Aphria shares fall as investors react to $100M capital investment announcement 

Shares of Aphria tumbled on Friday despite the company saying it lined up a $100-million investment from an unidentified institutional investor. The investment represents a fresh capital injection which the Leamington, Ont.-based cannabis producer has earmarked for “opportunistic” international expansion efforts, Aphria CEO Irwin Simon told BNN Bloomberg. “It shows [the investor] is a believer in the [cannabis] category where a lot of licensed producers have had trouble finding any type of financing,” Simon said. He declined to name the institutional investor, citing a confidentiality agreement, but noted it would assume less than 10 per cent ownership of the company if the warrants are exercised in full. The investment also dilutes Aphria’s outstanding share base by six per cent, according to Jefferies Group.

Pot delivery services looking to go legit despite regulatory roadblocks

Back in the days before pot was legalized, drivers largely shuttled their illicit product directly to their customers. Now that cannabis is legalized, replicating a similar service has run into roadblocks given the patchy regulatory framework employed in Canada. That hasn’t stopped some companies from trying. Super Anytime officially launched its service earlier this week in Manitoba, one of the few provinces in the country that allows a third-party to handle legal pot shipments directly from retailers to customers. Meanwhile, Leafly is also eyeing the domestic pot delivery business with a click-and-collect service in Alberta. Both operators are eyeing other provinces, including Ontario, while analysts see such a service being popular with millennials, which account for a sizable chunk of the Canadian consumer market.

Canadian pot retail sales hit record high in November, led by steep gains in B.C. 

The Canadian legal recreational cannabis industry sold $135.7 million in legal pot in November, an increase of about 5.3 per cent from the prior month, according to Statistics Canada. That means that the industry operates at an annual run rate of $1.63 billion despite only five provinces having reported monthly sales advances in the month. British Columbia led all provincial gains with a whopping 47 per cent rise in sales, while Ontario reported a slight 3.7 per cent decline. Eight Capital analyst Graeme Kreindler said in a research note that the monthly sales figures “continue to grow with no signs of a seasonal decline, contrary to our expectations.”

Alaska to be first U.S. state to allow legal onsite cannabis consumption     

It looks like the most northern U.S. state will be the first in the union to allow on-site consumption of legal cannabis in retail locations, according to The Associated Press. State regulators approved the first retail stores in the state that will allow customers to smoke or consume cannabis in-store immediately after purchase. The first dispensary set to allow its customers to use pot on their premises says it expects to permit consumption next month. The move is likely to spark interest among the throngs of tourists that visit the state via cruise ships, one dispensary owner told the AP. Alaska's rules for on-site consumption took effect in 2019, after years of discussion.

DAILY BUZZ

$6.61
-- The price of a gram of cannabis in Canada, up 2.3 per cent from the prior week, according to the Cannabis Benchmark’s Canada Cannabis Spot Index. This equates to US$2,292 per pound at current exchange rates.

Cannabis Canada is BNN Bloomberg’s in-depth series exploring the stunning formation of the entirely new — and controversial — Canadian recreational marijuana industry. Read more from the special series here and subscribe to our Cannabis Canada newsletter to have the latest marijuana news delivered directly to your inbox every day.