News

Flowr closes its Toronto HQ, among cost cutting measures

Published on April 16, 2021 by oz. staff

The Flowr Corporation is in the midst of a significant restructuring and ‘rightsizing’ that includes closing its Toronto headquarters, relocating the majority of its executives to Kelowna, selling off assets, and cutting staff.

Flowr also announced it will sell four acres of industrial land in Kelowna, expected to fetch $4-5 million from the sale. They’ll lease out about 75% of their multi-use facility located in Kelowna, along with the outdoor space.

The company is in the process of selling large-scale extraction manufacturing equipment, expected to sell for about $1 million.

Its cost-cutting measures spawn from a strategic review to refocus the operations on Flowr’s core business, which is to produce ultra-premium and premium flower.

“Since the start of the new year, the Strategic Review Committee has worked hard to make Flowr a leaner and more focused Company,” says Steve Klein, Chair of the Board of Directors.

“Within 90 days, the company has made the decision to dispose of non-core assets and has been very creative in reducing cash outlays and started to right-size its headcount, all with a view to improving its balance sheet and driving towards profitability. This is hard work that we hope will pay off for all shareholders in the long-term.”

Focusing on Canada, Flowr says it will exit all non-core jurisdictions, including Australia, Uruguay and Spain. Overall, the exit or disposition of those assets are expected to save the company approximately $1 million on an annual basis.

And Flowr’s marketing firm Zerotrillion has agreed to accept $310,778 of its fees payable in common shares.

In other news, Flowr has appointed the Okanagan’s Darryl Brooker as its new CEO.

Brooker is moving from wine to weed. He previously served as the President of Mission Hill Family Estate in West Kelowna. He’s also served as a VP at CedarCreek Estate Winery and senior winemaker at Andrew Peller Limited from April 2005 to May 2010.

“Darryl has an extensive track record of building regulated CPG businesses in Canada with a hands-on approach to management,” says Steve Klein, chairman of the board of directors.

“Moreover, the parallels between the premium wine business and the premium cannabis business are well known, and Darryl’s career as an executive that started with grape cultivation, then wine production, before becoming a leader of organizations, gives Darryl a unique set of skills and experience to benefit Flowr’s business.”