Mr. Paul Antoniadis reports
GOOD NATURED PRODUCTS INC. BEGINS TRADING UNDER NEW SYMBOL GDNP, PROVIDES COMPANY OUTLOOK & ANNOUNCES CLOSING OF PRIVATE PLACEMENT OVERALLOTMENT
Good Natured Products Inc., formerly Solegear Bioplastic Technologies Inc., will begin trading on Oct. 31, 2017, on the TSX Venture Exchange under its new symbol GDNP. The company also provided a business outlook and announced the closing of an overallotment of the brokered private placement announced Aug. 1, 2017, for aggregate gross proceeds of $163,000, over and above the $1,091,000 announced on Oct. 5, 2017.
Outlook
Management continues to observe several global and North American macro and fundamental trends that should continue to drive demand for alternatives to petroleum-based plastics -- regulatory pressure, consumer demand for products that are free from hazardous chemicals, corporate sustainability objectives to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and increased attention on overall food safety and packaging materials.
As a result, management expects revenues for the fiscal year ending Feb. 28, 2018, to grow by 50 per cent year over year to approximately $3.1-million. The company will update revenue guidance following the release of Q3 results in January, 2018.
The company plans to continue its growth trend by executing on two key strategies: firstly, by driving organic growth through a land-and-expand sales strategy focusing on new customer acquisition, product line extensions, and cross-selling new and existing products to the existing customer base and increase average revenue per customer; the company will also continue to target new customers across defined geographic market segments that broaden the company's customer base and enhance its revenue and margin mix by product and customer.
Building on its catalogue of over 130 products, the company has a strong pipeline of new products under development that include: items targeting the replacement of polystyrene, home organizational totes and crates (which represent 35 per cent of a $16-billion (U.S.) market), and fresh prepared and ready-made meal packaging, which has experienced growth of 30 per cent since 2012.
Secondly, macro trends over the last three years have more than doubled the size of the bioplastic industry, creating a highly fragmented emerging industry of new entrants, longer-standing bioplastic companies and divisions of larger organizations. This presents significant consolidation opportunities that the company aims to pursue, creating an opportunity for further growth through strategic acquisitions that bring a new customer base, advanced intellectual property and/or an expanded product assortment, all of which enhance the company's dual-strategy approach.
The company has already demonstrated successful execution on this strategy with its acquisition of Lindar Corp.'s bioplastic division announced in December, 2016. Fulfilling the final expectations from this acquisition, the company anticipates the completion of an outsourced supply chain, fulfilment and warehousing agreement with Lindar by the end of the calendar year.
Overallotment of private placement
Today's closing of the overallotment is expected to be the final equity financing raised at the 10-cent share price. No additional brokered private placements are anticipated at this time.
In closing the overallotment, the company has issued an additional 1.63 million units at a price of 10 cents per unit. Each unit comprises one common share of the company and one common share purchase warrant. As a result, the company has a total of 93,140,854 common shares issued and outstanding.
Each warrant entitles its holder to acquire one additional share of the company at a price of 15 cents per share within the 24-month period following the closing of the private placement.
In connection with the closing of the overallotment, the company paid Gravitas Securities Inc., plus certain members of the selling group, an aggregate cash commission of $11,410. The company also issued to the agent and certain members of the agent's selling group non-transferable options to acquire 114,100 units from treasury at a price of 10 cents per unit, exercisable at any time within the 24-month period following the closing date of the private placement.
The closing of the private placement is subject to final approval by the TSX Venture Exchange. The securities issued by the company in connection with the second and final tranche of the private placement are subject to a four-month hold period expiring on March 1, 2018, under applicable securities laws.
The warrants are subject to an acceleration right in favour of the company that is exercisable if the shares trade at or above a volume-weighted average trading price of 20 cents on the TSX-V on any 20 non-consecutive trading days, following the expiry of the four-month statutory hold period beginning on the closing date of the applicable tranche of the private placement. If the acceleration right is exercised by the company, the warrants will expire on the 20th business day following the date that notice of acceleration is sent to the warrantholders.
About Good Natured Products Inc.
With over 100 plant-based food packaging designs, 10 grades of bioplastic rollstock sheets, 30 home and business organizational products, and a world-class team of scientists, business builders and retailers, Good Natured is producing and distributing one of North America's widest assortments of consumer products and packaging made from the highest possible percentage of renewable, plant-based materials and no BPAs (bisphenol As), phthalates or other chemicals of concern.
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