It & rsquo; s working, and it could offer lessons to Other CEOS and TOP Executives.
a phone interview.
Aurora, Though Still Not Profitable, Appears to Be Tracking in the Right Direction.
Consider Feb. 9: It was a day of control two companies considered bethers in the early Years of Canada & rsquo; s adult-user cannabis inDustry.
Aurora Employees Attennded A Virtual Town Hall Meeting to Mark a Milestone of Sorts.
Aurora Also Marked the COMPLETION of A Painful Transformation Program It has Begun Three Years Earlier.
On that say day, the atmosphere at Rival Canopy Growth Was Markedly Different.
While Aurora Had EXITED ITS "Transformation," Canopy Announded IT WAS Embarking On ITS Own.
Aurora knows this bituation well.
By then, Aurora Was Alream Six Months Into the First Phase of ITS OWN "Transformation" Plan, Initiated by-Interim Ceo Michael Singer.
Three Years Later, on Feb. 9, 2023, Aurora Annound it had completed the transformation.
"There was a lot of tough thinks in the midst of all that download," Martin Told mjbizdairly.
BeCAUSE RIGHT Now it & rsquo; d be a real challenge. "
RightSizing Footprint
In Other Words, Aurora, Like Most of Canada & RSquo; S Large Cannabis Producers at the Time, WAS Growing Far More Cannabis than It Could Sell.
The Company was well so in Costly Greenhouses Scattered Across Many Countries.
In a Previous Interview with MJBIZDAILY, Martin Described The Circumstances Leading up to that point as a grandhouse "ARMS RACE." ""
The Transformation & RSQUO; S Initial Phase Involved Fixing The Company & RSquo; S Supply-Demand Imbalance.
That year, Aurora Sold 51,441 Kilograms (56.7 TONS) of Cannabis & NDASH; only One-Thing of the 152,740 kilograms of Marijuana It grew that year.
And among those 11 sites, only four are in use today.
Selling Most of Thuring Its Corporate Makeover Helped Aurora Save Money and Halve Production in the 2022 Financial Year & NDASH; to 73,371 Kilograms.
The Company Sold 503 KILOGRAMS of Cannabis Thatar & NDASH; A Major Improvement Over Previous Years.
Martin Said of the Excess Cultivation: "There was just no path forward to make making it work."
of that also looking at core business. "
While Cutting Deep Into the Company & RSquo; S Expenses, It was time for a frame assessment of Aurora & rsquo; s advantages.
& lsquo; Core & rsquo; Shift to Medical
"I think we all dropped our ego About Relo, and that it was going to be ok to be ninth or 10th."Then, then
Aurora & rsquo; S Market Share in the UltracomPetitive Adult-Use Segment Has NoseDived In Recent Years.
MARTIN and HIS Team Reason Reassed Its Core Business Strategy.
Then, then
Martin Observes that Medical Markets Outside Canada Are Numerous and Experiencing Steady Growth.
"Medical cannabis is the absolute lion & rsquo; s Share of Profitability Right now," He Said, Referring to WHERE Marijuana Companies Are Money Today.
Aurora Serves Roughly 60,000 Active Medical Cannabis Patients in Canada, Making it No. 1 in Terms Market Share.
Part of the core shift to Medical Involved Assessing Which Facilities The Company Still Needed.
"The Next Big Decision was around Sky," He Said of the Company & RSquo; S Flagship Greenhouse in Edmonton.
"That was a tough one. It was sort of a beacon of what the company stood for," He Continued.
"It was this important touchstone for a lot of people in the meaning as an ultramodern, automated process, but we just couldN & rsquo;" Trow Competitive Flower. "
At Least Not for Cannabis.
Aurora Spent CA $ 45 Million Last Summer to Acquire A Controlling Interest In Bevo, A Profitable SUPPLIER of Propagated Vegetable PlanTs.
Bevo Also Agreed to Acquire The Sky Facility for Up CA $ $ 25 Million.
"No one had ever done anything like sky before," Martin Said. "The System Just Didn & RSquo; T SUPPORT It.
"And the Fixed Cost of a Facility like that, when priors we determined, just dign & rsquo; t make any sense.
"That was hard, Because Sky Was so important to so many people, External, Internet, Edmonton.
"But it was just untenable, so we had to mothball it, and thanank God for bevo."
Aurora & rsquo; s & lsquo; matrix & rsquo;
The company was swimming in a sea of red ink when martin too over. How did he turn that around?
MARTIN SAID He and His Team Use a "Matrix" to Drive Decision-Making.
"The first thing in that matrix, which is a little body for major, would be our confidence in the regulatory process," Martin Said in the Interview.
Why?
This New Approach Reflects The Significant Role A Respective Country & RSquo; S Regulations Play in Priying Potential and consistent Sales.
Martin Described The Matrix As Haveing Various "Quadrants" or Pillars, Including:
Regulatory Certering.
How A Market Leans Into Aurora & RSquo; S Corporate Advantages.
"Size of the prize," Referring to Potential Sales.
"There are some places where it & rsquo; s just not word it," he said, the citing mexico as an excel.
"Everyone in a while, mexico & rsquo; s Going to Legalize Cannabis, Everyone Gets All Excited, and then it goes away, beCAUSE TheRE & RSQUO;" He Said. "He Said.
Instead, Martin Sees A "Thoughtful Science-Based Regulatory Process" in Countries Such As Australia, The CZECH Republic, GERMANY, Israel, Malta and Paland.
"That may take longer, but it dign & rsquo; t seem to be two steps forward, three steps back," he said.
"It was moving forward in a way that we thought was predictable. And Importantly, all of them we comportable with imageing (European union-good manuFactical) prop."
Notbly, Aurora Maintaine’s Cultivity Asset in Denmark But Doesn & RSquo; TSE Any Advantage in Places SUCH As Central American Africa.
"That was a core competitive advantage that we had," Martin Said. "We have more eu-gmp product than anybody, and we & rsquo; re good at that..
"Then we realized that ebitda positivity was important, so we only had a little bit where we could make some bets."
Diffrential
MARTIN Also Talked about Separating Aurora from Other Cannabis Companies.
FIVE Years AGO, There was virtual nothing to disablement transport the Auroras and Canopys of the Industry.
The Industry Is Different Today, Even Thought Companies Continue to Lose Money.
"Take us, canopy and tilray. And none of this is negative," Martin Said.
"Tilray is as much a U.S. Alcohol Company as they are a cannabis company. That & rsquo; s foot. That & rsquo; s the decision they & rsquo;
"Canopy is as much a U.S. Option play as they are a canadian or International Entity. And that & rsquo;" s fine. "
But Aurora, He Noted, is "A Canadian Medical Company that is the largest International.
"We & rsquo; re all so different," He added. "Organigram is different and decibel is different. But we all get smashed together, and I think it does everybody a disservice.
Longer. "
The CEO ACKNOWLEDGES theRE is Still Much to do Regarding Execution and Profitability.
Also, investors are & rsquo; T CELEBRATING YET.
Aurora & rsquo; s shares & ndash; which trade as acb on the nasdaq & ndash; now sit Below $ 1. They also trade as acb on the toronto stock exchaange.
"Now I Think It & RSquo; SREALLY About Execution," Martin Said.
"How do you create a big, propitable medical and recal system?
Then, then
"And then creation a system that & rsquo; s mostrely portable."