(RTTNews) - Canadian cannabis company Canopy Growth Corp. said Wednesday it is closing more production facilities in Canada, including its entire outdoor cannabis cultivation operations in the country, as part of efforts to streamline its operations and improve margins. The closure of these facilities will impact about 220 employees.
Canopy Growth will cease operations at St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador; Fredericton in New Brunswick; Edmonton in Alberta; and Bowmanville in Ontario. The company will also cease operations at its outdoor cannabis grow operations in Saskatchewan.
The company noted that the impacted production sites represent about 17 percent of its enclosed Canadian footprint as well as its entire Canadian outdoor production footprint.
"As part of the end-to-end review of our operations that we outlined during our second-quarterearnings call we have made the decision to close a number of our production facilities. These actions will be an important step towards achieving our targeted $150-$200MM of cost savings and accelerating our path to profitability," said David Klein, CEO of Canopy Growth.
Klein added that the company was confident its remaining sites will be able to produce the quantity and quality of cannabis required to meet current as well as future demand.
Canopy Growth expects to record estimated total pre-tax charges of about C$350 million to C$400 million in the third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2021.
Canopy Growth, in March, announced plans to close two greenhouses in Canada, resulting in the elimination of about 500 jobs. Further, the company abandoned plans for a third greenhouse, saying that the actions were to "align" the company's cannabis cultivation capacity with projected demand.
In April, Canopy Growth announced it will trim its global cannabis operations and cut 85 full-time jobs as part of an ongoing strategic review of its business. The company ceased its farming operations in Springfield, New York after an abundance of hemp was produced in the 2019 growing season.
Canopy Growth also entered into a deal to exit its operations in South Africa and Lesotho. In its home country of Canada, Canopy Growth shut down its indoor facility in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, saying the move was expected to "further align production with market conditions."
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