Cannabis Referendum review

With the referendum preliminary results coming in, marginally in favour of the NO vote in regard to legalisation and control of cannabis.

The result was 53.1 % against and 46.1 % for. With such a tight preliminary result, the nearly 500,000 special votes still to count will come in to effect and could change the overall outcome. But the market waits for no one.

Listing	Share Price as at close 30/11/2020	Market Cap
RUA:NZX	$0.66 NZD	Market Cap: 92,408,068.5
CBD:NZX	$0.65 NZD	Market Cap: 79,135,745.65

Both Rua Bioscience and Cannasouth Ltd, two recent listings and seemingly darlings of retail investors, took a hit on the back of the results, showing disparity between what the companies actually do and what investors had hoped.

While neither company has made public statements in regard to production of non-medicinal cannabis, clearly the market had some level of hope for a retail market for the producers. Neither company is out of the competition, as medicinal cannabis is legal to grow. This will allow the companies to continue to operate in this space.

If we dive deeper into the two companies, Rua has two commercial facilities here in New Zealand and a sales agreement with German based Nimbus Health GmbH, it listed at 50 cents a share and saw immediate favour getting to as high as 70 cents. Initial disclosure has the business as a loss maker for 2 years.

CBD, which was previously as high as $1.21 in August, has a genuine production capability and has made some strategic investments in production facilities, a white label product with Australian Medipharms lab a subsidiary of Canadian Listing (LABS.TSX 0.81 CAD). While CBD is the clear leader its share price has shed almost 50% in the last 90 Days.

Our advisors continue to monitor these stocks as a long-term growth opportunity, however given the nature and life stage of these businesses view them at the top end of our risk matrix, consider seeking advice before any investment.

October Market Closes

NZ50G	ASX200	NYSE	Hong Kong	NZD/AUD	NZD/USD
12084.4729	5927.50	12,429.28	24,107.42	0.9412	0.6611

October Market Closes

NZ50G	ASX200	NYSE
12084.4729	5927.50	12,429.28
Hong Kong	NZD/AUD	NZD/USD
24,107.42	0.9412	0.6611