Jack Smith
As part of its quarterly rebalancing, MJIC Inc. has shifted around the companies that comprise the Canadian Marijuana Index. It’s added seven new companies from a wide range of areas in the cannabis sector, including those developing tools for law enforcement and licensed producers around the country.
New to the Canadian Index are Cannabix Technologies (BLOZF), which builds tools for law enforcement to detect THC in the breath; Harvest One Cannabis (HRVOF), a Vancouver-based licensed producer; InMed Pharmaceuticals (IMLFF), a drug discovery company focused on using cannabinoids and Invictus MD Strategies (IVITF), which manages and operates several Licensed Producers across Canada.
MJIC also added MYM Nutraceuticals (MYMMF), which is looking to launch cannabis production facilities in both Canada and Australia; THC Biomed (THCBF), a Kelowna, British Columbia-based producer and WeedMD (WDDMF), a licensed producer based in Aylmer, Ontario.
“The fourth quarter of 2017 saw significant gains in both the U.S. and Canadian cannabis public markets, as the North American Index increased 4% in October, 41% in November, and 61% in December,” MJIC Vice President Dan Nicholls said.
He added that the quarter saw highlights such as Constellation Brands’ $245 million CAD investment in Canopy Growth Corporation and that 2018 is off to a good start, with recreational cannabis coming online in California. Nicholls also said the Canadian Marijuana Index rose 188% in the fourth quarter, while the U.S. Marijuana Index jumped 85%.
The rebalancing comes at a time when the regulatory field is at a crossroads, especially in the U.S. In recent weeks, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded memos from the Obama administration, specifically the Cole memo that allows for the medical or recreational use of marijuana.
There are minimum requirements to be added to the index, including market capitalization and trading volume restrictions. Companies can only be added if they have a weighted average minimum market capitalization of $40 million USD, the daily trading volume of $400,000 USD and a minimum share price of $0.10 USD.
If a company generated more than $5 million USD in revenue over the previous year, it’s exempt from the aforementioned requirements.
The U.S. Marijuana Index has 15 constituents, whereas the Canadian Index has 24 companies, giving the North American Marijuana Index a total of 39 constituents.
MJIC is a holding company that focuses “on providing distribution, media and events, and business services within the cannabis industry.”
