Press1 Apr 2019 09:10
London-listed natural resources company Highlands (HNR.L), the oil producer that Yahoo Finance UK exclusively found that it was getting into cannabis after making a surprising discovery, has signed its first deal.
Highlands said in a statement that it sealed its first retail sale agreement for its unit Zoetic Organics, “marking the beginning of on-site retail sales of its [cannabidiol] CBD products.”
Highlands revealed last month that it discovered a naturally occurring source of nitrogen, which was subsequently found to also include hydrogen. The combination created a natural and organic fertiliser. Highlands then began selling this gas to an organic cannabis grower in Colorado.
It was then discovered that the gas essentially turbocharged the growth of cannabis plants.
This has led to the group’s decision to move into weed by raising more than £1.27m ($1.69m) to establish an organic, vertically integrated CBD operation in Colorado, through a newly established and wholly-owned Highlands subsidiary, Zoetic Organics.
READ MORE: London-listed oil producer moves into weed after a surprising discovery
The Zoetic Organics agreement is for two years with Schrader Oil and Ox Distributing, which collectively manages a wide network of convenience and gas stores and convenience store distribution services across the US.
Highlands said, under the agreement, Zoetic branded pre-rolled CBD smokables, ready-rolls and CBD chew pouches will initially be distributed to and sold in 18 Schrader Oil convenience and gas stores, with the idea that all parties will aim to “to work towards expanding their operations to both additional Schrader Oil and Ox Distributing affiliated stores and other third-party convenience stores.”
“This is a significant development for Highlands as not only does it accelerate our predicted revenues from Zoetic Organics ahead of our own first harvest but it also provides us with an early opportunity to establish the Zoetic brand,” said Robert Price, executive chairman and CEO of Highlands.
Market research firm Brightfield Group has estimated that the CBD market will reach $22bn (£16.6bn) by 2022.
Meanwhile, Yahoo Finance UK reported first that Europe’s cannabis and CBD markets are set to grow exponentially over the next few years, with the weed sector set to rise over 2400% and CBD set to grow over 400% by 2023.
Europe’s CBD market was estimated at $318m in 2018 and is tipped to rise to $416m in 2019, according to the report, entitled European CBD & Cannabis Market 2019 Report. CBD is then expected to grow to nearly $1.7bn by 2023.
READ MORE: Europe’s weed and CBD market tipped to soar over 2400% and 400%
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