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Coca-Cola “no plans” for cannabis infused drinks

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Things go nowhere with Coke

Cannabis stocks shed some of their early gains Tuesday, after Coca-Cola Co.’s CEO said the drinks giant has no plans for the sector, disappointing hopes that global beverages companies were poised to bring their capital and marketing clout to the burgeoning industry.

Coca-Cola (KO, US) said last month that it was eyeing the cannabis sector, specifically the market for CBD-infused drinks, or those that contain non-psychoactive ingredients in cannabis that are widely thought to have health benefits.

“The space is evolving quickly. No decisions have been made at this time,” Coca-Cola said at the time.

The comment fueled speculation that Coca-Cola would follow Constellation Brands Inc. (STZ, US), which has invested $4 billion in Canada’s Canopy Growth Corp. (CGC, US) (WEED, CA). There were reports that rival Diageo PLC (DGE, UK) was also looking at targets. The market for CBD drinks is expected to grow to more than $2 billion in sales within two years, according to Science Daily.

Coca-Cola Chief Executive James Quincey was clear in his response to an analyst question on the company’s earnings call: “We don’t have any plans at this stage to get into the space. So that’s kind of where we are,” Quincey said, according to a FactSet transcript of the call.

stocks shed some of their early gains Tuesday, after Coca-Cola Co.’s CEO said the drinks giant has no plans for the sector, disappointing hopes that global beverages companies were poised to bring their capital and marketing clout to the burgeoning industry.

Coca-Cola (KO, US) said last month that it was eyeing the cannabis sector, specifically the market for CBD-infused drinks, or those that contain non-psychoactive ingredients in cannabis that are widely thought to have health benefits.

“The space is evolving quickly. No decisions have been made at this time,” Coca-Cola said at the time.

The comment fueled speculation that Coca-Cola would follow Constellation Brands Inc. (STZ, US), which has invested $4 billion in Canada’s Canopy Growth Corp. (CGC, US) (WEED, CA). There were reports that rival Diageo PLC (DGE, UK) was also looking at targets. The market for CBD drinks is expected to grow to more than $2 billion in sales within two years, according to Science Daily.

Coca-Cola Chief Executive James Quincey was clear in his response to an analyst question on the company’s earnings call: “We don’t have any plans at this stage to get into the space. So that’s kind of where we are,” Quincey said, according to a FactSet transcript of the call.

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