Zenabis Now Licensed to Sell Cannabis Oil
Key approval paves the way for new product and market opportunities
VANCOUVER, March 18, 2019 /CNW/ - Zenabis Global Inc. ("Zenabis") (TSXV: ZENA) announced today that it is now licensed to process and sell cannabis oil products in Canada. The license enables Zenabis to now sell cannabis oil produced at its Atholville, New Brunswick facility, one of the largest indoor cannabis growing facilities in Canada, where Zenabis was already processing oil. Zenabis expects to market and sell cannabis oil products to its medical clients and to adult use consumers through supply and distribution agreements that Zenabis has in place with nine Canadian jurisdictions including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, and the Yukon.
Zenabis expects to have its initial cannabis oil products available for sale in both the medical and adult use markets by early Q2, 2019, and will be launching additional formats and formulations throughout the year.
"This approval provides us with the ability to serve new and existing customers with an expanded range of adult use and medical products through new and easy to use consumption methods. This product category is incredibly important for Zenabis, as it supports our overall growth and product leadership strategy," said Andrew Grieve, Chief Executive Officer of Zenabis. "Ingestion of cannabis oil tends to offer a longer lasting effect than vaping or smoking dried cannabis, providing medical clients and adult use consumers with a broader set of options in Zenabis products. We look forward to bringing our cannabis oil products to market and continuing to innovate and expand our product offerings. In addition, with this update to our Atholville processing license, we now have the capacity to develop a variety of additional value-added cannabis oil products, and cannabis extract products consistent with the proposed amendments to the Cannabis Regulations that allow for greater product diversity."
Cannabis Oil: A Value-Added Product Opportunity
Cannabis oil is a value-added option for both medical clients and adult use cannabis consumers. Cannabis oil products may be sold as oral drops or sprays, or in soft gel capsules, providing consumers a convenient, controlled and discrete dose. Cannabis oil tends to have longer lasting effects when compared to vaporizing or smoking dried cannabis. Zenabis cannabis oil products are manufactured from high-grade plant material using highly engineered extraction methods to ensure the highest quality of consumer products. Zenabis values quality first and, as with all Zenabis products, our cannabis oil is tested by an independent third-party lab to ensure product safety, consistency and quality.
Zenabis Atholville License Amendment and Construction Update
Zenabis is pleased to announce that it has received license amendment approval from Health Canada for three additional flower rooms at its Zenabis Atholville facility. This represents an additional 2,100kg of annual production capacity and 10,500 sq. ft. of incremental licensed operational space. With this amendment, the combined licensed annual production capacity of Zenabis Atholville, Zenabis Stellarton, and Zenabis Delta is now 10,200kg.
Construction at Zenabis Atholville remains on budget and on schedule, with ongoing conversion work expected to add an additional 25,000kg in annual production capacity that will become operational in stages over the course of Q2 2019.
Employee Count Surpasses 600
Zenabis' employee count continues to grow in line with its operational footprint, largely driven by several recent license approvals from Health Canada, including the standard cultivation license granted to our facility in Stellarton, NS, and today's announcements on the approval to process and sell cannabis oil products and the expansion of our operational space in Atholville, NB. The number of Zenabis' employees, including contractors and seasonal workers, now exceeds 600, having been fewer than 400 as of December 1st, 2018.
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About Zenabis
Zenabis is a significant licensed cannabis cultivator of medical and adult use cannabis, and employs staff coast-to-coast, across facilities in Atholville, New Brunswick; Delta and Langley, B.C.; and Stellarton, Nova Scotia. In addition to gaining technologically advanced knowledge of plant propagation, the recent addition of state-of-the-art greenhouses in Langley provides Zenabis with 3.5 million square feet of facility space that can, upon full conversion, be dedicated to cannabis production.
If all facility space is fully built out and dedicated to production, Zenabis will own, and have access to, 660,000 square feet of high quality indoor cannabis production space, as well as 2.1 million square feet of greenhouse space at its Langley facility (an additional 700,000 square feet of greenhouse space will be used to continue the existing propagation business, to be converted at such a time that is beneficial to the strategic position of the company), strategically positioned on Canada's coasts. These facilities, if fully converted for cannabis production, would have the design capacity to yield 479,300 kg of dried cannabis annually, for both national and international market distribution. The Zenabis brand name is used among the medical market, while Namaste is used to service the adult use market.
The management team at Zenabis has significant experience in finance, agriculture, technology, pharmaceutical sales, consumer packaged goods, international distribution and brand marketing.
Zenabis has established distribution relationships with provincial liquor authorities, wholesalers and licensed retailers in nine provinces and territories (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and the Yukon).
Forward Looking Information
This news release contains statements that may constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information may include, among others, statements regarding the intention to produce, market and sell cannabis oil products through the stated distribution methods on the intended timeline or otherwise, the future plans, costs, objectives or performance of Zenabis, or the assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. In this news release, words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "likely", "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "plan", "estimate" and similar words and the negative form thereof are used to identify forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements relate, among other things, to: the conversion, expansion and optimization of Zenabis' facilities. Forward-looking statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether, or the times at or by which, such future performance will be achieved. No assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking information will transpire or occur. Forward-looking information is based on information available at the time and/or management's good-faith belief with respect to future events and are subject to known or unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other unpredictable factors, many of which are beyond Zenabis' control. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions include, but are not limited to, those described Zenabis Management Information Circular dated November 23, 2018, a copy of which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements. Furthermore, any forward-looking information with respect to available space for cannabis production is subject to the qualification that management of Zenabis may decide not to use all available space for cannabis production, and the assumptions that any construction or conversion would not be cost prohibitive, required permits will be obtained and the labour, materials and equipment necessary to complete such construction or conversion will be available. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Zenabis does not intend, nor undertake any obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking information contained in this news release to reflect subsequent information, events or circumstances or otherwise, except if required by applicable laws.
For more information, visit: https://www.zenabis.com.
SOURCE Zenabis Global Inc.
Media Relations, [email protected], 1-844-523-8679; Investor Relations, Shobana Thaya, Zenabis Global Inc., [email protected], 1-844-523-8679; Andrew Grieve, Chief Executive Officer, 1-855-936-2247
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