{"id":8074,"date":"2018-02-15T00:39:32","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T00:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com?p=2952852&amp;preview_id=2952852"},"modified":"2018-02-15T00:39:32","modified_gmt":"2018-02-15T00:39:32","slug":"molson-coors-calls-legal-marijuana-a-risk-factor-for-its-beer-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/molson-coors-calls-legal-marijuana-a-risk-factor-for-its-beer-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Molson Coors calls legal marijuana a \u201crisk factor\u201d for its beer business"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/molson-coors-calls-legal-marijuana-a-risk-factor-for-its-beer-business\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-10 large-centered small-12 columns\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta-date\">Published: Feb 14, 2018, 4:36 pm \u2022 Updated: Feb 14, 2018, 4:36 pm <span class=\"single-comments-link\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\">By <span class=\"author\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/awallace\/\" rel=\"author\">Alicia Wallace<\/a><\/span><em>, The Cannabist Staff<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Molson Coors Brewing Co. now considers legal cannabis a potential \u201crisk factor\u201d to its business.<\/p>\n<p>Molson Coors, which maintains headquarters in Denver and Montreal, on Wednesday joined the growing ranks of established, traditional <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/11\/02\/marijuana-legalization-business-risk-factor-sec-public-companies\/66480\/\">publicly traded companies to address the burgeoning marijuana industry in their annual financial reports<\/a> filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.<\/p>\n<p>In the 10-K filings made Wednesday, officials for the multinational brewer disclosed they\u2019re keeping close watch on how legal cannabis sales affect consumers\u2019 pocket money and, ultimately, sales of beers like Molson Canadian, Miller and Coors. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough the ultimate impact is currently unknown, the emergence of legal cannabis in certain U.S. states and Canada may result in a shift of discretionary income away from our products or a change in consumer preferences away from beer,\u201d officials wrote in the filing. \u201cAs a result, a shift in consumer preferences away from our products or beer or a decline in the consumption of our products could result in a material adverse effect on our business and financial results.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s too early to determine legal cannabis\u2019 impact on beer sales volumes, Colin Wheeler, a Molson Coors spokesman, told The Cannabist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs the legal landscape <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/10\/05\/canada-marijuana-legalization-regulation-tredeau\/89418\/\">changes in Canada<\/a> and evolves in the U.S., we are working actively to understand the impacts on our business, if any, and the range of appropriate responses in the interests of our company and our stakeholders. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll take our time and get it right, consistent with our values as a company and our commitment to responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2018\/02\/07\/marijuana-craft-beer-lagunitas-ncia\/98440\/\">Marijuana will be \u201cway bigger\u201d than craft beer, says Lagunitas Brewing founder<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>The routine and required \u201crisk factor\u201d disclosures can vary widely in reach \u2014 including concerns about climate change, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2014\/03\/06\/chipotle-says-shrinking-avocado-supplies-arent-endangering-its-guacamole\/\">avocado shortages<\/a> and political policies \u2014 as well as depth (Molson Coors\u2019 latest 10-K includes more than 40 risks on 10 pages of the filing). As cannabis legalization efforts have ramped up across the United States and the globe, more companies have started to include marijuana among potential risks.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s been true in the beer industry. <\/p>\n<p>Boston Beer Co., maker of Sam Adams, and Craft Brew Alliance, maker of Kona and Omission beers, have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/11\/02\/marijuana-legalization-business-risk-factor-sec-public-companies\/66480\/\">disclosed cannabis legalization as a potential negative influence on sales<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Some beer companies are monitoring whether to enter the market and others have already taken the leap. Last fall, Constellation Brands <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/10\/30\/constellation-marijuana-investment-canopy\/91171\/\">invested $190 million<\/a> in Canada marijuana firm Canopy Growth Corp. with a plan to eventually develop cannabis beverages for adults. <\/p>\n<p>Molson Coors on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter and full-year financial results. The company posted net sales of $2.58 billion for the most-recent quarter, up from the $2.47 billion a year before. Annual sales ticked up slightly to $11 billion from $10.98 billion.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/12\/02\/legal-marijuana-states-beer-sales\/68571\/\">Is legal weed flattening beer sales?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&#013; &#013; <\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-meta-author\">\n<div class=\"authorimage\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/awallace\/\" rel=\"author\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/molson-coors-calls-legal-marijuana-a-risk-factor-for-its-beer-business.jpg\" class=\"authormug\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"author-desc\">Alicia Wallace joined The Cannabist in July 2016, covering national marijuana policy and business. In her 14 years as a business news reporter, her coverage has spanned topics such as the economy, natural foods, airlines, biotech, retail,&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .row --> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although the ultimate impact is currently unknown, the emergence of legal cannabis in certain U.S. states and Canada may result in a shift of discretionary income away from our products or a change in consumer preferences away from beer, the company wrote in its latest 10-K filing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6880,284,146,52,6811,7514,6813,77,5577,5667,9,7515,5019,7060,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[6881,2862,2724,2632,6816,7516,6818,2655,5580,5673,7517,5022,7062],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8074"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8074\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}