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Interim report 1 Jan-30 Sep 2019

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The following summary refers to the period 1/1/2019 – 30/9/2019, 

compared to 1/1/2018 – 30/9/2018

  • Net sales for this period totaled to SEK 3,134,257(SEK 923,049)
  • Operating result for the period of SEK -5,843,022 (SEK -5,200,335)
  • Cash and bank balance SEK 17,107,410 (SEK 9,921,882)
  • Capitalized development costs of SEK 1,300,758 (SEK 1,218,977)
  • Average number of registered shares 10,016,035 (9,877,264 shares)
  • Result per share* SEK -0.58 (SEK -0.53)
  • Equity Ratio 93.64% (88.09%)

*Result per share is calculated on the average number of registered shares during the period.

CEO comments

Big steps towards full launch and strengthened financial base

The third quarter of 2019 was a time of verification for OptiFreeze with successful tests on flower cuts and cut flowers in Kenya and Lund. The work with our Flower-project has been very intense but we have also managed to sign a contract for a trial period with a German company, one of the market leaders, that delivers dried vegetables.

With big commitment and hard work from our research and development team we have achieved very exciting results with both flower cuts and cut flowers. At the same time a directed share issue that strengthened our ownership base and made sure that we have the financial capital to fulfil our target to make our technology the global standard was carried out.

Focus on OptiFlower

OptiFreeze continued to focus on the OptiFlower-area during the third quarter of 2019 with the main target to run projects from experimental stage to commercialization. The target from both Syngenta Flowers and OptiFreeze is to be done with product handling and implementation of method on freshly harvested flower cuts when the Pelargonium season starts in December 2019. This means that we take a big step towards industrialization of our technology and towards full market launch.

During this period, we have continued to develop our joint project in Kenya together with our partner Syngenta. We have tried the method on essentially three different kinds of product: Pelargoniums, Poinsettias and Lavandula. The results are good! Fully in line with what we have seen during earlier trials at our facility in Lund which bodes well for the future.

The successful results mean that we at the end of the quarter got confirmation that we shall expand the project and move more towards a commercialization phase where we now will send treated flower cuts from Kenya to Syngenta’s facility in De Lier, Netherlands to root them. This is how the normal logistics flow and it’s important that we receive confirmation that we can deliver according to this. We’re in a very exciting phase right now.

The development within the project of prolonging longevity for cut flowers have also been positive. Cut flowers as roses have a life expectancy of 12-14 days. Due to the long transport distance from the production site to the vases in our homes only approximately 7 days of life remains of the flower for the customer. After successful trials we managed to keep roses fresh for 14 days or longer at room temperature. This means that the customer with the help of our technology can enjoy their roses in their homes at least twice as long, at the same time as we contribute to less environmental impact through more effective transportations from the producers to the wholesalers and the retailers.

We will continue to verify these tests both in Kenya and Lund with the aim of being done at the first half of next year.

OptiDry and OptiFresh

During the third quarter we signed a deal with a customer in Germany on an industrial evaluation of our OptiDry segment. At the same time, we have been working on designing a system with a higher capacity and better working performance when it comes to energy-efficient use of energy sources. This work is now complete, and we have ordered the machine for delivery during November this year.

We have also performed important basic work during the quarter for upcoming future projects within the OptiFresh segment. We have been working with mango, pineapple and other new products to further finetune our method for new application areas and new markets with growth potential.

Financial update

We investigated, as communicated earlier, different ways of providing the company a strong financial position to enter next phase. To strengthen the finances in a quick and efficient way the Board decided to carry out a directed new share issue. The issue was directed towards external investors, several larger shareholders, Board members and the Chairman of the Board. We communicated in July that the issue was completed and that 17.4 MSEK had been added to OptiFreeze. The company also got some strong and large investors with a strong belief in the company via the issue. An interesting fact is that the largest shareholders invested in OptiFreeze without a discount on the share price.

OptiFreeze has a very positive third quarter in the rear-view mirror. We continued our path, strengthened our finances further. We have also succeeded to verify the technology for flower cuts and signed a contract with a customer within the OptiDry segment and carried through successful trials on roses.

I took over as acting CEO in October and my first time in OptiFreeze has been very positive and exciting. OptiFreeze has both the technology, knowledge and not least the commitment to reach success. I can see that the company has made major progress during the quarter and I look at the future with great confidence and trust.

Thank you for your interest and for following our journey,

Lund, den November 28th, 2019

Ulf Hagman, acting CEO of OptiFreeze AB

CEO 

OptiFreeze AB

ulf.hagman@optifreeze.se

Tel 0733636380

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