Neve Yarak, Israel, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Save Foods, Inc. (Nasdaq: SVFD) (FSE:80W) (“Save Foods” or the “Company”), an agri-food tech company specializing in eco crop protection that helps to reduce food waste and ensure food safety while reducing the use of pesticides issued a letter to shareholders:
Dear Stockholders:
Save Foods’ transformation from R&D to commercialization continues to accelerate, and on behalf of our entire team, we want to thank our valued stockholders for their continued support as we continue to execute on our mission to deliver solutions that empower and assist growers, packers and food retailers in their efforts to reduce their waste and increase revenue.
Prior to our up-list to Nasdaq just over one year ago in May 2021, we were an R&D company introducing our first treatment for citrus fruit. As of today, we are now serving customers with product offerings that treat avocados, mangos, pears, dates, bell peppers and blueberries. Likewise, to address the rapidly growing demand for these product offerings, we have expanded our operational footprint worldwide by more than doubling our team, including the addition of seven new representative offices in key exporting countries (Mexico, Peru, Argentina, South Africa, Turkey, Egypt, and Morocco).
For those that have been following our transformation, you likely have noticed an increased pace of pilot program announcements. We now have more than 60 active pilot programs underway in 12 regions around the world and we expect this number to increase. We believe this growth, in a traditionally conservative industry resistant to change, signals that we are heading in an exciting direction that we anticipate to translate into revenue growth beginning in the fourth quarter of 2022 as the citrus season in the northern hemisphere gets underway in the coming months.
Transition from R&D to Commercial Operations
The many successes of the past 15 months are underpinned by more than five years of R&D and commercial validation, which have positioned Save Foods extremely well as we transition to full-scale revenue-generating operations and what we believe will be an extended period of growth.
While running our first pilot programs with potential customers, we not only validated the efficacy, efficiency and quick implementation of our treatments, we were also able to test and validate our pricing and business models to ensure a balance between steady revenue growth for our Company while also allowing our treatments to easily fit into the workflow of packing houses without added implementation costs, which we believe to be a key driver behind increased commercial adoption from packers.
The success of our first pilots, which we conducted for two recognized industry leaders (California citrus for Sun Pacific’s Cuties brand and Mexican limes for SiCar Farms), provided our team with valuable case studies that have paved the way for securing growing interest in our treatment solutions from packers globally.
Expanding Pilot Programs
As mentioned earlier, Save Foods is now conducting more than 60 pilot programs in 12 growing regions globally. Our pilots have played an important role as we have introduced our solution to the packing industry, which is a notably traditional, low-margin industry that for decades has relied on the same chemical pesticides to protect the produce they pack and ship.
While our pilots provide a low-risk way for potential customers to verify the efficacy, efficiency and consistency of our treatments, as well as our claim of “easy and fast implementation,” these programs do require resource commitments from packers, including human power and production lines. These serious commitments have proven to represent a strong signal of interest from potential customers. As we gain further traction in the market, and hope that our solutions become an industry standard, we believe the need for pilot programs will precipitously decrease. In fact, confirming this trend is now underway as we are already seeing packing houses willing to pay to participate in new pilot programs.
Regulations Driving Near-Term Opportunity
Tightening global regulations, mainly in the European Union, which is enforcing some of the world’s strongest restrictions regarding the use of pesticides on produce, are contributing to increased interest in Save Foods’ treatments globally.
Packers from major exporting countries – including countries our team is actively targeting – must adopt new solutions to address these changing market dynamics, and our now proven treatments across a variety of produce types are increasingly becoming the go-to solution to overcome this problem.
We intend to remain focused on expanding our operations in Europe and the countries that export to it as the full implementation of the European Union’s “farm to fork” strategy/initiative continues.
Overcoming Seasonality
We recognize that seasonality remains a major challenge in the fresh produce industry, and accordingly our global expansion efforts have targeted potential customers in both the northern and southern hemispheres.
Since our up-list to Nasdaq in May 2021, we have added pilot programs in Mexico, Peru, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, Spain, and the Philippines. Looking ahead, we have near-term plans to add pilots in Thailand, South Korea, Argentina, Columbia and Chile.
Our ability to operate pilots for an increasing number of packers globally is in part driven by the development and addition of application protocols covering more fruits and vegetables. In Israel, where much of our R&D work is conducted, we are now running pilots with local partners, such as Israel’s Mehadrin, on apples, table grapes, lychee and berries.
As we continue to expand operations globally, we have optimized the manufacturing process of our treatments to support increasing commercial demand from customers. In addition to production sites in Israel and the US, we have added manufacturing capabilities in South Africa. We believe this will enable us to quickly scale our operations with minimal added costs, which in turn will allow us to properly support the conversion of pilot programs into paying customer accounts in both hemispheres.
R&D: Driving Future Growth
To maintain our competitive edge and deliver on our goal of becoming the new industry standard for improving safety and reducing waste of fresh produce, our team is focused on a multi-pronged approach that includes both internal and external initiatives.
Internally, our team is constantly evaluating the potential of treatment solutions across an ever-wider array of fruits and vegetables, assessing the quality by weight, color, firmness and more in order to ensure we deliver the best possible products to the market.
While our efforts to-date have been primarily targeted at post-harvest treatment solutions, our R&D team is expected to introduce a new pre-harvest treatment that could further expand our market potential. Additionally, our team is optimizing and developing a new state-of-the-art delivery system for our treatments that will provide data and real-time monitoring to provide packers and growers with further benefits.
In additional to our internal development efforts, our team is continually evaluating the potential to acquire technologies that are complementary to our treatment solutions, such as new coatings or alternative packaging that can provide a controlled environment with the goal to slow down the natural aging/ripening of produce. The ability to control both aging and diseases will provide us with a comprehensive, end-to-end solution that can deliver the best possible results.
Looking ahead, our team is pursuing collaboration opportunities with large food retailers and fresh produce distributors to further commercialize our products and expedite the introduction of our treatments among packing houses. Retailers and distributors have a vested interest to ensure the best quality produce and therefore can dictate the treatment used by packers. Longer-term, we believe we can deliver treatments for use outside of produce, covering food applications such as meat, fish, and eggs, as well as consumer use applications for the home.
Strengthened Financial Foundation as Revenue Growth Accelerates
With a wealth of opportunities ahead and our operational momentum increasing, we completed a follow-on offering in August 2022 to further support our near-term growth initiatives. We believe this funding will help to ensure the continued acceleration of our growth and market expansion as we seek to convert our growing number of active pilot programs into commercial sales.
Save Foods presents a unique green treatment that could efficiently replace the various hazardous chemicals used today in our food supply chain and at the same time address both food waste and food safety.
We are helping growers, packers, and food retailers to minimize waste, maximize supply chain efficiencies, increase their revenues and extend their market reach while delivering superior quality fruits and vegetables, and in doing so, we believe we can create significant stockholder value.
We are just getting started in this exciting and massive market opportunity and look forward to sharing our continued successes with you as we execute on our mission of reducing food waste and ensuring food safety.
Sincerely,
Amitai Weis
Chairman, Save Foods, Inc.
David Palach
CEO, Save Foods, Inc.
Lital Barda
CFO – SAVE FOODS INC.\LTD
Dan Sztybel
CEO, Save Foods Ltd.
Neta Matis, PhD
COO & Head of Science, Save Foods Ltd.
For more information visit our website: SAVE FOODS – SAVE FOODS
Forward-looking Statements:
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other Federal securities laws. Words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates” and similar expressions or variations of such words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. For example, the Company is using forward-looking statements when it discusses the potential of its products, revenue growth transitioning to full-scale revenue-generating operations, expanding pilot programs, gaining further traction in the market, tightening of global regulations, remaining focused on expanding operations in various countries, overcoming seasonality, expanding operations globally, optimizing and developing a new state-of-the-art delivery system for our treatments that will provide data and real-time monitoring to provide packers and growers with further benefits, the potential to acquire technologies that are complementary to our treatment solutions, and pursuing collaboration opportunities with large food retailers and fresh produce distributors to expedite the introduction of our treatments among packing houses. Because such statements deal with future events and are based on our current expectations, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those described in or implied by the statements in this press release. The forward-looking statements contained or implied in this press release are subject to other risks and uncertainties, including market conditions and the satisfaction of all conditions to, and the closing of, the offering, as well as those discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in Save Foods’ Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 31, 2022, Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on May 16, 2022 and August 15, 2022, and in any subsequent filings with the SEC. Except as otherwise required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. References and links to websites have been provided as a convenience, and the information contained on such websites is not incorporated by reference into this press release. We are not responsible for the contents of third-party websites.
Media Contact:
US Investor Relations:
Dean Fetro
RedChip Companies Inc.
1-800-RED-CHIP (733-2447)
Or 407-571-0912
SVFD@redchip.com
German Investor Relations:
Dr Eva Reuter
e.reuter@dr-reuter.eu
