Health Canada has put a hold on 5 tons in cannabis after an inspection on Canntrust TRST (TSE). Stocks are down 40% so far. Five (5) rooms were found at their Pelham Ontario ( Niagara ) location with marijuana in them; however, these rooms were not licensed for operation.
They were having delays with getting licenses for their BC outdoor operations. This is just another big hit for this company. CannTrust has announced the expected shortages
SUPPLY ISSUES
There will be supply shortages from this company because of this temporary hold on their production. In addition, they have put an additional voluntary hold on another 7.5 Tons. It is unknown how long Health Canada will be conducting their investigation.
It seems that there is nothing wrong with the actual product in terms of consumption. However, there does seem to be some alleged deception on the part of Canntrust employees to Federal Regulators.
COMPANY RESPONSE
CannTrust distributes cannabis to provinces across Canada as confirmed by the company’s CEO Peter Aceto. The company’s stock closed down more than 20 per cent in Toronto following the announcement.
“Some of that product has left. We feel confident in its quality and safety because it has gone through testing in Health Canada-sponsored third party labs, as well as our own quality testing. But yes, some product has definitely been released to the provinces,” Aceto said.
“The rooms were constructed in a very compliant way with Health Canada… Where the mistake was made was plants were put in those rooms before the actual approvals were received,” according to the CEO.
CannTrust has hired an external firm to conduct a “root-cause analysis,” and determine how this occurred. The founder and chairman Eric Paul, has announced that he does not plan to fire the executive team which would include Aceto
Conclusion
The CannTrust investors have been loosing faith in this company for a while. This public set back will be another major blow to their growth. Its yet to see how this company can recover when looking at their current downward stock trend.
