Cannabis firm backed by David Beckham shoots for London Stock Exchange

A cannabis company backed by David Beckham has unveiled its plans to list on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

UK-based provider of consumer products based on biosynthetic cannabinoids, Cellular Goods has announced its intention to join the main market of the London Stock Exchange this spring.

The flotation is expected to value Cellular Goods at approximately £20m and will make it the first LSE-listed “pure-play” consumer cannabinoid brands company and the first to use biosynthetic cannabinoids, made in a lab. 

According to the company’s website, it makes everyday products designed for ‘skin, movement and daily living’. 

It has been widely reported on Thursday 4 February that it has sold a stake to DB Ventures, former footballer David Beckham’s investment firm.

The market for CBD-based products is expected to grow rapidly as cannabinoids gain wider consumer acceptance, the regulatory environment undergoes gradual change, and a rapidly growing number of scientific papers validate their potential benefits.

The US market for CBD sales is expected to exceed $20 billion by 2024, according to BDS Analytics and Arcview Market Research.

In 2019, the UK’s Centre for Medicinal Cannabis (CMC) found that 1.3 million British consumers were using CBD-based products and estimated that the market could be worth almost £1bn a year by 2025.

The same research estimated that those 1.3 million British consumers were spending over £300m annually on CBD products.

Cellular Goods will apply for a standard listing and raise approximately £8m through an initial public offering for its ordinary shares that will include a retail offer.

“We are delighted to be the very first pure-play consumer cannabinoid company to list on the LSE,” said chief executive, Alexis Abraham.

“The past few years have seen massive growth and awareness of the importance of wellness and self-care and we believe cannabinoids will prove to be the king of wellness ingredients.”

He added: “A London stock market listing will provide us with the profile, credibility and access to global capital to drive our growth. There is a burgeoning market for high quality cannabinoid products but the industry is currently highly fragmented and there is no go-to name that consumers can trust across product categories.”

Net proceeds from the IPO will be deployed to finalise the development and launch of a range of the company’s premium-quality consumer products in September 2021.