BUDDING BUSINESS.

• Author: Wanbaugh, Taylor
• Position: STATE WIDE: Triangle

Alliance One International, a leaf tobacco merchant dating back to the early 20th century, is hitting a high with new investments in the e-liquid, industrial hemp and cannabis markets. After announcing its "One Tomorrow" expansion plan in early February, the Morrisville-based company's stock price jumped almost 70% to about $22, reflecting investor enthusiasm for the growth potential of those sectors.

In January, Alliance One's subsidiary, Canadian Cultivated Products, acquired a 75% stake in Canada's Island Garden, one of 35 companies fully licensed to produce and sell medicinal cannabis in that country. The subsidiary also acquired an 80% stake in Goldleaf Pharm, a medical-marijuana license applicant now building a 20,000-square-foot indoor growing site in Canada.

Those deals followed acquisitions last year of 40% stakes in separate companies that grow industrial hemp, used to create an oil to help alleviate certain medical issues, and create e-liquids that provide more than 1,300 flavors for vaping with electronic cigarettes.

Alliance One formed in 2005 after a merger between Danville, Va.-based Dimon and Wilson-based Standard Commercial, which dominated North Carolina's tobacco-processing industry over the last century. Its basic business involves buying, treating and shipping leaf tobacco to manufacturers in more than 90 countries. With tobacco use declining in much of the world, annual...