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Canopy Growth Corp (formerly Tweed Marijuana Inc.) (NYSE: CGC) |
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December 24, 2018 Issue |
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CEOCFO MAGAZINE |
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With over 5.6 million square feet of Greenhouse and Indoor Buildings planned in Canada and operations throughout 12 countries, recognizable brands like Tweed and Spectrum and game changing strategic Partnerships, Canopy Growth Corp is well positioned as a Global Leader in the Cannabis Industry |
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Canopy Growth Corp (formerly Tweed Marijuana Inc.) (NYSE: CGC)
Bud Wayne, Editorial Executive, CEOCFO Magazine, Published – December 31, 2018
CEOCFO: Mr. Linton, the first thing you see on your website is Canopy Growth advances the world’s perception of cannabis by focusing on research, product development and innovative production capabilities – all presented through brands people trust. Is this what sets Canopy Growth apart in such a growing industry? Mr. Linton: Yes, I would say that science and the potential of the plant in its various ingredients, turns into things that people choose over other options because they trust them. They need to buy them based on an outcome and name, so we have done and continue to do the job of folks focusing on science first and then wrapping it in great brands.
CEOCFO: Canopy Growth was formerly Tweed Marijuana Inc. Why the name change and what is the vision today? Mr. Linton: When I started Tweed, it was a medical-only single-side business and single country business. Over the course of twenty plus acquisitions, it made more sense to structure it to show that sort of program where you have an entity in which the equity is purchased, Canopy. In addition, an entity in which people select products such as Tweed, Spectrum or some of our other brands so that there is brand clarity. However, communicate with investors without necessarily the same format of name and structure as a person buys a product.
CEOCFO: You are founder of Canopy Growth and Co-founder of Tweed Marijuana. How did this come about? What inspired you? Mr. Linton: Canopy has been forward-looking from a judicial perspective and how to manage cannabis, in that it started in 2001 with the court decision that federally it would not be permissible to withhold cannabis from people, as there were medical benefits. I observed in 2012, that because of the number of people on the prior system it was starting to break, and then there were many in the medical system, which was a much more industrial platform. Therefore, that governance model was much more about chain of custody and not losing cannabis, than it was about what you produced and how you sold it. This made me think that that as a tech person, I should start one of those because chain of custody is actually a concept that I had understood for a long time.
CEOCFO: What is your role day-to-day at Canopy Growth as it Chairman and Co-CEO?
Mr. Linton:
I am principally aware facing in that I deal with capital markets, media and
communications, corporate governance and international activities, which are
really our emerging markets. Our President and Co-CEO, Mark Zekulin is more
focused on the structuring and operations of the business so that what we
talk about, we deliver. CEOCFO: Innovation is important to you with Canopy Health Innovations being one of your subsidiaries. Would you tell us about some of your accomplishments there and what we can look for in the future? Mr. Linton: We have thirty-one divisions. It sounds like a great many of them, but each site has to be licensed. We have about eight operating perspectives, and what I mean by that is we focus on for example animal health, human health and we focus on medical education and how do we bring physicians along. We look at scientific formulations and extractions as a key aspect group. So as you go through all these, I think what we have done a very good job of doing is setting the interworking between the various market-facing elements and the various technical creation aspects. The outcome is that we continue to make new solutions that are defined by the problems of the prior solution, or what the market is screaming for. We have been the best at listening to the market, putting it through a science filter and turning it into a desired outcome.
CEOCFO: Do you have your own growers or your own production facilities? Where does the product production start? Mr. Linton: We do everything from seed to sales. We have a little over 6 million square feet of greenhouses in indoor buildings around the world. We have plants in several countries on several continents, so from Europe to Australia, and Canada as the first one. We do have respect for the process, essentially to make sure it is what we want, convert it to what you want to buy and do that on a continual basis.
CEOCFO: On November 29th you announced a strategic extract supply agreement with MediPharm Labs. Would you tell us about that and what it means to Canopy Health? Mr. Linton: I think it is a small portion of what we are acquiring or implementing, but it was from a unique offering in that MediPharm Labs is a company that has shifted their business model purely to the processing of plants rather than growing or selling the resulted product. I think that is a good thing for the sector and a very novel approach. Therefore, we are happy to work with them.
CEOCFO: On December 6th you announced the acquisition of Storz & Bickel, designers and manufacturers of medically approved vaporizers. Why was this an important acquisition for you and how did it come about? Mr. Linton: Storz & Bickel have created over the last 18 to 20 years, the only medically certified device for consuming cannabis and that certification is in Germany, Israel, and Canada, not exactly low-water mark certification jurisdictions. They have numerous patents filed that have been issues or are looking to be issued that are quite competently executed, so it allows us a platform to accelerate what we already going to do in the medical space in terms of inhalation devices. It is a profitable enterprise, so it has a nicely tuned business that comes with competent human capital that want to build more and be bigger, so that works out well for us.
CEOCFO: What is your geographic reach today? Mr. Linton: Throughout twelve countries ranging from Canada, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Australia, South Africa, and Colombia. We have a great deal of diversity.
CEOCFO: Would you tell us about your management model? Are you hands-on with your subsidiaries or do they have their own management teams? How does your management strategy give you a competitive edge? Mr. Linton: We are still a startup. When you are a startup, you interact and get involved almost quarterly. We are at the stage now where there are certain areas that are stabilizing the direction of cannabis, and certain areas which are being tweaked almost on a weekly basis such as what medical indications make the most sense to pursue or how to expand into certain geographies. It is a very iterative model, where we intentionally challenge because there is no way to know that we are doing the right thing, as there is nobody to copy from. Therefore, you just have to figure it out. It is active management, but what we have attracted a couple thousand people and almost everyone is extremely motivated because when in your life do you get to participate in ending prohibition.
CEOCFO: How do you reach out? Are your products moved into the market place through distributors and partnerships?
Mr. Linton:
Principally they are distributed direct to consumer, medical science, and
through provincially controlled sales points on the recreational side.
Internationally, it is through places like Germany through pharmacies. We
directly export to the countries, we do not use intermediaries. CEOCFO: What is your strategy for continued growth? Will it come through product development, acquisitions, distribution agreements or a mix? Mr. Linton: It is a bit of a mix and it is also about regulatory rules. The US is contemplating how to migrate a management system for hemp. There are many regulations that are continually evolving so our opportunity is really driven by what becomes legal.
CEOCFO: Do you have the funds in place for continued growth or will you be reaching out to investors? Mr. Linton: We have about $4.5 billion US in the bank.
CEOCFO: Is attending industry and investor conferences a major part of your role at Canopy Growth? Mr. Linton: They are too numerous to attend, so we selectively attend them. However, we principally attend events which are more consumer-driven and some which are financial institutions, but very few for our sector.
CEOCFO: In closing, address our readers in the investment, healthcare and cannabis communities. Why is Canopy Growth an important company to follow? Mr. Linton: We have been the definitive leader for five years through several iterations of public policy and globalization. We are not a leader because of one single thing; it is the structure of our model and the resulting outputs of better product. Therefore, I suspect we foreshadow what is happening in every geography that we operate.
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“We have been the definitive leader for five years through several iterations of public policy and globalization. We are not a leader because of one single thing; it is the structure of our model and the resulting outputs of better product.”- Bruce Linton
Canopy Growth Corp (formerly Tweed Marijuana Inc.) (NYSE: CGC)
Contact: Bruce Linton
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Bruce
Linton
