Weekly Roundup on the Cannabis Sector & Psychedelic Sector

Key Takeaways; Cannabis Sector

• Glass House to acquires new California cannabis dispensaries for $22.6 million.

• Trulieve first quarter revenue increased 4% to $318.3 million; the company expects to sell over $1 billion of cannabis in 2022.

Key Takeaways; Psychedelic Sector

• Awakn’s Prof. David Nutt and Prof. Celia Morgan gave exceptional presentations at Psych Symposium: London 2022; The Nordic Psychedelic Science Conference is up next.

• MindMed announced at Psych Symposium: London 2022, that the phase 2 LSD trial for anxiety treatment was a success.

It was another busy week for psychedelic investors, who saw important data presented on flagship programs by the industry’s titans at The PSYCH Symposium in London. Furthermore, more cannabis companies reported their financial results. Below are the top cannabis and psychedelics companies that dominated the business headlines during the week.

Top Marijuana Companies for Week

#1: Glass House Brands

On May 12, 2022, Glass House Brands Inc. (OTC: GLASF) announced that it would purchase three retail assets, which include; two functioning retail dispensaries and another one planned to open in the third quarter of 2022. Moreover, Glass House also stated that with these acquisitions and other initiatives, it expects to generate more than $200 million in sales next year.

The retail dispensaries are currently being operate under the name Natural Healing Center (NHC), which is one of the pre-eminent retail dispensary chains in California and is located in the Central Coast area. Glass House is paying roughly $22.6 million for the two operating retail dispensaries in Lemoore and Morro Bay, with around $5.7 million in cash and the rest in Glass House equity shares.

According to Glass House, revenue from the two operating retail dispensaries was $15.3 million from April 2021 to March 2022, with EBITDA margins exceeding 20%.

Furthermore, Glass House said that the third retail dispensary, which is currently under construction and located in Turlock, California, is expected to open in Q3 2022. And based on the present performance of NHC’s operating dispensaries and the market fundamentals in Turlock, Glass House believes the Turlock store can eventually achieve steady annual revenues of around $10 million with an EBITDA margin of around 20%.

#2: Trulieve

Trulieve Cannabis Corp. (OTC: TCNNF) (CSE: TRUL) reported first-quarter results for the period ended March 31, 2022, with sales up 64% year over year to $318.3 million from $193.8 million and up 4% sequentially. This was higher than the $307 million average analyst prediction on Yahoo Finance. It was also a nice step up from the $305 million in revenue in the fourth quarter, especially at a time when many cannabis companies are struggling to beat the fourth quarter’s sales.

Trulieve also reported a net loss of $32 million, a 55% increase over the same period previous year, but a significant change from the $30 million in net income. The earnings per share were $0.17, compared to $0.24 the previous year. Additionally, earnings fell short of analyst expectations of $0.03 per share.

The company also reported a $1.7 million adjusted net income, which excludes $17.2 million in transaction, acquisition, integration, and other non-recurring charges primarily related to the Harvest acquisition, $13.8 million in asset impairments related to the closure of redundant cultivation facilities, and a $2.7 million loss due to the divestiture of a duplicative, non-operating location. However, operating expenses increased 138% to $149 million.

Trulieve also reiterated its guidance for 2022, with sales projected to be in the range of $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion and adjusted EBITDA in the range of $450 million to $500 million. According to the company’s current estimates, it expects to do better in the second half of 2022 than in the first half.

Top Psychedelic Companies for Week

#1: Awakn

On Wednesday, May 11, scientists, and policymakers convened in London for the Agenda of The PSYCH Symposium, which is a daylong event focused on the latest research and the future of Europe’s psychedelics industry. This was the biggest day of 2022 so far for psychedelic stock investors, as they got to hear from major players in the sector. Amongst them was Awakn’s Life Sciences Corp. (NEO: AWKN) (OTC: AWKNF) chief research officer, Prof. David Nutt, and Prof. Celia Morgan, Awakn’s head of ketamine assisted psychotherapy for addiction.

During a panel on the importance of industrial sustainability of psychedelics, Prof. David Nutt and Prof. Celia Morgan discussed various ways of ensuring the safety, efficacy, and patient accessibility of psychedelic medications. In addition, Prof. David Nutt received a standing ovation for his great presentation on the differences in brain affinity for LSD, psilocybin, and mescalin.

Following the success of The PSYCH Symposium in London, Awakn announced that The Nordic Psychedelic Science Conference will be the next event on the agenda. Moreover, the company announced that Prof. Celia Morgan and Dr. Ben Sessa, Awakn’s co-founder and chief medical officer, will both give presentations on the use of psychedelics to treat addiction at this conference. The Conference is scheduled to take place in Oslo, Norway on May 19-20, 2022.

Awakn is a biotechnology company that works in the United Kingdom and Europe to research, produce, and provide psychedelic medications to treat addiction and other mental health disorders. The company’s headquarters are in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

#2: MindMed

On May 11, 2022, Mind Medicine (MindMed) Inc. (NASDAQ: MNMD) (NEO: MMED) finally gave the world a glimpse into its LSD-as-medicine project. Speaking at the highly anticipated PSYCH Symposium in London, Prof. Matthias Liechti and Dr. Friederike Holze, who are co-primary investigators of the trial and MindMed collaborators at University Hospital Basel (UHB), announced positive topline data from a Phase 2 placebo-controlled investigator-initiated clinical trial that evaluated LSD in the treatment of anxiety disorders. The presentation was titled “LSD as a Treatment for Anxiety Disorders: New Evidence of Efficacy.”

The preliminary findings showed that LSD has considerable, quick, long-lasting, and positive effects, as well as the ability to safely reduce anxiety and depression symptoms. The reduction in anxiety levels 16 weeks following LSD injection was the study’s primary goal. In 16 weeks after medication, 65% of patients had their anxiety levels decline by at least 30% compared to before treatment. Furthermore, secondary variables measuring depression, anxiety, and other significant mental symptoms showed similar quick and persistent responses, indicating a long-term therapy benefit.

Additionally, LSD was well-tolerated and there were no recorded instances of treatment-emergent suicidal ideation with intent, suicidal behavior, or intentional self-injury.

MindMed supports the UHB Liechti Lab in conducting investigator-initiated trials for LSD and other novel therapies and has exclusive access and rights to the data generated by these studies.

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