Aqua Bio Technology turns corner with major personal care contracts
The privately held company posted full year financial results that revealed its revenues grew exponentially from just NOK 0.5 (€0.68m) in 2011, to reach NOK 20.3m in 2012.
The company also said that the increased revenue has helped to boost profit margins, in turn helping it to get out of debt it incurred to develop and put to market its range of ingredients.
EBITDA for 2012 came in as NOK 8.0m, compared to a loss of NOK 8.1m in 2011, which translated into a net profit of NOK0.9m, compared to a loss of NOK 13.5m in previous year.
The company also stressed that the business’s performance has continued to improve dramatically throughout the course of the last financial year, with fourth quarter revenues coming in at NOK 3.4m, against an EBITDA of NOK 0.2m.
Growth on the back of Acquabeautine success
The figure has been largely attributed to the success of its Acquabeautine XL ingredient, which is derived from the hatching fluid of salmon and has been clinically proven to have anti-aging and moisturizing properties.
The company says that the contracts to supply the two US companies with the ingredient are currently estimated to have a value of NOK 120m over the period 2012 to 2017 in exclusivity and minimum royalty payments alone, with additional product sales expected to add to this figure.
During the course of 2012 the company launched a total of three new ingredients, which target the growing market for sustainably sourced, naturally-derived ingredients.
Three new ingredient launches in 2012
Back in September, the company announced that it was adding to the Acquabeautine XL ingredient with the launch of Dermaclarine, which targets skin imperfections caused by dead skin cells, together with Beauty Propelline, which targets wrinkles and dark spots; and Oceanx Oil in Serum, an anti-ageing serum.
Dermaclarine and Beauty Propelline were both developed by Acqua Bio Technology as 100 per cent natural products that are sustainably resourced from marine by-products.
On the other hand, Oceanx Oil is the result of the company’s co-operation with Scotland-based company Aquapharm Biodiscovery, a research and development company specializing in the development of specialized fermentation process to source and produce bio-active ingredients.
