Aspire To Hit the Stock Markets
I mentioned that Aspire was really ramping up its release schedule this year in a recent review of the Aspire PockeX Box, and now parent company Aspire Global is selling shares in the business.
The China based vape company has announced it will be selling an initial 15 million shares.
Despite the current calamity over the US vaping market, the company will be trading on the US based Nasdaq exchange as ASPG.
Business insiders say the shares are expected to raise $120 million for the company with a sale price between $7 and $9 per share.
Big money indeed that would place Aspire Global with a market value of $1.3 billion!
A press release stated:
Aspire is a vertically integrated provider of e-cigarette vaporizing technology.
Its tobacco vaping products are sold through a distribution network of more than 150 distributors in 30 countries.
In December 2020, the company also commenced the marketing of cannabis vaping technology products in the US.
Aspire Global was founded in 2010 and booked $82 million in sales for the 12 months ended December 31, 2020.
It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol ASPG. Tiger Brokers, EF Hutton, TF International, and China Merchants Securities are the joint bookrunners on the deal.
Might be a good investment if you’ve got a few quid to spare…
Vape Shops ‘Fed Up’ With FedEx
Already under pressure vape shops in the US are calling on FedEx in particular to end it’s ban on delivering vape products.
400 vaping businesses have joined forces with the American Vaping Association [AVA] and sent a letter to the company.
As it stands now FedEx will not deliver vape products from business to business or direct to vapers.
This says the AVA means thousands of vapers particularly in rural areas losing access to the life saving products and in turn putting lives at risk.
The hard hitting letter opens:
We are writing to urge you to reconsider your company’s new shipping restrictions on electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), commonly known as vaping products.
This misguided and unnecessary corporate policy separates adult smokers from products that are proven to help them quit combustible tobacco.
It also threatens thousands of small businesses like ours, which rely on common carriers like FedEx to ship the lifesaving products we stock every day.
Please reconsider this disastrous decision, which will perpetuate another generation of smoking-related deaths – especially among underprivileged communities.
I covered the US vape mail ban back in January this year.
The ban on deliveries stems from the 2021 Federal Omnibus Spending Bill that sailed through without much – if any – opposition.
Other companies with a US vape mail ban includes United Parcels Service [UPS] and DHL.
Greg Conley, president of AVA said:
FedEx is doing a great disservice to American small businesses and consumers.
They are playing right into the hands of Big Tobacco, which directly benefits from policies that make it more expensive for adult smokers to switch.
Not only are vaping products legal and regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, but they are saving lives by keeping people off combustible cigarettes.
Indeed.
As to if the letter stands any chance of reversing the FedEx vape mail ban is uncertain…
Sadly one doubts it.
Read the full letter to FedEx.
More Support Of Vaping From UK Government
Yet another vote of confidence in vaping from the UK Government.
This time it comes during a parliament question.
Here it is in full:
Asked by Mr David Jones, Clwyd West
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to improve public access to information about (a) e-cigarettes and (b) reduced-harm alternatives to combustible tobacco.
Answered by Jo Churchill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care
The National Health Service website provides public information on the harms of smoking and advice to help people quit smoking, including information on using e-cigarettes. In addition, central stop smoking campaigns such as Stoptober have supported the use of e-cigarettes as a tool to help smokers quit.
To support our Smokefree 2030 ambition, the upcoming Tobacco Control Plan will set out a range of measures which will help smokers to quit, including through the use of less harmful products such as e-cigarettes.
Source: Hansard, 19 July 2021
Let’s hope the UK Government doesn’t waiver especially under continued pressure from the World Health Organization that wants a UK and global e-cigarette ban.
Support the UK Back Vaping Save Lives Campaign here.
and finally…Anti Vaping Virtual Reality Game!
The so called ‘vape epidemic‘ among young people in the US has been proven to be be BS time and time again…
However, that certainly hasn’t stopped the fervent anti-vape brigade over the pond from pushing their crazed agenda.
The latest ‘tool’ to prevent young kids from using e-cigarettes is as you can see – a virtual realty game.
*shakes head and sighs*
The game is called Invite Only VR: A Vaping Prevention Game – catchy.
It basically lets the player try and ‘become friends‘ with the coolest kid in the school’s ‘health class‘ and get invited to his/her popular party…
Nail biting stuff lol…
Along the way the player has to resist the school ‘vape pushers‘ with JUUL of course being the main e-cigarette pushed by the ‘dealers‘…
Christ imagine if they’d done this with I dunno, real drugs that kill and cause untold misery and crime…
Anyway, lead researcher Veronica Weser, PhD, says:
When teenagers think of vaping, they think of JUUL.
They don’t make the connection to nicotine and the harmful, addictive nature that e-cigarettes actually present.
As the game progresses, you learn more and more strategies to refuse e-cigarettes while still preserving your ‘coolness’ and dignity as a high school student so that you can secure this invitation to the party.
It’s really all about social interactions regarding e-cigarettes.
Somehow I don’t think it will surpass the popularity of Grand Theft Auto…
Further reading: Teen Vaping and Smoking – The Cold Hard Facts Revealed
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Quiet time on the vape news front – probably the summer slowdown 😉
More vaping news on Sunday!
