Some of the biggest cannabis players when legalization took effect 20 months ago have successfully held on to their dominant positions, despite a year of bankruptcies, downsizings, revoked licences, executive firings, mass layoffs and a long market selloff.
Licensed producers such as Aphria Inc. and Aurora Cannabis Inc., have increased their market share during the past few quarters due partly to strong sales of dried flower and cannabis 2.0 products such as edibles and vape pens, while Canopy Growth Corp.’s share has substantially eroded from its peak 18 months ago.
Just a handful of companies or so hold more than 95 per cent of the legal Canadian market, according to company filings, interviews with cannabis analysts and data from cannabis intelligence firm Headset.
“I think right now, companies that have close to 10 per cent market share or more will stick around for the foreseeable future,” said Matt Bottomley, cannabis analyst at Canaccord Genuity Corp. “Companies that rely on wholesaling to other LPs have only two or one per cent market share or are maybe waiting on their Health Canada licence to sell edibles, for example … unless they have tens and tens of millions in cash, they won’t survive.”
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