Sativa Wellness Group plc (AQSE:SWEL) Executive Chairman Geremy Thomas caught up with DirectorsTalk to discuss board changes, submitting the novel food application to the FSA and the recent success of new listings in their sector.
Q1: A few board changes earlier this month with yourself now as Executive Chairman. Geremy, why have you come back to the Sativa Wellness Group board?
A1: Money! I’m a significant shareholder along with my family, we have 30% of the stock, and since I was last at the helm, our shareholder value has diminished significantly and I’m back to reverse that trend.
Q2: Now, you also announced that you’ve submitted your novel food application to the FSA, what’s the significance of that announcement?
A2: I think there are going to be significant changes in the CBD marketplace, I think the market itself has been held back by a lack of regulation and so we welcome the FSA and their novel foods initiative.
Basically, what that means is that the bigger companies that are part of the programme will be able to demonstrate to the public the quality and compliance and their products.
So, our brand is Goodbody Botanicals and Goodbody Wellness and these products go through a rigorous compliance process. We actually plant the seed in the group in Eastern Europe, we harvest the biomass, we process it and we turn it into the building blocks for products. We manufacture these products here in the UK and we have our testing laboratory to ensure quality throughout that process and then we actually stock, via our distribution partners, the shelves so the consumers can then buy our products.
That process and the control of that process is key to the future of the industry and key our future and we’re very pleased to be a part of the small group that have registered their products with the Foods Standards Agency.
Q3: What do you think of the recent success of new listings that are in your sector?
A3: We welcome them. I think the FCA made it clear that CBD and medicinal cannabis companies were welcome on the London exchanges and we’ve seen recently a number of companies come to the market and I think there a number more that we will see in due course.
Kanabo came to the market in some style a couple of days ago, they now have a market cap of over £100 million and I think that makes Sativa Wellness Group at £12 million cheap.
So, yes, we welcome them and we look forward to a much higher level of investor interest in our sector.
