OTAQ reports revenues ‘better than expected’
Marine technology business OTAQ plc expects to report better than expected revenues of around £4.4m for 2023, up from £4m in the previous year.
In a trading update ahead of final results for the year to 31 December 2023, OTAQ said performance in the second half of the year has been stronger than the directors had anticipated.
Revenues in the second half of the year are expected to be not less than £2.5m, up 93% on the same period last year (FY22: £1.3m) and up by over 40% on the first half of FY23. The company expects to report a reduced adjusted EBITDA loss for the year of approximately £245k (FY22: loss £331k, adjusted in respect of the SealFence anti-predator system and other restructuring costs).
OTAQ’s technology focuses on the aquaculture and offshore markets, and geotracking. Revenue generation this year has been underpinned by the Offshore division, particularly benefiting from the continued demand and increased orders for its Connector solutions and OceanSense products.
The company also benefited from strong traction during the second half of the year in its Aquaculture division, in particular delivering two orders of Shrimp Sonar Device orders, totalling 200 units, to Minnowtech LLC.
Additionally, 42 Live Plankton Analysis Systems (‘LPAS’) are now deployed with customers, feeding plankton images back to OTAQ to provide a warning of potentially harmful growths. The company anticipates that at the year-end it will have 16 of its LPAS beta systems deployed with salmon farmers in Scotland, Ireland, Chile, Australia, and New Zealand, on a trial basis.
Phil Newby, Chief Executive at OTAQ, said: “The board is pleased to note the progress made across the company, and particularly the improving market backdrop in Offshore, where OTAQ is well positioned to target developing global growth opportunities for its OceanSense, Eagle IP, Lander seabed survey [pictured], and subsea electrical connector & penetrator solutions.
“With an improved reported revenue expected for year, the board remains confident in its current growth strategy, part of which is to commercialise a number of opportunities in the Aquaculture space. With LPAS systems now live, OTAQ is in constant receipt of highly valuable data that will, through a machine learning process, further enhance the AI engine and improve customer outcomes.”
As at 18 December 2023, the company had a cash balance of £0.4m with strong debtor book of £1.1m (30 June 2023: £0.9m cash, £0.8m debtors). From 30 June 2023 to 18 December 2023, £189k of the CBILS (Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme) loan has been repaid and the balance outstanding is £1.1m.
