Next step for CEO is consumer items

TORONTO • Canopy Growth Corp. managed to lock down nearly a third of the country’s fledgling recreational cannabis market last year, with the company’s chairman optimistic its investments in research and product development will help it keep that position.

BMO Capital Markets said in a note Friday they estimated Canopy’s recreational sales volume during the quarter ended Dec. 31 represented a market share of 30 per cent.

Asked during a Friday conference call if that was a target the company expected to be able to hold, Bruce Linton, chairman and co- CEO of Canopy, said he expected that within the next two quarterly conference calls, the talk would shift more toward converting cannabis into various consumer products.

This, he said, is where the company has made significant investments, albeit ones currently weighing on Canopy’s financial results.

“And so, I would be kind of upset if we can’t maintain or improve, because we’re far enough ahead and have been thinking that way and working on things for three to five years that I think are just going to be ready to take hold in the next three to seven quarters,” Linton said.

“So yes, we should dominate, and I will be extraordinarily disappointed if we don’t do that through science and (intellectual prop-

Canopy also has something other cannabis companies do not when it comes to deal-making: A multibillion-dollar investment in itself was made by U.S.-based alcohol giant Constellation Brands Inc.

Even as it eyes the future, Canopy reported Friday that it got off to a solid start in the early days of cannabis legalization in Canada, although rising costs associated with breaking into the market dampened some of the enthusiasm.

The company booked a profit of $ 74.9 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, up from $11 million from a year before, prior to Canada’s legalization of rec-