Ceres raises $20M in Follow-On Offering of Common Stock

In California, Ceres announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 20,000,000 shares of common stock at a public offering price of $1.00 per share. Ceres also granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to 3,000,000 additional shares of common stock to cover over-allotments, if any. Ceres expects to receive approximately $20 million in gross proceeds, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses payable by the company. Ceres intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital.

Back in January, Ceres announced a net loss for its Q1 of the 2014 FY (the company is on a September fiscal) of $8.2 million on revenues of $0.8 million. Product sales remained relatively unchanged compared to the first quarter of 2012.

The company reported at the time that mill plantings for the 2013-2014 sorghum growing season in Brazil have been successfully completed with 49 customers, including mills and mill suppliers, across 55 different locations. These plantings consist primarily of smaller, multi-hybrid evaluations designed to determine yield potential and identify the best performing hybrids for specific regions. Growing conditions have been generally favorable to date across most regions, the company said.

Total plantings of the company’s commercial and pre-commercial sorghum hybrids cover approximately 1,000 hectares this season. Harvests are expected to commence in late February to early March and continue through May.

Also, during Q1, the company landed a U.S. patent related to a sorghum-derived gene promoter useful for regulating the expression of genes developed through biotechnology in various crops.

Going forward? “The adjustments we have made to our go-to-market approach and product development processes have had a positive impact on the start of the season,” said CEO Richard Hamilton. “Our primary goal is to duplicate the individual successes we demonstrated last season across a broader range of customers and geographies,” said Hamilton.