OptiCept enters rental agreement for JuiceCept in Central America

OptiCept has announced that it has signed a rental agreement with a customer in Central America for an OptiCept PEF system to increase pineapple juice extraction. If the evaluation during the rental period is successful and a potential long-term collaboration materializes, it could help OptiCept achieve a broader commercial scale in the fruit and juice industry. We note, however, that the project is at an early stage and the initial fee is relatively modest, so we are not changing our estimates.

The customer, Mexifrutas, is a leading juice producer, exporting juice and other products to more than 30 countries. Mexifrutas, which is based in Costa Rica, will rent OptiCept’s PEF system for several weeks to increase pineapple juice extraction. The customer will pay ~0.2 MSEK for the rental period and delivery is scheduled to take place as soon as possible.

OptiCept shows good momentum within liquid food

In the liquid food sector, OptiCept already has an ongoing collaboration with Dole, which initially focused on improving pineapple juice extraction in the Philippines. This partnership has since expanded to include a pilot project in Thailand. We believe that this valuable reference collaboration has likely played a key role in securing a new rental agreement in another market. If the trials with these two companies prove successful, we expect OptiCept to pursue additional partnerships, potentially similar to the structure already in place with FPS for solid foods. However, given the early stage of both projects, the structure and timing of any potential partnership remains uncertain and speculative.

Our current estimates for OptiCept’s FoodTech business in 2024 and 2025 are 33 MSEK and 62 MSEK, respectively. While successful tests and a potential partnership could support our growth estimates, OptiCept will also need to maintain deliveries to FPS, secure at least one additional order of a similar size and convert more of the order book into revenue to meet these estimates. As the collaboration is still in its early stages, we are not making any changes to our estimates at this time.