BioLargo Inc (OTCQB:BLGO) said 2021 revenue increased by single digits year-over-year as the company advanced its cleantech and engineering solutions.
Consolidated revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021, was $2,531,000, which was a 4% increase over 2020. Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2021 was $784,000, a 10% quarter-over-quarter increase.
The company also noted it continued its trend of reducing debt from its balance sheet.
BioLargo’s said its total debt, including that of its partially owned subsidiary Clyra Medical Technologies, was reduced from $2.9 million as of December 31, 2020, to $681,000 as of December 31, 2021, with the balance composed of obligations with favorable terms, including low-interest government loans.
READ: BioLargo says its three current projects are 'major growth catalysts'
Also, total liabilities were reduced by over $3 million, from $5.2 million to $2.1 million, while expenses related to interest and extinguishment of debt were reduced by $2.2 million.
The company said it ended the year with $1.8 million in current assets, which included cash, accounts receivable, inventories, and pre-paid expenses.
Meanwhile, BioLargo noted it achieve a few critical milestones in 2021 -- namely the advancement of its BioLargo Aqueous Electrostatic Concentrator (AEC) toward commercial readiness.
The technology was used to treat PFAS-contaminated water provided by two prospective customers: a large municipality in Southern California, and a federal government agency. In both cases, the AEC was shown to eliminate (to a level of ‘non-detect') a variety of PFAS compounds from the water, even in the presence of high salinity, which can often be a barrier for water treatment technologies.
BioLargo said its management is confident that the results of these in-house studies will lead to in-field demonstration pilots, commercial trials, and commercial sales.
BioLargo also engineered and manufactured a commercial prototype of the "minimal liquid discharge" (MLD) water treatment system invented by North America's largest privately held water treatment company, Garratt-Callahan. The MLD system passed its factory acceptance testing and was proven to remove over 98% of target contaminants from real wastewater provided by Garratt-Callahan customers. A commercial trailer-mounted unit is now being constructed and will be used for on-site demonstration with a Garratt-Callahan customer.
Furthermore, BioLargo established a partnership with Ikigai Marketing Works, LLC to support the roll-out of a new pet odor control product based on BioLargo's proprietary technology, ultimately aimed at adoption by big-box retailers. Ikigai completed a test-marketing phase to assess the likelihood that the new brand would be a commercial success and subsequently made orders for products (manufactured by BioLargo) that exceed both partners' initial projections
'Pivotal' year
CEO Dennis Calvert said 2021 was “pivotal” for the company.
"The credibility we have built as cleantech innovators, solution providers, and engineering project integrators has resulted in a steady increase in organic growth and enabled us to secure remarkable channel partners like Garratt-Callahan and Ikigai Marketing Works to promote accelerated growth,” he said.
“Our engineering division broke revenue records in both the third and fourth quarters of last year. And notably, our balance sheet continued to improve throughout 2021 while we continued to invest in the development and launch of our innovative technologies."
He added: "We are also working with a number of new industry champions and distributors that are just getting started representing our products and services and look forward to sharing more information about their progress in the future. We expect to make a big splash in the immediate future with our Aqueous Electrostatic Concentrator (AEC) PFAS treatment system, including with new channel partnerships, and we soon expect to secure our first commercial accounts with our Advanced Oxidation System (AOS) energy-efficient water treatment technology."
Contact the author: patrick@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow him on Twitter @PatrickMGraham