Aurora Cannabis (ACB) on Wednesday announced the shuffle to its board of directors for aligning the directors’ experience and expertise with the company’s strategic direction. The board appointed Michael Singer, previously Chairman of the Board, as Executive Chairman.
Independent director Ronald Funk has been named Lead Independent Director. Ronald will work closely with Norma Beauchamp, Chair of the Governance Committee, for further enhancing the company’s corporate governance practices.
Margaret Atkins has been hired as a new independent director and Chair of the Audit Committee. Diane Jang, who served on the company’s board since November 2017, has voluntarily resigned her position as Director. The medical cannabis products maker is adorning its board with the changes for continuing to provide the same guidance and strong oversight to Aurora.
Aurora has awarded a director 28,000 options, pursuant to its stock option plan, exercisable at $9.43 per common share and shall vest over a three years period in equal annual installments. Also, the company granted 5,000 deferred share units, vesting over twelve months in equal annual installments.
“In my new role I will continue to work closely with our CEO, Terry Booth, and the rest of our senior executive team on all matters pertaining to strategic direction, execution, and finance,” said Michael Singer, Executive Chairman.
Key comments from Aurora Cannabis (ACB) Q2 2019 earnings conference call
In the recent second quarter, Aurora slipped to a loss from a profit last year, due to higher costs and expenses, arising from the purchase of various cannabis-selling companies. Net revenues soared by 363% year-over-year helped by a 550% jump in cannabis produced and a 502% jump in cannabis sold.
On July 25, 2018, Aurora purchased MedReleaf for increasing its cannabis production capacity, international presence, research and development portfolio, patient count and revenue growth. On August 8, 2018, the company acquired Anandia, a cannabis-focused science company specialized in genomics, metabolite profiling, plant breeding, disease characterization, cultivar certification, and the provision of testing services to producers and patient-cultivators.
On September 10, 2018, Aurora bought Agropro and Barela for extracting, refining and producing organic hemp biomass into a wide range of organic CBD-based products. On November 22, 2018, the company purchased ICC, a licensed producer, and distributor of medicinal cannabinoid extracts, consumer cannabis, and industrial hemp products in Uruguay, as well as a licensed producer of medicinal cannabis in Colombia.
The company reiterated its previous outlook of having about 25,000 kgs available for sale in the fourth quarter as its presence now spans 22 countries on five continents. Experts believe that the excise tax and a fall in wholesale pricing in the Canadian consumer market could hurt the pricing of dried cannabis and cannabis extracts. The company predicts production costs to fall due to the utilization of full capacity.
Shares of Aurora Cannabis ended Tuesday’s regular session down 1.70% at $6.93 on the NYSE. The stock has fallen over 14% in the past year while it has risen over 13% in the past three months.