Cannabis Weekly Round-Up: Canadian Sales Climb in August

Recreational cannabis sales in Canada are on the rise, according to new Statistics Canada figures.

Also this past trading week, a cannabis producer in Canada was forced to make various staff layoffs.

Keep reading to find out more cannabis highlights from the past five days.

Adult cannabis sales yield C$255 million

New data from Statistics Canada indicates that the country’s recreational cannabis sales rose 5.2 percent in August compared to the previous month.

The Ontario market saw the biggest jump month-on-month, reporting a 10.9 percent sales spike from July to August. Alberta experienced only a small increase of 1.5 percent in sales despite having the most stores of any province in the country.

According to BNN Bloomberg, Stifel analyst Andrew Carter is penciling in the Canadian market for C$2.6 billion in sales throughout 2020.

Producer lets go of 18 percent of its workforce

VIVO Cannabis (TSX:VIVO,OTCQX:VVCIF) confirmed to the market that it has been forced to let go of approximately 45 staff members as part of a wide effort to reduce costs amid a turbulent year for operations in the Canadian cannabis market.

“These changes will allow VIVO to reduce costs by specializing resources and streamlining our organizational structure,” VIVO CEO Barry Fishman said in a statement.

The workforce cuts were done after an internal review of the company’s operations. The company decided to restructure the work being done at its Napanee operation in Ontario

The changes go all the way up to VIVO’s board of directors, as the company announced Dan Laflamme will step down as director at the company.

Cannabis company news

• Planet 13 Holdings (CSE:PLTH,OTCQB:PLNHF) informed the market it is upping a new public offering to 5.8 million shares and targeting proceeds of C$25 million.

• The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings (TSX:TGOD,OTCQX:TGODF) closed its most recent bought deal, which saw over 53 million shares of the company offered at a price of C$0.24. The deal brought the company gross proceeds of C$12.75 million.

• AMP German Cannabis Group (CSE:XCX) announced it will start offering products from Australia-based producer Little Green Pharma (ASX:LGP) through its distribution business in the German medical cannabis market.

• Jushi Holdings (CSE:JUSH,OTCQB:JUSHF) closed a special offering, netting the company C$40.8 million in gross proceeds. It plans to employ the money for acquisitions and general business uses.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Bryan Mc Govern, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.