Aurora Cannabis buying greenhouse designer Larssen to push pot partnership plans

CalyxCrusher

Well-Known Member
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/business/aurora-cannabis-larssen-1.4416119




Aurora Cannabis buying greenhouse designer Larssen to push pot partnership plans

Larssen said to be involved with more than 15 cannabis industry clients globally, including 5 in Canada
The Canadian Press
First published: November 23, 2017 at 12:48 PM ET
Last updated: November 23, 2017 at 4:45 PM ET

Larssen Ltd., which is being bought by Aurora Cannabis, is designing, engineering and overseeing construction of the half-built Aurora Sky cannabis greenhouse near the Edmonton International Airport, a facility it says will have capacity to produce 100,000 kilograms of cannabis per year. (Photo courtesy of Allan Ziolkowski)

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Aurora Cannabis Inc. says it intends to use its ownership of greenhouse design firm Larssen Ltd. to pressure other cannabis producers to enter partnerships that will further its aggressive growth plans.

In a news release, the Alberta-based cannabis producer said Larssen is involved with more than 15 cannabis industry clients globally, including five Canadian licensed producers, but the Canadian deals will be reassessed once the buyout announced Thursday is completed.

"We're going to certainly encourage those to proceed but we're going to require some level of partnership, whether that be an equity stake or a supply agreement or other things," said Aurora executive vice-president Cam Battley. "We're open to various formulae."

He wouldn't name the five companies but said they don't include CanniMed Therapeutics Inc., against which it is pursuing an all-stock hostile takeover bid, or Newstrike Resources Ltd., a company CanniMed is attempting to buy.

According to its website, cannabis producer The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. is working with Larssen to build a large greenhouse in Quebec. It did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.

'Very aggressive'
Analyst Russell Stanley of Echelon Wealth Partners, who covers CanniMed but not Aurora, said Thursday afternoon he hasn't been able to find out which Canadian companies Aurora is referring to in its release.

He said it's highly unusual for the buyer of a service company to so publicly declare that it will revise its deals with competitors.

"I think in the context of also announcing plans to launch a hostile (bid) for CanniMed, clearly Aurora is being very aggressive in its growth strategy," he said.

He said the rapid rise in share price for Aurora and other cannabis companies means they can afford to make acquisitions very cheaply through stock offers.

"You're going to see M&A activity pick up, scale is going to become increasingly important," he said.

Aurora shares gained 32 cents or about five per cent to close at $6.74 on Thursday.

Financial terms of the Larssen deal were not disclosed, but Aurora said they include performance-based milestone payments.

'Like nothing the world has yet seen'
Larssen, which has offices in Denmark and Burlington, Ont., is designing, engineering and overseeing construction of the half-built Aurora Sky cannabis greenhouse near the Edmonton International Airport, a facility it says will have capacity to produce 100,000 kilograms of cannabis per year.

"It's like nothing the world has yet seen in cannabis production," said Battley.

He said the facility will be a closed system hybrid greenhouse capable of precise control of light, heat, humidity and nutrients to produce "ultra low cost" cannabis. To ensure no contaminants enter the system, the air system is designed to be overpressured and overhead robotic cranes will help to replace humans in the growing areas.

Thomas Larssen, principal owner of Larssen Ltd., is to head up a new subsidiary called Aurora Larssen Projects Ltd.

"Joining the company will allow us to leverage the incredible brand recognition Aurora enjoys, both within and outside of the cannabis sector," he said in a statement.

"I believe that the resources, infrastructure and strategic support available at Aurora will help establish ALPS as the world's leading horticultural engineering venture."

Aurora said Larssen is on pace to generate about $6 million in revenues in the next 12 months.
 

CalyxCrusher

Well-Known Member
Maybe not at first....automation in the long term is where it's at.
Yeah 8-10 years down the road. Lol. The industry is still a ways out from that. Some aspects can and are already automated. Some things just cant be done by robots at the level humans can. Trimming being a perfect example. Sure you can run it through an automated trimmer, but you're still going to need humans to do the final trim those machines cant manage.
 
now looks like a good time to buy! might have to be patient but there is definitely money to be made, just a matter of time.
 

Farmer.J

Well-Known Member
Medical marijuana sales surge at Aurora ahead of recreational pot legalization
The already-legal medical marijuana market is providing brisk business for Canadian cannabis companies as they await the end of prohibition on recreational pot later this year.

Alberta-based Aurora Cannabis Inc., one of Canada’s largest licensed medical marijuana producers, said Tuesday that November 2017 had been a “record” month for sales at home and in Germany, where medical cannabis is also legal.

Aurora said it sold 354,000 grams or gram equivalents in November, and reported net cannabis revenues of $3.1 million. That’s up significantly from the same period in 2016, when the company’s sales topped 200,000 grams for what was then a record.


Aurora also said that its liquid assets, its cash and marketable securities as of the end of 2017, exceeded $500 million.

“Aurora begins 2018 with unparalleled financial strength to accelerate its aggressive domestic and international expansion strategy,” the company said in a press release.

The mail-order market
Aurora’s big month highlights the importance of Canada’s mail-order medical marijuana regime to producers, as the system is one of the few legitimate avenues for revenue ahead of the Canadian government’s planned legalization of recreational pot this July.

Health Canada’s most recent market data showed that sales of dried medical marijuana by licensed producers rose from 4,037 kilograms for the quarter spanning April 2016 to June 2016 to 5,836 kilograms for January 2017 to March 2017, a 44.6-per-cent increase. Sales of cannabis oil exploded from 1,500 kilograms to 5,673 kilograms over the same period, a 278.2-per-cent jump.

Medical sales may be worth more to companies as well. Health Canada released its first “snapshot” of cannabis use in December, reporting that medical users usually spent around $121 per month on the drug. This was 61.3 per cent more than recreational users, who reported spending close to $75 a month on non-medical cannabis products.


“That supports the view held by a number of companies that the medical buyer is potentially worth more, from a revenue perspective, than a recreational buyer,” said Russell Stanley, analyst at Echelon Wealth Partners.

But the federal government’s plan to legalize recreational cannabis this year may also give a boost to the legitimacy of the medical market.

“One can argue that upon legalization, doctors may be more inclined to prescribe marijuana as some physicians are currently hesitant to prescribe medical marijuana,” said Martin Landry, analyst at GMP Securities, in a Dec. 22 note.

Licensed producers
The number of authorized licensed producers of medical marijuana continues to grow as well, with the total number of cultivation and sales licenses issued standing at 84, up 133 per cent from the 36 licenses at the beginning of 2017, Echelon noted.

The drumbeat of announcements regarding new products and expanded operations continues too.

British Columbia-based True Leaf Medicine International Ltd. said Tuesday it had exercised an option to buy 40 acres of land to build a 25,000 square-foot “hydroponic medicinal cannabis production facility.”

Also Tuesday, Napanee, Ont.-based ABcann Global Corp. said it had received a license from Health Canada to produce medical cannabis oils, with approval of sales expected in the first quarter of 2018.

And Saskatoon-based CanniMed Therapeutics Inc. — the target of a hostile takeover bid launched by Aurora last month — announced Tuesday that it had entered into a medical marijuana supply agreement with licensed producer Up Cannabis Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Newstrike Resources Ltd.

According to a press release, the terms of the 15-month agreement will see Up Cannabis supply CanniMed with up to 1,500 kilograms of marijuana, once Up Cannabis receives approval from Health Canada to sell its pot.

The supply deal deepens CanniMed’s ties to Newstrike, which it is attempting to acquire as it fends off Aurora’s unsolicited bid.

Ivan Ross Vrána, a medical cannabis expert and vice-president of public affairs at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, said that the research and development investments being made by companies will ensure that the medical side of the marijuana business will remain crucial “in the long run.”

“I don’t think by any means it’s going to disappear,” he said.



 

WHATFG

Well-Known Member
Medical sales may be worth more to companies as well. Health Canada released its first “snapshot” of cannabis use in December, reporting that medical users usually spent around $121 per month on the drug. This was 61.3 per cent more than recreational users, who reported spending close to $75 a month on non-medical cannabis products.
...well thank god for the sick people....
“That supports the view held by a number of companies that the medical buyer is potentially worth more, from a revenue perspective, than a recreational buyer,” said Russell Stanley, analyst at Echelon Wealth Partners.
...see statements like this make me totally understand why people go postal...
But the federal government’s plan to legalize recreational cannabis this year may also give a boost to the legitimacy of the medical market.

“One can argue that upon legalization, doctors may be more inclined to prescribe marijuana as some physicians are currently hesitant to prescribe medical marijuana,” said Martin Landry, analyst at GMP Securities, in a Dec. 22 note.
...now why would legalizing something doctors want nothing to do with, make them more amenable to prescribing it.....ahhhh...the money....lol....hook, line and the sinker is coming.
 

gb123

Well-Known Member
Only people who don't know any better get stuck with poison shwags,,,

:DWe'll let the public know better.....

POISON spray's on your $10/g over priced shit shwag IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.

Cash cow us? :weed:(:
No mon....we get to watch them all burn.....DOWN! :twisted:
 
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