Yield Growth (BOSS.C) has achieved another key milestone this week after its Urban Juve Lip Balm received final approvals to be sold in Europe.

You may recall that Urban Juve was recently featured in the iconic British Vogue magazine, where it was exposed to 4.1 million readers (can’t say I was one of them). Urban Juve Lip Balm will grace these same pages in October, giving the product line even bigger exposure.

August is shaping up to be a big month for Yield Growth, with several expansion efforts underway. Most of the developments have been centred on Urban Juve, which features 11 (soon 12) unisex skincare products.

In an official press release, Yield Growth announced Monday that its Urban Juve Lip Balm has received a compliance certificate in accordance with European Union (EU) regulations. Basically, this greenlights the company to launch its hemp-based product across EU member states.

The certification process is quite rigorous, and requires a thorough review of each ingredient. Biorius acted as Urban Juve’s Responsible Person for the application.

Lip balm samling and sales to begin

Urban Juve Lip Balm will be available for sampling, retail sales and e-commerce beginning in September, the company said. Urban Juve is now in position to manufacturer and ship 250,000 units of its lip balm, though it’s not clear how many of those will be destined for the EU.

Penny Green, CEO of Yield Growth and Urban Juve, said the company is excited to begin sampling its product worldwide.

“We are excited about the new design of our Ultra-Hydrating Lip Balm and can’t wait to share it with hundreds of thousands of consumers through sampling and sales. Through our engagement with top design agencies in New York, we are now planning a photo shoot and campaign that will showcase the Urban Juve products internationally this fall.”

Urban Juve now has two products registered with the EU. It expects to have nine more registered by early fall, opening the door to one of the world’s biggest consumer markets.

CBD growing rapidly across EU

There’s a reason why Yield Growth is specifically targeting the EU market: CBD consumption is set to grow more than 400% over the next four years, according to the Brightfield Group. In dollar terms, Europe’s CBD market will be worth USD$1.8 billion by 2023.

Over the same period, the legal marijuana industry as a whole is forecast to reach $8 billion, up from just $318 million in 2018.

Brightfield says one of the key drivers of the expansion is improving regulations surrounding product quality, especially in places like Switzerland and Spain. The United Kingdom is expected to remain the leader on the CBD front, though Germany will grow faster than other EU countries over the medium term.

Yield Growth is targeting the skincare market because it believes CBD offers a natural alternative to the chemical compounds found in most cosmetic products. Bhavna Solecki, director of product development at Yield Growth, says Urban Juve contains none of the 88 chemicals found in 73,000 skin care products sold worldwide.

Chemicals commonly found in cosmetics include parabens, formaldehyde and sodium lauryl sulfate. Sounds like really nasty stuff.

BOSS.C stock update

Yield’s stock is coming off a difficult week, as the price continued to unwind from two-month highs. BOSS peaked at CAD$0.445 on August 6, but has since given back more than 28%.

I woke up too early today to give you the latest stock update, but let’s just say BOSS.C has suffered the same fate as other marijuana plays. Just take a look at the Canadian Marijuana Index over the past month (pay attention to the right side of the graph):

At current prices, Yield has a market capitalization of $28.8 million. If you value the company’s mass-adoption efforts, that could be seen as a bargain. Only time will tell.

–Sam Bourgi

Full disclosure: Yield Growth is an equity.guru marketing client.