Admission to Trading on AIM

RNS Number : 2253V

Ocean Harvest Technology Group PLC

04 April 2023

 

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES (INCLUDING ITS TERRITORIES AND DEPENDENCIES, ANY STATE OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA) (COLLECTIVELY, THE "UNITED STATES"), CANADA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND OR JAPAN OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO MIGHT CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OR BREACH OF ANY APPLICABLE LAW

4 April 2023

Ocean Harvest Technology Group plc

("OHT", the "Company" or the "Group")

Admission to Trading on AIM and First Day of Dealings

Ocean Harvest Technology Group plc, a leading global producer of animal feed additives from multispecies seaweed blends, is pleased to announce the admission of its entire issued ordinary share capital to trading on AIM ("AIM"), a market operated by the London Stock Exchange plc ("Admission"). Admission will take place and dealings will commence at 8.00 am GMT today under the ticker OHT. The Company's Admission Document is available to view on the Company's website at www.oceanharvesttechnology.com .

OHT delivered product revenue of €2.5million in 2022, a 67% increase on the prior year, and continues to see strong demand for its products. The Company has a market leading position in a multi billion dollar market with substantial barriers to entry. The Directors remain confident in achieving further significant revenue growth in 2023 and look forward to driving further commercial progress across the Group.

finnCap Ltd is acting as Nominated Adviser and sole broker in relation to the Admission.

Key Highlights:

· Based on the placing price of 16p, the market capitalisation of the Company will be approximately £20 million at Admission

· Placing raised gross proceeds of £6 million

· The Company's ISIN is GB00BQKR6R17 and the SEDOL is BQKR6R1

· Following Admission the Company will have 125,855,697 Shares in issue

The Company will provide a live presentation via Investor Meet Company in April. The presentation will be open to all existing and potential shareholders. Questions can be submitted pre-event via your Investor Meet Company dashboard up until 9am the day before the meeting or at any time during the live presentation. Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and add to meet via: https://www.investormeetcompany.com/ocean-harvest-technology-group-plc/register-investor .

Mark Williams, CEO, Ocean Harvest Technology, commented:

"Today's listing is an important milestone for Ocean Harvest Technology and will assist the rapid growth of the Group. The funds raised will enable the Group to continue to strengthen its global sales team and build out its supply chain. We will also continue to invest in R&D to innovate and enhance our existing customer offering in the fast growing markets the Group operates in.

"I am grateful for all the hard work of our team, and I would like to thank our new and existing shareholders for their support. We are confident in our ability deliver on the opportunities ahead and I look forward to providing updates on our progress as our business develops."

Capitalised terms used in this announcement and not separately defined shall have the meaning given to them in the Company's Admission Document.

Overview of Ocean Harvest Technology

Ocean Harvest Technology is one of the leading commercial scale producers of seaweed blend ingredients for the animal feed market.

The Group was founded in 2005 on the belief that an investment in research and development would result in the ability to create seaweed ingredients that would deliver a number of specific benefits across multiple animal species based on the polysaccharides and other bioactive ingredients present in particular species of seaweeds.

Since its establishment, the Group, through its research and development programme, continues to build a portfolio of intellectual property and has had commercial success in selling its products as ingredients to improve the efficiency, profitability and sustainability of the animal feed chain by delivering improvements in animal gut health.

The Group's intellectual property portfolio (comprising trade secrets, know-how, various pending patent applications and trade marks), developed in-house and in conjunction with a number of academic and corporate partners, has enabled the Group to demonstrate the significant and positive impacts of its products to potential customers. Alongside this, the Group has focused on the growth of its global seaweed supply chain from harvesters and other suppliers. Harvested seaweeds are transported to the Group's facility in Vietnam where they are processed into OceanFeed ^TM feed ingredients for multiple species of animals. The Directors estimate that the Group has spent over €20 million to date in R&D and commercialising its products.

The Group continues to invest in R&D, the sourcing of seaweed, and the processing and marketing of its products, as the Group pursues its growth strategy with the aim of becoming the largest supplier of proprietary blended seaweed ingredients to the global animal feed industry. The Company is headquartered in Theale, UK with further operations in Galway, Ireland and Binh Duong Province, Vietnam. The Group has grown to comprise a team of over 40 full time employees.

The Group has a growing base of customers who buy its products on a regular and recurring basis and a number of these have increased their spend over time. In FY22, the Group reported total revenue of €3.0 million and product revenue of €2.51 million, with a three-year CAGR in product revenue of 46 per cent. This is up from €1.51 million of product revenue in FY21, an increase of 67 per cent. The Group has seen further revenue growth in the first two months of the current year and expects to deliver substantial growth in 2023.

The Directors believe that the Group's business is scalable and that it is well positioned to pursue its growth strategy of targeting increasing spend by existing customers, on-boarding new customers based on the demonstrated benefits of its products and penetrating new geographic markets. The Company also anticipates upcoming R&D and trial data demonstrating a range of benefits provided by its feed additives, which the Directors believe will enable Ocean Harvest Technology to attract new customers and access new markets within the animal feed industry.

Key Strengths

· Market leading position - the Group is a leading producer of seaweed blend ingredients, at scale, for the animal feed market.

· High barriers to entry - to date, Ocean Harvest Technology has invested heavily in its R&D programme and trials which demonstrate both the benefits which can be achieved by its animal feed products and also the mode of action through which these are generated. This know-how and trial data are protected by the Group, and the Directors believe it would take a potential competitor many years to replicate these. Ocean Harvest Technology has strong commercial traction with a growing customer base of over 30 customers globally. The customer acquisition cycle can take many months, or even years, to complete and therefore potential new entrants would likely require significant time and investment to replicate this growth in new customers. Ocean Harvest Technology has an established, broad and diversified seaweed supply chain nurtured during its operating history of over 10 years. This supply chain is designed to operate across geographically diverse areas, cope with seasonal variability in yields and manage the many quality control requirements that must be satisfied for its products to be sold as a feed ingredient.

· A large and growing global market - the animal feed market produces globally over 1 billion metric tonnes of animal feed per year, which in 2021 had an approximate value of US$500 billion. This market tends to grow in line with GDP growth, but the feed additive and specific ingredient segments have been growing faster in recent years and are forecast to grow at 5 per cent. from 2021 to 20311. Ocean Harvest Technology currently has a very small penetration of this market and the Directors believe that the Group has significant opportunity for growth.

· Proprietary IP - Ocean Harvest Technology continues to build up its portfolio of intellectual property rights through R&D, know-how, trials, trade marks and various pending patent applications, trade marks and know-how. The IP portfolio covers many valuable areas, including the efficacy of the specific bioactive compounds in seaweeds, the application of those compounds for use in generating improved gut health in animals through their pre-biotic effect, the specific mode of action these have in the animal's microbiome and trial data to demonstrate the effectiveness of Ocean Harvest Technology's products in harnessing these benefits at commercial scale in multiple animal species as a feed ingredient. The Company continues to invest in its R&D and further develop its intellectual property portfolio. The objective of this is to demonstrate further commercial application of its existing products and to develop new products to serve additional markets.

· Sustainable and socially responsible ESG investment - Ocean Harvest Technology uses naturally growing, sustainably sourced seaweeds in its products. These seaweeds are either sourced from natural wild blooms, which occur periodically, or from seaweed plants harvested on a rotation basis which ensures sustainable regrowth of the plant. Unlike other feed ingredients, the Company's sourcing does not utilise material quantities of land, fresh water, fertilisers or other chemicals. Ocean Harvest Technology's seaweed supply chain has helped develop local industries and provide the harvesting communities with recurring income streams, enabling further investment in these often remote coastal regions.

· Robust commercial prospects - Ocean Harvest Technology has a significant opportunity to grow its sales and better serve what is a very large and growing addressable market. It is also aiming to increase its customer reach within the animal feed industry with further R&D, which the Directors believe will demonstrate additional benefits of using of the Company's products across a broader range of applications. The Directors also believe that the benefits of the Group's products will, in the future, be able to be applied through new products to other large scale markets such as the human food chain and soil conditioners.

· Credible and experienced management team - The Board and the Group's executive management team consists of experienced figures in the industry. The Directors believe that this will enable the Group to successfully pursue its growth strategy and develop new opportunities. Additionally, between them the Board has public market experience of both AIM and other stock exchanges.

Contacts

Ocean Harvest Technology Group plc	Tel: [phone]
Mark Williams, CEO Adrian Crockett, CFO
finnCap Ltd (Nominated Adviser and Sole Broker)	Tel: [phone]
Geoff Nash / Seamus Fricker / George Dollemore (Corporate Finance) Charlotte Sutcliffe / Harriet Ward (ECM)
Camarco (Financial PR Adviser)	Tel: [phone]
Tom Huddart / Rosie Driscoll / Letaba Rimell	[e-mail]

Notes to Editors

Ocean Harvest Technology Limited is a global leader in the development and commercialisation of value adding products from multiple species of seaweed. The Company provides a range of natural ingredients focused on improving animal performance whilst protecting the environment, through its unique and proven intellectual property portfolio. Ocean Harvest Technology's products are produced in its facility in Vietnam from seaweeds soured from multiple markets across the world.

For more information, please visit www.oceanharvesttechnology.com .

 

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