Sales continue to be impacted by industry wide supply chain challenges.
On Monday, the seafood company Blue Star Foods, announced its financial results for the fiscal quarter that ended June 30, 2021.
This follows the Florida based company’s acquisition of Taste of BC Aquafarms, a land-based Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) salmon farming operation, based in British Columbia. The acquisition was performed through a combination of cash, equity, and an assumption of debt.
In July, SalmonBusiness reported that Diamond Equity Research had initiated coverage of Blue Star, projecting revenues of US$222 million for the company’s RAS business over seven years.
Q2-2021 Financial Highlights
Revenue for the second quarter was $2.129 million as compared to $2.485 million for the first three months of the year. This reflects ongoing industry wide supply chain challenges such as port congestion and a shortage in reefer containers. These problems caused the company not be able to fill all the orders it received for Q2.
Operating Expenses increased 12 per cent to $843,319 as compared to $746,866 for Q1. This increase was primarily attributable to one-time (mostly non-cash) legal fees for the private placement, the acquisition of Taste of BC Aquafarms and the NASDAQ application process.
The Adjusted Cash Net Income for Q2, was $31,573 compared to a loss of $171,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2021. The increase in Adjusted Cash Net Income is mainly attributed to a reduction in cash expenses, and an emphasis on profitability. Net Income was a loss of $437,127 compared with a loss of $478,000 for the first quarter of the year.
Management Commentary
In a statement released alongside the results, John Keeler, CEO of Blue Star Foods, said, “The second quarter has been a very exciting time for us, in closing our second acquisition of Taste of BC and successfully completing a $3 million Private Placement. The acquisition of Taste of BC marks our entry into a massive “Food-Tech” market and gives us an opportunity to scale this RAS technology in a modular and replicable manner. We recently signed a multi-phase engineering contract with PR Aqua and are currently in the process of site selection and applying for the necessary building permits for the next 1,500 MT facility.”
Keeler added, “This capital we have raised strengthens our balance sheet and gives us additional working capital to finance the new orders we have been receiving. We are also continuing to work towards meeting the NASDAQ requirements so that we may uplist at the appropriate time. We expect to update shareholders on this matter in the near-future.”
