Easter eggs and endorphins

Food on the Move: FFF’s weekly roundup of listed FoodTech’s movers & shakers

Better week for FFF’s listed FoodTech Space.  Let’s face it, the only way was up after the pre-Easter funk markets had found themselves in. Perhaps all those Easter egg-fuelled endorphins helped.  Whatever the reason, the week ended 14 April 2023 saw 26 share price risers, 18 fallers and five non-movers.  And the spread between risers and fallers would have been even wider had it not been for yet another bad week for BOXED (BOXD) and Kalera (KAL) both of which, as covered in Food on the Move’s “The next chapter?”, were forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week.

No new news out from BOXD, but that didn’t stop shares in the online grocer from shedding half their value to finish the week at USD0.014.  BOXD shares could soon have company in the OTC market after vertical farmer Kalera announced it had “…received a delisting notification from Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (Nasdaq) advising the Company that Nasdaq would suspend trading of the Company’s common stock as of the opening of business on April 17, 2023.” Cue stampede to sell – shares closed off 46% at US$1.12.

Enough bad news.  Time for some good news stories, starting with the week’s top performer Agrify (AGFY). Shares closed up 27% to USD0.182 after the cannabis solutions provider announced the “Completion of Total Turnkey Cultivation Facility Denver Greens Pending Final Inspection”.  The announcement went on to say: “Denver Greens (Denver, CO) is anticipated to become the new operating partner of Agrify through the acquisition of the total turnkey (TTK) project Greenstone, pending execution of documentation and final approval from the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED).”

In need of a brief explainer? The announcement continued: “The Agrify TTK Solution is a first-of-its-kind program in which Agrify engages with qualified cannabis operators to provide critical support including: design and buildout of cultivation and extraction facilities, providing state-of-the-art cultivation and extraction equipment, process design, training, implementation, proven grow recipes, product formulations, and data analytics. Phase 1 of major construction is complete at Denver Greens, an approximately 9,000 sq. ft. facility with plans for both cultivation and extraction.”  The news was enough to see the shares finish the week on a high.

Finally, Agronomics (ANIC) tacked on another 15%.  The shares have been in demand ever since the investor in cellular agriculture revealed Executive Director Jim Mellon had acquired a total of 716,001 shares in the company for a combined cost of £74,863 in late March.  The shares are currently trading around a third higher at 14p a share, meaning Mr Mellon’s recently acquired 716,001 shares are now worth a cool £100,000. Presumably, there’s little or no need for endorphins to work their stress-busting magic in the Mellon household, provided of course those ANIC shares continue their strong run…