NYSE | TSX: ACB
- Initial cannabis 2.0 shipments released to 10 provincial
regulators; new products have also been made available for order
countrywide by Aurora's registered medical patients
- Provides Update on Capital Expenditure Plan Aligned to
Long-Term Market Growth
- Network of Strategic Partners Continue to Demonstrate Value
and Strong Execution
EDMONTON, Dec. 23, 2019 /CNW/ - Aurora Cannabis Inc. (the
"Company" or "Aurora") (NYSE | TSX: ACB), the
Canadian company defining the future of cannabis worldwide, today
provided an update on the readiness of its operations with the
introduction of new product formats, recent industry recognitions
and updates to existing operations. As a global leader in cannabis
revenues, cannabis production, research, innovation and
international market development, the Company intends to provide
regular updates to its stakeholders in an effort to demonstrate
continued transparency and disclosure.
"We have focused our collective efforts to be ready for the
successful launch of Cannabis 2.0 as Canada takes the next step in the legalization
of newly allowed product forms. We are ready and have launched a
diversified portfolio of new product formats and are excited for
Canadians to have access to high-quality, safe alternative cannabis
products such as edibles, vape pens and other derivatives," said
Terry Booth, CEO of Aurora. "We have
prudently deployed capital and we believe that we're ready with the
appropriate combination of technology, scale and consumer insights
to have the right products on store shelves in a timely fashion.
This was not an easy task and I would like to thank the entire
Aurora team for their collective efforts in getting 2.0 across the
goal line in time for our provincial regulators."
Recent Corporate Initiatives
Aurora has taken steps to proactively rationalize capital
expenditures, reduce near term debt and bolster liquidity in an
effort to position the Company for the long-term success. The
previously announced deferral of construction and commissioning
activities is expected to conserve approximately $200 million of cash in the near term. Aurora
believes that its existing assets are sufficient to meet current
demand at a low cost per gram. The company expects to have the
flexibility to ramp up projects as global demand dictates.
In late November, the Company also retired $227 million of the $230
million 5% unsecured convertible debentures that were
due in March 2020 with the issuance
of shares and thereby preserving cash. Aurora continues to evaluate
multiple sources of capital and currently has access to undrawn
capacity under a CDN$360 million
credit facility with a syndicate of banks, in addition to its
US$400 million at-the-market ("ATM")
equity distribution program.
Cannabis 2.0 Product Launch
The Company has commenced shipments of initial orders received
to 10 of Canada's provincial
regulators of Cannabis 2.0 products following December 17, 2019, however most Canadian
consumers will likely not see these products on retail store
shelves until early January 2020 due
to varied retail operations across the country. Patients can now
immediately access a variety of the new product formats.
Initially the Company is providing a variety of CBD and THC vape
and edible products, such as gummies, chocolates, baked goods and
mints. These new cannabis products are being produced at Aurora Sky
in Edmonton, Alberta, Aurora River
in Bradford, Ontario and Aurora
Vie in Pointe-Claire, Quebec.
These centres have been outfitted to provide centralized
production, packaging, logistics and distribution capabilities. The
Company has prioritized its resources to prepare for a successful
initial launch and has built inventories to support an ongoing
replenishment strategy to help ensure consumers across Canada have access to a diverse portfolio of
high-quality derivative products.
The Company encourages Canadian consumers to review Aurora's
"Ready for Edibles" campaign, which aims to educate
consumers about the responsible consumption of cannabis edibles.
The campaign can be seen at cannabis retail outlets across
Canada. For more information,
visit the Ready for Edibles website.
To learn more about Aurora's upcoming portfolio of new products
please click here.
Provincial Regulatory Updates
Aurora commends Premier Ford, Minister Downey and the Government
of Ontario for committing to
improving the province of Ontario's cannabis retail environment through
the open allocation of retail cannabis licensing. The new policy is
expected to see the removal of the cap on the number of private
cannabis stores in the province as well as thoughtful
pre-qualification requirements.
"We applaud this positive step by the Province of Ontario to provide a retail environment which
is conducive to a successful system that provides Canadians
with more safe, regulated cannabis products," said Terry Booth, CEO of Aurora.
Recent Executive Appointment
Aurora is pleased to announce that Rick
Savone has joined the company as Senior Vice President of
Global Government Relations. In this new role, Rick will oversee
Aurora's relationships with governments around the world, helping
them to create regulations that will allow greater access to
medical cannabis products for patients. Over the course of his
career Rick has developed deep government relations experience,
most recently as the Director General for Global Affairs Canada.
Prior to that, Rick was Canada's
ambassador to Brazil and has held
various other senior level positions with the Department including
as consul general in Shanghai.
International Market Developments
Denmark
Aurora has received the very first approval from the Danish
Medicines Agency for the import of the Company's Sedamen Softgel
capsules into Denmark. Aurora is
currently working to obtain an export permit from Health Canada and
expects to complete the first shipment from its Aurora Ridge facility in Markham, Ontario in the first calendar quarter
of 2020.
Ireland
On December 2, 2019, Aurora
announced that one of the Company's oil products has now been
approved for use under Ireland's
new Medical Cannabis Access Programme ("MCAP"). Aurora's High CBD
Oil Drops received approval from the Irish authorities and have now
been added to a regulatory schedule by the Irish Minister of Health
enabling importation, prescribing and supply under the schedule and
is to date, one of only two products to gain such
authorization.
Flagship Retail Store Update
Aurora's Experiential Flagship Store Opens in the West
Edmonton Mall
The Company's flagship retail store official opened on
November 27, 2019 in North America's largest shopping mall. At
approximately 11,000 square feet, the location in the West Edmonton
Mall combines a retail cannabis store that showcases Aurora brands
and an immersive experiential space for cannabis education, events
and community engagement. With more than 30 million visitors to the
West Edmonton Mall each year, Aurora's flagship is already seeing a
combined average of 700 visitors per day. On average, 94% of
visitors to the cannabis and accessories store make a purchase.
Thus far, the top selling cannabis products have been Aurora's
Hybrid and THC Pre-Rolls, Whistlers organic products and the
Company's popular cultivar, LA Confidential. To learn more about
Aurora's new flagship store, please click here.
Facility Status Updates
Whistler Pemberton Facility Construction Complete
Aurora's wholly-owned subsidiary, Whistler Medical Marijuana
Corp. ("Whistler"), recently completed construction of
its 62,000 square foot production facility in
Pemberton, British Columbia (the
"Pemberton Facility"). Construction of the Pemberton Facility
commenced April 2018, and is purpose
built to European Union Good Manufacturing Practices (EU GMP)
standards. The fifteen-room Pemberton facility is Whistler's largest and
has a designed capacity of 4,500 kg of premium, organic
certified, cannabis per year. The new Pemberton facility also incorporates a public
lounge to educate visitors to the region about Whistler and its
history of pioneering organic certified cannabis cultivation.
Whistler product is in strong demand from both medical and
consumer markets, and its craft production commands a premium brand
position and pricing. The additional capacity of the Pemberton facility is expected to enable
Aurora to increase the availability of Whistlers organic certified
dried cannabis, hand-rolled joints and cannabis. Whistler expects
to introduce a new line of organic certified hashish and live rosin
cannabis extracts soon.
Aurora Nordic 1 Receives Additional Licensing
Aurora Nordic 1, the Company's 100,000 square foot facility
located in Odense, Denmark, with a
production capacity of 8,000 kg per year of medical cannabis,
recently received a processing and drying license. Aurora has also
completed the requisite filings to obtain EU GMP certification of
the facility, and expects to receive approval in the first calendar
quarter of 2020, which will allow for sale to patients across
Europe.
New Extraction Technology Implemented at Aurora River
Aurora River, the Company's 210,000 square foot production
facility located in Bradford,
Ontario, recently completed installation of new, proprietary
extraction equipment to increase the Company's resin extract
production capacity for soon-to-be-released premium cannabis
derivative products. The highly-advanced, process patented
equipment was designed in-house and uses CO2 extraction to process
up to 20 kg of plant material per run and is capable of performing
two runs per day. Aurora River is already using the new extraction
technology for the production of edibles and Aurora's new line of
vapes with high-quality cannabis resin from the company's high-THC
and high-CBD cultivars.
Aurora Eau Receives Health Canada Processing License
Aurora Eau located in Lachute,
Quebec, recently received a Health Canada processing
license. In addition to its existing Health Canada license, which
authorized cannabis cultivation and sales, the new license allows
the facility to process, package and sell dried and fresh cannabis
to authorized Canadian retailers. Designed for the cultivation of
niche and exotic cannabis varieties and home to Aurora's eastern
Canada outdoor grow operation,
Aurora Eau is a 48,000 square foot facility with a production
capacity of 4,500 kg/ year.
New Automated Packaging Line Installed at Aurora Vie
Aurora Vie located in Pointe-Claire,
Quebec, recently commissioned and installed a new automated
packaging line, reducing the time it takes to package solid dose
cannabis products. The state-of-the-art equipment can package, seal
and cap up to 100 bottles per minute and has been used for softgels
at the facility since Oct. 31, 2019.
The new packaging line is used for cannabis-infused mints, which
are made at Aurora Vie and are expected to enter the consumer and
medical cannabis markets after December 17,
2019.
Dehulling and Decorticator Arrive at Hempco's Nisku
Facility
Hempco's new, state-of-the-art, 56,000 square foot processing
facility, which is capable of processing 2.9 million kg per year
hemp is nearing completion. The facility, located in Nisku, Alberta, recently commissioned its new
dehulling and decorticating equipment. Upon completion in the first
calendar quarter of 2020, the new equipment will be capable of
dehulling 450 kg/hour of hemp hearts and decorticating 1.5 tonnes
per hour of hemp fibre.
Industry Recognition
Aurora Wins Top Prizes at Canadian Cannabis Awards
Aurora took home four top prizes at Lift & Co.'s Canadian
Cannabis Awards on November 8, 2019.
Awards received at the event included "Top Sativa Flower" for San
Rafael '71 Tangerine Dream, "Top Indica Flower" for San Rafael '71
Pink Kush, "Top Cannabis Spray" for Aurora Sativa Oral Spray and
"Top Balanced Bottled Oil" for MedReleaf Midnight Oil. Other Aurora
family products and companies were also finalists in the "Top
Sativa Flower," "Top High CBD Bottled Oil," "Top Cannabis
Capsules," "Top Home Growing Box" and "Top Testing Lab"
categories.
Strategic Partner Developments
Aurora has a broad partnership portfolio of cannabis and
cannabis-adjacent businesses which all provide valuable strategic
benefits to Aurora. The benefits include retail footprint and
customer insights, product technology/intellectual property, and
operational or cost advantages. The Company continuously evaluates
the strategic fit of these investments and may choose to monetize
investments which are no longer core to the strategic plan.
Alcanna Inc. ("Alcanna")
- Alcanna continues to build-out its cannabis retail store
network across Canada with 30 Nova
Cannabis locations in Alberta;
- Nova Cannabis' Queen Street West
location in Toronto continues to
average $400,000 - $500,000 per week in sales – of which Aurora and
MedReleaf are the highest selling brands by a wide margin;
- Alcanna is targeting the maximum of 10 stores in Ontario by August 31,
2020 with 10-15 more by year end and to reach the 30-store
limit before August 2021.
Capcium Inc. ("Capcium")
- Capcium is currently in the final stages of construction at its
new state-of-the-art production facility with a capacity for up to
10 softgel encapsulation lines capable of producing approximately
2.5 billion softgel capsules annually.
- Capcium recently received its cannabis R&D license for the
new facility and will be starting its cannabis R&D laboratories
in Q1 2020. Capcium is expecting to obtain its standard processor
license by end of Q1 2020.
- Capcium's softgel capsules manufactured for Aurora were the
first finished softgel products of a Canadian LP to be approved for
sale in an EU country.
Choom Holdings Inc. ("Choom")
- Currently, Choom has 14 stores open and operating and is
targeting 20 stores open across Canada by the first quarter of 2020 with two
additional cannabis development permits in highly coveted areas of
the Greater Vancouver region;
- On December 1, 2019, Choom
expanded its executive team with the appointment of Corey Gillon as the company's new Chief
Executive Officer, who was also appointed to the Board of
Directors. Corey's executive leadership roles were established at
Walmart and Aritzia where the corporate strategies he implemented
were customer-focused and ensured operational retail
development;
- With the recent announcement made by the Alcohol and Gaming
Commission of Ontario to move to
open market for private cannabis retail, Choom had commenced the
process of exercising the option to purchase its branded flagship
retail store located in Niagara
Falls. With these regulatory changes, Choom expects to
expand its footprint in Ontario
starting the first quarter of 2020.
CTT Pharmaceutical Holdings Inc. ("CTT")
- On October 6, 2019, Aurora
commenced sales of its Dissolve Strips to the Canadian medical
market. Dissolve Strips, a novel non-smokable, sublingual
cannabinoid delivery technology, were developed in collaboration
between CTT and Aurora, who hold a 9% ownership interest;
- Based on the successful market introduction, with the Dissolve
Strips selling out in short order, Aurora and CTT are in the
process of developing additional SKUs, including CBD infused strips
and THC:CBD balanced strips for both the medical and the consumer
markets;
EnWave Corporation ("EnWave")
- EnWave has signed a total of 14 royalty-bearing commercial
licenses for REV technology in fiscal 2019;
- On December 11, 2019, EnWave
announced that in its Fiscal 2019 it generated $42.8 million in revenue, up 88% from
$22.8 million in 2018;
- EnWave has sold its innovative REV machines for the drying of
Cannabis to Swiss, Australian and New
Zealand companies.
High Tide Inc. ("High Tide")
- High Tide expanded its retail cannabis network from 25 branded
stores at the end of September to 30 operating locations today,
including 27 Canna Cabana stores and 3 KushBar stores located
across Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan.
- Acquired the remaining 49.9% of its KushBar joint venture,
including 3 operating retail cannabis stores and a fourth location
currently under construction, all located in Alberta.
Radient Technologies Inc. ("Radient")
- Radient is currently extracting and processing a large
inventory of cannabis biomass for Aurora at its Edmonton I cannabis
processing facility (designed for 56,000 kg / year throughput
capacity). Recovery of cannabinoids is consistently above 90% and
as much as 99%. Products have shown high levels of quality and
demonstrated extended "shelf life," with negligible cannabinoid
degradation over multiple months.
- Radient's Edmonton II hemp processing facility, designed to
process 420,000 kg / year of hemp, is on track for completion at
the end of calendar 2019. Additional commissioning and validation
work is expected to commence in early calendar 2020, after
licensing is granted by Health Canada. Radient's Edmonton III
facility ("Edmonton III"), with construction well underway, is
expected to begin operations in the second half of calendar 2020,
scaling up to its intended full capacity of 280,000 kg/ year of
cannabis and 2.8 million kg/ year of hemp thereafter.
- Radient's Germany facility
("Germany") will be commissioned in two phases. The first phase, a
leased production facility that is being built to suit cannabis
extraction, is now under way. Phase one capacity and throughput
will be 200 kg/ day, processing either hemp or cannabis biomass.
The second phase will be the expansion of capacity on a site
adjacent to the facility noted in the aforementioned first phase,
scaling up to a throughput capacity of 280,000 kg/ year of
cannabis, and 2.8 million kg/ year of hemp.
About Aurora
Headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada with funded capacity in excess of 625,000 kg per
annum and sales and operations in 25 countries across five
continents, Aurora is one of the world's largest and leading
cannabis companies. Aurora is vertically integrated and
horizontally diversified across every key segment of the value
chain, from facility engineering and design to cannabis breeding
and genetics research, cannabis and hemp production, derivatives,
high value-add product development, home cultivation, wholesale and
retail distribution.
Highly differentiated from its peers, Aurora has established a
uniquely advanced, consistent and efficient production strategy,
based on purpose-built facilities that integrate leading-edge
technologies across all processes, defined by extensive automation
and customization, resulting in the massive scale production of
high-quality consistent product. Designed to be replicable and
scalable globally, our production facilities are designed to
produce cannabis at significant scale, with high quality,
industry-leading yields, and low-per gram production costs. Each of
Aurora's facilities is built to meet European Union Good
Manufacturing Practices ("EU GMP") standards. Certification has
been granted to Aurora's first production facility in Mountain View
County, the MedReleaf Markham facility, and its wholly owned
European medical cannabis distributor Aurora Deutschland. All
Aurora facilities are designed and built to the EU GMP
standard.
In addition to the Company's rapid organic growth and strong
execution on strategic M&A, which to date includes 17 wholly
owned subsidiary companies – MedReleaf, CanvasRX, Peloton
Pharmaceutical, Aurora Deutschland, H2 Biopharma, BC Northern
Lights, Larssen Greenhouses, CanniMed Therapeutics, Anandia,
HotHouse Consulting, MED Colombia, Agropro, Borela, ICC Labs,
Whistler, Chemi Pharmaceutical, and Hempco – Aurora is
distinguished by its reputation as a partner and employer of choice
in the global cannabis sector, having invested in and established
strategic partnerships with a range of leading innovators,
including: Radient Technologies Inc. (TSXV: RTI), Cann Group Ltd.
(ASX: CAN), Micron Waste Technologies Inc. (CSE: MWM), Choom
Holdings Inc. (CSE: CHOO), CTT Pharmaceuticals (OTCC: CTTH),
Alcanna Inc. (TSX: CLIQ), High Tide Inc. (CSE: HITI), EnWave
Corporation (TSXV: ENW), Capcium Inc. (private), Evio Beauty Group
(private), and Wagner Dimas (private).
Aurora's Common Shares trade on the TSX and NYSE under the
symbol "ACB", and is a constituent of the S&P/TSX Composite
Index.
For more information about Aurora, please visit our investor
website, investor.auroramj.com
Terry Booth,
CEO
Aurora Cannabis Inc.
Forward Looking Statements
This news release includes statements containing certain
"forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable
securities law ("forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking
statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan",
"continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate",
"estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other
similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions
"may" or "will" occur. These forward-looking statements are only
predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the
conclusions or making the projections contained in the
forward-looking statements throughout this news release.
Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions, estimates and
assumptions of management in light of management's experience and
perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected
developments at the date the statements are made, such as current
and future market conditions, the current and future regulatory
environment and future approvals and permits. Forward-looking
statements are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and
other factors that management believes to be relevant and
reasonable in the circumstances could cause actual events, results,
level of activity, performance, prospects, opportunities or
achievements to differ materially from those projected in the
forward-looking statements, including general business and economic
conditions, changes in laws and regulations, product demand,
changes in prices of required commodities, competition and other
risks, uncertainties and factors set out under the heading "Risk
Factors" in the Company's annual information form dated
September 10, 2019 (the "AIF") and
filed with Canadian securities regulators available on the
Company's issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company
cautions that the list of risks, uncertainties and other factors
described in the AIF is not exhaustive and other factors could also
adversely affect its results. Readers are urged to consider the
risks, uncertainties and assumptions carefully in evaluating the
forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on such information. The Company is under no obligation,
and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or
revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly
required by applicable securities laws.
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SOURCE Aurora Cannabis Inc.