- On track for Revenue growth in the back half of fiscal 2021,
as recently signed sales agreements translate into higher volumes.
Generated early revenue from more than ten countries in the
quarter.
- Bill Petron, the Company's
Chairman and a global operations and cannabis veteran, has been
appointed Chief Executive Officer of PharmaCielo.
- Most recently, Mr. Petron co-founded Alternative Medical
Enterprises LLC, and co-led the company through its December 2020 merger with Verano Holdings
LLC.
All figures are in Canadian dollars ($) unless otherwise
specified
TORONTO and RIONEGRO,
Colombia, Aug. 20, 2021 /CNW/ - PharmaCielo Ltd.
("PharmaCielo" or the "Company") (TSXV: PCLO) (OTCQX:
PCLOF), the Canadian parent of Colombia's premier cultivator and producer of
medicinal-grade cannabis extracts, PharmaCielo Colombia Holdings
S.A.S., today announced financial results for the second quarter
ended June 30, 2021. The Company also
announced that The Company's Chairman, Bill
Petron, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer
("CEO") of PharmaCielo, effective today. Henning von Koss has stepped down as CEO and as
a director of the Company.
Summary Financial Information
During the first six months of 2021, PharmaCielo focused on
growing and diversifying its customer base and geographic exposure.
While the Company is still in the early stages of its commercial
revenue growth, with quarter-to-quarter fluctuations to be
expected, PharmaCielo has successfully diversified its client mix
both by geography and by position in the value chain. During
Q2-2021, the Company sold product to 11 countries compared to only
two in the same period of 2020. In addition, PharmaCielo generated
higher monthly recurring sales during the first six months of 2021,
compared to the same period in 2020.
|
For the six months
ended June 30
|
|
2021
|
2020
|
Revenue
|
$1.121
million
|
$1.746
million
|
Adjusted
EBITDA*
|
($7.832)
million
|
($7.562)
million
|
Net loss
|
($13.766)
million
|
($14.038)
million
|
Basic and diluted
loss per common share
|
($0.10)
|
($0.14)
|
- The Company expects revenue growth to accelerate in the second
half of 2021 as sales agreements and initial commercial sales
translate into higher recurring revenue and the shipment of
additional value-added products beyond CBD isolate, with better
margin profiles.
- All-in operating cost* to produce dried cannabis of
$0.04 per gram for the six months
ended June 30, 2021 (2020 -
$0.04).
- The Company had cash and cash equivalents of $11.0 million at June 30,
2021, compared to $8.9 million
at December 31, 2020. The Company
closed an overnight marketed equity offering by means of a
prospectus for gross proceeds of $13.5
million on April 7, 2021.
- For further detailed information and analysis, please see the
financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for
the period ending June 30, 2021, as
posted at sedar.com and pharmacielo.com
*Non-IFRS Financial Measures
The discussion of
financial results in this press release includes references to
"Adjusted EBITDA", (earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortization) and "All-in operating cost",
which are non-IFRS performance measures. The Company presents these
measures to provide additional information regarding the Company's
financial results and performance. Please refer to the Company's
MD&A for the three and six-month periods ended June 30, 2021, for a reconciliation of these
measures to reported IFRS results.
Management Commentary
Henning von Koss, outgoing CEO
of PharmaCielo, commented, "While PharmaCielo is still in the
early days of its commercial growth, since assuming the President
role in early 2020 and as the CEO since December 2020, I have worked with our team to
ensure the foundation required to support the Company's success as
a global provider of cannabinoid products and APIs was complete. As
I pass the CEO role to Bill, I would like to thank the global
PharmaCielo team for all their work over the past several months,
as well as the rest of our board and shareholders."
Marc Lustig, lead director on
PharmaCielo's board of directors, commented, "On behalf of the
board of directors, I would like to extend our thanks to Henning
for his hard work over the past several months, and wish him the
best. I am thrilled to welcome Bill
Petron to the CEO role. Bill and I recently spent several
days on the ground in Rionegro, and were both impressed with the
scale and quality of the facilities and the professionalism of the
team, which I would suggest are among the absolute best we have
ever seen in the global space. As an early investor in Altmed, over
the years I have interacted extensively with Bill. He has the
vision, the industry depth, and the proven leadership capabilities
to fully leverage PharmaCielo's asset base to create value for
shareholders."
Bill Petron, Chairman and
incoming CEO of PharmaCielo added, "I am thrilled at the
opportunity to lead PharmaCielo as we begin to leverage one of the
largest, lowest cost cannabis assets in the world, today. Having
seen hundreds of facilities around the world over the past several
years, and run several in the U.S. market, I can confidently say
that what the Company has built in Rionegro is one of the most
impressive vertically integrated complexes I have ever seen, backed
by one of the best genetics libraries in the world today. I was
even more impressed with the quality and depth of the operating
team on the ground. From agricultural propagation all the way
through to extraction and sales, the team in Rionegro is engaged
and highly qualified, and I look forward to relocating to
Colombia to ensure I am right
there on the ground with them as we build this organization."
Mr. Petron added, "The global cannabis supply chain
is growing and maturing rapidly and PharmaCielo's targeted role
within that supply chain is unique and of increasing importance. I
look forward to realizing the massive potential I see to leverage
PharmaCielo's footprint in Colombia both to create a global leader that
the country can be proud of, and to realize the significant value
embedded in what PharmaCielo has built, for the benefit of all
stakeholders."
Background – Bill
Petron
Bill Petron is a highly respected
entrepreneur with a diverse background in manufacturing, logistics
and medical cannabis.
In 1999, Mr. Petron founded MSI Integrated Solutions
headquartered in Porto Alegre,
Brazil. This start-up designed and developed electrical
systems for the Latin American commercial off-road vehicle market,
supplying companies such as CNH, John Deere, Fiat Powertrain and
Mercedes. MSI was sold in 2006 with annual revenues that exceeded
$50 million.
In 2006, Mr. Petron founded Magnus Logistics Solutions Inc.
headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.
The start-up company managed the North American supply chains for
CNH Latin America and Fiat Powertrain Latin America. Magnus
supplied over 4,000-part numbers to six production facilities
located throughout Brazil.
In 2014, Mr. Petron co-founded Alternative Medical Enterprises
LLC ("Altmed") headquartered in Sarasota, Florida. A license was acquired in
Phoenix, Arizona and Mr. Petron
ran the vertical operations of the company in the state. In
December 2020, Altmed merged with
Verano Holdings LLC and completed a public offering on the Canadian
Securities Exchange in February 2021
with a valuation in excess of $6.0
billion.
About PharmaCielo
PharmaCielo Ltd. (TSXV: PCLO,
OTCQX: PCLOF) is a global company, headquartered in Canada, with a focus on ethical and
sustainable processing and supplying of all natural,
medicinal-grade cannabis oil extracts and related products to large
channel distributors. PharmaCielo's principal (and wholly owned)
subsidiary is PharmaCielo Colombia Holdings S.A.S., headquartered
at its cultivation and processing centre located in Rionegro,
Colombia.
The board of directors and executive team of PharmaCielo are
comprised of a diversely talented group of international business
executives and specialists with relevant and varied expertise.
PharmaCielo recognized the significant role that Colombia's ideal location plays in building a
sustainable business in the medical cannabis industry, and the
Company, together with its directors and executives, is executing
on a business plan focused on supplying the international
marketplace.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This news release contains certain "forward-looking
information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively
referred to as "forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking
statements relate to future events or the Company's future
performance. All statements other than statements of historical
fact are forward-looking statements. Particularly, information
regarding our expectations of future results, targets, performance
achievements, prospects or opportunities is forward-looking
information. Forward-looking statements in this news release
include, but may not be limited to, statements about: the future
execution on the Company's growing sales pipeline; the building-out
of the Company's global sales organization; the ability of the
Company to close on sales opportunities; the Company's ability to
gain access to more and better B2B sales opportunities; the ability
of the Company to continue building its revenue base; the ability
of the Company to leverage higher volumes more effectively through
a more efficient cost structure; and the ability of the Company to
continue progressing its plans through the remainder of the year.
Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be
identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is
expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "continues",
"forecasts", "projects", "predicts", "intends", "anticipates" or
"believes", or variations of, or the negatives of, such words and
phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may",
"could", "would", "should", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be
achieved.
Forward-looking statements are based on management's
assumptions at the date the forward-looking statements are
provided, including assumptions regarding: the Company's
ability to execute its business plan, including the growth of its
global sales team, as currently contemplated; the Company's ability
to obtain necessary governmental, regulatory, and TSXV approvals
for the export of its products from Colombia and import of its products into other
countries; there being sufficient demand for the Company's
products; that the Company's development plans will not change as a
result of unforeseen events; that the Company's business generally
and shipping logistics are not disrupted by COVID 19 or other
factors; that the Company will be able to maintain its customer
contracts in good standing; that the Company will be able to obtain
GMP and EU-GMP certification for the Company's Processing and
Extraction Center ("PEC"); that potential customers will be
satisfied with the results of audit processes; that any changes to
Colombian cannabis legislation will not negatively impact the
Company's business; that the Company will be able to locate and
retain necessary personnel to achieve its business goals; the
Company's ability to maintain its distribution contracts in good
standing; and the accuracy of the Company's projections regarding
the market for cannabinoid products; currency exchange rates; and
competition in the Company's markets.
Though management believes that its assumptions are
reasonable in the circumstances, forward-looking statements involve
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may
cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to
differ materially from all or any of the future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking
statements. Factors that could cause the Company's actual results,
performance, or achievements to differ from the forward-looking
statements in this news release include, but may not be
limited to the risk that: any of the assumptions referred
to above proves not to be valid or reliable, and
additional risks described in the Company's Annual Information Form
for the year ended December 31, 2019
filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities under the
Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.
Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements.
The Company undertakes no obligation to update these
forward-looking statements, other than as required by applicable
law.
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 press release.
SOURCE PharmaCielo Ltd.