Merchant remains the Company's top holder with its holdings unchanged. These are held by The Trust Company, which is public information in our annual reports, and through Top Holder reports (which I sent to you yesterday).
My personal holdings (12,532,232) are disclosed in the 2021 annual report (page 26). Any discrepancy between that number and the Top Holders report, (again, in the annual report - page 81), include remaining shares held in other entities, such as my superannuation where I hold shares that I actually purchase on market when the stock falls, not by selling.
@Nauschder, in regards to share price performance, I have personally lost more in value than any other individual shareholder over the last 5 years across both CannPal and AusCann, so I deeply sympathise with you and all shareholders.
Unfortunately, the Global Cannabis Index has dropped from a high of
174 in 2015 to
15.88 as of today (the lowest it has been in the last 10 years), largely in part due to the unprecedented spike in valuations of poorly run cannabis companies in Canada, and slow and complex regulations which has hampered growth in North America. We're also going through one of the biggest pullbacks on growth stocks in years, with Netflix down 68% since November, and Facebook/Meta down 45% in the same period. This all results in a challenging market for Australian Cannabis Companies.
The AusCann Board and Management have been mindful of this since last year, which resulted in a change in the Board composition, and an increased focus on reducing costs to conserve capital. This has put AusCann in one of the strongest positions out of any other Cannabis Company to get through this challenging period, as we have a healthy cash position and an increasingly lower burn rate.
Given the above, the Company has been constantly evaluating complementary opportunities to cost effectively create value for shareholders and capitalise on the changing market conditions, which included our recently announced strategic collaboration with Eurocann. German officials announced yesterday that they had formally started the process towards legalisation in the Country, which would make Germany the largest legal market for cannabis in the world.
However, all opportunities need to be considered carefully to ensure the steps we take are in the best interests of shareholders, and will not just burn through capital. We deeply sympathise with all shareholders, and hope to provide a market update in the coming weeks.
Layton
