BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, March 29, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verde AgriTech Plc (TSX: NPK) ("Verde” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the financial results for the fourth quarter ("Q4 2018") and twelve months ("FY 2018") ended December 31, 2018.
(All figures are in Canadian dollars)
- Total volume sold in 2018: 29,648 tonnes, six times more than in 2017.
- Verde received nearly 50,000 tonnes of orders in 2018.
- Total revenues of $1.358 million at a production cost of $1.067 million, generating a gross profit of $291 thousand (21.4%).
- Net loss of $1.703 million.
- Cash at end of period of $836 thousand, 30% higher than prior year.
- Loss per share of $0.041.
“2018 was the first year of commercial production at Verde. The Company’s plant started operations in July 2018. Considering the usual ramp-up challenges, and a single salesman working full time to have achieved 29,648 tonnes of sales and delivery of over 21% gross margin profit was an outstanding result,” said CFO Felipe Paolucci.
Selected Annual Financial Information
All amounts in $’000 | Year to Dec 31, 2018 | Year to Dec 31, 2017 | Year to Dec 31, 2016 | |||
| Super Greensand® sales (tonnes) | 29,648 | - | - | |||
| Revenue | 1,358 | - | - | |||
| Production costs | 1,067 | - | - | |||
| Gross Profit | 29 | |||||
| Selling and distribution expenses | 59 | - | - | |||
| Administrative expenses | 1,871 | 1,576 | 1,204 | |||
| Impairment of intangible asset | - | 663 | - | |||
| Net loss | (1,703 | ) | (2,204 | ) | (1,172 | ) |
| Cash Flow utilised in operating activities | (502 | ) | (1,119 | ) | (1,007 | ) |
| Cash Flow utilised in investing activities | (187 | ) | (1,791 | ) | (989 | ) |
| Cash Flow from financing activities | 933 | 1,809 | - | |||
| Net increase (decrease) in cash | 244 | (1,101 | ) | (1,996 | ) | |
| Cash and cash equivalents at end of period | 836 | 645 | 1,763 | |||
| Total Assets | 31,610 | 26,012 | 27,169 | |||
| Total Liabilities | 7,785 | 465 | 188 | |||
| Working Capital | 780 | 1,930 | 1,802 | |||
| Weighted average number of shares outstanding (‘000) | 41,020 | 38,523 | 37,617 | |||
| Loss per share (basic and diluted) ($) | (0.041 | ) | (0.057 | ) | (0.031 | ) |
Highlights of the Fourth Quarter
In October 2018, the Group announced it had sold out of Super Greensand®. It also announced its expansion for 2019, which include continuing to use the existing processing plant to produce 200 thousand tonnes per year and, in parallel, start construction of a new processing facility capable of producing an added 600 thousand tonnes per annum. The total 800 thousand tonnes per annum capacity is expected to be reached by early 2020. Financing is expected to be a mix of accumulated cashflow and debt from BNDES bank.
Subsequent events
On February 26, 2019 the group announced a non-brokered private placement to raise up to C$1 million (the “Placement”) through the issuance of up to 1,666,666 units of securities (“Units”) at a price of $ 0.60 per Unit. Each Unit was comprised of one ordinary share of the Company (an “Ordinary Share”) and one-half of one Ordinary Share purchase warrant (a “Warrant”). Each whole Warrant will be exercisable to purchase an Ordinary Share at an exercise price of $1.00 until the second anniversary of the closing of the Placement. The Warrants are unlisted.
The placement closed on March 13, 2019, raising $1.7 million by issuing 2,820,114 units of securities. It included inside investments from president & CEO Cristiano Veloso, who purchased 912,416 Units; CFO Felipe Paolucci, who purchased 166,667 Units; and Director Michael St Aldwyn, who purchased 83,333 Units.
On March 4, 2019 the group was pleased to welcome Felipe Paolucci as the CFO. Mr. Paolucci is an executive with over 15 years of experience in finance in multinational companies and over 9 years of experience in the agricultural business. Mr. Paolucci will be based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and will replace Mr. Tim Slater, who has acted as the Company’s interim CFO for the past few years.
About Verde AgriTech
Verde promotes sustainable and profitable agriculture through the development of its Cerrado Verde Project. Cerrado Verde, located in the heart of Brazil’s largest agricultural market, is the source of a potassium-rich deposit from which Verde intends to produce solutions for crop nutrition, crop protection, soil improvement and increased sustainability.
For additional information please contact:
Cristiano Veloso, President & Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +55 (31) 3245 0205; Email: cv@verdeagritech.com
Cautionary Language and Forward Looking Statements
Neither the TSX nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release contains certain "forward looking statements", which include but is not limited to, statements with respect to the future financial or operating performance of the Company, its subsidiaries and its projects, and statements regarding use of proceeds. Forward looking statements can generally be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", or "does not expect" or "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", "intends", "forecasts", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates" or variations of such words or phrases or state that certain actions, event, or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by said statements. There can be no assurances that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in said statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions underlying the forward-looking information made in this news release, see the Company’s most recent Annual Information Form and Management’s Discussion and Analysis, as well as other public disclosure documents that can be accessed under the issuer profile of “Verde AgriTech plc” on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information set forth herein reflects the Company’s reasonable expectations as at the date of this news release and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.