Aphria Inc. (TSX:APHA), one of the Canadian marijuana stocks, announced that its President has resigned
SmallCapPower | May 21, 2019: Aphria Inc. (TSX:APHA), one of the Canadian cannabis stocks, announced recently changes to its leadership lineup as well as the resignation of President Jakob Ripshtein. The Company appointed James Meiers as Chief Operating Officer, Aphria Leamington; Tim Purdie as Chief Information Officer & Chief Information Security Officer; and Maureen Berry as Vice President, Corporate Human Resources.
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Mr. Ripshtein, currently serving as the President of Aphria, will resign from the Company effective June 7, 2019, handing over his current responsibilities to the Company’s existing leadership team. The Company has not yet disclosed the replacement for Mr. Ripshtein and also the reason for his resignation. Mr. Ripshtein served at Aphria for about one year, serving first as its Chief Commercial Officer, before assuming the position as President in November 2018.
Back in January, Chief Executive Officer and Aphria Co-Founder Vic Neufeld stepped down, citing that “the journey has taken a toll on health, family and personal priorities.” He also noted that the Company should be run by a more globally-focused CEO.
Mr. Neufeld’s resignation followed a selloff in Aphria stock after a short-seller report in December that alleged improprieties with the Company’s acquisitions in Jamaica, Colombia and Argentina.
Aphria Interim Chief Executive Officer Irwin D. Simon said, “On behalf of the Board of Directors and Aphria team, we thank Jakob for his contributions to the Company over the past year and wish him well in his future endeavors. He has been instrumental in assembling the incredible team we are fortunate to have today that will carry his responsibilities forward. At Aphria, we remain focused on creating long-term shareholder value by leveraging our strong brand positioning, superior distribution model, product innovation, industrial scale cultivation and automation, medical-use leadership, and our strategic global platform, which we intend to amplify using proceeds from the Company’s recent US$350M offering.”
Mr. Simon also added that Aphria One is on-track to reach its annualized production capacity of 110,000 kgs by the end of 2019. The Company recently received a cultivation license for Germany and the U.S.
Aphria stock currently trades at a market capitalization of C$2.4 billion with a price-to-book multiple of 1.3x.
