StaffIt’s time for your Daily Hit of cannabis financial news for February 2, 2022.
On the Site
Agrify
Agrify Corporation (Nasdaq: AGFY) is buying the distillation company Lab Society in a deal valued at $8 million. Agrify said in a statement that Lab Society’s annual revenue for 2021 was approximately $10 million, and the acquisition is expected to be accretive in early 2022. The acquisition is part of Agrify’s strategy to expand beyond just lighting and cultivation software.
Pelorus
Private company Pelorus Equity Group has updated the business world with its operational results. The company is known for providing bridge commercial real estate loans for cannabis businesses and owners with cannabis-related real estate. The company’s privately-held mortgage real estate investment trust, the Pelorus Fund, ended the year with $243 million assets under management and $193 million of equity. This amounted to a 434% growth year-over-year in 2021.
CBD
Pricing schemes for CBD products are as variable as the products themselves and impacted by such factors as quality of ingredients, potency, and production. In a pricing analysis that compared over 3000 CBD products across 100 brands, a recent analysis conducted by Leafreport found that the price difference between the cheapest and most expensive topicals increased to 11142% as of the end of November 2021. In April of 2021, that difference was 4718%. Leafreport created a price index to compare brands: “Bargain grade” brands (priced ranging from $.01-$.076/mg CBD), “Market grade” brands (priced ranging from $.077-$$.167/mg CBD), and “Pricey grade” brands (priced above $.168/mg CBD.
NFL
The National Football League announced the award of $1 million in research funding to two teams of medical researchers at the University of California San Diego and the University of Regina. The announcement said that the studies will investigate the effects of cannabinoids on pain management and neuroprotection from concussion in elite football players, respectively. The research hopes to find better alternatives to pain management as professional athletes have struggled over the years with opioids being prescribed as the solution. The opioids have proven to be addictive and caused many other problems.
In Other News
High Tide
High Tide Inc. (NASDAQ: HITI) has completed the process of filing its audited annual financial statements and management discussion & analysis for the financial years ended October 31, 2021. The company said it intends to file its Q1 2022 financial statement, for the period ending January 31, 2022, on or before the deadline of March 17, 2022, and as disclosed in the January 27, 2022 news release, the company expects to report over $70 million in sales which would result in High Tide achieving the third-highest quarterly revenue level amongst all Canadian cannabis companies.
MedMen
MedMen Enterprises Inc. (CSE: MMEN) (OTCQX: MMNFF)has extended the maturity date of the term loans and made certain other amendments to its Commercial Loan Agreement, of an aggregate outstanding principal balance of approximately US$114.3 million, dated as of October 1, 2018 (as amended and/or otherwise modified, the “Commercial Loan Agreement”) entered into by its subsidiary MM CAN USA, Inc. The Amendments extend the stated maturity date of the Term Loans for a period of six months and provide that certain definitive documentation with respect to the conditional purchase of the Term Loans by a note holder under the Company’s Senior Secured Convertible Securities Purchase Agreement dated August 17, 2021 must be entered within 45 days or the stated maturity date of the Term Loans become due.
CryoCure
Cryo Cure, a cannabis drying and curing process that works in as little as 12 hours, has been awarded a patent for “Systems and Methods of Cryo-Curing.” Patent #11,243,028, which takes effect Feb. 8, 2022, is issued to the company’s two founders, Tracee McAfee and Greg Baughman. Cryo Cure’s technologies and methodologies allow cultivators to skip the hanging phase of drying, cutting the traditional processing time from weeks to hours. The resulting product looks just like it does on the plant, with no flower shrinkage and trichomes and terpenes perfectly intact. The flavor profile is preserved at the height of freshness, as opposed to traditional drying and curing, where color, smell and texture degrade during the lengthy drying and curing process. This now-patented process has earned Cryo Cured flower a reputation for “fresh from the farm” appeal unlike any other freeze dried cannabis on the market.
