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Ananda Developments #ANA – New appointments at DJT Plants Limited
Ananda is pleased to announce additions to the team within its operating subsidiary, DJT Plants. Since planting of the first seeds in February, operations at site have become more complex and, under the guidance of Stuart Piccaver, the team has been expanded to include:
- Mark Spurdens MBA, BSc, CMgr, FIFST – COO; Mark was previously Operations Director of two large UK horticultural businesses supplying the main supermarket chains. He brings this experience to build DJT Plant’s medical cannabis business. He has a strong track record in building cohesive and effective teams and in developing high care production facilities within complex supply chains.
- Steve Murray BSc, BASIS – Head of Cultivation; Steve was previously managing 1.4Ha of medical cannabis growing in the UK for a cultivator under contract to GW Pharmaceuticals. He has set up and run large scale farming and intensive pharmaceutical grade production systems. His practical experience will be invaluable as DJT Plants moves towards commercial growing, subject to appropriate Home Office licencing.
- Dr. Nigel Gale – Head of Plant Science; Nigel has extensive experience in Good Agricultural and Collection Practice (GACP) and EU-GMP with a proven track record in developing genetics and successfully cultivating for EU markets, including developing top-selling genetic cultivars for both the medical and recreational cannabis markets in Canada. Nigel has moved to the UK from Canada, where he was Head/Director of Cultivation for several Canadian Licensed Producers. During his time in Canada, Nigel regularly managed the cultivation of up to 100,000 cannabis plants. Nigel is also an Associate Editor of Frontiers in Soil Sciences and the International Journal of Plant Biology.
Mark, Steve and Nigel have already commenced work on site and have begun to fine tune both the nutrition and watering regimes for the plants. Each strain has its own needs, and these are now being identified and accounted for. The team is assessing the plants for genetic traits, which can be done visually by an experienced eye by analysing the size and shape of the leaves on each plant.
Preparations are now being made for the movement of plants from the research facility to the multi-chapelles, the structures where DJT Plants will be cultivating in trial commercial conditions. The team is also engaging with DJT Plants’ consultants on the commercial storage and manufacturing facility plans.
Melissa Sturgess, Chief Executive Officer of Ananda commented; “A warm welcome from all of us at Ananda and DJT to Mark, Steve and Nigel. Building a best-in-class multidisciplinary team will be the foundation of our commercial success and we particularly look forward to being able to draw on their vast combined experience where it will matter; excellence in plant science, excellence in practical execution and excellence in managing a complex business with, as I like to say, lots of moving parts. A good strategy is of little use without first class practical execution.”
Corporate
There remains one outstanding item to complete the Circular to shareholders for the purchase of the 50% of DJT Plants not already owned by Ananda. Once final sign off is obtained, the Circular will be posted to shareholders and the General Meeting called.
-Ends-
The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.
| ANANDA DEVELOPMENTS PLC Chief Executive Officer Melissa Sturgess Investor Relations |
+44 (0)7463 686 497 ir@anandadevelopments.com |
| PETERHOUSE CAPITAL LIMITED Corporate Finance Mark Anwyl Corporate Broking |
+44 (0)20 7469 0930 |
Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
About Ananda Developments
Ananda is an AQSE-listed medical cannabis company creating UK-based operations to grow and provide carbon zero, consistent, medical cannabis for the UK and international markets.
The UK medical cannabis market is predicted to be worth £450m by 2025 and the European market is predicted to be worth USD4.2bn by 2027.
#ANA Ananda Developments – Shareholder Update
Ananda’s ambition is to be a leading UK grower and provider of high quality, consistent, carbon zero medical cannabis for the UK and international markets.
The Directors of Ananda provide the following update to shareholders.
Research programme
In early February 2022, 5 seeds of each of 13 strains of cannabis were planted at the DJT Plants Limited (“DJT”) medical cannabis research facility. Since then, the DJT team has been undertaking the following activities:
- The cannabis plants have been monitored daily, water requirements and nutrient requirements have been logged, and notes regarding the growth performance of each plant has been recorded.
- Pruning has been undertaken to encourage the even growth of a larger number of branches of each plant.
- Continued drafting of relevant Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to ensure best practice.
The seeds planted comprise a range of high THC / low CBD strains, low THC / high CBD strains and balanced strains. The precise cannabinoid and terpene profile of each strain will be ascertained when the plants are sent for analysis to Israel and UK based labs.
The next step to achieve stable strains of cannabis for potential commercial growing will be for 9 cuttings to be taken from each plant. These cuttings will be used for:
- Planting in the multi chapelles to start to assess the performance of the strains in DJT’s specialised growing conditions.
- Planting in the mother room so that there is a supply of mother plants which can then be compared with later generations of the same strain.
- The self-crossing programme in which some of the plants are forced to become males and then to pollinate the female plant from the same seed. This will increase the genetic stability of the next generation of plants.
There are a number of other parts to the research programme which are all designed to assist in the growing of stable strains of medical cannabis with cannabinoid and terpene profiles found to be beneficial in the treatment of a range of conditions. A further update on these initiatives will be provided in due course.
Commercial growing
As the research programme progresses, the team is now focused on developing its commercial plans. Commercial growing and selling is dependent on the successfully receipt of further licences from the Home Office and GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certification from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
DJT Plants has retained a best-practice international GMP and pharmaceutical consulting firm with experience in designing GMP compliant medical cannabis facilities in jurisdictions with regulations similar to the UK. They will assist in the design of DJT’s cannabis manufacturing facility. As the UK is in the early years of its medical cannabis industry, it is the opinion of DJT’s management team that an internationally experienced consultancy is best placed to assist DJT. The conceptual manufacturing flowsheet has been created by DJT and activities will now proceed to the more rigorous planning and design processes to ensure optimum workflows, ease of access from the commercial growing areas and scalability. The proposed facility will operate to GMP and will be fully compliant under the MHRA guidelines.
Corporate
There remains one outstanding item to complete the Circular to shareholders for the purchase of the 50% of DJT not owned by Ananda. Once final sign off is obtained, the Circular will be posted to shareholders and the relevant General Meeting called.
-Ends-
The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.
| ANANDA DEVELOPMENTS PLC Chief Executive Officer Melissa Sturgess Investor Relations |
+44 (0)7463 686 497 ir@anandadevelopments.com |
| PETERHOUSE CAPITAL LIMITED Corporate Finance Mark Anwyl Corporate Broking |
+44 (0)20 7469 0930 |
Ananda Developments #ANA – Shareholder Update
Ananda’s ambition is to be a leading UK grower and provider of high quality, consistent, carbon zero medical cannabis for the UK and international markets.
The Directors of Ananda provide the following update to shareholders.
Commencement of medical cannabis cultivation
The first cannabis seeds were planted yesterday at Ananda’s 50% owned company, DJT Plants Limited’s (“DJT Plants”) medical cannabis research facility. Dr Hadar Less, DJT Plants’ Lead Geneticist, and team have now started the first stage of the research programme.
The research programme is designed to create a library of stable cannabis genetics in order to ‘match’ cannabis plant profiles with clinical indications. The research plan involves self-crossing a selection of cannabis strains for six generations and then conducting field trials in the multi-chapelle structures to determine which stable strains produce chemovars with desired metabolic profiles and which thrive in DJT Plants’ growing conditions.
Ananda’s ultimate ambition is to be a commercial grower and provider of high quality, consistent cannabis medicines. There are currently around 12,000 medical cannabis patients in the UK (up from around 3,000 when DJT’s licence was granted), currently being prescribed a combination of medical cannabis flower and oils. All of these unlicenced cannabis medicines are currently imported. The directors of Ananda believe that there is an unmet need for high quality, consistent medical cannabis grown in the UK, which meets the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards.
Acquisition of the 50% of DJT Group Limited not already owned by Ananda (“Acquisition”)
The Acquisition process is largely complete, and the Company expects to post the relevant circular to shareholders shortly.
Since announcing the Acquisition, the parties (Ananda and Anglia Salads Limited) have been working as one team to execute the construction and commissioning of the research facility. Weekly Executive Committee calls take place and more recently Operations calls have also been initiated. As a result of the experience of the past eight or so months it has been decided by DJT Plants and Ananda that Stuart Piccaver and Simon Goddard will take the positions of Chairman of DJT Plants and CFO of DJT Plants, respectively. They will both also join the board of Ananda as executive directors. Initially it was contemplated that Stuart would be appointed as Ananda’s Joint CEO and that Simon would be Ananda’s CFO. However, it is the view of all parties that this revised structure will allow Stuart to be more focused on DJT Plants, as Ananda’s most important operating entity, whilst Melissa Sturgess will maintain responsibility for public company matters. Simon’s expertise in financial operations management is crucial and his energy is also agreed to be best focused at the DJT Plants level.
Melissa Sturgess, Ananda’s CEO, commented: “Since receiving our licence to grow medical cannabis for research in May 2021, our site team has reviewed and revised the plans which were submitted to the Home Office in October 2019, completed detailed drawings, finalised costings, commenced and completed construction and commissioned our medical cannabis research facility and multi-chapelle growing structures. Credit goes to Stuart Piccaver and his team, in particular Phil Hubbert, who have delivered this result. They have used their 25 plus years’ experience in constructing high-care horticultural facilities to ensure execution of this stage of the project. We do not underestimate the importance of team loyalty, local knowledge and the strength of existing supplier relationships which has seen timely construction during well-known COVID supply chain challenges.
We have all worked very well together as a cohesive and cooperative unit, over the past 8 months in particular. As we continue towards our clear objective of growing and providing high quality, consistent UK grown cannabis medicines to patients in need, we are mindful that we are transitioning from an ‘ideas’ company to an ‘operating’ company and that a results oriented, best in class multi-disciplinary team will be one of the keys to our success.”
Ananda Developments #ANA – Exercise of Warrants
EXERCISE OF WARRANTS
Ananda announces that 416,351 ordinary shares of 0.2p each in the Company (“Ordinary Shares”) have been issued following the exercise of warrants at 0.45p per share.
Application will be made for the new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on the Access segment of the AQSE Growth Market and admission is expected to become effective on Tuesday, 8 February 2022.
Following this issue, the Company has 798,931,821 Ordinary Shares in issue, each share carrying the right to one vote.
This figure of 798,931,821 Ordinary Shares may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA’s Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
Alan Green covers Petroteq #PQE and Ananda Developments #ANA on this week’s Stockbox Research Talks
Alan Green covers Petroteq #PQE and Ananda Developments #ANA on this week’s Stockbox Research Talks.
#ANA Ananda Developments – Shareholders Update
Ananda’s ambition is to be a leading UK grower and provider of consistent, high quality, carbon neutral medical cannabis for the UK and international markets.
The Directors of Ananda provide the following update to shareholders, which comprises Ananda’s responses to questions recently received from shareholders and other interested parties.
Melissa Sturgess, Ananda’s Chief Executive Officer, commented “We welcome these questions from shareholders and other interested parties. We believe that the medical cannabis industry is not particularly well understood at the moment, and we appreciate the time taken to frame these questions and send them to the Company”.
Q1: 40 Hectares of Land were identified by JE Piccaver & Co (Gedney Marsh) Limited (“JEPCO”) for commercial growing. Is this already owned and is it the intention to use the whole area for the first growing season?
A: JEPCO* originally delineated a 40Ha area for the use of DJT Plants Limited (“DJT Plants”). To comply with the Home Office’s desire for remote and secure locations to grow medical cannabis, a superior location was identified by JEPCO prior to DJT Plants submitting its application to the Home Office in October 2019. The location and significant acreage around it is leased by JEPCO. A sublease agreement between DJT Plants and JEPCO forms part of the acquisition package of the 50% of DJT Plants that is not already owned by Ananda. The initial area DJT Plants will be subletting covers 10Ha of land which also includes some infrastructure in the form of large storage sheds. The research facility is being built inside the storage sheds. Also included within the sublease agreement is the option to sublet more land from JEPCO as demand for product grows (subject to commercial licencing from the Home Office). The earmarked land is currently being utilised for crops, including potatoes and wheat and will be made available to DJT Plants when it is required. There is no reason for DJT Plants to tie up further land now for which it would have to pay rent. It is conceivable that the total area for cannabis growing could be bigger than 40ha but that will depend on success and demand.
In summary, Ananda is able to tailor the size of its growing area to the demand for product. To provide context, currently the UK market has around 10,000 patients who consume approximately 1 gram per day of cannabis. A reasonable assumption for yield would be 300-400g per square metre (3 – 4 million grams per hectare).
In line with other markets for medical cannabis, such as Israel and Germany, the Directors expect that the growth of the UK market will accelerate over the coming years. Ananda’s intention is to build capacity in line with market demand. Ananda believes that the best result for patients is to deliver high quality, consistent medical cannabis products and the best result for shareholders is to focus on building a profitable business for the long term rather than building large production capacity in the first year.
Note:
* DJT Plants is the holder of the Home Office licence to grow >0.2% THC cannabis for research purposes. DJT Plants is 100% owned by DJT Group Limited, which in turn is 50% owned by Ananda and 50% owned by Anglia Salads Limited. Anglia Salads Limited is owned as to 68% by JEPCO and Stuart Piccaver, JEPCO’s principal shareholder. Shareholders of Ananda will shortly be asked to approve the acquisition of the 50% of DJT Group Limited that Ananda does not own. Anglia Salads Limited will become a significant shareholder of Ananda.
Q2: What stage is Ananda at with identifying potential customers and establishing relationships with them?
A: Ananda’s initial focus is the UK and we have commenced engagement with patient groups, prescribing groups and associated health care workers. The Company has also commenced an initiative with the launch of the Medical Cannabis Research Roundup newsletters which comprise a regular summary of new scientific research in the medical cannabis space. These summaries are collated into a regular newsletter which the Company sends to interested parties. The Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society is to use Ananda’s updates to enhance its clinicians’ information database and will acknowledge Ananda’s contribution. If you would like to receive copies of the newsletters, please go to the Company’s website at www.anandadevelopments.com and sign up for the Medical Cannabis Research Roundup.
Q3: Is Ananda going down the same path as GW Pharmaceuticals Plc (“GW”) and becoming a pharmaceutical company?
A: No, Ananda is not a pharmaceutical company. The key difference between Ananda and GW is that GW formulates licensed medicines and Ananda is focused on unlicensed medicines, at least in the initial stages. Medical cannabis flower and oil (apart from the two GW products) currently prescribed in the UK are unlicensed. These unlicensed medicines are prescribed to patients by specialist clinicians.
Q4: When does Ananda anticipate starting and finishing the test growing phase?
A: The genetic stabilisation and field trial program, is expected to take around 18 months, provided there are no delays. It will commence when the research facility construction is complete. There are two parts to the first phase. The first is to create stable genetics by ‘self-crossing’ for a number of generations (pollinating with a plant of the same genetics). Genetic stability is most easily explained by thinking about the similarity of the plants you grow when you buy a bag of tomato seeds. It is currently difficult to obtain truly stable cannabis genetics without creating them yourself, and it is the Directors’ view that this is one of the causes of inconsistency of much medical cannabis flower. Inconsistent flower gives patients a different therapeutic experience from batch to batch, which is not ideal for the patient and does not generate confidence in the medicine for prescribing clinicians. The second part of the first phase is to take the best stable plants and grow them in the multi-chappelle greenhouses we have constructed at our research facility. This is crucial, as all genetics respond differently in different conditions and some or many might not grow at all well. We will take stable plants with the most ‘useful’ properties (combination of THC, CBD etc) and then find out which of those respond best to our growing conditions.
The Directors believe this will provide the best platform for the start of commercial growing (subject to licence) and enable the creation of a library of strains which will be proprietary to DJT Plants.
Q5: When will Ananda start its first production growing and first harvest?
A: It is not possible for the Directors to provide a time for this, because it depends on many factors, including Ananda’s ability to secure a number of licences and approvals, including a commercial growing licence from the Home Office, a manufacturing licence from the MHRA (including GMP certification of our manufacturing facility) and a few other minor licenses. Ananda is obviously focused on becoming a profitable company as quickly as possible and commercial growing is key to this.
Q6: What does Ananda intend to do to educate the medical profession regarding medical cannabis?
A: We have commenced the Medical Cannabis Research Roundup initiative as described above. In addition to our work, there are specialised groups focused on education, such as the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society (www.ukmccs.org). That Society is currently training specialists in medical cannabis and providing education to other health care groups. Stuart Piccaver, Chief Executive Officer of JEPCO, and Melissa Sturgess presented to over 100 members of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society on 8 September 2021
Claims as to efficacy and healing properties cannot be made about unlicensed medicines. This is the case for all manufacturers of medical cannabis and all unlicenced medicines in the UK. We can only provide specialists with factual information, known as ‘detailing’. If the Company is able to commence commercial production, we intend to provide, amongst other things, certificates showing the CBD, THC, terpene etc content of the flower being prescribed and to show the full supply chain, so that prescribers can get comfort about UK quality and provenance.
Q7: There are reports that vegetable growers are struggling to obtain and retain resources for vegetable production. Is the growing of cannabis plant resource intensive, and does the Company envisage any issues in attracting the right resources to be able to grow the target volume of plants?
A: One of the reasons Ananda partnered with JEPCO is that they deal with human resourcing every year for their salad leaf business. To provide perspective, they have around 70 full time employees and we are able to draw on skills from that pool, on an as needs basis, as per the Service Agreement between DJT Plants and JEPCO. Stuart Piccaver has been dealing with the requirements for seasonal labour for many years and has developed a focus on automation where possible, in order to reduce labour requirements and human handling of high care plant material. One of the reasons for a managed expansion of the cannabis growing business, rather than immediate large scale, is to ensure we are able to manage labour requirements effectively and securely. All labour will have to be trained in cannabis growing, harvesting etc. We must also consider issues such as site security and numbers of people moving around high care areas.
Q8: How far down the supply chain is Ananda looking to serve or is the target to be a vertically integrated company?
We are focused on the UK initially, and this requires us to grow medical cannabis to GACP (Good Agricultural Collection Practices), manufacture it under MHRA certified GMP (Good Manufacturing Processes) and distribute under GDP (Good Distribution Practices). Initially, we propose producing flower-based products and will add extract products as the business grows. We do not want to take on aspects of the supply chain that we feel are not part of our remit (for example it is unlikely we will buy a specials pharmacy (pharmacy that handles unlicensed medicines)). We want to remain focused on growing and providing high quality medical cannabis to UK patients and build the business from that base.
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The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.
| ANANDA DEVELOPMENTS PLC Chief Executive Officer Melissa Sturgess Investor Relations |
+44 (0)7463 686 497 ir@anandadevelopments.com |
| PETERHOUSE CAPITAL LIMITED Corporate Finance Mark Anwyl Corporate Broking |
+44 (0)20 7469 0930 |
Ananda Developments #ANA – Exercise of Warrants
Ananda announces that 16,863 ordinary shares of 0.2p each in the Company (“Ordinary Shares”) have been issued following the exercise of warrants at 0.45p per share.
Application will be made for the new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on the Access segment of the AQSE Growth Market and admission is expected to become effective on Tuesday, 11 January 2022.
Following this issue, the Company has 797,579,590 Ordinary Shares in issue, each share carrying the right to one vote.
This figure of 797,579,590 Ordinary Shares may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA’s Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
Ananda Developments #ANA – Shareholder Update
Ananda’s ambition is to be a UK grower and provider of carbon neutral, consistent, high quality medical cannabis for the UK and international markets.
Since the Company’s update on 6 October 2021, works have continued on schedule at the medical cannabis research growing facility being constructed in the UK by DJT Plants Limited (“DJT Plants”), the Company’s 50% owned subsidiary.
Research facility construction
The construction of the research facility is near completion. Security fencing has been installed around the designated perimeter of the project area, the reservoir to hold required water is complete and the interior of the medical cannabis growing rooms is complete. Dr Hadar Less, the project’s lead geneticist, spent last week on site to finalise room by room lab requirements, plant nursery growing trollies and other details.
The initial 0.2 hectares of multi-chappelle growing tunnels have been constructed and the design for the plant layout within the units has commenced.
Ananda’s plan
As previously communicated to shareholders, Ananda will conduct a medical cannabis breeding and stabilisation programme designed to create a library of proprietary strains which exhibit metabolic profiles which thrive in local growing conditions and which are efficacious in the treatment of indications including epilepsy, neuropathic pain, scleroderma and Parkinsons disease, as well as for other indications. Subject to further licensing from the Home Office, it is intended to use these learnings to grow medical cannabis for commercial purposes.
As a result of the experience gained by Ananda’s partner, JEPCO, in growing medical cannabis from 2014-2017 for GW Pharmaceuticals, Ananda intends to grow in natural season with no artificial light or heat. The Directors believe that using the full natural spectrum of light will result in superior medical cannabis flower and enhance the opportunity to garner its full benefit. The plan also requires much lower levels of capital and operating expenditure and, in the opinion of the Directors, enables a more scalable business than would be required by the building of large glass houses with artificial light and heat. In addition, DJT Plants’ cannabis growing is expected to be zero carbon.
Ananda’s CEO Melissa Sturgess commented: “As we look to the North American experience of large facilities with their high capital requirements, high operating costs and businesses which are supply led rather than demand led, we see financial pressures. Ananda’s model is clear. We have a low capital, low operating cost model which focuses on patient demand and which we believe will deliver superior medicines with very strong margins.”
UK medical cannabis market
According to UK based medical cannabis advisory group, Maple Tree Consultants, there are now approximately 9,500 medical cannabis patients in the UK. Maple Tree predicts that this number will reach around 25,000 by the end of 2022. This growth is in line with the development of international medical cannabis markets which experienced slow growth immediately after legalisation, followed by increased and then rapid growth around year 3. Medical cannabis was legalised in the UK in late 2018. The Directors of Ananda are encouraged by the potential of the industry in the UK and the opportunity for Ananda. They are also greatly heartened to see medical cannabis becoming more widely acceptable and understood as an efficacious treatment for many health indications.
Sale of shareholding in Liberty Herbal Technologies Limited
Ananda has sold the Company’s holding of 1,642,857 ordinary shares in Liberty Herbal Technologies Limited (“LHT”), the developer of ready to use cannabis sachets for portable vaporisers. The consideration for the disposal is £100,000 in cash, which has been received by the Company.
The proceeds of the disposal will be used to support the ongoing construction, staffing and operation at the medical cannabis research growing facility being developed in the UK by DJT Plants, which is the focus of Ananda’s attention. As announced on 8 June 2021, the Company is in the process of acquiring the remaining 50% of DJT Plants that it does not already own. (https://anandadevelopments.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/08062021-Proposed-100-ownership-of-DJT-Plants-Limited.pdf).
Ananda Developments #ANA – Interim Results to 31 July 2021
Unaudited Interim Results for the six months ended 31 July 2021
The Directors present the interim results of Ananda Developments Plc for the period from 1 February 2021 to 31 July 2021.
These interim results have not been audited nor have they been reviewed by the Company’s auditors under ISRE 2410 of the Auditing Practices Board.
UPDATE ON INVESTMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Ananda’s ambition is to be a UK-based grower of carbon neutral, consistent, high quality medical cannabis for domestic and international markets.
ICAN Israel Cannabis Limited (“iCAN”)
In the period under review, iCAN has expanded its conference platform and increased the number of companies in its incubator group. Since the end of the reporting period, iCAN has transitioned to an online offering to maintain revenue streams during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Company has converted its convertible debt into additional equity in iCAN.
Liberty Herbal Technologies Limited (“LHT”)
LHT launched hapac®, a dry herb medicinal cannabis inhaling technology, in Italy in late 2018. LHT was founded by ex-British American Tobacco executives from the e-cigarette innovation and sales divisions, who bring with them a deep understanding of strict regulatory environments and the procedures and protocols required to develop and commercialise technologies of this nature. Sales increased from launch however due to COVID they stagnated and fell during mid 2020. The Italian operations remain open, ready for relaunch when COVID allows, and the company continues to refine the dry herb vaping device and explore opportunities to grow the business in the North American, European and UK markets.
Tiamat Agriculture Limited (“TAL”) and DJT Group Limited (“DJT”)
TAL is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company and DJT is owned 50% by TAL and 50% by TAL’s joint venture partners Anglia Salads Limited and JEPCO Marketing Limited (together, “JEPCO”). DJTG is the 100% owner of DJT Plants Limited (“Plants”)
In October 2019, Plants submitted its application to the Home Office Drugs and Firearms Licencing Unity (“DFLU”) to grow >0.2% THC cannabis in Lincolnshire. Throughout the year Plants and its advisors continued to correspond with DFLU officials in order to progress the licence application through the various phases to the current position of awaiting a site visit from the DFLU. The Home Office made a physical site visit on 17 March 2021 and the Licence was received on 17 May 2021.
On 15 February 2021, Ananda announced that it had raised £300,000 for the build out of its research facility at the Licence location. As reported to shareholders at the time, these funds were set aside for the build out. DJT Plants will therefore immediately commence the build out and commissioning of the research facility.
On 8 June 2021, Ananda announced that it had entered into a non-binding Heads of Terms for the proposed acquisition by Ananda of the 50% shareholding in DJT currently owned by JEPCO. This transaction is ongoing.
On 14 July 2021, Ananda announced that it had raised £550,000 by way of the issue of 1p convertible loan notes (“CLNs”) with a fixed life of 2 years and an interest rate of 12.5%. The interest accrued on these notes will be rolled up and satisfied by the issue of ordinary shares at the end of the 2-year terms. The proceeds from the issue of the CLNs will be used to fund the ongoing build of Plants’ cannabis cultivation and research facility.
On behalf of the board
Melissa Sturgess, Chief Executive Officer
21 October 2021
| 6 months to 31 July 2021
Unaudited |
Year ended 31 January 2021 Audited |
6 months to 31 July 2020
Unaudited |
||
| Note | £ | £ | £ | |
| Administrative expenses | (688,498) | (496,110) | (151,089) | |
| Interest received | – | 114 | 114 | |
| Loss from operations | (668,498) | (495,996) | (150,975) | |
| Taxation | – | – | – | |
| Foreign Exchange Translation Gain / (Loss) | 1 | (149) | (887) | 1,157 |
| Total loss for the period | (688,647) | (495,109) | (149,818) |
| Earnings per share | ||||
| Basic and diluted earnings per share (pence) | 2 | (0.10p) | (0.11p) | (0.07p) |
There was no other comprehensive income in the period.
| 6 months to 31 July 2020
Unaudited |
Year ended 31 January 2021 Audited |
6 months to 31 July 2020
Unaudited |
||
| £ | £ | £ | ||
| Fixed assets | ||||
| Investments | 1,313,811 | 1,280,618 | 1,401,250 | |
| 1,313,811 | 1,280,618 | 1,401,250 | ||
| Current assets | ||||
| Debtors | 50,000 | 12,718 | 28,672 | |
| Cash at bank and in hand | – | – | 3,638 | |
| Total current assets | 50,000 | 12,718 | 32,310 | |
| Creditors: amounts falling due within one year | 863,564 | 462,299 | 308,898 | |
| Net current assets | (813,564) | (449,581) | (276,588) | |
| Total assets less current liabilities | 500,247 | 831,037 | 1,124,662 | |
| Capital and reserves | ||||
| Share capital | 1,589,004 | 928,278 | 882,194 | |
| Share premium | 766,336 | 689,229 | 689,229 | |
| Share option reserve | 67,361 | 447,337 | 441,755 | |
| Retained earnings | (1,922,454) | (1,233,807) | (888,516) | |
| Total equity and liabilities | 500,247 | 831,037 | 1,124,662 | |
The interim financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board and were signed on its behalf by:
Melissa Sturgess
Chief Executive Officer
[
21 October 2021
| Share Capital | Share Premium | Share Option Reserve | Retained Earnings | Total | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| As at 1 February 2021 | 928,278 | 689,229 | 447,337 | (1,233,807) | 831,037 |
| Total comprehensive loss for the period | – | – | – | (688,647) | (688,647) |
| Proceeds from share issue | 660,726 | 77,107 | – | – | 737,833 |
| Issue of share options | – | – | (379,976) | – | (379,976) |
| Balance at 31 July 2021 | 1,589,004 | 766,336 | 67,361 | (1,922,454) | 500,247 |
| Share Capital | Share Premium | Share Option Reserve | Retained Earnings | Total | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| As at 1 February 2020 | 836,111 | 689,229 | 441,755 | (738,698) | 1,228,397 |
| Total comprehensive loss for the year | – | – | – | (495,109) | (495,109) |
| Proceeds from share issue | 92,167 | – | – | – | 92,167 |
| Issue of share options | – | – | 5,582 | – | 5,582 |
| Balance at 31 January 2021 | 928,278 | 689,229 | 447,337 | (1,233,807) | 831,037 |
| Share Capital | Share Premium | Share Option Reserve | Retained Earnings | Total | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| As at 1 February 2020 | 836,111 | 689,229 | 441,755 | (738,698) | 1,228,397 |
| Total comprehensive loss for the period | – | – | – | (149,818) | (149,818) |
| Proceeds from share issue | 46,083 | – | – | – | 46,083 |
| Balance at 31 July 2021 | 882,194 | 689,229 | 441,755 | (888,516) | 1,124,662 |
The following describes the nature and purpose of each reserve within owners’ equity:
| Reserve | Description and purpose |
| Share capital | This represents the nominal value of shares issued. |
| Share premium | Amount subscribed for share capital in excess of nominal value. |
| Retained earnings | Cumulative net gains and losses recognised in the statement of comprehensive income. |
ACCOUNTING POLICIES
General information
Ananda Developments Plc’s interim financial statements are presented in British Pound Sterling (GBP) which is the functional currency of the parent company. These interim financial statements were approved for issue by the Board of Directors on 21 October 2021.
The financial information set out in these interim financial statements does not constitute statutory accounts as defined in Section 434 of the Companies Act 2006. The Company’s statutory financial statements for the year ended 31 January 2021 have been filed with the Registrar of Companies. The auditor’s report on those financial statements was unqualified and did not contain a statement under Section 498(2) of the Companies Act 2006.
These interim results have not been audited nor have they been reviewed by the Company’s auditors under ISRE 2410 of the Auditing Practices Board.
Basis of preparation
These interim financial statements are for the six month period ended 31 July 2021. They have been prepared following the recognition and measurement principles of FRS 102. They do not include all of the information required for full annual financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the financial statements for the period ended 31 January 2021.
These interim financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis which the Directors believe to be appropriate.
These interim financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies adopted in the financial statements for the period ended 31 January 2021.
1. Foreign currency transactions
Transactions in foreign currencies are translated to GBP at the exchange rates at the dates of the transactions. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies at the reporting date are translated to GBP at the exchange rate on that date. Foreign exchange differences arising on translation are recognised in the statement of comprehensive income.
2. Earnings per share
The calculation of earnings per share is based on the loss attributable to ordinary shareholders divided by the average number of shares in issue during the period.
The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.
| ANANDA DEVELOPMENTS PLC Chief Executive Officer Melissa Sturgess |
+44 (0)7717 573 235 ir@anandadevelopments.com |
| Investor Relations Jeremy Sturgess-Smith |
|
| PETERHOUSE CAPITAL LIMTED Corporate Finance Mark Anwyl Guy Miller |
+44 (0)20 7469 0930 |
| Corporate Broking Lucy Williams Duncan Vasey |
|
| CELICOURT COMMUNICATIONS Mark Antelme Ollie Mills |
+44 (0)20 7520 9266 |
Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
#ANA Ananda Developments – Shareholder Update
Ananda’s ambition is to be a UK grower and provider of carbon neutral, consistent, high quality medical cannabis for the UK and international markets.
Since the Company’s update on 17 September 2021, works have continued on schedule at the medical cannabis research growing facility being developed in the UK by DJT Plants Limited (“DJT Plants”), the Company’s 50% owned subsidiary.
Research facility construction
Progress on the construction of the research facility continues. The pouring of concrete to create the facility pod floors is now complete. All drainage is in place. Ground has now been cleared and levelled for construction of the multi chapelle growing tunnels. Steel for this phase of construction has been delivered to site and holes are being bored in the ground for the multi chapelle ‘legs’.
UK medical cannabis market
According to UK based medical cannabis advisory group, Maple Tree Consultants, there are now approximately 9,500 medical cannabis patients in the UK. Maple Tree predicts that this number will reach around 25,000 by the end of 2022. This growth is in line with the development of international medical cannabis markets which experienced slow growth immediately after legalisation, followed by increased and then rapid growth around year 3. Medical cannabis was legalised in the UK in late 2018. The directors of Ananda are encouraged by the potential of the industry in the UK and the opportunity for Ananda. They are also greatly heartened to see medical cannabis becoming more widely acceptable and understood as an efficacious treatment for many health indications.
Ananda’s CEO Melissa Sturgess commented “Our ambition is clear. We want to provide high quality UK grown medical cannabis to UK based patients, and later to the international market. Our approach is considered and deliberate: to build a profitable business by growing and supplying medical cannabis that meets patient and prescriber needs.”
-Ends-
The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.
| ANANDA DEVELOPMENTS PLC Chief Executive Officer Melissa SturgessInvestor Relations Jeremy Sturgess-Smith |
+44 (0)7463 686 497 ir@anandadevelopments.com |
| PETERHOUSE CAPITAL LIMITED Corporate Finance Mark AnwylCorporate Broking Lucy Williams Duncan Vasey |
