WeedMD to Report its Fiscal Year 2019 Financials on May 27, 2020
Company provides corporate update including COVID-19 impact and confirms earnings conference call will be held on Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 10 a.m. Eastern Time
Toronto, Canada, April 23, 2020 – WeedMD Inc. (TSX-V:WMD) (OTCQX:WDDMF) (FSE:4WE) (“WeedMD” or the “Company”), a federally-licensed producer and distributor of medical-grade cannabis, announced today that due to delays caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic, it will accept the exemption provided by the regulators* and file its financial results for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 after market close on May 27, 2020. Details here.
WeedMD also provided a corporate update which included its company-wide response to the COVID-19 pandemic, confirming that through a combination of initiatives, the Company will be better positioned to mitigate the potential downside related to the worldwide pandemic. These initiatives will include the immediate reduction of executive and director compensation as well as the streamlined operations plan which already factors in 12% of its staff recently placed on temporary leave.
“We are working through unprecedented times and while our cultivation platform and production is fully ramped up, in an effort to maintain prudent business practices during this uncertain period, we recently made the difficult decision to temporarily reduce our workforce,” said Angelo Tsebelis, CEO of WeedMD. “In addition to the post-merger integration initiatives already underway, we have further refined our operations in the areas of oil extraction and production, and streamlined our client services activities. We also repositioned our sales channels - with medical and adult-use markets outpacing sales in the bulk wholesale market. Our efforts have resulted in consistent sales growth and normalized margins that align with our strategy and we look forward to sharing more in May.”
Corporate Update
On December 20, 2019, WeedMD completed the acquisition of Starseed Holdings Inc. (“Starseed”), a medically-focused, federally-licensed cannabis company, combining WeedMD’s industry leading cultivation, processing and development with a vast direct-to-consumer medical sales channel. The merger benefits will be better reflected in the Company’s first quarter 2020 financials.
Covid-19 Preparedness
The health and safety of WeedMD’s employees, patients and customers continues to be its top priority. In accordance with the guidance of Health Canada and all public health agencies, commencing on March 10, 2020, management proactively implemented COVID-19 safety measures. A practice that is ongoing and includes the following health and safety measures taken:
Increasing security screening procedures at all production sites, including visitor bans;
Mandating work-from-home policies for corporate offices in Toronto and London;
Implementing staggered & rotating employee shifts and remote work for applicable staff;
Relocating packaging to its newly-built 50,000 sq. foot processing facility in Strathroy, ON;
Installing additional hand-washing and hand-sanitizing stations;
Encouraging on site social distancing practices during break and lunch times;
Providing resources for compensation and benefits allotment for staff on temporary leave;
Upgrading telemedicine services via its North Star Wellness program for client services; and
Ensuring a healthy supply of personal protection equipment is available on site, as well as donating over 23,000 masks and gloves to Ontario’s healthcare community.
*Due primarily to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) have granted issuers a blanket 45-day extension for filing financial statements, management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A), annual information forms (AIFs), technical reports and business acquisition reports (BARs). BMO also consented to the extension, in accordance with the credit agreement dated March 29, 2019. WeedMD confirms that all insiders are subject to a blackout period during this extension.
About WeedMD Inc.
WeedMD Inc. is the publicly traded parent company of WeedMD RX Inc. and Starseed Medicinal Inc., licence holders producing and distributing cannabis products for both the medical and adult-use markets. The Company owns and operates a 158-acre state-of-the-art greenhouse, outdoor and processing facility located in Strathroy, ON as well as a fully-licensed 26,000 sq. ft. Aylmer, ON processing facility, specializing in cannabis extraction. With the addition of Starseed, a medical-centric operator, WeedMD has expanded its multi-channeled distribution strategy. Starseed’s industry-first, exclusive partnership with LiUNA, the largest construction union in Canada, along with employers and union groups complements WeedMD’s direct sales to medical patients. The Company maintains strategic relationships in the seniors’ market and supply agreements with Shoppers Drug Mart as well, as seven provincial distribution agencies where adult-use brands Color Cannabis and Saturday are sold.
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For further information, please contact:
For Investor Enquiries:
Valter Pinto
Managing Director
KCSA Strategic Communications
1-212-896-1254
weedmd@kcsa.com
For Media Enquiries:
Marianella delaBarrera
VP, Communications & Corporate Affairs
416-897-6644
marianella@weedmd.com
All product images and labels are provided for information and illustrative purposes only, and do not represent the actual cannabis product, product label, or its appearance.
Forward Looking Information
This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation which are based upon WeedMD's current internal expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions and beliefs and views of future events. Forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "expect", "likely", "may", "will", "should", "intend", "anticipate", "potential", "proposed", "estimate" and other similar words, including negative and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions "may", "would" or "will" happen, or by discussions of strategy.
The forward-looking information in this news release is based upon the expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions and views of future events which management believes to be reasonable in the circumstances. Forward-looking information includes estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, targets, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Forward-looking information in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to internal expectations, expectations with respect to actual production volumes, expectations for future growing capacity and the completion of any capital project or expansions. Forward-looking information necessarily involve known and unknown risks, including, without limitation, risks associated with general economic conditions; adverse industry events; loss of markets; future legislative and regulatory developments; inability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favourable terms; the cannabis industry in Canada generally; the ability of WeedMD to implement its business strategies; the COVID-19 pandemic; competition; crop failure; and other risks.
Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and, except as required by law, WeedMD does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for WeedMD to predict all such factors. When considering this forward-looking information, readers should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements in WeedMD's disclosure documents filed with the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities on SEDAR a www.sedar.com. The risk factors and other factors noted in the disclosure documents could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking information.
NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE