Some staggering statistics are coming out of Canada currently. Cannabis stocks are leading the charts. An overwhelming percentage of cannabis sales are still going to the black market. Men hold a much higher rate of boardroom seats in the Canadian cannabis market than women. Ontario dispensaries saw great success on their opening day- over 6 months after cannabis was legalized. These are just a few of the recent numbers coming out of Canada in regards to cannabis. Let’s take a closer look.
The Illicit Market and Declining Stocks
Statistics Canada estimates that the illicit market made up about $5.9 billion of what Canadians spent on cannabis during the fourth quarter. However, 2 of the big names in Canadian cannabis, both Cronos Group Inc. and CannTrust reported declining stocks after falling short for sales projections according to the lowest estimate by analysts. Cronos Group Inc. stock declined by 9.5%. Meanwhile CannTrust stock saw a significant decrease of 19% on the day of reporting.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index’s Leaderboard
While those numbers might sound a little startling, don’t let them rattle your cage. The declines witnessed by CannTrust and Cronos Group didn’t knock them out of the top spots for the S&P/TSX Composite Index’s Leaderboard. Cannabis stocks held six of the top spots on this leaderboard.
Hexo Corp took the lead with gains of 87%. Aurora Cannabis Inc. followed this impressive trend up 78%. Cronos was holding 4th place while CannTrust held down the #8 spot. These results led to the benchmark posting the best first-quarter seen in about nineteen years. That’s because cannabis can help foster substantial economic growth and financial security for those in the industry globally.
Boardrooms Dominated by Men
In Canada, on average, women make up 15-20% of board seats across all industries collectively. In the cannabis sector in Canada; however, things are a bit different. According to a recent analysis of regulatory filings from cannabis companies listed on Canadian stock exchanges concludes that only 7% of boardroom seats are held by women in the cannabis sector.
This is up slightly from 5% last year, but nowhere near the national average. According to MJBizDaily, of the 12 leading cannabis companies in Canada, they collectively employ “only 11 women on their boards, and most – including market leaders- have not disclosed written policies relating to the identification and nomination of female directors.
Ontario Dispensaries See Success on Opening Day
On April 1st, 10 of the 25 cannabis dispensary lottery winners in Ontario opened their doors. Of those 10, 7 saw substantial success. According to reports by Cova, an industry software supply company who was awarded contracts in the province, dispensaries saw much higher rates for the number of sales and number of transactions that occurred on opening day of brick and mortar stores. According to this report, the dispensaries averaged over $50,000 in sales on the first day and more than 800 transactions on average.
This is higher than the just above 100 transactions that occurred on average in other provinces averaging just over $5,000 in sales per dispensary. It could be that Ontario saw these numbers simply because they only have ten dispensaries to serve more than 14,000,000 citizens that call the province home. Of those 14 million individuals, over 10 million of them are of age to purchase and consume cannabis legally.
What other numbers have you seen coming out of Canada that were elevated? Drop us a line or give us a shoutout on social media to let us know!
Article courtesy of Expert Joints. Written by Ashley P from CannaLance (Canna-Lance.com, @CannaLance, @MJWriter87)