17.10.2024 17:38:09 CEST | Aqua Bio Technology ASA | Inside information

Reference is made to the stock exchange announcement by Aqua Bio Technology ("
ABT" or the "Company" and together with its consolidated subsidiaries, the "ABT
Group") on 12 June 2024 regarding the agreement in principle to acquire
Jetcarrier AS ("Jetcarrier" and together with its subsidiaries, the "Jetcarrier
Group"). The Company has today entered into a final share purchase agreement
(the "Agreement") with the shareholders of Jetcarrier to acquire all outstanding
shares in Jetcarrier (the "Acquisition").

 

The Jetcarrier Group is a logistic and customs clearance expert with advanced
technological capabilities. Jetcarrier Group handles millions of parcels for the
B2B and B2C market every year and has had steady growth since its inception in
2000. The revenues in 2023 were close to 350 MNOK with an EBITDA of 13 MNOK.

 

Jetcarrier Group's unaudited revenues for the first half of 2024 was close to
169 MNOK, showing a growth of over 20% compared to the same period in 2023. For
2024, Jetcarrier Group expects to generate revenues of 370 MNOK.

 

Growth and synergies 

 

With the acquisition of Jetcarrier, ABT secures a professional player in
shipping, customs clearance, logistics and storage, where the synergies with
ABT's existing operations are significant.

 

Jetcarrier is a company with clear growth ambitions, and ABT also has a clear
objective to assist in acquiring additional customers for Jetcarrier.

 

"We are very satisfied with entering into this agreement, and want to join
forces with ABT for several reasons. An obvious one is that there are
significant synergies with a number of the companies in the ABT Group. Another
is that this will also strengthen our overall volumes, which will be able to
give us significant advantages in shipping, customs clearance and forwarding.
Increased awareness of Jetcarrier is also very important, as we have strong
growth ambitions", says Terje Blytt, chairman of Jetcarrier.

 

Jetcarrier is one of the very few companies, together with DHL, UPS, FedEx,
Posten and PostNord, which has the right to mass collect customs clearance. This
means that you can bundle loads of packages to private individuals in one
customs clearance, which makes the process considerably more efficient.

 

All trade that is created in the ABT Group needs shipping and storage solutions,
but today the various Group companies uses a great variety of different
solutions for these services. This is where Jetcarrier will now step in and
optimize the solutions for the entire group.

 

For several of ABT's companies the costs associated with these services are
substantial. 

 

"For us, the agreement with Jetcarrier is absolutely brilliant. Especially for
Cover Brands and not least 3D Innovation Nordic are the costs associated with
shipping, customs clearance and storage substantial. In some cases for larger
agreements this can amount to as much as 40 per cent of our costs", says
Kristian Fiala, chairman of Cover Brands and board member of 3D Innovation
Nordic.

 

 

ABT believes that Jetcarrier's advanced technological capabilities will help ABT
improving its technological proficiency across its various operations.

 

Today, the Jetcarrier Group is working with renowned brands across various
sectors, including Nike, Asendia, Victoria's Secret, HP, YunExpress and several
others. These partnerships underscore Jetcarrier Group's position in global
logistics and its ability to meet diverse industry requirements.

Read more about Jetcarrier Group on: https://www.jetcarrier.com/site/

 

Further information about the Acquisition

 

Under the Agreement, the purchase price for the Acquisition shall be settled in
a combination of shares and cash, subject to certain conditions. NOK 57 million
will be settled through issuance of 19 million consideration shares in ABT to
the sellers, with a 36-month lock-up period. The cash consideration will be
total NOK 115 million, divided into five instalments:

 

 * NOK 30 million is due by 25 May 2025