AquaBounty Technologies Provides Update

Rhea-AI Summary

AquaBounty Technologies (NASDAQ: AQB) has announced an update on its fundraising efforts. The company has decided to sell its Rollo Bay farm operation in Prince Edward Island, Canada, to strengthen its balance sheet and increase cash position. The sale is expected to be completed before the end of 2024.

CEO David Melbourne stated that the company is focused on securing funding for both near and long-term needs to return to pursuing its growth strategy. The Rollo Bay farm, purchased in 2016, was developed for broodstock and egg production to support an expansion plan for five large land-based grow-out farms. However, AquaBounty will retain sufficient egg production capacity for its Ohio farm from its Bay Fortune hatchery.

The company is continuing to pursue additional funding and strategic alternatives to secure cash requirements in the coming months.

Positive

• Selling Rollo Bay farm to improve cash position
• Retaining sufficient egg production capacity for Ohio farm
• Pursuing additional funding and strategic alternatives

Negative

• Immediate cash requirements necessitating asset sale
• Scaling back expansion plans for grow-out farms
• Ongoing financial challenges requiring fundraising efforts

Insights

Financial Analyst

AquaBounty's decision to sell its Rollo Bay farm is a strategic move to address immediate cash needs. This divestment could provide a short-term financial boost but raises questions about long-term growth plans. The company's focus on cash conservation and streamlining operations suggests financial strain. Investors should closely monitor AquaBounty's ability to secure additional funding, as it's important for the company's survival and future expansion. The sale's impact on operational capacity and revenue potential needs careful evaluation. This development indicates a shift in strategy from rapid expansion to consolidation, which could affect investor sentiment and stock performance in the near term.

Market Research Analyst

AquaBounty's update reveals a challenging market environment for land-based aquaculture companies. The decision to sell Rollo Bay farm suggests a mismatch between initial growth projections and current market realities. This move could indicate broader industry struggles with scaling operations and achieving profitability. Investors should consider how this reflects on the viability of the land-based aquaculture model and its capital-intensive nature. The company's focus on the Ohio farm hints at a potential market preference for proximity to major consumption centers. This strategic pivot might influence investor perception of AquaBounty's adaptability and market positioning in the evolving aquaculture landscape.

Tech Expert

While AquaBounty's core technology remains intact, the sale of Rollo Bay farm raises questions about the scalability of their aquaculture technology. The company's ability to maintain technological edge with reduced operations is crucial. Investors should assess how this move affects AquaBounty's R&D capabilities and innovation pipeline. The retention of the Bay Fortune hatchery suggests a focus on core technological assets. This could lead to more efficient resource allocation towards technology development. However, the reduced scale might impact the company's ability to demonstrate commercial viability of its genetically engineered salmon at scale, a key factor for investor confidence and potential partnerships in the biotech-aquaculture space.

Harvard, Massachusetts--(Newsfile Corp. - September 3, 2024) - AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AQB) ("AquaBounty" or the "Company"), a land-based aquaculture company utilizing technology to enhance productivity and sustainability, today announced an update on the Company's fundraising efforts.

As previously announced, AquaBounty has been exploring a wide range of funding and strategic alternatives to strengthen its balance sheet and increase its cash position. Today, the Company is announcing that it has made the decision to sell its Rollo Bay farm operation. The farm, located on Prince Edward Island in Canada, was purchased by the Company in 2016 and further developed into a broodstock and egg production operation. The Company's investment banker is conducting the sale process, which is expected to be completed before year end.

David Melbourne, Chief Executive Officer of AquaBounty, said, "We continue to be focused on securing funding for both our near and long-term needs, so that we can return to pursuing our growth strategy. The Rollo Bay farm was purchased and developed to support an expansion plan for five large land-based grow-out farms. Since we will not require the egg output from the Rollo Bay farm in the near to mid-term timeframe, and since we will retain sufficient egg production capacity for our Ohio farm from our hatchery in Bay Fortune, we have determined that the Rollo Bay farm can be sold at this time to resolve the Company's immediate cash requirements, without impacting our long-term strategy. We are also continuing to pursue additional funding and strategic alternatives with the goal of securing our cash requirements in the coming months," concluded Melbourne.

About AquaBounty

At AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AQB), we believe we are a leader in land-based aquaculture. As a vertically integrated Company from broodstock to grow out, we are leveraging decades of our technology advances in fish breeding, genetics, and health & nutrition, as well as our operational expertise, to deliver innovative solutions that address food insecurity and climate change issues. AquaBounty raises its fish in carefully monitored land-based fish farms through a safe, secure and sustainable process. We locate our land-based recirculating aquaculture system ("RAS") farms close to key consumption markets, which are designed to prevent disease and to include multiple levels of fish containment to protect wild fish populations. AquaBounty raises nutritious salmon that is free of antibiotics in a manner that results in a reduced carbon footprint and no risk of pollution to marine ecosystems as compared to traditional sea-cage farming. For more information on AquaBounty, please visit www.aquabounty.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, including regarding potential financing alternatives for the Company, its operations, and construction of its Ohio farm. The forward-looking statements in this press release are neither promises nor guarantees, and you should not place undue reliance on these statements because they involve significant risks and uncertainties about AquaBounty. AquaBounty may use words such as "continue," "believe," "will," "may," "expect," the negative forms of these words and similar expressions to identify such forward-looking statements. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are: our history of net losses and the likelihood of future net losses; our ability to continue as a going concern; our ability to raise substantial additional capital on acceptable terms, or at all, which is required to implement our business strategy as planned, or at all; our ability to raise additional funds in sufficient amounts on a timely basis, on acceptable terms, or at all; including our ability to sell our Rollo Bay farm and additional equipment from the Ohio farm to generate liquidity to fund ongoing operations; our ability to attract and retain key personnel, including key management personnel; our ability to retain and reengage key vendors and engage additional vendors, as needed; our ability to obtain approvals and permits to construct and operate our farms without delay; increases in interest rates; delays and defects that may prevent the commencement of farm operations; rising inflation rates; our ability to finance our Ohio farm through the placement of municipal bonds, which may require restrictive debt covenants that could limit our control over the farm's operation and restrict our ability to utilize any cash that the farm generates; our ability to manage our growth, which could adversely affect our business; risks related to potential strategic acquisitions, investments or mergers; high customer concentration, which exposes us to various risks faced by our major customers; ethical, legal, and social concerns about genetically engineered products; our ability to gain consumer acceptance of our genetically engineered Atlantic salmon ("GE Atlantic salmon" or "AquAdvantage salmon") product; the quality and quantity of the salmon that we harvest; a significant fish mortality event in our broodstock or our production facilities; the loss of our GE Atlantic salmon broodstock; disease outbreaks, which can increase the cost of production and/or reduce production harvests; a shutdown, material damage to any of our farms, or lack of availability of power, fuel, oxygen, eggs, water, or other key components needed for our operations; our ability to efficiently and cost-effectively produce and sell salmon at large commercial scale; any contamination of our products, which could subject us to product liability claims and product recalls; security breaches, cyber-attacks and other disruptions could compromise our information, expose us to fraud or liability, or interrupt our operations; our dependence on third parties for the processing, distribution, and sale of our products; any write-downs of the value of our inventory; business, political, or economic disruptions or global health concerns; adverse developments affecting the financial services industry; industry volatility, including fluctuations in commodity prices of salmon; restrictions on Atlantic salmon farming in certain states; agreements that require us to pay a significant portion of our future revenue to third parties; our ability to receive additional government research grants and loans; international business risks, including exchange rate fluctuations; our ability to use net operating losses and other tax attributes, which may be subject to certain limitations; our ability to maintain regulatory approvals for our GE Atlantic salmon and our farm sites and obtain new approvals for farm sites and the sale of our products in other markets; our ability to continue to comply with U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations and foreign regulations; significant regulations in the markets in which we intend to sell our products; significant costs complying with environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations, and any failure to comply with these laws and regulations; increasing regulation, changes in existing regulations, and review of existing regulatory decisions; lawsuits by non-governmental organizations and others who are opposed to the development or commercialization of genetically engineered products; risks related to the use of the term "genetically engineered," which will need to be included as part of the acceptable market name for our GE Atlantic salmon, and bioengineering disclosures provided in accordance with U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations; competitors and potential competitors may develop products and technologies that make ours obsolete or garner greater market share than ours; any theft, misappropriation, or reverse engineering of our products could result in competing technologies or products; our ability to protect our proprietary technologies and intellectual property rights; our ability to enforce our intellectual property rights; volatility in the price of our shares of common stock; our ability to maintain our listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC; our success in growing, or our perceived ability to grow, our GE Atlantic salmon successfully and profitably at commercial scale; an active trading market for our common stock may not be sustained; our status as a "smaller reporting company" and a "non-accelerated filer" may cause our shares of common stock to be less attractive to investors; any issuance of preferred stock with terms that could dilute the voting power or reduce the value of our common stock; provisions in our corporate documents and Delaware law could have the effect of delaying, deferring, or preventing a change in control of us; our expectation of not paying cash dividends in the foreseeable future; and other risks and uncertainties discussed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, AquaBounty undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements. For information regarding the risks faced by us, please refer to our public filings with the SEC, available on the Investors section of our website at www.aquabounty.com and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

Company & Investor Contact:
AquaBounty Technologies
investors@aquabounty.com

Media Contact:
Vince McMorrow
Fahlgren Mortine
(614) 906-1671
vince.mcmorrow@Fahlgren.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/221885

FAQ

What is AquaBounty Technologies (AQB) selling to improve its financial position?

AquaBounty Technologies (AQB) is selling its Rollo Bay farm operation located in Prince Edward Island, Canada, to improve its financial position and increase its cash reserves.

When does AquaBounty (AQB) expect to complete the sale of its Rollo Bay farm?

AquaBounty (AQB) expects to complete the sale of its Rollo Bay farm before the end of 2024.

Why is AquaBounty (AQB) selling its Rollo Bay farm operation?

AquaBounty (AQB) is selling its Rollo Bay farm to resolve immediate cash requirements and strengthen its balance sheet without impacting its long-term strategy.

How will the sale of Rollo Bay farm affect AquaBounty's (AQB) egg production capacity?

The sale will not impact AquaBounty's (AQB) egg production capacity, as the company will retain sufficient capacity for its Ohio farm from its hatchery in Bay Fortune.