Canopy worth a billion

Photo: The Canadian Press

Staff work in a marijuana grow room that can be viewed by at the new visitors centre at Canopy Growth's Tweed facility in Smiths Falls, Ont.

Canopy Growth Corp.’s co-chief executive says he is expecting a “growth quarter” ahead and foresees the cannabis company will generate $1 billion in revenue during its next financial year.

Bruce Linton says the Smiths Falls, Ont.-based licensed producer has ramped up the pace of its packaging and shipping processes and anticipates sales growth to accelerate by the final quarter of the calendar year as more stores open their doors and edibles hit the market.

His bullish comments on the sidelines of a Toronto cannabis industry conference come one day after shares of licensed producer Aphria Inc. slipped by as much as 15 per cent after its quarterly revenues and earnings fell short of estimates.

Aphria in its latest quarter ended Feb. 28 sold less kilograms of cannabis than the previous three-month period as it faced supply shortages and packaging and distribution challenges.

Linton told reporters at the GMP Securities Conference that Canopy has increased the amount of units it can package and ship, from 300,000 units in October to 1.3 million in March.

He expects the cannabis producer to generate more than $1 billion in revenue globally during its financial year, which started on April 1, but he doesn’t expect profitability just yet as Canopy invests in clinical trials and other initiatives to “create a long future.”