SugarBud Announces Receipt of Cultivation, Processing and Medical Sales Licenses from Health Canada and Provides Operational and Corporate Updates

CALGARY, Sept. 3, 2019 /CNW/ - SugarBud Craft Growers Corp. (TSXV: SUGR, SUGR.WT) ("SugarBud" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has received cultivation, processing and medical sales licenses (the "Licenses") from Health Canada in respect to "Phase 1A" of the Company's fully constructed, state-of-the-art 29,800 square-foot vertical cannabis cultivation facility in Stavely, Alberta. 

Operating Update

The newly licensed "Phase 1A" area of the Stavely facility includes two dedicated flower rooms and all the necessary auxiliary rooms to support an estimated annual cultivation design capacity of approximately 3,300,000 – 3,890,000 grams per year at full scale production. SugarBud will immediately commence cultivation and expects to complete its initial two harvests in December 2019, after which SugarBud intends to submit an application to Health Canada to amend the Licenses to permit cultivation in the remaining six flower rooms in Phase 1 of the facility. At full operational levels, with four layers of flowering canopy, the estimated total cultivation design capacity for Phase 1 is expected to be approximately 13,230,000 – 15,565,000 grams per year. SugarBud expects to begin construction on Phase 2 of the facility in 2020. At full scale the facility is expected to occupy approximately 98,000 square-feet of floor space encompassing core production activities such as cultivation, extraction, processing, genetic breeding, research and development, product development, packaging and distribution.  Upon completion of Phase 2, SugarBud estimates that the Stavely facility will have a total cultivation design capacity of approximately 33,075,000 - 38,912,000 grams of premium cannabis annually. Phase 1 is estimated to cost approximately $22.2 million with four layers of flowering canopy. Of this amount, approximately $11.7 million remains to be deployed to complete Phase 1 of the facility. The Company must access additional capital funding to complete Phase 1 through a combination of debt, equity and convertible securities. The Company will commence construction of Phase 2 when capital permits.

Mr. John Kondrosky, Chief Executive Officer of SugarBud, stated: "Receipt of our Licenses from Health Canada is a pivotal milestone for the Company and a major catalyst for our business. I would like to personally thank each and every member of the SugarBud team, including our consultants, for their diligence, effort and commitment over the past year. It was a tremendous effort by everyone involved. As a premium product provider, focused on quality, product leadership and customer satisfaction, we believe that the heart and soul of everything we do starts with what we grow. We cannot wait to officially launch that mission and deliver on that promise. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our investors and shareholders for their ongoing support as we continue to execute on our high-impact business plan."

Corporate Update

SugarBud is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Bradley K. Giblin CA, CFA as Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of the Company effective September 9^th, 2019. Mr. Giblin has more than 18 years of experience in finance, business development, corporate strategy and accounting roles. Mr. Giblin holds Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA CA) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designations. Prior to SugarBud, Mr. Giblin was Chief Financial Officer of Mount Bastion Oil and Gas Corp., a high growth energy company that was acquired by Surge Energy Inc. for $320 million, a 2x return on investment in a two-year timeframe. Mr. Giblin also led a successful IPO of Maha Energy Inc. on the First North Nasdaq market in Sweden, as well as performing other high impact roles as Chief Financial Officer in publicly traded, start-up companies. Mr. John Kondrosky stated: "Brad brings tremendous experience and leadership to a critical role for SugarBud and I am very pleased to welcome him to our team."

SugarBud would like to announce that Mr. Craig Kolochuk, co-founder, President and a Director of the Company, has for personal reasons, stepped down as President and a Director effective today. However, Mr. Kolochuk will continue to contribute to the organization as a Special Advisor to the Company on matters of business development, corporate strategy and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Kondrosky will assume the role of President in the interim.

"Craig has done a phenomenal job in his time at SugarBud following the February 2018 recapitalization of the Company overseeing the construction of the Stavely facility and preparing SugarBud for licensing. I look forward to working closely with Craig in his new capacity to advance SugarBud's vision and mission as we enter a new and critical phase of our growth," said Mr. Kondrosky.

Mr. Dan Wilson, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SugarBud, stated: "The management team of SugarBud, led by Craig Kolochuk, have been instrumental in positioning the Company to receive its Licenses from Health Canada. SugarBud will continue to benefit from Craig's experience in building high-growth, publicly traded companies."

About SugarBud

SugarBud is a federally licensed Alberta-based publicly traded cannabis company focused on the cultivation and production of high-quality premium cannabis, and product leadership through the development, production and distribution of value-added cannabis products in Canada.

Forward Looking and Cautionary Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements. More particularly, and without limitation, this news release contains statements concerning: the Company's assessment of future plans and operations; cannabis cultivation in the Company's newly licensed "Phase 1A" area; the expected submission of a license amendment application; construction of additional flower rooms and the scale thereof; cost of construction and sources and availability of funds; estimates regarding cannabis crop capacity, yield and frequency in respect of the initial phase of the facility and subsequent phases; product quality; cultivation equipment and technologies, including vertical growing; management changes; and operating efficiencies. When used in this document, the words "will," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intent," "may," "project," "should," and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are founded on the basis of expectations and assumptions made by the Company. Forward-looking statements are subject to a wide range of risks and uncertainties, and although the Company believes that the expectations represented by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will be realized. Any number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to: currently contemplated expansion and development plans may cease or otherwise change; production of cannabis may be lower than expected, SugarBud may not obtain the required approvals from Health Canada, demand for SugarBud's products may be lower than  anticipated; the ability to implement corporate strategies; the state of domestic capital markets; the ability to obtain financing; changes in general market conditions; industry conditions and events; the size of the medical marijuana market and the recreational marijuana market; government regulations, including future legislative and regulatory developments involving medical and recreational marijuana; construction delays; risks inherent in the agricultural business, such as insects, plant diseases and similar agricultural risks which can have a significant impact on the size and quality of the harvest of cannabis crops; competition from other industry participants; and other factors more fully described from time to time in the reports and filings made by the Company with securities regulatory authorities. Please refer to the Company's annual information form ("AIF") for the year ended December 31, 2017 and management's discussion and analysis ("MD&A") for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019 for additional risk factors relating to the Company. The AIF and MD&A can be accessed under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com. 

This news release contains future-oriented financial information and financial outlook information (collectively, "FOFI") about SugarBud's prospective results of operations, future cannabis production capacity, yield and operating efficiencies, all of which are subject to the same assumptions, risk factors, limitations, and qualifications as set forth in the above paragraphs. FOFI contained in this document was approved by management as of the date of this document and was provided for the purpose of providing further information about SugarBud's future business operations. SugarBud disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any FOFI contained in this document, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required pursuant to applicable law. Readers are cautioned that the FOFI contained in this document should not be used for purposes other than for which it is disclosed herein.

Except as required by applicable laws, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSXV nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE SugarBud Craft Growers Corp.

John Kondrosky, Chief Executive Officer, SugarBud Craft Growers Corp., Phone: [phone], E-mail: [email protected]; Dan Wilson, Interim Chief Financial Officer, SugarBud Craft Growers Corp., Phone: [phone], E-mail: [email protected]; Investor Relations Contact, Gary Perkins, President, Tekkfund Capital Corp., Tel: [phone], E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.sugarbud.ca/, Address: Suite 620, 634 - 6th Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta T2P 0S4, Telephone: [phone], Fax: [phone]

Related Links

https://www.sugarbud.ca/