AquaBounty focused on increasing harvesting output. AquaBounty Technologies, Inc., a land-based aquaculture company utilising technology to enhance productivity and sustainability, has announced the Company’s financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2021.
Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Highlights and Recent Developments
- Successfully launched the first commercial scale harvests and sales of the Company’s genetically engineered (“GE”) Atlantic salmon from both its Indiana and Rollo Bay farm sites in June.
- Harvested 91 tons of GE Atlantic salmon and generated $340,900 in revenue from the sale of 101,700 pounds of salmon to customers during the fourth quarter. Harvest revenue for the full year 2021 totalled $783,000.
- Sales of non-transgenic eggs and fry increased to $76,700 in the fourth quarter and totalled $391,800 for the full year.
- Fortified balance sheet with $127.1 million in gross proceeds from the closing of an underwritten public offering of common stock in February 2021.
- Received approval from the Board of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority for the issuance of up to $300 million in municipal bonds to support the construction financing for the planned Ohio farm.
- Identified the appropriate metrics, initiated data collection and started the build-out of the platform necessary for our Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) integrated reporting capability.
- Subsequent to year-end, commenced critical pre-construction activities for the Company’s Pioneer, Ohio farm site, including setting surveyor benchmarks, construction of roadways and preparing on-site energy infrastructure.
Management Commentary
“The fourth quarter of 2021 was highlighted by the continued ramp up of commercial production with the harvest and sale of our proprietary GE salmon at our Albany, Indiana and Prince Edward Island, Canada farms,” said Sylvia Wulf, Chief Executive Officer of AquaBounty.
“During the quarter we harvested 91 tons of salmon, an 8% improvement over the third quarter, enabled by production capacity improvements and the hiring of additional staff. Commercial interest in our nutritious salmon, which is free of antibiotics and other contaminants, has been impressive and we continue to receive orders for the entire output from our farms.
“To meet the rising market demand for our GE salmon, we are highly focused on the start of construction of our transformational, next-generation 10,000 metric ton farm in Pioneer, Ohio. Pre-construction activities have already commenced, including the construction of roadways and on-site energy infrastructure, as well as the setting of surveyor’s benchmarks ahead of grading work. We will soon be announcing an official ground-breaking ceremony and expect construction to commence in early spring. Our timeline for stocking our salmon eggs is still on track to occur in late 2023.
“As we have mentioned previously, the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority has been extremely supportive of our Ohio farm and last November, its Board approved the issuance of up to $300 million in tax-exempt and taxable bonds to support our project. We expect to complete the bond placement process in the next three months with Wells Fargo Corporate and Investment Banking as our underwriter.
“Looking ahead, we are focused on continuing our momentum in increasing our harvest output, onboarding more new customers and growing our revenue. We are excited about commencing construction on our Ohio farm which is planned to generate roughly eight times the output capacity of our Indiana farm. As we begin this new year, we are extremely confident in the market acceptance of our salmon and will strive to create long term value for our shareholders,” concluded Wulf.
Financial Summary through December 31, 2021
- Revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $1.17 million, compared to $128 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2020. Harvests at the Indiana and PEI farms commenced in June 2021 and weekly output is ramping steadily.
- Operating expenses for full year 2021 were $23.3 million, compared to $16.4 million in the prior year. The increase reflects the growth in headcount, production expenses and third-party processing and transportation costs at the farms, as well as increases in corporate and marketing expenses.
- Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $22.3 million, compared to $16.4 million in the prior year.
- Cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities and restricted cash totalled $191.2 million as of December 31, 2021, compared with $96.3 million as of December 31, 2020.