Bioexx a heavy trader as investors anticipate 2013 turnaround

Toronto-based Bioexx rose to prominence because it developed a patented system that used refrigerant-based solvents to extract protein from plants. Bioexx (TSX:BXI) hasn’t had much in the way of news recently, but shareholders are betting recent assurances from the company will soon give them something to sink their teeth into.

Shares of the company have spiked off recent lows, and are among the heaviest traders on the TSX of late.

Investors clearly want to see the removal of the insolvency risk that has sent shares of the company from $2.66 in January of 2011 to recent lows under a dime.

Management says recent financing activities mean that is exactly what is happening. In a press release for the company’s Q3 results in mid-November, CEO Chris Schnarr said the company is focused on the rebound that might be eluding casual observers.

“This has been a year of positive transition and forward progress. While it may not yet be visible to all, we have seen and continue to see the benefits of our commitment to the execution of our strategy, in each of our key mandates of strategic partnering, scale-up engineering, and cost reduction,” he said. “As we firm up our cash position through our current convertible debenture offering, we will remain focussed on these core tenets through the home stretch as the critical foundation for our next stages of growth.”

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GUESS WHO?

This Vancouver-based company has developed patented technology that has caught the eye of food giants such as Kellogg, Hormel and Sun Maid. This Cantech sponsor is now entering full commercialization. Click here to find out who this is….
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A week after the Q3 report, Bioexx announced it had closed a convertible debenture offering for gross proceeds of $2,925,000. Perhaps as encouraging to shareholders is the fact that company insiders purchased $716,000 of the offering.

Not all recent news about Bioexx’s numbers has been a cheery.

In April, the company the company began to auction off equipment it had taken a huge loss on. The impairment expense of the equipment, plus various related expenses such as three patents the company chose to abandon, added up to a carrying value of $9,620,972. This writedown was the biggest reason Bioexx’s losses leapt to $30.11-million from $14.9-million in fiscal 2010.

Toronto-based Bioexx rose to prominence because it developed a patented system that used refrigerant-based solvents to extract protein from plants. Until recently, the technology for extracting the protein from a plant wasn’t practical because the process required temperatures in excess of 100°C. When proteins are exposed to temperatures above 65°C they begin to denature, which reduces their nutritive value. Bioexx began commercial production of canola protein isolates at its flagship facility in Saskatoon early last summer. But, almost from the outset, the company faced delays in bringing the plant online, and generated only modest revenue from canola oil and canola meal sales.

At press time, shares of Bioexx were up 8.3% to $.13.

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