Also provides details for Q2 Fiscal 2020
earnings conference call scheduled for April 14, 2020
Organigram Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: OGI) (TSX: OGI), the parent
company of Organigram Inc. (the “Company” or “Organigram”), a
leading licensed producer of cannabis, today announced the
temporary layoff of approximately 45 per cent of its workforce
primarily to help boost COVID-19 containment efforts representing
approximately 400 employees.
“These are unprecedented and trying times,” says Greg Engel,
CEO, Organigram. “Our priority right now is to make sound strategic
decisions that are in the best interests of our people and which
will contribute to the long-term sustainability of the
Company.”
Corporate Action Plan
As a Canadian business, employer and member of the Moncton and
New Brunswick communities, Organigram has been focused on proactive
strategies to protect the health and safety of its workers as well
as maintain the continuity of its business. Organigram remains
committed to following the direction of the Province of New
Brunswick under the current state of emergency.
The Company has offered voluntary layoffs to certain staff and
those that accepted made up the majority of the layoffs. In some
cases, due to the impacts of COVID-19, some administrative, support
and other functions were deemed non-essential to the short-term
needs of the business. The temporary layoffs were initiated on
March 24, 2020 and the Company will continuously monitor the
evolving situation.
Lump-sum payments will be paid to the affected employees to help
bridge the gap to available government programs. In addition, the
Company will absorb the employee paid portion of health, dental and
short-term disability premiums for all employees during this
difficult time.
The Company plans to maintain an experienced group of employees
at its Moncton facility with skills flexible enough to work on
various production and packaging lines to help fulfill the
provincial demand levels.
During this temporary period, Organigram expects to be faced
with cultivation, harvest, production and packaging reductions but
will also plan to supplement with inventories on hand to meet
anticipated demand. Specifically, the Company will be focused on
leveraging automated and the most efficient lines of production and
will deprioritize lower value products requiring higher manual
labour.
Likewise, the Company, which operates one facility in Moncton,
New Brunswick as well as offices in Moncton, Toronto and Ottawa,
has already taken actions as recommended by Public Health of Canada
and the provincial Public Health authorities. Additional measures
include, but are not limited to, the following:
- An Emergency Response Team was established to monitor pandemic
updates, review safety protocols, assess public health risk and
develop action plans
- Moved to a work-from-home environment for any functions not
required onsite
- Implemented travel restrictions for work related travel,
restricted visitor access to the facility and imposed
self-isolation for employees who have symptoms of sickness and/or
returned from international travel as of March 13th
- Increased focus on sanitation and physical distancing, with
additional hand sanitizing stations throughout the facility,
cleaning and sanitizing of high touch surfaces, and additional
cleaning in common areas
- Imposed restrictions on large meetings and gatherings, opting
for video conferencing meetings
- Mandatory reporting of any hourly employee’s absence to an
attendance line including specific reporting of any possible
COVID-19 symptoms
- Reminders of measures to reduce risk of infection and prevent
possible spread including regular washing of hands and avoiding
contact with faces
This is a new and evolving situation demanding strong leadership
and smart decision-making across all industries and sectors,” says
Engel. “We continue to monitor this rapidly changing situation and
will make the decisions necessary to ensure the safest environment
for our employees as well as insulating our business as best we can
under the circumstances.”
Inventory
The Company believes it has sufficient inventory levels to
supplement reduced harvest plans and enough contingency staff to
keep packaging capacity intact in order to meet anticipated demand
for the short term. The Company also remains comfortable with its
current inventory levels from external suppliers (e.g. vaporizer
products, packaging materials) and has not experienced any
significant disruptions to date.
New Product Launches
The Company continues to expect to launch Edison + PAX ERA®
distillate vape cartridges in calendar Q2 2020 across the country
where regulations allow vape products. Despite having product ready
for packaging, the Company is not able to provide guidance on
specific launch timing of Ankr Organics branded products
(previously expected to launch before the end of Fiscal 2020) as
the Company continues to assess the impact of a reduced workforce
on its prioritization of products for launch and delivery. Further,
the Company is no longer able to provide any guidance on specific
launch timing for its powdered beverage product (previously
expected to launch in Q2 calendar 2020) due to the uncertainty of
the impact and length of the COVID-19 situation.
Medical Patients
The Company’s medical patients can continue ordering medical
cannabis products through the Company’s online store or by phone.
Medical cannabis products will continue to be delivered by secured
courier or other methods permitted by the Cannabis Act.
Q2 Fiscal 2020 Earnings
The Company is on schedule to report its second quarter results.
The Company will host a conference call to discuss, details as
follows:
Date: April 14, 2020
Time: 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time
Toll Free (North America) Dial-In Number: 1-866-211-4093
International Dial-In Number: 647-689-6727
Webcast:
https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/2158457/26EA11F1C003A07ED88A32124DC3CB15
A replay of the webcast will be available within 24 hours after
the conclusion of the call at https://www.organigram.ca/investors
and will be archived for a period of 90 days following the
call.
About Organigram Holdings Inc.
Organigram Holdings Inc. is a NASDAQ Global Select and TSX
listed company whose wholly owned subsidiary, Organigram Inc., is a
licensed producer of cannabis and cannabis-derived products in
Canada.
Organigram is focused on producing high-quality, indoor-grown
cannabis for patients and adult recreational consumers in Canada,
as well as developing international business partnerships to extend
the Company's global footprint. Organigram has also developed a
portfolio of legal adult use recreational cannabis brands including
The Edison Cannabis Company, Ankr Organics and Trailblazer.
Organigram's facility is located in Moncton, New Brunswick and the
Company is regulated by the Cannabis Act and the Cannabis
Regulations (Canada).
This news release contains forward-looking information. Often,
but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by
the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “estimates”,
“intends”, “anticipates”, “believes” or variations of such words
and phrases or state that certain actions, events, or results
“may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be
achieved. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual
results, events, performance or achievements of Organigram to
differ materially from current expectations or future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by the
forward-looking information contained in this news release. Risks,
uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking
information could cause actual events, results, performance,
prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those
expressed or implied by such forward-looking information including
the actual percentage of workforce reduction; general risk of
negative global financial consequences and heightened uncertainty
as a result of COVID-19; impact on production or operations; impact
on demand for products and services; the effect on third-party
suppliers or service providers; the effect on any proposed
international business partnerships; production facilities running
at less than full capacity due absence of members of the workforce
for reasons related to COVID-19; issues related to public health
and global economic conditions; supply chain and distribution
disruptions and such other risks as disclosed in the Company’s most
recent annual information form, management’s discussion and
analysis and other Company documents filed from time to time on
SEDAR (see www.sedar.com) and filed or furnished to the Securities
and Exchange Commission on EDGAR (see www.sec.gov). Readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.
Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used
in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release
are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such
information and no assurance can be given that such events will
occur. The forward-looking information included in this news
release are made as of the date of this news release and the
Company disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent
required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking
information, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200406005878/en/
For Investor Relations enquiries: Amy Schwalm Vice President,
Investor Relations Amy.Schwalm@organigram.ca (416) 704-9057 For
Media enquiries: Ray Gracewood Senior Vice President, Marketing and
Communications rgracewood@organigram.ca (506) 645-1653
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