🇬🇷 UK SPAC Takes Hellenic Dynamics (Greek Cultivation) Public In Deal Valued at $62.5M
🇬🇷 UK SPAC Takes Hellenic Dynamics (Greek Cultivation) Public In Deal Valued at $62.5M
GTI closes acquisition of Summit Medical Compassion Center (RI). urban-gro completes acquisition of MJ12 Design Studio. Jushi pre-announces Q2 2021 Results.
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🌿Industry
California Cannabis Market Keeps Growing as More Cities, Counties Opens Up.
Scores of cities and counties are preparing to issue marijuana business permits or are writing ordinances in order to award licenses, according to Los Angeles-based consultant Hirsh Jain, the founder of Ananda Strategy. By Jain’s count, 18 cities across California already have begun handing out retail permits since the November election, in which more than 30 local jurisdictions approved pro-marijuana business ballot measures. And, he said, at least another 18 jurisdictions are poised to do the same. State law giving local governments the right to prohibit cannabis companies is one of the primary hurdles that has kept industry numbers relatively low, compared to the state’s population of 39 million. But the industry is growing slowly and determinedly. In early 2019, about a year after the legal market launched, only 161 of California’s 482 municipalities and 24 of 58 counties permitted any type of legal marijuana business. Jain said that according to his research, that number has grown to about 182 cities and 31 counties as of July 2021. But he noted that only 114 so far allow marijuana retailers. So the number of local governments that have allowed marijuana companies is up from about a third, to around 40%.— MJBizDaily
Covid Made Consumers Want More Pot, For Less. A Stifel survey of almost 500 Cannabis users across the U.S. and Canada came to the same conclusion. Stifel’s survey found that price, potency and quantity were the top factors that influenced cannabis shoppers. Carter also observed that there was a high level of turnover in terms of which brands were most popular during Covid-19, as shown through data from cannabis data tracker Headset. This shows that consumers are still largely searching for brands and products to latch onto. — Bloomberg
Arkansas, Missouri groups aim to put recreational marijuana on 2022 ballots. Grassroots activist groups in both Arkansas and Missouri have begun campaigns in their respective states to get recreational marijuana legalization before voters in the 2022 general election. Arkansas True Grass is leading the charge in its state and has already begun collecting signatures to get their initiative on the ballot. Meanwhile, Missouri might have competing campaigns with the same goal – legalizing adult use. Fair Access Missouri has already submitted – and seen rejected – seven proposed ballot measures that would have legalized recreational cannabis, but it’s now refining its initiative language and will try again, a spokesperson told the news outlet. Another organization, New Approach Missouri – which ran the successful 2018 medical marijuana legalization campaign – will also be attempting to put adult-use cannabis legalization on the statewide ballot. — MJBizDaily
💵Deals
UK SPAC — Takes Hellenic Dynamics Public In Deal Valued at $62.5M. UK SPAC Plc, a London-listed shell company, agreed to a reverse takeover with Hellenic Dynamics, a European medical cannabis cultivation company. The deal values Hellenic at £45M ($62.5M). Hellenic Dynamics, founded in 2019, is currently building a 200,000 square meter cannabis cultivation factory in Northern Greece. The company hopes to start selling medical grade cannabis oils and flowers by early next year and has already signed two term sheets for distribution deals. UK SPAC PLC is relatively unusual in the field. The AIM-listed company was known as Mountfield Group until March when it pivoted to become a cash shell. Mountfield Group was a construction services company but the business offloaded its operations in favour of tapping the SPAC boom.
GTI — Closes Transaction to Acquire Vertically Integrated Cannabis Business, Summit Medical Compassion Center, in Rhode Island. The acquisition includes entry into Rhode Island with management agreements for one of only three vertical licenses in the state including a production facility and dispensary, both located in Warwick. The state reported approximately $60 million in retail cannabis sales for the 2020 fiscal year-end. With the acquisition, Green Thumb has cannabis operations to serve nearly 50% of the United States population, including in: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia. GTI’s national presence increases to 14 states with 61 open retail locations nationwide.
urban-gro — Completes Acquisition of MJ12 Design Studio and Forecasts the Addition of $7-$9M of High Margin Services Revenue. The acquisition extends urban-gro’s services into early-stage conceptual design and planning, and it creates a fully integrated architecture, engineering, and cultivation systems company serving the cannabis and food-focused CEA sectors. urban-gro funded the $9.1 million transaction with a combination of cash and UGRO common stock (issued out of corporate treasury stock from prior buyback program), including contingent consideration of up to $2.0 million based on achievement of certain performance metrics. The company expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings within the first year and drive significant waterfall revenue opportunities for urban-gro’s existing suite of products and services. In a pandemic-impacted 2020, 2WR+ Partners improved upon 2019 numbers and reported revenue of $6.2 million, net income of $0.9 million, Adjusted EBITDA of $1.0 million, a gross margin of 43% and an operating margin of 16%.
Blaze & Spence Labs — Partnership with Fully Integrated Cannabis Payment System for Online Ordering and Delivery. Spence Labs, a bank-backed, compliant digital payment system for the cannabis industry, announced a full POS integration with BLAZE®, the industry-leading ERP and POS platform for legal cannabis. This partnership is a game changer for both dispensaries and customers, who have for far too long relied on cash transactions. Now consumers who order online or in the store can pay in a compliant digital way. Now orders placed online can authorize payment at the time of ordering, rather than having to pay cash at pickup or upon delivery. Spence's platform processes the payments and gives customers a unique QR code that's scanned by dispensary staff upon pickup or by a delivery driver upon drop-off. Funds are transferred automatically from a customer's bank account with bank-level encryption and processed by an FDIC-insured banking partner.
📄Company Updates / Earnings
Jushi — Pre-Announces Q2 2021 Financial Results
Revenue: $47.7 million, up 14.6% Q/Q and 219.7% Y/Y
Gross Profit: $21.9 million, a 9.2% increase over Q1 2021
Net loss: $11.4 million, a $15.4 million improvement over Q1 2021
Adjusted EBITDA: $4.6 million (9.6% margin)
Cash and short-term investments: $126.8 million as of June 30, 2021
🏬Retail
Acreage —Rebranding of Connecticut Dispensaries to The Botanist. The company’s three medical cannabis dispensaries in Connecticut of Thames Valley Relief, Compassionate Care Center of Connecticut and Prime Wellness of Connecticut will rebrand to The Botanist.
🌱Product
A Smoke Through Of A Golden State — A Cannabis Brand That Lives Up To Nor-Cal Weed’s Legendary Reputation. — UPROXX
🧔People | 💻Hiring
Eric Hammond joins Highsman as CEO. Hammond was previously VP at Greenlane Holdings, leading Higher Standards (Brand & Retail Concept), K. Haring Glass Collection, Marley Natural, Aerospaced, Groove, and Vesta.
Dreamfield Brands — Recruitment Manager (LA)