August 14, 2024

 

AquaBounty suffered US$50.5 million net losses in Q2 2024

 

 

AquaBounty Technologies posted net losses of US$50.5 million in the second quarter of 2024 largely due to a non-cash impairment charge.

 

The company said it was hit with a non-cash impairment charge of US$44.5 million against the assets of its recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) farm in US state Indiana and also against some of the equipment at its planned Ohio RAS farm – where some of the equipment has been sold or made available for sale.

 

AquaBounty sold its Indiana-based RAS farm to Superior Fresh in July for US$9.5 million, which, after expenses, totaled US$9.2 million.

 

The sale represented a loss on the facility for AquaBounty, as it originally purchased the RAS facility from Bell Fish Company in 2017 for US$14 million.

 

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash for AquaBounty totaled just US$700,000, down from US$9.2 million as of December 31, 2023. That is also a sharp drop from the US$43.8 million the company had in Q2 2023.

 

"Our focus during the second quarter was securing a buyer for the Indiana farm and continuing to explore a variety of financing initiatives to maintain liquidity," said AquaBounty president and chief executive officer David Melbourne in a release.

 

Melbourne said the company's goal is now working with its investment banking partner to generate more cash – which could include selling additional equipment assets from its Ohio location. AquaBounty announced plans to build a new RAS salmon facility in Pioneer, Ohio, in July 2021 but later had to pause construction due to ballooning costs.

 

"While our net loss in the second quarter was up significantly, driven in large part by the non-cash impairment charge taken against our farm assets, the team continues to identify opportunities to preserve cash and reduce operating expenses," Melbourne said. "We completed a sale of conventional Atlantic salmon eggs from our Prince Edward Island operations' winter spawn to a large net-pen salmon farmer at the beginning of the quarter. In addition, we have secured a large follow-up order from the same customer for additional conventional eggs from our summer spawn."

 

AquaBounty announced expanded egg incubation capacity in its Q1 2024 results, and Melbourne said that the company continues to innovate at its PEI facility.

 

"This work supports important advances that will be valuable for the future of our business, supporting both traditional net-pen and land-based farming operations," he said.

- SeafoodSource