StatsCan study finds projections of legal pot sales was widely off what actually happened  

Statistics Canada published a study on Wednesday looking at how legal cannabis fared in the first year of legalization with some interesting data points. For example, 13 per cent of all legal pot sales were made online and 45 per cent of Canadians live within 10 kilometers of a pot shop, according to StatsCan. The study also found that $907.8 million of legal cannabis was sold between the last two weeks of October 2018 and September 2019, but those sales figures are well below some of the forecasts that analysts put out ahead of the launch of legalization. Deloitte said Canada’s legal cannabis industry would grow to as much as $4.34 billion in the first year of legalization, while Brightfield Group projected that Canada would sell US$1.2 billion of cannabis in the first 14 months.

Tilray gets EU-GMP certification for its Portuguese facility 

B.C.-based cannabis producer Tilray said on Wednesday it has received EU-GMP standard certification for its Portuguese production facility. Tilray said this is the second GMP certification its Portuguese facility, which will allow the company to export GMP-certified finished medical cannabis products to international markets. RBC Capital Markets analyst Douglas Miehm said in a report to clients that the certification announcement isn’t that surprising but it does highlight how Tilray continues to highlight its operations outside of Canada. “We see room for modest upward revisions to consensus forecasts, though this may be offset by a moderation in Canadian adult-use expectations,” Miehm said.

Zenabis says Grieve to step down as CEO, appoints co-founder Coft in interim role 

Zenabis Global said Wednesday that Andrew Grieve, the company’s CEO, has stepped down from his role and appointed Kevin Coft to handle the top job as interim CEO. Zenabis said it has enlisted executive recruiter Korn Ferry to assist with finding a permanent CEO and expects to announce that role by the first quarter of 2020. Coft was one of Zenabis’ founding members and was the company’s former CEO as well as its current chief facility officer. Since Grieve took over as Zenabis’ CEO in Jan. 21, the company’s stock has plunged more than 95 per cent on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

CannTrust issues warning on NYSE listing, has six months to return back to compliance with exchange 

Beleaguered cannabis producer CannTrust Holdings said it received a notice from the New York Stock Exchange that its stock is trading too low for it to be listed on the U.S. exchange, the company said late Tuesday. CannTrust shares recently dipped into penny stock territory, while the NYSE requires its listed company's ​​common shares to trade above US$1 per share over 30 consecutive days. CannTrust said it has six months to regain compliance with the NYSE if it trades above US$1 on the last trading day on any calendar month and an average closing price of at least US$1 over a 30-day trading-day period. CannTrust recently said its listing on the TSX​ is also under review. 

New cannabis exchange-traded note launches for U.S. investors 

There’s a new leveraged cannabis exchange-traded note available for U.S. investors who are looking to place bets on the pot market. The MicroSectors Cannabis 2x Leveraged ETN launched trading in the U.S. on Wednesday, charging investors 95 basis points or US$9.50 for every US$1,000 invested, according to Bloomberg News. ETNs differ from ETFs as they are unsecured debt obligations that tend to be sold by banks. This particular ETN will focus on tracking the cannabis industry through into five categories: pharmaceuticals, testing and analytics, cultivators, industrial hemp and ancillary business.

DAILY BUZZ

$907.8 million
-- The amount of cannabis sales in Canada during the first year of legalization, according to Statistics Canada. 

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.