Special Report: 2018 was pivotal for pot stock Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH), as the company established global brands, began making serious revenue and created a growing demand for their products, says CEO and co-founder Dr Miri Halperin Wernli.

In their full year report, the company outlined just how much growth it saw over the 12 months of 2018, from solidifying a cultivation strategy with a physical infrastructure in Canada to growing sales of its human and animal cannabidiol (CBD) products.

“The path forward is clear and executable. 2019 will be a huge year for the cannabis industry, and for Creso,” Dr Halperin Wernli said.

“Our solid business strategy and sound fundamentals, including a very reasonable valuation, will be recognised. Our team is executing against sales growth of our nutraceuticals and we expect our cultivation operations to generate meaningful revenues in 2019.”

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Products flying off the shelves

Creso is the only listed Australian-Swiss cannabis company with pharma-grade, GMP cultivation and production operations and substantial assets in Canada, estimated to be worth over $C100 million, allowing an efficient vertically-integrated approach.

In an update this week, the company said two human health products CannaQIX® 10 and CannaQIX® 50 are growing steadily and four new CBD hemp-oil and hemp-seed based products are ready for launch: cannaQIX® NITE, cannaPEAL® and cannaPEAL® NITE for stress and sleep, and cannaDOL® Revitalise, a functional topical gel for muscle and joints revitalisation.

CannaQIX® is now sold in six countries, is about to be introduced in Brazil and will be entering Australia and Sri Lanka later in 2019.

The animal brand anibidiol® will be launched by French giant Virbac in 14 additional countries in Europe and Latin America.

New revenue-making opportunities

In parallel — although this isn’t a money maker yet — the company is building a medical cannabis cultivator in Canada via subsidiary, Mernova Medicinal, in Israel and in Columbia via another subsidiary called Kunna SAS.

The company anticipates the first two crops at Mernova Medical’s licensed 24,000 square foot purpose-built, indoor growing facility based in Windsor, Nova Scotia will be completed in the third quarter of 2019.

Creso is taking advantage of a move by Israel in December to legalise foreign ownership of medical cannabis companies and allowed exports, via its 74 per cent stake in a joint venture with grower Cohen Propagation Nurseries, which owns and operates farms across south and central Israel with a total greenhouse capacity of 15.7 hectares / 38.7 acres.

It estimates that the joint venture could produce up to 2,500 kg of cannabis each year once its facilities are at full capacity.

The company will move into Sri Lanka to sell Creso’s cannAFFORD® 50 lozenge to the local market, to support the management of chronic pain.

And they signed a three-year supply agreement with TerrAscend Canada to sell 100 kilos of cannabis flower per month to help meet the significant consumer demand driven by Canada’s federal legalisation of cannabis in October 2018, once they’re fully licensed there.

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The future

Creso continues its R&D focus on humans’ and animals’ health needs by developing new technologies around maximising absorption and improving the bioavailability of CBD hemp-oil and cannabis-based food and food supplements.

They focus on stress, chronic pain and sleep.

The attractiveness of these markets is high, as more than 13-14 per cent of people aged 15-65 years are affected by daily stress, according to BM Family Practice.

“All our premium products will be introduced globally, as we seek to meet growing demand and advance the availability and development of alternative health and wellness solutions. One of Creso’s strongest capabilities is our therapeutic science,” said Dr Halperin Wernli.

“We combine our own expertise with contributions from world-class biomedical scientists, clinical researchers and medical professionals. We know how chemicals and human chemistry interact, and we are passionate about utilizing hemp and cannabis plant ingredients to deliver the most benefit to humans and animals, everywhere.”

This story was developed in collaboration with Creso Pharma, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
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