The Supreme Cannabis Company (FIRE.T) bulked up their board with experienced directors following the company’s recent graduation to the TSX.
Supreme Cannabis’ admission to Canada’s big board means they will need to up their game and the company is hoping these two additions will do just that.
Kenneth R. McKinnon and Nikhil Handa join Supreme Cannabis’s board of directors.
Handa is also replacing Dimitre Naoumov, Supreme’s new vice president of finance, as CFO. McKinnon is replacing Scott Walters who will continue with the company as vice president of corporate development.
Before Supreme, Handa served as a former finance VP at Well.ca, a website devoted to health, beauty and baby products. His most noteworthy accomplishment there was the sale of the website to McKesson Canada.
Additionally, he held a senior finance positions at RBC Capital Markets, and Restaurant Brands International (QSR.NYSE), the company created by the merger of Burger King and Tim Hortons.
“Mr. Handa brings a wealth of transactional experience, strategic leadership and financial acumen to our management team and will provide complementary experience to our already strong finance team. His addition will help ensure our company is well positioned to seize on available growth opportunities as we look to expand our portfolio of businesses throughout 2019,” said Navdeep Dhaliwal, chief executive officer of Supreme Cannabis.
McKinnon’s appointment to Supreme’s board followed a decision to increase the number of independent directors to ensure unbiased support as the company continues to grow on the TSX.
He comes to Supreme from Citrus Capital Partners, and he presently serves on the boards of Touchstone Exploration (TXP.T) and Alvopetro Energy (ALV.V).
His previous director experience includes time at Petrominerales, and Lightstream Resources, which he chaired from 2011 to 2016.
McKinnon’s other experience includes positions on the board of governors of the University of Calgary and also at the government-funded research firm, Alberta Innovates.
The road to the TSX
When recreational cannabis legalization was only a rumour in 2016, Supreme built a 340 square foot grow facility and got started on the paperwork to fulfill Health Canada regulatory requirements.
They got it, in spite of the naysayers and short-sellers. Supreme was rewarded with a stock bump of 6.3% to $0.425, and never looked back.
Throughout 2017, the company focused on improving the quality of their cannabis, their subsidiary 7ACRES developed its revenue stream through bulk sales.
When cannabis was legalized in October 2018, the company shifted to selling to provincial distributors and retailers across the country.
Now 7ACRES has signed eight provincial supply agreements.
Some of Supreme’s biggest plays of 2018 include:
- Winning ‘Brand of the Year’ at the 2018 Canadian Cannabis Awards.
- Signing hip hop artist Wiz Khalifa to distribute his Khalifa Kush brand of cannabis north of the border.
- Acquiring Bayfield Strategy, a communications and stakeholder relations firm
- Completing a bought deal totaling $100 million.
- Inking a dried flower contract with Tilray (TLRY.Q) worth $12 million.
Here is where they are right now:
Supreme is a company that’s been making excellent decisions since inception, and there’s no reason to think that this won’t continue.
Shares slid $0.03 to close at $2.07 today.
Currently Supreme Cannabis has 289,947,291 issued and outstanding shares with a market cap of $600.2 million.
— Joseph Morton
Full disclosure: Supreme Cannabis is an Equity.Guru marketing client.