© AquaBounty
Aquabounty, a Massachusetts-based salmon producer, has released financial reports for its activities in the final quarter of 2023, along with a full report for the year, revealing a significant increase in net losses for the company.
For the year ended 31 December 2023, product revenue totaled $2.47 million, a year-over-year decrease of 21 percent as compared to $3.14 million in 2022. Net losses for AquaBounty over the same period are even higher, increasing to $27.56 million - a 24 percent increase as compared to the company’s net losses for 2022.
“We began the year with a limited ability to harvest at our Indiana farm, as needed repairs were performed on our processing building. By the time the facility was fully back in operation in early May, the market price for Atlantic salmon had begun to fall,” explained AquaBounty chief executive Sylvia Wulf, in a press release from the company.
“This continued through the second and third quarters and only partially recovered during the holiday season in the fourth quarter,” she added.
Despite an overall production increase of 14 percent, AquaBounty struggled to reduce net losses, leading to difficult decisions for the company to reduce its outgoings.
“We announced in February 2024 that we had made the decision to sell our Indiana farm operation in order to increase our cash position and to decrease our on-going cash burn. Additionally, we engaged Berenson & Company as our investment bank to advise on debt financing secured by our unencumbered assets and on additional funding alternatives that are necessary to resume and complete construction of our Ohio farm and pursue our longer-term growth strategy,” Wulf explained.
Wulf is optimistic for the future, describing the installation of additional egg incubation capacity at AquaBounty’s Prince Edward Island farm, in addition to apparent advances the company’s researchers are making regarding salmon breeding, genetics, nutrition, and health.
