Agronomics Limited Net Asset Value calculation to 31 December 2020 (9361L)

TIDMANIC

RNS Number : 9361L

Agronomics Limited

18 January 2021

18 January 2021

Agronomics Limited

("Agronomics" or the "Company")

Net Asset Value calculation to 31 December 2020

Agronomics Limited (AIM:ANIC), a leading London listed investor in alternative proteins with a focus on cellular agriculture and cultivated meat, announces that its unaudited Net Asset Valuation ("NAV") calculation as at closing on 31 December 2020 was 5.56 pence per share, including un-invested cash of GBP2.5 million. Net Assets stand at GBP27.7 million, including investments of GBP26.9 million. This quarter's NAV per share represents a decrease of 0.8% from the previous quarter's NAV of 5.6 pence per share, which included un-invested cash of GBP0.3 million. No management fee is due to Shellbay Investments Limited.

The share price of 12 pence at the 31 December 2020 close represents a premium of 115.8% to the NAV per share. Under IFRS, the Company's unquoted investments are carried at cost or the most recent priced funding round valuation of the relevant company, and there have been no such revaluation events in the reported quarter.

Richard Reed, Chairman of Agronomics, commented: -

" Under our valuation policy, it is not possible to reflect significant uplifts between valuation events such as a new third party funding, and therefore the Board believes that the stated NAV per share may not fully represent the current intrinsic value of the portfolio companies given their continuing progress and the comparable valuations we see for these types of companies in this rapidly growing sector. "

Following a successful, oversubscribed, funding round of GBP10.0 million in October 2020, the Company completed three investments during the quarter. The Company purchased a US$5 million Convertible Promissory Note ("CPN") from BlueNalu, an existing portfolio company focused on cell-based seafood products. Agronomics currently holds 192,005 shares of BlueNalu with a book value, excluding the CPN investment, of GBP2,602,456. Assuming the CPN is subscribed in full and a Qualified Financing occurs at a price equal to the agreed valuation cap of the CPN, Agronomics would have an approximate equity interest of 5.85% of issued shares following conversion and would value Agronomics' position at approximately GBP13.4 million.

In December 2020, Agronomics completed a subscription of US$ 50,000 in the form of a Simple Agreement for Future Equity ("SAFE") in CellX Limited ("CellX"). CellX is a China-based cellular agriculture company, focussing on cell-based pork and seafood products initially. CellX was founded in 2020, with the intention of showcasing its first prototypes in 2021. The SAFE will convert at the valuation cap divided by the company capitalisation at the next equity financing, which should give Agronomics an approximate equity ownership of 1.43%.

Agronomics also made a US$ 2.0 million investment in the form of a Simple Agreement for Future Equity ("SAFE") in SuperMeat the Essence of Meat ("SuperMeat"). SuperMeat's initial focus is on cultivated chicken products, and unveiled its sustainable restaurant experience, The Chicken, in Tel Aviv, Israel, earlier this year, where individuals are invited to taste SuperMeat's cultivated chicken. The SAFE will convert at a price per share reflecting the lower of the valuation cap or at a 25 percent discount to the share price of SuperMeat's next equity round. We expect that upon conversion of the SAFE at the completion of SuperMeat's next equity fundraise and, assuming a pre-money valuation of US$ 150 million, Agronomics will hold approximately 2.22% of SuperMeat's fully diluted share capital.

A pivotal moment for the field of cellular agriculture occurred in Q4 2020 when Eat JUST's cultivated chicken was approved for sale in Singapore, by the Singapore Food Agency. This is the first cultivated meat product to be approved for sale globally, and signifies that cultivated meat is safe for consumption, and governments are willing to support the sector, especially in order to meet their sustainability targets in the years to come.

 
                                                           Unaudited to 
                                                       31 December 2020 
                                                                    GBP 
Fixed Assets 
 Investments                                                 26,930,310 
Current Assets 
 Uninvested Cash                                              2,506,516 
 Sundry Debtors                                                  22,269 
Current Liabilities 
 Trade and Other Creditors                                    (112,338) 
 Future investment commitment                               (1,592,178) 
                                                      ----------------- 
                                                             27,754,579 
Capital and Reserves 
 Share Capital                                                      499 
 Share Premium                                               28,864,977 
 Retained Deficit                                           (1,110,897) 
                                                      ----------------- 
                                                             27,754,579 
Shares in Issue                                             499,352,475 
 
Net Asset Value per                                          5.56 pence 
 share 
 

The quoted investments within the portfolio are valued under IFRS at bid price.

Portfolio Details

 
 Investments as at 31 December   Value (GBP)  % of Total Portfolio 
  2020 
 
 Quoted holdings                     758,256                 2.82% 
 Unquoted holdings                24,579,876                91.27% 
 Committed future investment       1,592,178                 5.91% 
 
 Total                            26,930,310                  100% 
 

About Agronomics

Agronomics is a leading listed investor in alternative proteins with a focus on cellular agriculture and cultivated meat. The Company has established a portfolio of 16 companies at the Seed to Series B stage in this rapidly advancing sector. It seeks to secure a 5-10% initial ownership in technologies with defensible intellectual property that offer new ways of producing food and materials with a focus on products historically derived from animals. These technologies are driving a major disruption in agriculture, offering solutions to improve sustainability, as well as addressing human health, animal welfare and environmental damage. This disruption will decouple supply chains from the environment and animals, as well as being fundamental to feeding the world's expanding population. A full list of Agronomics' portfolio companies is available at https://agronomics.im/

About the Cultivated Meat Sector

Funding in the cultivated meat sector is growing rapidly with c US$ 170 million invested globally between 2016-2019 and over US$ 270 million already raised in 2020 alone. Additional financings are anticipated as the capital requirements of these companies grows to build out and scale up manufacturing facilities. Currently it is estimated that there are 60 companies globally within the sector. AT Kearney, a global consultancy, has predicted that Cultivated Meat's market share of meat consumption will be 35% by 2040.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ('MAR'). Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service ('RIS'), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

For further information please contact:

 
       Agronomics             Beaumont           Cenkos            Peterhouse              TB Cardew 
         Limited           Cornish Limited      Securities           Capital 
                                                   Plc               Limited 
      The Company              Nomad          Joint Broker        Joint Broker          Public Relations 
                        ------------------  ---------------  ---------------------  ------------------------ 
      Richard Reed         Roland Cornish     Giles Balleny       Lucy Williams            Ed Orlebar 
       Denham Eke           James Biddle       Nick Searle      Charles Goodfellow        Joe McGregor 
                        ------------------  ---------------  ---------------------  ------------------------ 
                                                                                        [phone] 
                                                                                              0777 
      +44 (0) 1624                                                                      [phone] 
         639396             +44 (0) 207        +44 (0) 207         +44 (0) 207                 630 
   [e-mail]         628 3396           397 8900            469 0936        [e-mail] 
                        ------------------  ---------------  ---------------------  ------------------------ 
 

ENDS

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January 18, 2021 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)