Philom Bios Inc., target of an unsuccessful hostile takeover bid earlier this year, has reported record financial results for 2001.
Cash earnings from operations doubled to $2.5 million in the fiscal year ending June 30, while revenues increased by 32 percent to $8.7 million.
The company didn’t release other details of its financial performance, saying those will be contained in the annual report mailed to shareholders in mid-October.
The Saskatoon-based inoculant firm, which makes products such as JumpStart, TagTeam and N-Prove, has recorded an annual growth in revenue of 24.5 percent over the past four years and has targeted a rate of 30 percent over the next few years.
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Company president John Cross said the prescription for success is simple: each year it sells more products to more farmers who apply them to more crops on more acres.
He expects the company’s strong performance to continue in the coming year as it prepares to expand beyond its prairie base for the first time.
He said the company had “very exciting results” at more than 60 demonstration plots in North Dakota last year for JumpStart and TagTeam.
“Based on that, we’ll be launching sales into North Dakota this coming season.”
Cross said the company’s strong brand recognition among retailers and farmers puts it “very far ahead’ of the competition.
Another factor in last year’s growth was the expansion in chickpea acreage, which increased demand for TagTeam, a nitrogen and phosphate inoculant designed for pulse crops.
Meanwhile, the firm said it will soon release the results of an internal study into ways to allow shareholders to maximize the value of their shares.
“I expect there will be something in the next several weeks or month or so,” Cross said Oct. 3.
Philom Bios set up a special internal committee to review the share issue after rival inoculant maker MicroBio Rhizogen Corp. agreed to abandon its takeover bid in May.
Cross said the committee has been looking for ways to allow its roughly 100 shareholders to achieve the maximum return on their investment and to make it easier for buyers and sellers of shares to strike deals.
“We want to accommodate anyone who wants to liquidate their position.”
Asked if those options include an arrangement with MBR, Cross said nothing has been ruled out.
“The purpose of the committee was to look at every conceivable pathway that could maximize shareholder value,” he said.
Back in March 2000, MBR offered to buy all outstanding shares of Philom Bios for $2.75 a share. Philom Bios’ board of directors rejected the offer and said the shares’ true value was between $5 and $6.36.
MBR responded with an offer of $5 and a proposal to amalgamate the two companies.
That offer expired May 14, at which time the two companies met to discuss ways to resolve the situation in a friendly way. As part of the agreement, Philom Bios allowed MBR full access to its books to ascertain the company’s true value.
