Seaweed-based fish prebiotic maker plans £6m market listing
A UK-headquartered company that makes feed ingredients from seaweed is planning to raise £6 million when it lists on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on Tuesday.
Ocean Harvest Technology (OHT) is headquartered at Theale, near Reading, and has R&D facilities in Galway, Ireland, and a production facility near Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. It earned total revenue of €3 million last year and had a three-year compound annual growth rate in product revenue of 46%. It expects to deliver substantial growth in 2023.
The company has spent 10 years building knowledge about the specific benefits its prebiotic products derived from green, brown, and red seaweeds can generate across multiple animal species, reports Feed Navigator website. Target species include salmon and shrimp.
OHT says its OceanFeed Aqua ingredient is employed in salmon and other finfish to improve fish performance and reduce mortality. In trials and commercial use in Southeast Asia, OceanFeed Aqua has been reported to reduce mortality and improve growth and feed efficiency in shrimp.
Prebiotic effect
Chief executive Mark Williams, former chief financial officer with black soldier fly farmer Insect Technology Group, told Feed Navigator that the prebiotic effect and the bio compounds in OHT’s seaweed blends have a consistent effect across species.
“Seaweed is sourced globally. I’d say about three-quarters comes from Southeast Asia. But the brown seaweeds come from the North Atlantic, It is all shipped out to our site in Vietnam,” Williams told Feed Navigator in a previous interview.
OHT states on its website that its OceanFeed products can help animals perform better in a sustainable way using functional feed ingredients derived from a natural source.
Nutrient absorption
“The unique bioactives in the various seaweed species contained in OceanFeed act as a unique prebiotic which has been shown to support animal performance in unmedicated feeds,” says OHT.
“OceanFeed seaweed products are specifically blended to
support the nutrient needs of ruminants, pigs, poultry, salmon, shrimp, horses
and pets. Clients have testified to the observed benefits of OceanFeed products
including their ability to support and maintain improvements in nutrient
absorption, growth and mortality reduction, enabling producers to improve the
sustainability of the food chain and increase farm profits.”
According to OHT, its agents, distributors and customers have conducted multiple formal and informal research and trials on target animal species to prove the improvements which OceanFeed can achieve. It adds that data and testimonials from these trials and experiences is available.
