Pot grower THC beefs up its money smarts ahead of production debut

THC Global has brought in a new CFO to help the medical cannabis player enter new markets and start production this year.

Mark Fortugno will be the man taking care of the Sydney-based company’s finances from now on after Jarrod White handed in his resignation.

THC (ASX:THC) wanted a replacement that had “cross-border transactional experience”.

Mr Fortugno, who is a Canadian national, has been an accountant in Australia, Canada and the US for the past 15 years.

He has experience in cross-border taxation having served as manager with KPMG (USA & Canada), and as CFO for private-equity backed Cater Care (Aus).

THC said Mr Fortugno led Cater Care’s growth in headcount by 720 per cent and revenues by 474 per cent, to $237m, within five years of his appointment.

THC Global (ASX:THC) shares over the past year.

“Mark’s specialisation in cross border transactions and implementation of high-growth strategies are a perfect mix for THC Global as we seek to aggressively expand into new regions and markets over the next 12 to 24 months in addition to transitioning into full-scale operations at our domestic cannabis production facilities,” boss Ken Charteris said.

Just before Christmas, THC landed two new permits allowing it to start growing pot.

Company secretary Henry Kinstlinger confirmed to Stockhead at the time that the permits allowed THC to grow the strains it already had for research and for commercial manufacture.

THC is now only second to Cann Group (ASX:CAN) in terms of the number of licences and permits they have. Both are still waiting on manufacturing licences.