Goodbody Health Inc. (LON:GDBY) Executive Chairman Geremy Thomas caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss why it’s a Canadian listed company, the move back to London, why they’ll be based in Guernsey, Canadian shareholders and the current share price.
Q1: Goodbody Health, it’s currently a Canadian listed company with dominant UK trading activities. Why is that?
A1: Well, historically we started out on the NEX exchange, which morphed into Aquis but just prior to the pandemic, we were looking to raise further funds and it became very clear to us that that was going to be very difficult in the UK markets.
We were presented an opportunity to do a reverse takeover of a Canadian business called StillCanna. StillCanna had some complimentary CBD assets, which we were interested in, but also had a pile of cash, which we were very interested in. So, we concluded that merger and that’s the historic reason why we are a Canadian listed and principally Canadian business.
Q2: You’ve announced a return to London, delisting from the CSE in Canada, what’s the thinking behind that move?
A2: I’ve been in Vancouver for the last few months assessing the viability of our listing there, our prospects for future growth in our stock value. I’ve met with shareholders, with advisors, I’ve met with marketing specialists and I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no value for us to be there.
There’s a lot of cost associated with multiple listings around the world and in the current climate, there is no benefit. So, whilst we’ve done really well in the last 18 months to generate cash, we don’t want to spend it willy-nilly and now is the time to conserve cash., to use to promote our corporate strategy as a training business and I’m very keen now to cut unnecessary costs since I see that these foreign listings are unnecessary.
Q3: So, why are you choosing to base the business in Guernsey?
A3: We were able to go from the UK to Canada with shareholder approvals and through the process of the reverse takeover, but to come back to the UK, we had a number of options and the least expensive option was to come back via Guernsey. We could come back straight to London but it would cost three times the amount of money and, as I’ve said, our current focus is to reduce the amount of money we’re spending on professional fees and all the associated costs of being listed around the world.
So we chose the Guernsey option, there are very many Guernsey-based businesses listed on both AIM and the London Stock Exchange, let alone Aquis, so we are in good company and it’s the most sensible way to go.
Q4: The Canadian shareholders, will they be able to trade their shares once the move has been completed?
A4: Absolutely. In the same way that when we morphed from being a UK business to a Canadian business, none of our UK shareholders were disadvantaged and in the same way, we are very confident that our Canadian shares will be able to trade. It depends on how they’re holding their shares, whether they’re electronic or in another form but the principle is absolutely they can trade their shares and we are available as a team to advise on how they can do that. So, there is no disadvantage for them.
Q5: Finally, what’s your view on Goodbody Health’s current share price?
A5: It’s embarrassing. In the latest full year results, we finished the year with £6 million worth of cash, at the end of Q1 we reported that cash remain robust and our current market cap is £6 million. We did an internal review the other day, about where we are in terms of the value of our business and we believe our CBD alone are worth £7.5 million and we have this new and exciting strategy in blood and wellness testing based in our 200 facilities out there in the UK, clinics, which is not factor in at all.
So, I, as the biggest shareholder, am very conscious of the share price, but I equally recognise that there are circumstances out there beyond our control, a war raging in Europe, small market cap businesses inevitably are going to suffer. Our business has suffered more than most because of our connection to cannabis, which has not been a popular investment topic.
Really, the business fundamentals have never been better and I, as a shareholder and Executive of the business, am very confident so the share price is an embarrassment but it doesn’t relate to what’s going on in the business.
