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Note 1 - General Information
6 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Notes to Financial Statements  
Business Description and Basis of Presentation [Text Block]

(1) General Information

 

Description of the Company – Astrotech Corporation (Nasdaq: ASTC) (“Astrotech,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), a Delaware corporation organized in 1984, is a mass spectrometry company that launches, manages, and commercializes scalable companies based on its innovative core technology.

 

Basis of Presentation – The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial information and the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. Operating results for the three and six months ended December 31, 2023 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending June 30, 2024. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2023. Certain prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation or adjusted due to rounding and have had no impact on net income or stockholders' equity. 

 

Reverse Stock Split – On  December 5, 2022, the Company effectuated a reverse stock split of its shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”), whereby every thirty (30) pre-split shares of Common Stock were exchanged for one (1) post-split share of the Company's Common Stock (the “Reverse Stock Split”). No fractional shares were issued in connection with the Reverse Stock Split. Stockholders who would otherwise have held a fractional share of the Common Stock received a cash payment in lieu thereof. Numbers presented in these condensed consolidated financial statements have been adjusted to reflect the Reverse Stock Split.

 

Accounting Pronouncements –In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. ASU 2016-13 requires entities to use a forward-looking approach based on current expected credit losses (“CECL”) to estimate credit losses on certain types of financial instruments, including trade receivables. The standard became effective for the Company for financial statements periods beginning after December 15, 2022. The adoption of ASU 2016-13 did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

 

Recently Issued Accounting Standards Not Yet Adopted - In July 2023, the FASB issued ASU No 2023-03, “Presentation of Financial Statements (Topic 205), Income Statement—Reporting Comprehensive Income (Topic 220), Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity (Topic 480), Equity (Topic 505), and Compensation— Stock Compensation (Topic 718)” pursuant to SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 120, which adds interpretive guidance for public companies to consider when entering into share-based payment transactions while in possession of material non-public information. The effective date of this update is for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The Company does not expect the adoption to have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements.

 

In October 2023, the FASB issued ASU No 2023-06, “Disclosure Improvements: Codification Amendments in Response to the SEC’s Disclosure Update and Simplification Initiative” (“ASU 2023-06”). ASU 2023-06 will align the disclosure and presentation requirements in the FASB Accounting Standards Codification with the SEC’s regulations. The amendments in ASU 2023-06 will be applied prospectively and are effective when the SEC removes the related requirements from Regulations S-X or S-K. Any amendments the SEC does not remove by June 30, 2027 will not be effective. As the Company is currently subject to these SEC requirements, ASU 2023-06 is not expected to have a material effect on the Company’s current financial position, results of operations or financial statement disclosures.

 

In November 2023, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2023-07—Segment Reporting (Topic 280): Improvements to Reportable Segment Disclosures. All public entities will be required to report segment information in accordance with the new guidance starting in annual periods beginning after December 15, 2023. The Company expects to enhance annual segment reporting disclosures based on new requirements, if applicable.

 

In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU No 2023-09, “Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures” (“ASU 2023-09”). ASU 2023-09 expands disclosures in the rate reconciliation and requires disclosure of income taxes paid by jurisdiction. ASU 2023-09 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024. Early adoption is permitted. ASU 2023-09 should be applied prospectively; however, retrospective application is permitted. The Company does not expect ASU 2023-09 to have a material effect on the Company’s current financial position, results of operations or financial statement disclosures.

 

Our Business Units

 

Astrotech Technologies, Inc.

 

Astrotech Technologies, Inc. (“ATI”) owns and licenses the Astrotech Mass Spectrometer Technology™ (the “AMS Technology”), the platform mass spectrometry technology originally developed by 1st Detect Corporation (“1st Detect”). The AMS Technology has been designed to be inexpensive, smaller, and easier to use when compared to traditional mass spectrometers. Unlike other technologies, the AMS Technology works under ultra-high vacuum, which eliminates competing molecules, yielding higher resolution and fewer false alarms. The intellectual property includes 18 granted patents along with extensive trade secrets. With a number of diverse market opportunities for the core technology, ATI is structured to license the intellectual property for different fields of use. ATI currently licenses the AMS Technology to four wholly-owned subsidiaries of Astrotech on an exclusive basis, including to 1st Detect for use in the security and detection market, to AgLAB Inc. (“AgLAB”) for use in the agriculture market, and to BreathTech Corporation (“BreathTech”) for use in breath analysis applications.

 

The Company has announced the formation of a wholly owned subsidiary Pro-Control, Inc. ("Pro-Control"), and has entered into an exclusive license with Pro-Control to use the ATi Mass Spectrometer Technology for chemical manufacturing process control applications.  Pro-Control has announced the introduction of its proprietary Pro-Control Maximum Value Process™ and the Pro-Control-1000™ mass spectrometer which is designed to test, measure and increase potency, purity and weight yields in the chemical manufacturing processes.

 

ATI has contracted with various vendors to assist with the further development of our mass spectrometer products including the manufacturability and reliability of our systems.

 

1st Detect Corporation

 

1st Detect, a licensee of ATI for the security and detection market, has developed the TRACER 1000™, the world’s first mass spectrometry (“MS”) based explosives trace detector (“ETD”) certified by the European Civil Aviation Conference (“ECAC”). The TRACER 1000 was designed to outperform the ETDs currently used at airports, cargo and other secured facilities, and borders worldwide. The Company believes that ETD customers are unsatisfied with the currently deployed ETD technology, which is driven by ion mobility spectrometry (“IMS”). The Company further believes that some IMS-based ETDs have issues with false positives, as they often misidentify personal care products and other common household chemicals as explosives, causing facility shutdowns, unnecessary delays, frustration, and significant wasted security resources. In addition, there are hundreds of different types of explosives, but IMS-based ETDs have a very limited threat detection library reserved only for those few explosives of largest concern. Adding additional compounds to the detection library of an IMS-based ETD fundamentally reduces the instrument’s performance, further increasing the likelihood of false alarms. In contrast, adding additional compounds to the TRACER 1000’s detection library does not degrade its detection capabilities, as it has a virtually unlimited and easily expandable threat library.

 

In order to sell the TRACER 1000 to airport and cargo security customers in the European Union and certain other countries, we obtained ECAC certification. The Company is currently selling the TRACER 1000 to customers who accept ECAC certification.  As of December 31, 2023, the Company has deployed the TRACER 1000 in approximately 29 locations in 14 countries throughout Europe and Asia.

 

In the United States, the Company is working with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (“TSA”) towards air cargo certification. On March 27, 2018, the Company announced that the TRACER 1000 was accepted into TSA’s Air Cargo Screening Technology Qualification Test (“ACSQT”) and, on April 4, 2018, the Company announced that the TRACER 1000 entered into testing with the TSA for passenger screening at airports. On November 14, 2019, the Company announced that the TRACER 1000 had been selected by the TSA’s Innovation Task Force to conduct live checkpoint screening at Miami International Airport. With similar protocols as ECAC testing, the Company has received valuable feedback from all programs. Following ECAC certification and the Company’s early traction within the cargo market, testing for cargo security continued with the TSA. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all testing within the TSA was put on hold; however, cargo testing resumed during the summer of 2020 and on September 9, 2020 the Company announced that the TRACER 1000 passed the non-detection testing portion of the TSA’s ACSQT. The Company resumed detection and non-detection testing for cargo security with TSA subsequent to the end of the second quarter fiscal year 2024.  TSA cargo detection testing is the final step to be listed on the Air Cargo Screening Technology List ("ACSTL") as an “approved” device. If approved, we believe the TRACER 1000 will be approved for cargo security screening sales in the United States and field trials with the TSA will begin. If field trials are successful, the Tracer 1000 will be added to the "qualified" list.

 

AgLAB Inc.

 

AgLAB, an exclusive licensee of ATI for the agriculture market, has developed the AgLAB 1000™ series of mass spectrometers for use in the hemp and cannabis markets with initial focus on optimizing yields in the distillation process. The AgLAB product line is a derivative of the Company’s core AMS Technology. AgLAB has continued to conduct field trials to demonstrate that the AgLAB 1000-D2™ can be used in the distillation process to significantly improve the processing yields of tetrahydrocannabinol (“THC”) and cannabidiol (“CBD”) oil during distillation. The AgLAB 1000-D2 uses the Maximum Value Process solution (“MVP”) to analyze samples in real-time and assist the equipment operator determining the ideal settings required to maximize yields.  As part of our growth plan, we have leveraged this technology and launched a family of “process control” methods and solutions, which are the focus of Pro-Control.

 

Management believes the AgLAB 1000-D2 will deliver a compelling combination of cost and time savings while enhancing product quality and quantity for distillation processors of hemp and cannabis. The use of the AgLAB 1000-D2 should reduce waste from current distillation practices and result in a significantly improved product. Due in large part to the Company’s proprietary technology, we believe our status as the only provider of a mass spectrometry system gives us a distinct advantage in the industry.

 

Our competition consists of high performance liquid chromatography technology which analyzes THC and CBD derived from hemp. While we believe our technology has competitive advantages over the incumbent technology, there are no assurances of successfully competing in this market segment.

 

The hemp extraction market is a broad market and encompasses many startup companies and well-established companies.  There is no assurance this industry will remain profitable, given the evolving regulatory landscape and applicable state and federal restrictions.

 

During the first quarter of fiscal year 2023, AgLAB began the first production run of the AgLAB 1000-D2, and sales efforts are currently underway. On May 9, 2023, AgLAB announced the confirmed results from field trials using the AgLAB 1000-D2 mass spectrometer and the Maximum Value ProcessTM testing method (“AgLAB MVP”). AgLAB MVP is designed to improve yields and bottom-line profits for hemp (CBD) and cannabis (THC) producers of distilled oils. While we currently market primarily to distillers within the hemp industry, our AgLAB products also have the potential to serve distillers within the broader cannabis industry in the future, in which case our risk exposure would likely increase and could have a detrimental effect on our business.   

 

BreathTech Corporation

 

BreathTech, an exclusive licensee of ATI for use in breath analysis applications, is developing the BreathTest-1000™, a breath analysis tool to screen for VOC metabolites found in a person’s breath that could indicate they may have a compromised condition including but not limited to a bacterial or viral infection. The Company believes that new tools to more quickly identify an infection may be present remain of the utmost importance in the battle against COVID-19 and other diseases.

 

In June 2022, the Company expanded its existing study with Cleveland Clinic, initially focused on COVID-19 to use the BreathTest-1000 to screen for a variety of diseases spanning the entire body. The study focuses on detecting bloodstream infections, respiratory infections such as influenza types A and B and respiratory syncytial virus (“RSV”), carriage of Staphylococcus aureus, and Clostridioides difficile (“C. diff”) infections.

 

In November 2022, BreathTech announced that, based on analysis of data from testing of breath samples procured during library development, the BreathTest-1000™ lung disease screening instrument can clearly distinguish between infected and healthy breath samples. This analysis and conclusion marks a significant milestone in the development of the BreathTest-1000™ lung disease screening instrument.

 

Pro-Control, Inc.

 

Pro-Control is focused on applying the AMS Technology in chemical manufacturing process control applications  The Pro-Control Maximum Value Process™ and the Pro-Control-1000™ mass spectrometer are designed to test, measure and increase potency, purity and weight yields in the chemical manufacturing processes.