Norofert wants to increase its capital

The Board of Directors of organic agricultural input producer and agricultural biotechnology provider Norofert has called shareholders to approve a capital increase on October 9, according to a company report published on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) website.

The market operation involves the issuance of nearly 3.48 million new shares, with a nominal value of 0.4 lei, at a price that has not yet been established.

"The share capital increase takes place in the context of expanding the operational activity, in line with the implementation of Norofert's announced medium and long-term development strategy, with the following objectives:

1.Supporting strategic investments, especially in developing the capacities of the research and multiplication laboratory of microorganisms, expanding the irrigation system at the Zimnicea farm, as well as consolidating the presence on foreign markets (USA and Brazil);

2.Ensuring the working capital necessary to cope with a growing demand for the company's products;

3.Reducing the level of indebtedness and increasing equity, including by pursuing the conversion, within the share capital increase, of the amounts of 2.1 million lei and 0.91 million lei previously credited to the company by Vlad-Andrei Popescu and Marian-Marius Alexe, respectively," the report states.

To subscribe for a new share within the capital increase, a shareholder will need to hold five preference rights, which will not be tradable. "The shares that will not be subscribed during the period of exercising the pre-emptive right will be offered within a private placement, and those that remain unsubscribed will be canceled, the share capital will be increased only by the value of the effective subscriptions," the BVB report states.

The subscription price will be established by decision of the Board of Directors, and the technical details regarding the subscription period and procedure will be included in the public offering prospectus approved by the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF), the report also states.

For the first quarter of this year, Norofert reported consolidated operating income of 14.9 million lei, 15.8% more than in the first quarter of last year, while the net result amounted to 5.3 million lei, much higher than that in the January-March 2024 period, of 1,414 lei. The stock market valuation of the agribusiness company amounts to 65 million lei.