– Pure Sunfarms Remains Top-Selling Dried
Cannabis Brand with Ontario Cannabis Store1 and
Achieves Sales Records in July –
VANCOUVER, BC, July 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Village Farms
International, Inc. ("Village Farms" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:
VFF) (TSX: VFF) today announced its majority-owned joint
venture for large-scale, low-cost, high-quality cannabis
production, Pure Sunfarms, has begun shipping branded, packaged
dried flower products to Manitoba's licensed private sector retailers,
with these products available at the first 26 participating
retailers in Manitoba beginning
this week.
Pure Sunfarms' products are now available in five of
Canada's six most populous
provinces, which in aggregate represent more than 70% of the total
Canadian population. Manitoba ranks as the sixth largest
Canadian province by cannabis sales, comprising approximately 4.5%
of the country's total sales and has a higher per capita spend on
cannabis than the country average2.
"We are thrilled to further expand our presence in Canada and make Pure Sunfarms' products
available to even more Canadians by adding our fifth province,"
said Mandesh Dosanjh, President & CEO, Pure Sunfarms. "We are
confident that the Pure Sunfarms brand and products, with quality,
signature strains at an attractive price, will be received by
Manitobans with the same enthusiasm that they have been in
Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan."
Village Farms also announced that the Pure Sunfarms brand
achieved record sales (defined as sales of Pure Sunfarms products
by the provincial boards to retailers, as well as sales by the
provincial boards directly to consumers via their web sites) in
Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta in aggregate for the four-week period
ending July 19, 2020. Sales
during the final week of that four-week period were also a record
for a one-week period. In addition, Pure Sunfarms continues to rank
as the top-selling dried flower brand at the Ontario Cannabis Store
for the year to date.1
"Pure Sunfarms continues to execute on its growth strategy,
leveraging its leading brand performance1 for a larger
consumer audience, as the overall Canadian recreational cannabis
market continues to grow," said Michael
DeGiglio, CEO, Village Farms. "The continuing strength of
Pure Sunfarms' brand strategy, positioning and execution, coupled
with recent sales momentum as the Canadian market recovers from a
soft second quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic, bodes very well
as Pure Sunfarms prepares for the launch of its first bottled oil
and vape products in the coming weeks."
Pure Sunfarms continues to advance discussions with other
provincial distributors for potential supply agreements to further
expand its presence in the Canadian cannabis market.
Notes
- Dried cannabis, by kilograms sold, for the year to date period
ended June 30, 2020. Market
share performance is based on calculations by Pure Sunfarms from
sales information provided by the Ontario Cannabis Store
(OCS).
- 12 months ended April 30, 2020.
Source: Statistics Canada.
About Village Farms International, Inc.
Village Farms is one of the largest and longest-operating
vertically integrated greenhouse growers in North America. Village Farms produces is and
distributes fresh, premium-quality produce with year-round to
national grocers in the U.S. and Canada from more than nine million square feet
of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) greenhouses in
Canada and the U.S., as well as
from its partner greenhouses in Canada and Mexico. The Company is
leveraging its 30 years of experience as a large-scale, low-cost
vertically integrated grower for the rapidly emerging global
cannabis and CBD opportunities. In
Canada, British-Columbia-based Pure Sunfarms (majority-owned
by Village Farms) is one of the single largest cannabis operations
in the world and one of the best-selling brands in the
country. In the U.S., subject to compliance with all
applicable U.S. federal and state laws, the Company is pursuing a
strategy become a leading developer and supplier of branded and
white-labeled CBD products targeting "big box" and other
major retailers and consumer packaged goods companies, and with one
the largest greenhouse operations in country, is well positioned
for the potential federal legalization of high-THC
cannabis.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Information
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, (the "Securities Act") and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), and is
subject to the safe harbor created by those sections. This press
release also contains "forward-looking information" within the
meaning of applicable Canadian securities law. We refer to such
forward-looking statements and forward-looking information
collectively as "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking
statements may relate to the Company's future outlook or financial
position and anticipated events or results and may include
statements regarding the financial position, business strategy,
budgets, expansion plans, litigation, projected production,
projected costs, capital expenditures, financial results, taxes,
plans and objectives of or involving the Company. Particularly,
statements regarding future results, performance, achievements,
prospects or opportunities for the Company, the greenhouse
vegetable industry or the cannabis industry are forward-looking
statements. In some cases, forward-looking information can be
identified by such terms as "outlook", "may", "might", "will",
"could", "should", "would", "occur", "expect", "plan",
"anticipate", "believe", "intend", "try", "estimate", "predict",
"potential", "continue", "likely", "schedule", "objectives", or the
negative or grammatical variation thereof or other similar
expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. The
forward-looking statements in this press release are subject to
risks that may include, but are not limited to: our limited
operating history, including that of our Pure Sunfarms Corp. joint
venture for the production of cannabis in Canada (our "Joint Venture") and our start-up
operations of growing hemp in the United
States; the legal status of our Joint Venture; risks
relating to obtaining additional financing, including our
dependence upon credit facilities; potential difficulties in
achieving and/or maintaining profitability; variability of product
pricing; risks inherent in the cannabis, hemp and agricultural
businesses; the ability of our Joint Venture to cultivate and
distribute cannabis in Canada;
existing and new governmental regulations, including risks related
to regulatory compliance and licenses (e.g., our Joint Venture's
ability to obtain licenses for its Delta 2 greenhouse facility as
well as additional licenses under the Canadian Act Respecting
Cannabis To Amend to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the
Criminal Code and other Acts, S.C. 2018, c. 16 (Canada) for its Delta 3 greenhouse facility),
and changes in our regulatory requirements; risks relating to
conversion of our greenhouses to cannabis production for our Joint
Venture; risks related to rules and regulations at the U.S. federal
(Food and Drug Administration and United States Department of
Agriculture), state and municipal levels with respect to produce
and hemp; retail consolidation, technological advances and other
forms of competition; transportation disruptions; product liability
and other potential litigation; retention of key executives; labor
issues; uninsured and underinsured losses; vulnerability to rising
energy costs; environmental, health and safety risks, foreign
exchange exposure, risks associated with cross-border trade;
difficulties in managing our growth; restrictive covenants under
our credit facilities; natural catastrophes; the ongoing and
developing COVID-19 pandemic; and tax risks.
The Company has based these forward-looking statements on
factors and assumptions about future events and financial trends
that it believes may affect its financial condition, results of
operations, business strategy and financial needs. Although the
forward-looking statements contained in this press release are
based upon assumptions that management believes are reasonable
based on information currently available to management, there can
be no assurance that actual results will be consistent with these
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements necessarily
involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which
are beyond the Company's control, that may cause the Company's or
the industry's actual results, performance, achievements, prospects
and opportunities in future periods to differ materially from those
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These
risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the factors
contained in the Company's filings with securities regulators,
including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, our
subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on
Form 8-K, each of which is available at www.sec.gov, as well as our
filings on SEDAR, available at www.sedar.com. In particular, we
caution you that our forward-looking statements are subject to the
ongoing and developing circumstances related to the COVID-19
pandemic, which may have a material adverse effect on our business,
operations and future financial results.
When relying on forward-looking statements to make decisions,
the Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on these
statements, as forward-looking statements involve significant risks
and uncertainties and should not be read as guarantees of future
results, performance, achievements, prospects and opportunities.
The forward-looking statements made in this press release relate
only to events or information as of the date on which the
statements are made in this press release. Except as required by
law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise
publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which
the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events.
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SOURCE Village Farms International, Inc.