Heavy losses for GM salmon farmer.
AquaBounty posted its Q4 results dated ended 31st December with a revenue of USD 50,197, compared to USD 46,367 the period before.
Revenue was impacted by the continued effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on-demand in the foodservice industry, which has prompted AquaBounty to temporarily place a hold on commercial harvests of AquAdvantage salmon until the expected conclusion of a conventional salmon donation program in April.
Operating expenses were USD 6.1 million, compared to USD 3.5 million. The GM land-based salmon farmer posted a net loss of USD 6.1 million, a near doubling of USD 3.4 million in Q4 2019.
The increase in operating expenses was primarily due to an increase in production costs as the biomass of fish in sites. This grew from 161 tonnes to over 603 tonnes. In addition, AquaBounty recorded an inventory reserve of USD 1.5 million related to the donation program for the conventional salmon.
“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on market demand required the company to address the inventory levels of the conventional salmon at our Indiana farm, which began to exceed capacity in December. We needed to make room at the farm for our growing biomass of AquAdvantage salmon,” said AquaBounty CEO Sylvia Wulf.
Wulf said that the company has donated conventional salmon to local food charities. She added that this gives the company an opportunity to refine “harvesting, processing and transportation processes on a continuous weekly cycle in preparation for the first commercial harvests of AquAdvantage salmon”.
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash totaled USD 96.2 million as of the end of the quarter, compared with USD 2.8 million in 2019. In December, AquaBounty raised USD 65.2 million in gross proceeds from a public offering of common stock.
