1.) Is CAN going to behave irresponsibly with the new $14M the same way they did with the last > $200M over the last 3 years 2.) Does CAN have operational management skills in place to be able to run a business like this (I think without a significant change in C-suite and also bringing a whole suite of Pharmaceutical Professionals, this would appear unlikely) 3.) The property development and development financing aside appears to have been managed extremely amateurishly by CAN. Why would they not bring in someone with experience in novel financing of property deals to construct a capital stack for the development? 4.) The biggest element of risk here, is why are they building a facility which grows a particular product without having achieved Product-Market Fit. The reality is they are going to grow a product and hope to find a buyer. The market is a lot more sophisticated than it used to be and undifferentiated cannabis has minimal market value and is easily replaceable with cheap biomass from low-cost countries.
Unless CAN group make these changes, I fear they are doomed:
1. Shuffle the C-suite - lets bring in property financing experts, Pharma experts and Medical Experts --> The current board is heavily weighted toward Agritech and Agribiz - that's not where this company's failures have been. The fact they are trying to enter a medical products game with zero medical/ pharma representation is at best delusional and at worst negligent.
2. Reduce the cash burn - goes without saying
3. Do not be reliant on a third party (Aurora or the Toothfairy) to come and buy their biomass - this isn't going to happen - there is a global oversupply and its as cheap as chips on the world market. They need to create their own pathway to market and be their own "off-taker"
4. Create novel market-orientated products. Lets forget any plant-based novelty - that is not of relevance here. Only market-orientated differentiated products with novel-IP are of any value in the marketplace and can dictate a higher price with both patients. This is achieved through:
a.) Clinical Trials verifying the benefit of one product over "generic cannabis" b.) Achieving external regulatory body (e.g. FDA) approvals for individual products allowing medical access to markets and public subsidies
Growing cannabis plants and hoping Santa Claus is coming to buy it is not an effective strategy and will repeat the same mistakes that caused wastage of the last $200M and will lead to further damage to this wilting flower.
Thanks in advance, Stephanie
CAN Price at posting:
45.5¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
