Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Rapidly Changing Cannabis Industry Offers Plenty of Growth in Horizontal Markets

NetworkNewsWire Editorial Coverage: From Main Street to Wall Street, the cannabis industry is branching out into a variety of business opportunities for not only the key players involved but smaller startup firms as well. Projected growth estimates for the legal marijuana industry are impressive, with ArcView Market Research predicting a massive leap from just under $7 billion in 2016 to $22 billion by 2021, and that’s just the North American market. Globally, the market is estimated to reach over $55 billion by 2025. No matter how you crunch the numbers, a hefty segment of that revenue is streaming from subsidiary services supporting the cultivation, processing and eventual sale of the highly regulated plant. For companies like SinglePoint, Inc. (SING) (SING Profile), Medical Marijuana, Inc. (MJNA), Solis Tek Inc. (SLTK), Supreme Pharmaceuticals Inc. (SPRWF) and Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (SMG), moving into parallel business ventures makes economic sense.

SinglePoint’s (SING) approach of building a diversified portfolio through the acquisition of high-potential, ancillary cannabis-related targets is paying off. Earlier this month, SinglePoint acquired a majority stake in Arizona-based Dr. FeelGood, a leading medical marijuana distribution company whose extension plans include adding a proprietary delivery and ordering technology application. Also in the pipeline is a Dr. FeelGood mobile application that will both enhance the experience for users and streamline the company’s operations. Once completed, the app will allow both SinglePoint and Dr. FeelGood to license the technology to other distribution companies throughout the United States (http://nnw.fm/3CqEj).

SinglePoint’s earlier majority purchase (http://nnw.fm/3YFg6) in Jacksam Corp. (dba Convectium), a profitable California-based provider of a revolutionary vape pen filling/sealing system, moves SinglePoint closer to its goal of adding revenue-enhancing joint-ventures to its portfolio. Include SinglePoint’s 90 percent stake of California-based Discount Indoor Garden Supply (“DIGS”) Hydro (http://nnw.fm/Op4V6), which provides cultivation hardware and consulting services to the cannabis industry, and it’s apparent that the company’s strategy is working. With these acquisitions, SinglePoint’s revenue has increased 378-fold in comparison with the first quarter of 2017, ideally positioning the company to further increase revenues. This approach highlights SinglePoint’s winning philosophy of acquiring an interest in undervalued subsidiaries, which translates into a rich, diversified holding base.

Meanwhile, SinglePoint’s SingleSeed subsidiary (www.SingleSeed.com) supplies various services to marijuana businesses and has become a hub for dispensaries that are looking for payment processing solutions and other business tools. SingleSeed also provides payment processing and text message marketing solutions for marijuana businesses, and it has taken a proactive approach to solving an industry-wide payment problem that’s plaguing the expanding legal cannabis market: a way to process debit and credit card transactions independent of banks and the FDIC.

The choices are endless when it comes to providing support to an industry riddled with regulations imposed at the federal, state and local levels. Most of those regulations target companies that actually “touch” the marijuana plant, leaving secondary business ventures with fewer legal and financial risks. As a result, firms that provide testing and lab services, banking and payment processing, insurance, accounting, legal work, technology and software, security, professional education and training, hydroponics, lighting and packaging – pretty much anything that involves cannabis without touching the actual plant itself – are earning solid profit margins.

Medical Marijuana, Inc. (MJNA), is another company with a portfolio of products and services focused on serving the legal hemp industry. One of its subsidiaries, KannaLife Sciences, a pharmaceutical and phyto-medical company, has signed former three-time NFL Pro Bowl and Kansas City Chiefs placekicker Nick Lowery to its corporate advisory board. Lowery is tasked with speaking out about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease caused by repeated head trauma. KannaLife’s efforts to bring a clinically-approved treatment for CTE to market could be a game changer for treatment of this devastating type of head injury. Evidence of CTE is being seen in post-mortem examinations of prominent football players who suffered severe violent mood swings, depression and other cognitive difficulties that may have contributed to their deaths, according to a company news release.

On the other end of the spectrum, you can’t produce a quality pharmaceutical product without first providing the right atmosphere for growing the cannabis plant. Solis Tek Inc. (SLTK) has been bringing lighting solutions to the cannabis market for nearly a decade, providing products that commercial cannabis growers depend on for a more consistent grow, a better end product, and, ultimately, a more significant, profitable harvest. According to a recent test of six lighting companies and products specifically serving the cannabis industry, Solis Tek’s Digital Lighting solutions scored highest in overall value for cultivators. Solis Tek was the first cannabis lighting company to offer a “light diet,” which is now the standard among many top commercial cannabis growers.

With the industry moving so fast, it’s crucial for companies that provide medical-grade cannabis to keep up with the momentum. Canada-based Supreme Pharmaceuticals (SPWRF), through wholly-owned subsidiary 7ACRES, combines the best technology of indoor production with the efficiencies and sustainability of a greenhouse. As a federally licensed producer of medical cannabis under the country’s Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR), Supreme Pharmaceutical is making its name known among firms that serve patients of medical marijuana. In a news release, Supreme Pharmaceuticals reported its first sale of dried cannabis to Aurora Cannabis Inc, one of Canada’s leading licensed producers serving over 19,000 registered patients.

While not directly involved in the cannabis industry – and that’s really the point of some of these support businesses – there are huge corporations getting into the hydroponics end of growing plants. Hydroponics, which allows plants to be cultivated by placing roots in liquid nutrient solutions rather than soil, is booming. Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (SMG), globally known for its lawncare and plant products, has been snapping up specialty fertilizers, lighting and other hydroponics supply companies, increasing its footprint in a specialty market that includes cannabis. Among the company’s investments are Gavita, a Dutch grow lighting company; Botanicare, a plant nutrient and hydroponics products provider; Boulder’s AeroGrow, an indoor gardening company; and California’s General Hydroponics. In a news release (http://nnw.fm/4QoAj), company’s chairman and CEO Jim Hagedorn reminded investors that the strength of the company’s core U.S. business is being strengthened by the success of the hydroponics businesses in its portfolio.

There’s an old proverb which accurately reflects today’s business opportunities when it comes to the rapid changes facing the cannabis industry as it becomes more acceptable in the medical community and with the public at large: “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Companies that buckle in for a wild ride, plan accordingly and aren’t afraid to be creative and step into the role of service provider are sure to rise to the top.

For more information on SinglePoint please visit: SinglePoint (SING) or www.SinglePoint.com

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