Mr. Cohen issues letter to shareholders
BOCA RATON, Fla., April 04, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Stem Holdings, Inc. (OTCQX: STMH) (CSE: STEM) (the “Company” or “Stem”), a vertically integrated cannabis operator, today announced the appointment of Co-Founder, Matthew Cohen, as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer effective immediately.
Dear Shareholders,
I, along with our Board of Directors, which now includes two newly appointed members, Daryl Simon and Rajiv Rai, will immediately put into motion a plan to focus all of our resources on operations, which are predominately in Oregon at this time. However, we intend to monetize the Company’s assets outside of Oregon and California in order to prioritize future growth and sustainability. Concurrently, in order to streamline the operations of the business, reduce cost, enhance the quality of our products, and strengthen our balance sheet, we will perform an expense restructuring process across our entire organization.
Although this letter is to focus on Stem, its current status and our strategy going forward, I also would like to provide a brief introduction of myself. To begin, I co-founded Stem in 2016. Prior to that, I held many corporate leadership roles over the past 4 decades, many of which were keenly focused on investing capital, structuring, and funding public/private companies. Additionally, I have extensive experience in business combinations and valuations, mergers and acquisitions, reverse mergers, revenue recognition, equity-based compensation, initial public offerings, secondary offerings, debt offerings, and REIT compliance. I also have expertise in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, including internal controls under Section 404 and many of the significant issues facing SEC registrants.
At this time, the Company is vertically integrated with 4 cultivation locations in Eugene, Springfield, Hillsboro and Mulino, Oregon. These locations include: (1) Eugene — a premier indoor facility just outside with 5,120 square feet of canopy and 24 grow rooms; (2) Springfield – with 5,120 square feet of canopy and 8 grow rooms; (3) Hillsboro — a state-of-the-art indoor grow with 5,600 square feet and 5 grow rooms; and (4) Mulino — with 6 commercial-grade greenhouses and 9,600 square feet of canopy.
At retail we have five locations under the TJ’s brand (one in Portland, one in Salem, and three in Eugene). TJ’s Gardens and Yerba Buena will continue to be our leading consumer product flower brands. Yerba Buena is an organically-grown cannabis brand known both for its variety of THC and CBD cultivars. Our TJ’s Gardens brand is known in Oregon for its unique flower cultivars and terpene profiles and is poised for a renaissance as our new cultivation leadership recaptures its position as the leader in this premium segment of the market.
Our Foothill Health & Wellness store in Sacramento, California, which was previously a medicinal sale only store, recently obtained approval to also engage in recreational adult-use sales. Even prior to obtaining approval, this location was our highest performing location. For reference, we acquired the medicinal license for this location in 2020, and in 2021, this location was our highest grossing revenue dispensary. With our adult-use license, we will significantly increase revenue and foot traffic.
We have already begun to take the necessary measures operationally to ensure that we provide our consumers with the highest quality product in the Oregon market. Today we have all cultivations facilities operating efficiency as we continue to increase yields and harvest new high-quality product. We will scale up our cultivation capacity methodically as demonstrated in prior years.
As we move forward, we remain in active discussions to monetize the Companies assets outside of Oregon and our retail location in California continue with respect to strengthening our balance sheet with additional working capital to fund the growth of the business.
I am extremely honored to serve in the roles as CEO, and CFO for Stem. I, along with the Board of Directors, look forward to implementing our various strategies and continuing to provide our shareholders with updates on our progress going forward.
Sincerely,
Matthew Cohen
President, CEO and CFO
About Stem Holdings, Inc.
Stem is a multi-state, vertically integrated, cannabis company that, through its subsidiaries and its investments, is engaged in the cultivation, processing, packaging, distribution and branding of cannabis, hemp and their derivatives, including oils, edibles, concentrates. Additionally, the Company purchases, improves, leases, operates, and invests in properties for use in the production, distribution and sales of cannabis and cannabis-infused products licensed under the laws of the states of Oregon, Nevada, California, Massachusetts, and New York. As of December 31, 2021, Stem had ownership interests in 24 state issued cannabis licenses including nine (9) licenses for cannabis cultivation, three (3) licenses for cannabis processing, two (2) licenses for cannabis wholesale distribution, three (3) licenses for hemp production and seven (7) cannabis dispensary licenses.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements and information (collectively, “forward-looking statements”) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements and information that are not historical facts but instead include financial projections and estimates, statements regarding plans, goals, objectives, intentions and expectations with respect to the future business, operations, expected financial position as a result of the divestiture of Driven Deliveries, and phrases containing words such as “ongoing”, “estimates”, “expects”, or the negative thereof or any other variations thereon or comparable terminology referring to future events or results, or that events or conditions “will”, “may”, “could”, or “should” occur or be achieved, or comparable terminology referring to future events or results. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement include, but are not limited to, delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals, political risks, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in the development of projects and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry. Forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company assumes no responsibility to update them or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances other than as required by law.
Investor Contact:
KCSA Strategic Communications
Valter Pinto, Managing Director
+1 212.896.1254
valter@kcsa.com
Media Contact:
Mauria Betts
Director of Branding and Public Relations
971.266.1908
mauria@stemholdings.com
