval from Health Canada to expand its operations into its new state-of-the-art building located in Hamilton. The company said its 20,000 square feet indoor facility will be used for cannabis cultivation with cannabis planting to start in the coming weeks. The newly built facility is the second of three buildings at TGOD's Hamilton site, which will have a total size of 166,000 square feet when all are completed later this summer. Once completed, the facilities will have an annual production capacity of 17,500 kilograms.

DAILY BUZZ

US$12.9 million
- The amount in fiscal fourth quarter revenue reported by U.S cannabis operator Columbia Care, up 45 per cent from the same period a year earlier. 

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