CEOs of Aphria, Icanic Brands, Sundial Growers, and Tilray, Discuss New Cannabis Technologies, Evolving Consumer Tastes, Markets - and Profits


NEW YORK, Dec. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wall Street Reporter, the trusted name in financial news since 1843, has published reports on the latest comments and insights from leaders at: Tilray, Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY), Icanic Brands (OTC: ICNAF) (CSE: ICAN), Aphria (NASDAQ: APHA) (TSX: APHA), and Sundial Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNDL).

Cannabis leaders are focusing on serving rapidly growing consumer demand, and evolving tastes. Innovation in premium branding, growing technologies, manufacturing with operational execution are key in the drive towards profitability. Wall Street Reporter highlights the latest comments from industry thought leaders:

Icanic Brands (OTC: ICNAF) (CSE: ICAN) CEO Brandon Kou: ”Ready to Scale with Quality Brands, and a Superior Gross Margin Profile”

“The Tesla of Cannabis” is what some savvy investors are calling Icanic Brands (OTC: ICNAF) (CSE: ICAN), after it’s recent presentation at Wall Street Reporter’s “Investors Discovery Day” livestream. ICNAF is a leader in the California market, and specifically in the pre-rolled space, with it’s award-winning, “Ganja Gold” brand, sold in hundreds of retail outlets. A key component of ICNAF’s success is it’s pre-roll manufacturing technologies which produce consistent, high-quality pre-rolls at high gross margins - a major competitive advantage in the cannabis industry.

Watch ICNAF Investors Discovery Day 12/4/20 Video: https://bit.ly/3gbJJVf

In his livestream presentation, ICNAF CEO Brandon Kou outlined the company’s growth strategy, based on a “three pillar approach”: sales platform, technology, and vertical integration which lead to a superior gross margin profile. With a profitable foundation established, ICNAF is now at an inflection point where it’s ready to start scaling revenues and expand with strategic M&A opportunities.

December 9 - ICNAF will be presenting at Wall Street Reporter’s Investors Discovery Day livestream at 3:00PM EST. Click Here to Join: https://bit.ly/2PX0SpH

December 9 - ICNAF signs LOI to acquire THC Engineering, LLC, which manufactures one of a kind automation technology for the rapidly expanding cannabis manufacturing industry, and renowned for it’s world-leading, automated pre-roll technology. "Technology has always been a key focus and one of the three pillars that allows Icanic to truly differentiate itself and target a superior gross margin profile," said Brandon Kou, CEO of Icanic. "The opportunity to acquire THC Engineering and its world class team was something that we could simply not pass up. This agreement reinforces our commitment to technology by bringing on a team that has built one of a kind manufacturing equipment for the likes of Tesla, Genentech and Johnson & Johnson.“

December 1 - ICNAF reports $C7.9 million revenues and $560,000 in positive adjusted EBITDA for FY 2020. ICNAF also announces expansion to it’s new California facility which will house ICNAF’s second automated pre-roll machinery, being put into production in Q1-2021, resulting in a significant increase in overall production capacity. Over the past 12 months, ICNAF has seen a significant increased demand for its pre-roll brands (Ganja Gold and Taylors) and the addition of automation equipment that has been sourced and developed to keep up with the demand requires a much larger physical manufacturing facility.

December 9 - ICNAF will be presenting at Wall Street Reporter’s Investors Discovery Day livestream at 3:00PM EST. Click Here to Join: https://bit.ly/2PX0SpH

Aphria, Inc. (NASDAQ: APHA) CEO Irwin Simon: “Laser Focus on Profitability”

“...We are outperforming many of those in the marketplace with solid market share gains in Canada with new brands, product innovation, which will continue to evolve as we anticipate changing consumer and patient preferences and demands....We have made substantial changes across our entire organization to position Aphria for sustainable long-term growth with a strategic focus on solidifying our strong Canadian foundation by driving category leadership with strong carefully curated brands and the introduction of many new innovative products and increasing our market share in the Canadian market with a focus on operational excellence, which are low-cost, high-quality producer, increasing our profitability through continued cost managing and having that strong cash position for growth and expanding our geographic reach, where it makes sense and that is something that we have focused on. These initiatives helped propel Aphria forward and be the number one cannabis company today.”

Aphria (NASDAQ: APHA) Q1 2021 Earnings Call Highlights: https://bit.ly/38grXyn

Sundial Growers (NASDAQ: SNDL), CEO Zach George: “Evolving to Deliver Higher THC Potency Meeting New Consumer Demands”

“...Canadian cannabis consumer preferences are evolving, but are currently biased towards high THC potency. We have had to rapidly adapt our cultivation processes to meet those demands over the last six months....the modular nature of our facility provides Sundial the ability to rapidly adapt to evolving market conditions and we continue to be agile in our response. The scale and modular room design of Sundial's cultivation facility make it one of the best in Canada. Since inception, we've compiled a broad spectrum of cultivation statistics, including more than 600 harvests, including 243 in 2020 and 52 in the third quarter alone. Sundial has leveraged his data analytics capabilities to focus on key improvement areas. I am proud to say that just last month in October we generated the highest average potency results since Sundial's inception…”

“...To continue to serve evolving consumer preferences Sundial has also acquired an expanded library of genetics. We expect these genetics to have a financial impact in early 2021. ...We exited Q3 with lower costs, greater efficiencies and dramatic improvements to our balance sheet. Despite underperformance on revenue, we reached several key operating milestones. As we continue to improve our processes, we are also working to elevate our customer experience while driving long-term growth…”

Sundial Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNDL) Q3 2020 Earnings Highlights: https://bit.ly/3oFJgO7

Tilray, Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY) CEO, Brendan Kennedy: “Europe Cannabis is Next Big Growth Opportunity”

“...We are operating in an efficient manner across our entire business, global medical cannabis, Canadian adult use-cannabis and global hemp. With the completion of our significant cost reductions, we are now poised to leverage our cost structure and ensure we are one of the global winners in this industry. We have ample cash availability on our ATM to execute our strategy...With our infrastructure in place, we will continue to focus on building brands and developing products that resonate with consumers and established Tilray as the most trusted cannabis and hemp company in the world.”

“...I think that we'll see possibly the entire EU legalize cannabis for medical-use over the course of the next, let's call it, 18 months...We are committed to long-term profitable growth in Europe as regulations continue to change and country markets develop...We are continuing to see increases in both the number of patients in Germany with cannabis prescriptions, as well as the number of doctors who are writing prescriptions for these patients... We believe that we are effectively building brand awareness similar to the way that we did in Canada four years ago and expect to see continued patient and revenue growth given Germany's large population base. In fact, we believe that the adoption curve in Germany is occurring at a faster pace compared to Canada during 2014 and 2015. Recently, we have seen a number of competitors either cease European operations or significantly reduced their presence there. We believe this will become a long-term strategic advantage for Tilray. The commitments we have made to the EU market with our Portugal GMP campus and regional leadership team based in Germany, position us well to continue to capture market share in Germany and more broadly in Europe...”

Tilray, Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY) Earnings Call Highlights: https://bit.ly/3m2MqdY

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