Cannabis and Hemp Industry Investment News

() directors have supported the company’s share purchase plan to fund existing and new cannabis and hemp businesses and operating expenses.

Chairman Peter Wall acquired 37,500 shares at 8 cents per share and directors Winton Willesee and Doug Halley acquired 100,000 and 62,500 shares respectively.

MMJ owns a portfolio of minority investments and aims to invest across the full range of emerging cannabis-related sectors including healthcare, technology, infrastructure, logistics, processing, cultivation, equipment and retail.

WeedMD

The company’s investment () recently expanded its multi-channelled distribution strategy following the acquisition of Starseed Medicinal Inc.

() investment  () has expanded its multi-channelled distribution strategy following the acquisition of Starseed Medicinal Inc, which it is still in the process of completing. 

Starseed’s exclusive partnership with LiUNA, the largest construction union in Canada, complements WeedMD’s direct sales to medical patients.

The company maintains strategic relationships across the seniors’ market and supply agreements with Shoppers Drug Mart as well as six provincial distribution agencies where its adult-use brands Color Cannabis and Saturday are sold.

Path to profitability 

WeedMD chief executive officer Angelo Tsebelis said the medical cannabis company is focused on executing its commercial plan in 2020.

() is raising $5 million from shareholders to fund investments into new businesses in the global cannabis market.

The company’s share purchase plan which closes on March 17, 2020 provides eligible shareholders with the opportunity to purchase up to $30,000 worth of new shares at an issue price of 11 cents per share.

MMJ holds warrants (similar to ‘options’ in Australia) and contractual rights in a number of its existing listed and unlisted investments which provide opportunities for MMJ to make follow-on investments in businesses at a discount to current valuations.

Existing cannabis businesses where MMJ holds the right to make follow on investments include:

() Canadian investment Harvest One Cannabis Inc () (OTCMKTS:HRVOF) is progressing its strategic review with financial results for the half-year ending December 31, 2019, indicating progress.

Since November 2019, Harvest One has undertaken several initiatives which are expected to contribute to a 30% reduction in selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses on an annualised basis.

These initiatives include:

Decreasing operating overheads

These cost reduction efforts have already positively impacted cash SG&A expenses in the December 2019 quarter.

’s () Canadian investment Harvest One Cannabis Inc () (OTCMKTS:HRVOF) has entered into definitive agreements to sell its interest in Burb Cannabis Corp, a cannabis retailer in British Columbia.

The agreements also include the sale of HVT’s interest in the 398-acre site in Lillooet, British Columbia, and the total proceeds from both will be C$2.3 million.

This sale of non-core assets follows the announcement earlier this month that HVT was undertaking a strategic review of the business.

MMJ is the largest shareholder of HVT with 26% and it is one of the largest investments within the MMJ cannabis and hemp portfolio.

Cannabis stocks stayed mostly flat on Wednesday as North American markets began to reverse a two-day plunge at the start of the week.

The North American Marijuana Index, which tracks the top cannabis stocks in the US and Canada, lost 0.5% to 92.4 points. Elsewhere, the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF rose 0.6% to C$7.91, while the OTCQX Cannabis index slid 0.9% to 367.6 points.

Buds

() (OTCMKTS:AUSAF) shares climbed Wednesday after announcing that its subsidiary Cocoon Technology LLC is closing in on launching its proprietary kiosks with THRIVE Cannabis Marketplace, one of Nevada’s largest cannabis retailers.

THRIVE has ordered 32 CocoonPod kiosks for eight locations, starting with a pilot location in North Las Vegas.

() (OTCMKTS:AUSAF) said Wednesday that its subsidiary Cocoon Technology LLC is closing in on launching its proprietary kiosks with one of Nevada’s largest cannabis retailers. 

The Las Vegas-based company said that Cocoon had completed the final phase of development and testing ahead of the platform’s deployment at THRIVE Cannabis Marketplace, the state’s largest independent retailer.

Cocoon’s pods are expected to be ready in-store by April 2020.

READ: Australis Capital's Cocoon Technology partners with THRIVE Cannabis Marketplace to install kiosks across Nevada

In early December, Cocoon announced it had entered into an agreement with THRIVE Cannabis Marketplace to install its Platform-as-a-Service systems in the dispensary’s eight existing locations, with more to come over the deal’s four-year term.

() made significant new investments in 2019 including in existing investees WeedMe and Embark Health, whilst also adding new investments in Sequoya and Bespoke.

The company owns a portfolio of investments in the cannabis sector and aims to invest across the full range of emerging cannabis-related sectors.

MMJ’s asset manager, Embark Ventures, sources new investments to diversify the company’s cannabis portfolio whilst providing resources to actively manage its existing investments.

The company believes that the current market and industry sentiment surrounding cannabis companies has created opportunities to invest in listed and unlisted Canadian cannabis businesses at attractive valuations and prices.

() (OTC:AUSAF) has opted not to go forward with its previously announced merger with cannabinoid producer and distributor Folium Equity Holding LLC.

The deal, announced on December 10, would have seen Folium become a wholly owned subsidiary. 

Australis said in a statement Tuesday that it “discovered new relevant information with regard to Folium” and decided to reverse course.

READ: Australis Capital signs Letter of Intent to acquire payments provider Paytron

"AUSA continues to lean heavily on corporate governance and our vision to navigate through an incredibly unpredictable market over the past 12 months," CEO Scott Dowty said in a statement. "With over $38.2 million in cash, liquid assets and other assets that can easily be converted into cash within a short amount of time and $5.2 million annual burn excluding charges from capital projects and one-time occurrence, AUSA has a very strong financial position.”

PhytoTech Medical (ASX:PYL) has been granted a trading halt by the ASX pending an update on the company’s merger with MMJ Bioscience Inc, and a capital raising.

In March this year PhytoTech entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of the issued capital of MMJ Bioscience Inc., a Canadian-based multinational vertically integrated medical cannabis company.

Shareholder approval was received on 29 June 2015.

The halt will remain in place until the opening of trade on Tuesday 28th July 2015, or earlier if an announcement is made to the market.

Medical cannabis company PhytoTech Medical Limited (ASX:PYL) is advancing towards clinical studies for its unique oral capsules to treat pain and spasticity in multiple sclerosis patients.

The poor water solubility of THC and CBD compounds has always been an issue and this trial will seek to increase the oral bioavailability through use of capsules.

The company has submitted key documents to the Institutional Review Board and National Clinical Trial Committee in Israel to start Phase 1 clinical studies with its tetrahyrocannabidiol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) oral capsules.

Submission of Clinical Study Protocol and Investigative Brochure is a key milestone indicating its advanced development stage and readiness to start studies.

The Phase 1 study will be a single-centre, randomised, crossover study to compare the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics in healthy volunteers of the two new oral THC and CBD formulations, when administered as single doses.

PhytoTech Medical's (ASX:PYL) shares are in pre-open following the ASX granting the company a trading halt.

Phytotech requested the halt pending an update on the company’s proposed merger with MMJ Bioscience Inc.

The halt will remain in place until the opening of trade on Thursday 9th April 2015, or earlier if an announcement is made to the market.

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() has this morning revealed a share purchase plan (SPP) to raise up to $5 million through the issue of shares priced at 11 cents.

Eligible shareholders on the register as of yesterday (5:00pm AWST Thursday 13 February) will be able to subscribe for up to $30,000 worth of new shares.

The funds raised will be primarily applied towards investment in existing and new cannabis and hemp businesses, operating expenses and general working capital.

Notably, the SPP offer price of 11 cents represents a 51% discount to MMJ’s net tangible asset (NTA) value per share post-tax as at 31 January 2020.

() (OTCMKTS:MMJJF) is making inroads as it seeks to capitalise on considerable interest in the emerging global cannabis industry through strategic investments.

As such, it is the only ASX-listed investment company offering Australian investors the opportunity to invest in unlisted and listed cannabis-related businesses locally and offshore.

In the last 12 months MMJ has converted from a cannabis operational company into a listed investment company.

READ: MMJ Group focuses on shareholder returns with venture capital approach to global cannabis sector

In this short timeframe it has accumulated a pool of around 16,000 investors and shareholders funds of about A$90 million with most investments being offshore and predominantly in Canada.

() has developed a portfolio of minority investments in the global cannabis industry, posting strong net returns of 44% for the financial year to April 30, as well as 32% for the quarter and 7% for the month.

Aiming to capitalise on the emerging industry through investments in cannabis-related sectors, the company has made 15 primary acquisitions and 8 sales of investments to date.

A strong cash position of $26 million will continue to provide capital for MMJ to exclusively invest in the burgeoning industry.

The company has also taken advantage of recent improvements in Canadian-listed cannabis markets to further boost its cash reserves, cancelling an equity raising announced in February.