More Canopy Growth workers are being let go in the latest round of job cuts to hit the company as it continues to restructure.
The Ontario-based company would not say say how many employees were impacted by the cuts, but confirmed to the Canadian Press that they were based at its Niagara-on-the-Lake and Smiths Falls locations and said it would share more details in the fall when it releases financial results.
Meanwhile, it’s six months ago to the day that Canopy Growth Corp. announced it was downsizing its two Lower Mainland operations, shutting down its 1.3-million-square-foot cannabis greenhouses near 264th Street in Aldergrove and another facility in Delta. About 500 employees lost their jobs in those closures. An additional 85 were let go at other locations in April.
Friday’s layoffs in Ontario come after Canopy let go of 30 operations staff in Smiths Falls on July 8.
Niagara-on-the-Lake is home to Canopy’s Tweed Farms and Smiths Falls hosts the company’s headquarters.
The cuts were triggered by a restructuring Canopy began after finding that the Canadian recreational pot market is developing slower than it anticipated and after facing profitability challenges.
Canopy Growth’s stock price fell in trading on Friday, slipping 1.3 percent to $21.28 at 3:30 p.m. EDT. The $7.9 billion company by market cap has seen its share fall 44 percent off its 52-week high of $38.33.
Meanwhile, the firm’s Aldergrove property has yet to be sold, according to Canopy Growth’s media relations manager Patti Zebchuck, but that is the company’s intention.
“There is no change to the status of our property in Aldergrove,” Zebchuck said. “But our plan remains to divest the site.”
Jodi Steeves, a realtor specializing in Aldergrove properties and president of the Aldergrove Business Association, said there have been no listings registered for the site, as of yet, and no indications “even through word of mouth” that the Aldergrove property is coming up on the selling block any time soon.
— With files from The Canadian Press and Roxanne Hooper, Langley Advance Times