Medical cannabis play Bod lands its first deal to sell its health products overseas

Medical cannabis company Bod Australia (ASX:BDA) will start selling its products overseas, starting in Europe, after striking its first export deal with a long-time partner.

Under the agreement, Belgium-based natural medicine manufacturer Tilman will sell Bod’s cannabis ranges, NutraCabilis and MediCabilis, to pharmacies and specialty retailers in Belgium and Luxemburg.

Bod says Belgium is a potentially lucrative market for its products, with “favourable” pharmaceutical and medicinal cannabis regulation already in place.

The country spends over €43.9 billion ($70.1 billion) on healthcare and €1.72 billion on total beauty and wellbeing annually.

Bod chief Jo Patterson told Stockhead the Cannabidiol (CBD) over-the-counter opportunities in Europe are “massive”.

According to The European Cannabis Report, released mid-last year, in just six months, the European cannabis industry has grown more than in the previous five years and has suddenly become a “hotbed” of activity.

Over six new countries have announced legalisation, patient numbers have grown by 40 per cent month-on-month and over €150m has been invested in the European industry alone, the report said.

“Because the nature of CBD and what it offers in terms of anti-inflammatory and just all the various health benefits, it has the potential to really shake up the marketplace,” Ms Patterson said.

“This will offer us speed to market and speed to market is everything. So that gives you an opportunity to capture more of the market before the others come in, and because Tilman has that existing footprint and experience on ground, we’re not trying to build knowledge in markets, we’re using their existing knowledge.”

• Subscribe to our daily newsletter
• Join our small cap Facebook group
• Follow us on Facebook or Twitter

According to Bod, Tilman delivers yearly sales of over €35m.

In a separate deal, Tilman has extended Bod’s exclusive distribution rights in Australia, New Zealand and China (e-commerce) to five new Tilman products.

Ms Patterson told investors this morning that Bod has also progressed discussions with other significant counterparties in Europe to drive distribution and expansion.

“We’re looking at the UK, Germany and Switzerland,” she told Stockhead.

“Tilman is the first one in terms of export markets and we’ve got a few that are very close as well.”