By Ankit Kumar
(Reuters) -Canopy Growth Corp said on Thursday it would shed assets in Canada and cut 800 job positions as part of the pot producer's efforts to reduce costs and turn profitable.
Shares of the company, which reported a bigger quarterly loss, plunged 16.6% to C$3.06 at the closing of trade.
The company has been cutting costs through layoffs, exit from some international markets, store closures and divestiture of its retail business across Canada.
The company expects to save C$140 million ($104.10 million)to C$160 million over the next 12 months.
Its streamlining efforts in Canada include exiting cannabis flower cultivation in its Smiths Falls, Ontario facility, ceasing the sourcing of cannabis flower from the Quebec facility, and moving to a third-party sourcing model for cannabis beverages, edibles, vapes and extracts.
The company expects to complete the operational changes in the second quarter of fiscal 2024 and record restructuring-related pretax charges of C$425 million to C$525 million in the current quarter and the first half of fiscal 2024.
Canopy Growth (NASDAQ:CGC)'s current headcount was 2,250, out of which 1,450 employees will remain after the reductions announced on Thursday, the company said.
"Canopy is now in a position where its success will largely depend on investor enthusiasm amid an environment where cannabis sentiment is at best apathetic," Stifel analyst Andrew Carter said in a note.
The company's adjusted core loss widened to C$87.5 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31, from C$67.4 million a year earlier.
Smaller rival Aurora Cannabis (NASDAQ:ACB) Inc, however, reported an adjusted core profit of C$1.4 million, compared to a loss of C$7.1 million in the year-ago quarter, helped by higher revenue and reduction in expenses.
($1 = 1.3449 Canadian dollars)