Canopy Growth Corp.’s top executive is predicting more consolidation in the industry and says the company is well-positioned given its balance sheet. 

David Klein, the chief executive officer at Canopy Growth, said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg Friday that the company is in “really good” shape from a balance sheet standpoint and pointed to strong margins across its business units. He also said he expects changes in the industry going forward.

“I think there'll be more consolidation. But, in Canada last year about 50 per cent of the CCAA filings were cannabis companies,” Klein said. 

“So I think the industry's kind of cleaning itself out a little bit as we go. So some of that will be consolidation, some of that will be just better performance of the existing players.” 

On Friday, Canopy reported a net loss of $216.8 million in its third quarter, from $264.4 million the previous year. 

Net revenue reached $78.5 million during the quarter, falling from $84.9 million a year earlier. The company said consolidated net revenue grew by six per cent on an annual basis, discounting the impact of the sale of its Canadian national retail operations. 

“Getting the underlying business performing the way we feel it's performing now was the key,” Klein said adding that the company has reduced overall debt by $1 billion over the past year. 

Australian market

Klein also highlighted that he sees the Australian cannabis market as a growth opportunity for Canopy. He said the company sells Canadian-produced products in Australia. 

“We've grown for 12 quarters in a row in Australia and we'll continue to execute in that market,” Klein said.   

“However, the U.S. market is the prize to have throughout the cannabis world.”  

With files from The Canadian Press