The lord of the Marijuana business, Health Canada, has finally answered Rubicon Organics’ (ROMJ.C) prayers.
Today, Rubicon’s subsidiary, Vintages Organic Cannabis Company, has been awarded cultivation and processing licenses.
Rubicon has been in talks with Health Canada for a cultivation and processing license for a while now. The fine print said that, according to regulation, foreign government security checks are required for all board members who have lived over 90 consecutive days abroad within the last five years.
Two of Rubicon’s senior team, Bryan Disher and David Donnan, are consultants to whom travel is a way of life. As a result, they have both lived over 90 consecutive days abroad.
True to the spirit of serving the company and delivering value for shareholders, they resigned their positions as members of the board of directors immediately effective Jan. 25, 2019, in order to expedite Rubicon’s licensing process.
That’s something you don’t see often in the business world – senior leadership putting aside their egos for the greater good of the company and their shareholders.However, Disher and Donnan have not abandoned ship. They have agreed to serve as senior advisors to the company and provide the benefit of their experience as Rubicon continues its journey to become one of the world leaders in premium, certified organic cannabis.
In conversation with Health Canada, Rubicon has decided that the board of directors will, in due course, consider re-appointing Disher and Donnan, or nominating them for election to the board by shareholders.
The good news today is that this sacrifice of senior leadership has paid off as Rubicon’s 20-acre property in B.C. gained the license for cultivation. The facility is embedded with new technology that will allow Rubicon to catalyze cannabis cultivation at scale. Their greenhouse is equipped with industrial quality LEDs that compliment sunlight for continuous growth.
In case you forgot, Rubicon has proprietary intellectual property to produce high quality certified organic cannabis. Combined with its operations in the U.S., they boast 1 million square feet of land under their feet that can produce up to 11,000 kilograms of cannabis annually.
“Our next-generation facility design when paired with our proprietary certified organic production system results in terpene and cannabinoid levels that will be unrivalled in Canada. Our team is fully invested in understanding the Canadian marketplace and consumer, and we are excited to introduce our premium-quality, terpene-rich organic cannabis products through our recreational and medical cannabis brands in 2019,” said Jesse McConnell, co-founder and CEO of Rubicon Organics.
The license means that Rubicon can start to production immediately, and could potentially have their first harvest in Q2 2019. Their branding in the market is rather chic and savvy, and they have positioned themselves to appeal to the young audience. With that kind of brand loyalty, a harvest would only push Rubicon and its stock to the limelight.
Back in October 2018 when Equity.Guru’s Chris Parry wrote about Rubicon, he said he would buy because the shares were cheap. Lo and behold, he was right: since December 2018, the share price has risen over 65% from a low of $1.65 to today’s closing price of $2.73.
With lines of communication established, we know that Rubicon can leverage its relationship with the government to expedite further regulatory processes. With a high tech facility in place, Rubicon can gear up for 2019.
– Arth Gupta