Blue Star Foods faces delisting from the Nasdaq Stock Exchange if the price of its stock doesn’t rise above USD 1.00 (EUR 0.95) in the next six months.
The Miami, Florida, U.S.A.-based seafood company, which trades in imported seafood – primarily crab – and operates recirculating aquaculture systems growing soft-shell crab and salmon, received a notice letter from the exchange warning the company it had fallen out of compliance with a rule requiring it to maintain a minimum bid prices of USD 1.00 per share for continued listing.
On 17 November, 2022, Blue Star was given 180 days, or until 16 May, 2023, to lift its closing bid price per common share of its stock to USD 1.00 or above for 10 consecutive business days. Blue Star can request a 180-day extension and could then use a reverse stock split to regain compliance. The company’s stock was trading at USD 0.53 (EUR 0.50) per share on Friday, 2 December.
Blue Star Foods reported a net loss of USD 3.7 million (EUR 3.6 million) in the third quarter of 2022. It previously posted losses of USD 1.4 million (EUR 1.4 million) in Q2 2022 and a loss of USD 162,000 (EUR 156,000) in Q2 2021.
The company began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in November 2021, after completing an initial public offering. It hoped to sell 800,000 shares of common stock, at a price of USD 5.00 (EUR 4.32), which netted the company USD 3.6 million (EUR 3.4 million) after deducting an underwriting discount, underwriters’ fees and expenses, and the company’s estimated offering expenses.
Blue Star detailed expansion plans for its soft-shell Atlantic crab RAS farm in Jasper County, South Carolina, U.S.A. in August 2022. The company acquired the facility when it purchased Gault Seafood in December 2021. Blue Star will begin operations in the expanded facility in the second quarter of 2023, and expects the first commercial harvest in the third quarter of 2023. When it's fully built, the new facility will be able to harvest over 220,000 dozen soft-shell Atlantic blue crab annually.
“We strongly believe our planned RAS expansion will be a major differentiator for us and contributor to accelerate revenue growth and profitability,” Blue Star Chairman and CEO John Keeler said. "Our incremental investment in our sustainable indoor fish-farming technology and processes continues to ramp as we position for our new operations in South Carolina, to replace our existing facility in South Carolina.”
Keeler said Blue Star remains on track to restore its legacy business to pre-pandemic levels of approximately USD 20 million (EUR 19 million) of annual revenue.
Photo courtesy of Blue Star Foods
