Willow Biosciences Touts Strong Q3 Results, Continues Its Focus On Biosynthetically Produced Cannabinoids

Willow Biosciences Inc. WLLW CANSF released its third-quarter financial and operating results Monday, revealing it has ended the quarter in a strong financial position, with approximately $35.7 million in cash on hand.

Q3 Financial Summary

• Net comprehensive income amounted to CA$3.82 million ($3.05 million), compared to a net loss of CA$7.65 in the same period year ago; 
• Earnings per basic and diluted share were of CA$0.03, versus a loss per share of CA$0.10 in the third quarter of 2020; 
• Products sales and testing revenue were CA$2,000. 

Q3 Operational Milestones 

• On July 20, 2021, Willow announced that it had added cannabinol ("CBN") to its development program. Early research indicates that CBN may be effective as a sleep aid or sedative, in addition to other potential health benefits. 
• On July 20, 2021, the company announced the formation of a senior-level Environmental, Social, and Governance committee to oversee sustainability integration efforts and to provide a direct line from operations to the board of directors on all ESG matters. 
• On September 21, 2021, Willow announced that it had increased its production titer by >400% and has carried out additional fermentation runs yielding tens of kilograms of ultra-pure CBG at >10,000 L fermentation scale, since its first commercial-scale run in March of 2021. 
• On September 21, 2021, Willow announced that it had developed a process for the production of ultrapure cannabigerolic acid. 
• During the quarter, Willow added fermentation capacity to its lab in Burnaby, British Columbia, and subsequent to the quarter, the company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Willow Analytics, received a cannabis research license from Health Canada to operate in this expanded portion of its lab. 

Outlook

Willow completed its first commercial-scale fermentation run of its first cannabinoid, CBG, in Q1 2021 and signed up its first multi-year commercial agreement with Cellular Goods in Q2 2021. 

During the remainder of 2021, Willow plans to continue to optimize its commercial process for CBG, supply products to customers, seed commercial samples to new potential customers and build out a robust order book for 2022, which the company expects to be its first full year of commercial production and sales. CBG is a rare cannabinoid and Willow is at the forefront of developing that market.

It also plans to continue to advance the development of its portfolio of other cannabinoids to bring them forward to commercialization. 

"We continued to make significant strides forward in the third quarter and are well positioned to be the global leader in biosynthetically produced cannabinoids," Trevor Peters, Willow's president and CEO stated. "From our vantage point, we can see the larger players in the consumer-packaged goods ecosystem becoming increasingly more bullish on the health and wellness aspects of the cannabis industry. It has been our view all along that these entities need an ultra-pure, sustainably sourced ingredient supply to meet their long-term demands, and Willow's technology platform enables their entrance into this space."

Price Action 

Willow Biosciences’ shares closed Friday market session 9.19% higher at $0.42 per share. 

Photo: Courtesy of Andre Taissin on Unsplash