Cann Group has informed the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that a recent spike in its share price may have been driven by positive media coverage of a CEO investor presentation and news surrounding the sale and leaseback of its Mildura facility.
The company's shares climbed from a low of A$0.045c on September 26 to a high of $0.073c on September 30, prompting the ASX to issue a price query and suspend trading. In response, company secretary Steven Notaro told the exchange that Cann Group was unaware of any undisclosed information that could account for the trading activity.
Notaro noted, however, that CEO and managing director Jenny Pilcher's September 19 address at the Pitt St Research Life Sciences Conference had been well received, generating favourable coverage in the financial press.
The company had also run an advertising campaign through local and national media outlets in August promoting the sale and leaseback of its Mildura facility. The deadline for expressions of interest, initially set for September 26, was pushed back to Friday, October 11.
Notaro added: "As at today, the company is not aware of any financial details of any potential offer that may be put forward as part of the sale and leaseback campaign.
"However, it has received certain positive news coverage… which described the purchase price of more than $80m and gave a detailed and positive description of the capabilities of the facility.
"The company is [also] contemplating raising further capital via a rights issue, which has been mentioned in previous ASX announcements. The terms of the rights issue are currently being evaluated and are not yet finalised.
"The company would not consider this event, if it were known to the market, to be a reason to explain the increase in [its] share price referred to in the relevant price query letter."
