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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

The S&P/TSX Cannabis Index added 3.07 to 43.67, while the CSE Composite Index lost 3.34 to 274.45. Canadian cannabis grower Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB) added 15 cents to $1.85 on 4.56 million shares, as it strove to tighten its belt even further. It is undergoing another round of layoffs.

The layoffs will affect 12 per cent of Aurora's remaining work force, the company told The Canadian Press. It did not specify an exact number of workers or their roles or locations. In a SEDAR filing several months ago, Aurora claimed to have 1,643 employees at the end of September, but last month, it hinted at an unspecified number of job losses related to the closure of three facilities (including the once-core Aurora Sky facility in Edmonton, which reportedly employed 13 per cent of its work force). The departing employees will join a long list. As little as two years ago, Aurora employed over 2,700 workers.

The layoffs form part of the "business transformation plan" that Aurora first began hyping at the start of 2020. Under this plan, Aurora has replaced its chief executive officer, slashed its work force and facility count, and taken billions of dollars worth of impairments and writedowns. What it has not done is achieved profitability -- or even positive adjusted EBITDA -- or managed consistent increases in revenue. Certainly it has not won back the confidence of shareholders. Adjusting for a 1-for-12 rollback in 2020, the stock has collapsed to $1.85 from a dizzying 2018 high of $194.

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