Press Release Details

29 February 2016

AquaBounty Technologies

("AquaBounty" or "the Company")

Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2015

and Notification of AGM

AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. (AIM: ABTU; OTC: AQBT), a biotechnology company focused on enhancing productivity in the aquaculture market and a majority-owned subsidiary of Intrexon Corporation (NYSE: XON), announces the Company's preliminary financial results for the year ended 31 December 2015 and gives notice of its 2016 Annual General Meeting ("AGM").

Financial and operational summary:

·    Significant milestone achieved as US Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") approves application for the production, sale and consumption of the Company's AquAdvantage^® Salmon ("AAS")  

·    Federal Court of Canada dismisses the entire application brought before it by the Ecology Action Centre and Living Oceans Society to stop production of AAS in Canada

·    Good progress made with plan to expand the Company's international commercial efforts by seeking to gain approval for the importation of AAS eggs for local field trials initially in Argentina, Brazil and China

·    Operating spend was broadly similar at US$7.0 million (2014: US$7.1 million)

·     Net loss broadly similar at US$7.0 million (2014: US$7.1 million net loss)

·    Cash used during the year, net of new equity provided, increased to US$6.8 million (2014: US$6.5 million)

Ronald Stotish, Chief Executive Officer of AquaBounty, stated: "The approval of the AquAdvantage Salmon New Animal Drug Application in November 2015 was a milestone for AquaBounty as well as a giant step forward for global food production. We believe AquAdvantage will improve productivity and sustainability for an important food product and opens the door for the application of similar and new approaches to global protein production. We are now preparing for the commercialization phase and look forward to continuing to build our business and create new opportunities to meet the challenges of safe and sustainable food production."

For further information, please contact:

AquaBounty Technologies, Inc.                                +1 978 648 6048

David Frank, Chief Financial Officer

Stifel Nicolaus Europe Ltd                                         +44 (0)20 7710 7600

Stewart Wallace

Luther Pendragon Ltd                                                +44 (0)20 7618 9100

Harry Chathli, Claire Norbury

AGM Notification

AquaBounty will hold its Annual General Meeting on 26 April 2016 at 08:30 a.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) at the Nine Zero Hotel, 90 Tremont Street, Boston, Massachusetts.  Stockholders of record on 18 March 2016 shall be entitled to vote at the AGM.

Chairman's Statement

The US Food and Drug Administration, after 20 years of investigation and deliberation, issued its approval of the New Animal Drug Application for the production, sale and consumption of AquAdvantage Salmon.  On 19 November 2015, the FDA released its final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact, in conjunction with its approval of AAS, confirming that our AquAdvantage Salmon was safe as food, safe to the fish and safe to the environment. This is the first regulatory approval anywhere in the world for the human consumption of a genetically-modified animal.

In December 2015, the Company received another boost when the Federal Court of Canada stated that the Ministers of Environment and Health were correct to approve production of AquAdvantage Salmon in Canada for commercial use, and dismissed the entire application brought before it by the Ecology Action Centre and Living Oceans Society.  We expect to receive approval from Health Canada for the sale and consumption of AAS in 2016.

Commercial Activities

During the year, the Company continued its plan to expand its international commercial efforts by seeking to gain approval for the importation of AAS eggs for local field trials initially in Argentina, Brazil and China.  The timescales involved in this are outside our control, however, the Company is encouraged by the progress that has been made to date, particularly in Argentina and Brazil whose combined markets consume over 80,000 metric tons of Atlantic salmon annually.

In Panama, we moved forward on a regulatory application for the commercial production, sale and consumption of AAS.  Though the regulatory pathway is new, we expect to receive approval in 2016.

The Company also progressed the development of its AquAdvantage Trout ("AAT") line of finfish, which grows faster than traditional Rainbow trout.  We are now designing the required studies in preparation for the regulatory review process.

US Listing of Shares

In 2014, the Company initiated its application to list on the NASDAQ exchange, with the view to registering its shares with the US Securities and Exchange Commission this was not completed at the time but it is still the objective of the Company to list on NASDAQ.  

Funding

In June 2015, Intrexon Corporation ("Intrexon") agreed to undertake a subscription for new common shares to the value of US$3.0 million (approximately £1.9 million) before expenses.  The subscription price was 15.0 pence per share (US$0.2357) and the aggregate number of common shares subscribed was 12,728,044.  The transaction closed on 30 June 2015 with net proceeds to the Company of approximately US$3.0 million.  This further increased Intrexon's shareholding to 62.96%. 

Financial Outcome

Operating expenses for the year amounted to US$7.0 million (2014: US$7.1 million).  The slight decrease was due to a reduction in legal costs, while the Company continued to invest in pre-commercial activities for AAS.  Sales and marketing expenses were US$1.7 million (2014: US$1.4 million); research and development expenses were US$2.6 million (2014: US$2.5 million); and general and administrative expenses were US$2.7 million (2014: US$3.2 million).  As a result, the net loss for the year was lower at US$7.0 million (2014: US$7.1 million) and cash used for the year, net of new equity received, was US$6.8 million (2014: US$6.5 million).  Funds available at the year-end amounted to US$1.3 million.

Outlook

Having reached the historic milestone of regulatory acceptance of our salmon, AquaBounty can now focus its efforts on commercial development.  Though the FDA recently placed an import hold on AAS as a result of language included in the Omnibus 2016 spending bill relating to labelling guidelines, this does not affect current operations and the Company expects the required guidelines will be issued by FDA during the year and that the import alert will then be lifted.

Your Board has been carefully considering the commercial options open to us and the Company is now in the final stages of completing a medium term plan of action, which we will report in due course.

Post-period Development 

On 24 February 2016, AquaBounty announced that it has agreed to a debt facility of US$10.0 million with Intrexon to fund the next stage of development. This debt facility, together with the US$1.3 million of cash on hand at the start of 2016, will provide the Company with sufficient funds to advance its plans.  Subject to the progress of these plans, it is likely a larger fundraising will follow before the end of 2016. 

R J Clothier