Lean times for ambitious and transaction-driven aquatech company.
CageEye now calls itself Bluegrove, though the new holding company is still not registered as a business in Norway. Six months after the name launch, CageEye is the formal corporate name.
In the group’s pro forma accounts for last year, which SalmonBusiness has gained access to, it turns out that turnover has been pumped up sharply, as a function of the acquisition of fish farm equipment supplier NorseAqua. Turnover rose from EUR 0.4 million to EUR 2.5 million from 2018 to 2019.
Inflated valuation
SalmonBusiness has tried but has not yet been able to get a comment from the company on how much NorseAqua’s sale contributed to the pro forma accounts’ turnover. In comparison, NorseAqua had a turnover of EUR 2.6 million in 2018.
NorseAqua founder Lars Berg-Hansen received a settlement of EUR 5.3 million, mainly in CageEye shares, when he sold his company to the latter last autumn.
Buying more
The operating costs of CageEye exceeded revenues by a large margin. It cost them EUR 3.5 million to run the business. Net financial expenses ended at EUR -2.2 million after-tax.
Oslo-based CageEye had a book equity of EUR 3.8 million at the end of the year and a total debt of EUR 7.5 million, of which EUR 4.2 million was in the form of a convertible loan.
CageEye also bought the underwater camera company Sealab at the end of August this year for EUR 9.6 million, also here settled with CageEye stocks. CageEye had a valuation of EUR 120 million in the transaction. At year-end, Sealab had negative equity after a net deficit of EUR 1.4 million in 2019.
