Canopy captured nearly a third of market in 2018

erty) claims and products.”

Rival Aurora Cannabis Inc. reportedly had about 20 per cent of the recreational market.

Smiths Falls, Ont.- based Canopy has made a number of acquisitions over the past year, including the purchase of Colorado- based hemp researcher Ebbu Inc. It has vowed to make further investments, such as between US$100 million and US$150 million in operations in New York state, where it was granted a hemp processing and production licence in January. A subsidiary, Canopy Health Innovations, has begun “in- human” clinical trials to test out the use of medical marijuana in treating insomnia. reational cannabis in Oct. 2018. The company took a net loss of nearly $347 million for the last nine months of 2018, compared to a profit of $227,000 a year ago.

Canopy reported total sales of nearly $ 98 million for the three-month period, up 350 per cent. Of that, $71.6 million came from the fledgling recreational market. Net revenue was up 282 per cent to $83 million, but medical sales dipped eight per cent to $18.6 million.

The company also noted that both sales and marketing, as well as general and administrative costs, “were up significantly relative to the same period last year.”

Overall, the loss from its operations rose to more than $ 157 million for the quarter, from $26 million a year prior, which was chiefly offset by fair value changes the company said it realized on various financial assets and liabilities.

Sales and marketing costs rose from around $9.4 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2017 to nearly $ 45 million for the same three months of 2018.

General and administrative expenses rose from $ 11 million to $ 46 million. Acquisition- related costs rose to $ 4.5 million from $790,000.

“Businesses built on topquality product and customer service require upfront investment,” the company said. “Management expects these expenses to level off in the near term in its Canadian operations.”

Production costs ticked up as well, with the average selling price per gram on the medical side rising to $9.77 from $8.21 from a year ago. The recreational price was $6.96.

Canopy shares closed Friday at $62.81 in Toronto, up 1.5 per cent.

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SEAN KILPATRICK / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Canopy Growth reported that it got off to a solid start in the early days of cannabis legalization in Canada, despite rising costs associated with breaking into the market.