Aurora Cannabis Focuses On U.K. Medical Cannabis Market, Expands Its Collaboration With Grow Group On Heels Of NASDAQ Transfer

Aurora Cannabis Inc. ACB ACB confirmed Thursday its subsidiary Aurora Germany GmbH has extended its collaboration with a United Kingdom-focused biopharmaceutical company Grow Group PLC. The two companies signed a two-year market access services agreement for the U.K.

Previously, the Canadian cannabis giant was one of the first companies to partner with Grow Group in August 2019. Since its original partnership, both companies are said to have dominated the U.K. medical cannabis market.

"We are delighted to extend our existing strategic relationship with Grow," Miguel Martin, CEO of Aurora Cannabis stated. "We have worked successfully with Grow and their joint venture partner, IPS, since entering the UK market.

“Renewing this agreement will help to broaden access for patients by leveraging Grow's work educating physicians and creating awareness of medical cannabis options. Aurora is committed to providing access to legally produced high-quality pharmaceutical-grade medical cannabis to address the needs of the growing European medical cannabis market, made possible with our EU GMP facility, Aurora Nordic,” Martin concluded.

Pierre van Weperen, Managing Director of Grow Group PLC, UK & Ireland added that their main motivation is helping patients and enabling them to reach quality medical cannabis. “Partnering with companies like Aurora will continue to enable us to offer a portfolio of high-quality flowers and extracts to doctors and the patients who will benefit from them. Every day, these products make a difference for patients and we look forward to advancing market access together with Aurora."

Recent Activities

Aurora recently revealed its third-quarter earnings with a 19.5% year-over-year and 17% sequential decline in revenue to CA$58.4 million ($48.1 million), before provisions. The company also reported a negative adjusted EBITDA of CA$24 million, compared to a CA$49.6 million loss in the same period of the prior year.

In the third-quarter earnings report, Aurora also announced its plans to transfer to Nasdaq Global Select Market from the New York Stock Exchange, on May 24^th.

Analyzing the third-quarter financial report, Cantor Fitzgerald’s analyst Pablo Zuanic kept a “Neutral” rating on Aurora’s stock but reduced their price target to CA$9.00 from CA$11.25.  In its analyst note on the company, Zuanic acknowledged Aurora’s leadership in the medical market and export activities, asking if it would make sense that the company exits the domestic adult-use cannabis market.

Furthermore, the Edmonton, Alberta-headquartered company recently announced it has backed a medical cannabis-related educational initiative in Germany with €38,000 ($46,198), through its Berlin-based subsidiary Aurora Europe.

Price Action

Aurora’s shares were trading 2.28% higher at $7.41 per share at the time of writing.

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Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash