Blue Star Foods CEO touts progress in 2023, doesn't rule out additional acquisitions

Miami, Florida, U.S.A.-based Blue Star Foods recently released a shareholder update touting the company’s progress in 2023, a year in which it has significantly reduced its losses.

Blue Star Foods Chair and CEO John Keeler said the company’s efforts to reduce its costs have resulted in its quarterly losses dropping steadily throughout the year. Additionally, Blue Star has paid off its convertible debt, which he said had resulted in derivative accounting warrants liability on its balance sheet in the past. 

Keeler also said Blue Star is pursuing acquisitive and organic growth opportunities. 

“The previously taken steps of reducing our corporate and operating expenses and streamlining our business has improved our financial condition,” Keeler said.

In its results for the three months ending 30 September, 2023, the company had revenue of USD 1.58 million (EUR 1.44 million), down from USD 3.98 million (EUR 3.62 million) posted in the same period of 2022. The company’s gross profit for the period increased to a loss of just under USD 25,000 (EUR 22,700), a significant improvement from the USD 1.54 million (EUR 1.4 million) loss it posted in the same period of 2022. 

For the nine months ending 30 September, the company posted revenue of USD 5.1 million (EUR 4.6 million), less than half of the USD 10.7 million (EUR 9.7 million) it posted in 2022. However, the company also posted a gross profit of USD 340,500 (EUR 310,200) in that time period, up from a loss of USD 719,000 (EUR 655,000).

In addition to the positive trajectory of its latest quarterly financial reporting, Blue Star Foods also signed a two-year bid award purchase agreement with Sysco Corporation for its products on 13 November.

Keeler said that the company is continuing to make progress on its recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) segment. The company acquired a salmon RAS in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada in 2021, and operates a soft-shell crab RAS farm in South Carolina. Blue Star Foods is planning to expand the crab farm and recently switched the proposed location of the expansion.

In his shareholder update, Keeler said the option to purchase land in South Carolina, granted to the company by the local government in Beaufort County, is part of that progress. He said Blue Star's salmon operations, meanwhile, were partly to blame for the firm’s drop in revenue, as mechanical issues delayed harvests. 

“This delay was due to our ozone machine, which is used to flavor our fish, being offline for repair,” Keeler said. “We have since replaced equipment in the purge tanks and initiated weekly harvest since 1 October.”

Keeler said that the company is now focused on returning to revenue growth and increased profitability.

“We continue to explore strategic opportunities for growth that are both acquisitive and organic, as we recognize we need to be of larger size in order to build shareholder value,” he said.  

Photo courtesy of Blue Star Foods