Astrotech Reports Fiscal Year 2021 Financial results
Austin, TX - September 20, 2021
Astrotech Corporation (Nasdaq: ASTC) reported its financial results for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021.
Fiscal year 2021 represented a turning point for Astrotech Corporation. We successfully raised a total of $74.3 million in gross proceeds from equity offerings, strengthening our balance sheet and sufficiently capitalizing the company for the foreseeable future. We plan to ramp sales of our mass spectrometry instrumentation and explore other strategic opportunities to accelerate growth. The capital further provided the opportunity to engage a leading contract manufacturer, Sanmina, to manufacture our various mass spectrometry products, adding flexibility and scalability.
As the first and only mass spectrometry-based explosives trace detector (ETD) certified for air and cargo security, 1st Detect’s TRACER 1000™ continues to demonstrate why we believe mass spectrometry is the way of the future for ETDs. With its near-zero false alarms and a more reliable analysis than ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) based ETDs, cargo facilities using the TRACER 1000 are seeing fewer delays to their operations. In addition, while the downturn in air travel caused by COVID-19 caused some delays in our ramping sales in checkpoint security, on August 25, 2021, we announced that we have secured our first purchase order for the TRACER 1000 to be deployed at an international airport security checkpoint for passenger screening.
Meanwhile, AgLAB continued its development of the AgLAB-1000™ series of instruments and recently hired hemp and cannabis industry veteran and mass spectrometry expert, Joe Levinthal, as its Chief Science Officer. As an authority in distillation of hemp and cannabis products, Mr. Levinthal is leading AgLAB’s product development team and finalizing a product that is being designed to optimize yield during the hemp and cannabis oil extraction and distillation process, and thereby meaningfully increase top line revenue for hemp and cannabis oil manufacturers.
Finally, BreathTech continues to move forward in its partnership with Cleveland Clinic to develop the BreathTest-1000™ to screen for volatile organic compound (VOC) metabolites found in a person’s breath that could indicate they may have an infection, including COVID-19 or pneumonia. In April 2021, we announced that BreathTech signed an Investigator-Initiated Study Agreement with Cleveland Clinic to use the BreathTest-1000 to compare exhaled breath from individuals who have tested positive on a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test against subjects who have had a negative COVID-19 PCR test. We are excited to finish our study and prospectively enter the ongoing battle against COVID-19.
“The continued development of our mass spectrometry technology has provided new and exciting opportunities,” stated Thomas B. Pickens, III, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Astrotech Corporation. “We now have what we believe to be the most rugged and least expensive mass spectrometer on the market that can provide an analysis comparable to laboratory instruments that are much more expensive. Further, our instruments have been designed such that a highly sophisticated operator is not required, unlike many of the other mass spectrometers on the market. We continue to look for opportunities to further exploit our technology and we welcome discussions with potential industry partners that have applications where our technology can add value.”
Financial Highlights
Management continues efforts to optimize our resources while reducing cost and adding financial flexibility.
• During fiscal year 2021, we raised $74.3 million in gross proceeds from equity offerings, bolstering our balance sheet for future growth.
• Commercial sales of the TRACER 1000 continued, leading to revenue of $334 thousand in fiscal year 2021. Additional purchase orders have been received.
• In August 2021, we received our first purchase order for the TRACER-1000 to be deployed at an airport security checkpoint.
• We engaged with a leading contract manufacturer, Sanmina, to manufacture all of our products.
• We optimized our real estate footprint, now that we have outsourced manufacturing, by consolidating our operations in Austin, Texas, leading to an estimated $2.1 million in savings over the life of our new lease, which terminates in 2024.
About Astrotech
Astrotech (NASDAQ: ASTC) is a mass spectrometry company that launches, manages, and commercializes scalable companies based on its innovative core technology through its wholly-owned subsidiaries. 1st Detect develops, manufactures, and sells trace detectors for use in the security and detection market. AgLAB is developing chemical analyzers for use in the agriculture market. BreathTech is developing a breath analysis tool to provide early detection of lung diseases. Astrotech is headquartered in Austin, Texas. For information, please visit www.astrotechcorp.com.
About AgLAB-1000™ and BreathTest-1000™
This press release contains information about our new products under development, AgLAB-1000 and BreathTest-1000. Product development involves a high degree of risk and uncertainty, and there can be no assurance that our new products will be successfully developed, achieve their intended benefits, receive full market authorization, or be commercially successful. In addition, FDA approval will be required to market BreathTest-1000 in the United States. Obtaining FDA approval is a complex and lengthy process, and there can be no assurance that FDA approval for BreathTest-1000 will be granted on a timely basis or at all.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, trends, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from the forward-looking statement. These factors include, but are not limited to, the severity and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the U.S. and worldwide economy, the timing, scope and effect of further U.S. and international governmental, regulatory, fiscal, monetary and public health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company’s use of proceeds from the common stock offerings, whether we can successfully complete the development of our new products and proprietary technologies, whether we can obtain the FDA and other regulatory approvals required to market our products under development in the United States or abroad, and whether the market will accept our products and services, as well as other risk factors and business considerations described in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings including the annual report on Form 10-K. Any forward-looking statements in this document should be evaluated in light of these important risk factors. In addition, any forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company’s views only as of the date of its publication and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
Company Contact: Eric Stober, Chief Financial Officer, Astrotech Corporation, (512) 485-9530
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