Losses deepen for Cell Tech
asset write down, but management remains bullish about future
improvements.
Cell Tech International, the US-based company which produces food products made from blue-green algae harvested from Klamath Lake in Oregon, said its losses deepened in 2001 compared to the previous year as the result of an asset write-off.
The company's losses reached $5 million (€5.2m) in 2001, a decline from losses of $2.8 million in 2000. Revenues of $30 million for 2001 were down $8.9 million or 23 per cent compared to the previous year, the company said.
The 2001 losses reflected a $2.6 million write-off of assets related to the company management's decision not to use certain equipment at its A-Canal harvest site for the foreseeable future. Cell Tech said it would continue to harvest algae directly from Upper Klamath Lake using on-lake harvesters.
Cell Tech's fourth quarter 2001 results included a net loss of $2.8 million and revenues of $7 million, which decreased $1.7 million or 6.5 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2000. The fourth quarter figures were impacted by the $2.6 million write-down of the unnecessary assets and licence rights related to the harvest site.
Cell Tech's chairman Donald P. Hateley said: "The problems associated with our efforts to restructure the company are in the final stages, and management will now be able to direct their efforts toward building our brand name, increasing our revenues and pursuing strategic relationships directed towards increasing our market share."
Marta C. Carpenter, Cell Tech's president & CEO, added: "We are pleased with our ability to reduce our long-term debt, and we are excited about the revisions to our compensation plan and the new products that we have announced and are developing [such as the recently launched ImmuSun WGP Beta Glucan supplement].
"We believe that fiscal 2002 will provide us with new opportunities as a result of our restructuring. We encourage our distributors to join with us by focusing on the business opportunity, our compensation plan and the new products which we believe will be some of the best available in the marketplace."
Cell Tech International uses a multi-level distributor network throughout the United States and Canada to distribute its 20 products divided into five categories: daily health maintenance, digestive health, defensive health, powdered drinks and snacks and animal and plant food.
