By David Bautz, PhD
OTC:VIVXF
READ THE FULL VIVXF RESEARCH REPORT
Business Update
Continued Strong Order Growth for OxC-beta Livestock
Avivagen, Inc. (OTC:VIVXF) is continuing to see increased customer demand for OxC-beta Livestock, the company’s lead product designed to be a safe, effective alternative to the use of antibiotics in animal feed that is based on the OxC-beta technology. Recently, the company has seen the following order flow for OxC-beta Livestock:
• On May 6, 2021, Avivagen announced an introductory order of OxC-beta Livestock through Meyenberg International Group, Avivagen’s consultant in Mexico, with an entrepreneur based in Western Mexico who has plans to distribute the product to dairy farms in the region. The introductory order of 200 kg is similar in size to introductory orders for other customers, with many of them going on to become repeat customers at larger quantities.
• On May 3, 2021, Avivagen, announced that Meyenberg International Group entered into a contract for the largest order to-date for OxC-beta Livestock. The 18-month contract calls for a minimum of 4,000 kg monthly commencing in July 2021 and ending October 2022. The contract included an order of 500 kg that was delivered April 30, 2021.
• On April 26, 2021, Avivagen announced the first purchase order from a large, integrated livestock producer in Thailand. While the order is modest in size, it could lead to increased order sizes and frequency in the future similar to the company’s experience with UNAHCO.
• On April 23, 2021, Avivagen announced the largest single shipment purchase order of OxC-beta Livestock, 4,400 kg, from UNAHCO. This order represents a 10% increase in size over the previous record single shipment order.
The company continues to have discussions with potential new customers and while it is difficult to accurately predict the timing of any new deals, we do anticipate additional purchase orders from new customers to be announced during calendar 2021.
Multiple Publications on OxC-beta Trials
Avivagen has had two publications describing trials performed with OxC-beta published in leading, peer-reviewed scientific journals:
• In February 2021, the company announced that the paper “Evaluation of fully oxidized β-carotene as a feed ingredient to reduce bacterial infection and somatic cell counts in cows with subclinical mastitis” had been accepted for publication in the New Zealand Veterinary Journal. A pre-print of the paper can be found here. Results of the trial, which Avivagen had previously announced in February 2020, show that adding 300 mg/cow/day of OxC-beta resulted in a higher bacteriological cure rate, a lower prevalence of intramammary infection, and a lower incidence of clinical mastitis compared to untreated controls.
• On March 4, 2021, the company announced the paper “Effect of Oxidized β-Carotene (OxBC) on the Growth and Feed Efficiency of Broilers” has been accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed journal Poultry Science. The paper describes the results of two dietary supplement trials in which OxC-beta was administered to broiler poultry. Both trials showed that OxC-beta supplementation resulted in significantly improved growth performance measures, including average weight gain and feed utilization efficiency, when compared to birds in control groups. One of the studies was conducted in Ontario, Canada while the other study was conducted in Scotland.
Publishing research in peer-reviewed journals is an important means of increasing industry awareness of OxC-beta and helps to validate the company’s technology.
Financial Update
On June 2, 2021, Avivagen announced financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2021 that ended April 30, 2021. The company reported revenues of CAD$159,614 for the second quarter of fiscal year 2021, compared to CAD$29,625 for the second quarter of fiscal year 2020. The increase was primarily due to sales of OxC-beta Livestock in Mexico.
Operating expenses for the three months ending April 30, 2021 were CAD$1,237,047 compared to CAD$1,117,959 for the three months ending April 30, 2020. The increase was mainly due to increased salaries and investor relations expenses along with a decrease in government grants. Net loss for the second quarter of fiscal year 2021 was CAD$2,197,649 compared to a net loss of CAD$1,393,497 for the second quarter of fiscal year 2020. The increase was mainly due to increased sales of OxC-beta offset by increased finance cost due to adjustments to the ACOA loans.
As of April 30, 2021, Avivagen had approximately CAD$4.2 million, which was due in part to a CAD$7.5 million bought offering that consisted of 15 million units sold at a price of CAD$0.50 per unit. Each unit consisted of one share of common stock and one-half of one common share purchase warrant. Each warrant has an exercise price of CAD$0.75 per share. Net proceeds to the company were approximately CAD$6.7 million.
As of April 30, 2021, Avivagen had approximately 57.0 million shares outstanding and, when factoring in stock options and warrants, a fully diluted share count of approximately 75.7 million shares.
Conclusion
We are very encouraged how Avivagen continues to expand its customer base and increase the size and frequency of orders for OxC-beta Livestock and we expect revenues to begin to ramp up in the second half of fiscal year 2021. The next fiscal quarter’s revenue could include both the 4,400 kg order from UNAHCO, which was delivered in May 2021, as well as the first 4,000 kg order from the 18-month contract, which is due to be shipped by the end of July 2021 (although unforeseen circumstances could push that out to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021). If this were to occur, next quarter’s revenue numbers would be the highest ever for the company and would likely lead to increased investor awareness of the company and its potential. With that in mind, it’s always best to be ahead of the curve, and we believe now is the time for investors to establish a position ahead of a potential inflection point later in 2021 as revenues begin to ramp up. With no changes to our model our valuation remains at $3.50.
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