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DIGITAL ANGEL CORPORATION ENTERS SOUTH AFRICAN LIVESTOCK TAGGING
MARKET Partnership with IdAfrica Provides Digital Angel Products Entry
into Cattle, Sheep Markets in South Africa, Neighboring
Countries
SO. ST. PAUL, MN and HVIDORE, DENMARK (March 29, 2006) … Digital
Angel Corporation (Amex: DOC), an advanced technology company in the
field of rapid and accurate identification, location tracking, and
condition monitoring of high-value assets, announced today that its
Denmark-based subsidiary, Daploma International A/S, has signed an
exclusive three-year distribution agreement with South Africa-based
IdAfrica Ltd. to provide Digital Angel products in the cattle and sheep
markets in South Africa. The agreement, which includes an initial order
for 100,000 visual ear tags and a minimum order of 2 million tags during
the first year, allows IdAfrica to also sell the Company’s visual and
electronic RFID ear tags and related products on a non-exclusive basis in
neighboring African countries such as Namibia, Lesotho and Madagascar, all
of which have significant cattle populations.
South Africa is home
to an estimated 8 million cattle and 24 million sheep. Namibia, Lesotho
and Madagascar have approximately 1.5 million, 2.5 million and 15 million
cattle, respectively.
“This agreement is important strategically
for us because it opens up an entire new continent for our livestock
tagging business,” said Digital Angel President and CEO Kevin N. McGrath.
“We are now selling our livestock products in North America, South
America, Europe and Africa. Furthermore, it extends our relationship with
a respected company that we have previously worked with in the pet and
wildlife tagging business. We believe this agreement offers us a
tremendous potential to expand our business throughout Africa, a virtually
untapped market.”
Currently, South African cattle and sheep
ranchers tag their animals for herd management purposes only, not for
source tracking for disease management. But most livestock experts predict
that the export competition between South Africa, Australia and South
America for the lucrative European markets will quicken the evolution to
electronic RFID tagging that major importers are starting to demand.
“We believe more stringent tagging demands will soon fall upon
African ranchers so it is very important for us to get a foothold in the
African continent now and be represented and known in the local industry
as the tagging market begins to take off,” McGrath added.
IdAfrica
is a sister company to Identipet, a South African supplier of animal
identification equipment that Digital Angel has worked closely with in the
pet and wildlife tagging business for the past seven years. This agreement
calls for IdAfrica to now focus solely on the livestock market in
Africa.
About Digital Angel Corporation
Digital Angel
Corporation develops and deploys sensor and communications technologies
that enable rapid and accurate identification, location tracking, and
condition monitoring of high-value assets. Applications for the Company’s
products include identification and monitoring of humans, pets, fish,
poultry and livestock through its patented implantable microchips;
location tracking and message monitoring of vehicles and aircraft in
remote locations through systems that integrate GPS and geosynchronous
satellite communications; and monitoring of asset conditions such as
temperature and movement, through advanced miniature
sensors. . Digital Angel Corporation is majority-owned by Applied
Digital Inc. (Nasdaq:ADSX). For more information about Digital Angel,
please visit www.DigitalAngelCorp.com.
The statements
in this press release that are not strictly historical, are
"forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 and are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created by these
sections. The forward-looking statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties and the actual results that the Company achieves may differ
materially from these forward-looking statements due to such risks and
uncertainties, including, but not limited to, Applied Digital Solutions,
Inc. owns 55.4% of the Company’s common stock, new accounting
pronouncements regarding expensing of share based compensation may impact
the Company’s future results of operations, the Company may continue to
incur net losses, infringement by third parties on the Company’s
intellectual property or development of substantially equivalent
proprietary technology by the Company’s competitors could negatively
impact the Company’s business, domestic and foreign government regulation
and other factors could impair the Company’s ability to develop and sell
its products in certain markets, the Company relies on sales to government
contractors for its animal identification and search and rescue beacon
products, and any decline in the demand by these customers for such
products could negatively affect the Company’s business, the Company
depends on a single production arrangement for its patented
syringe-injectable microchips, and the loss of or any significant
reduction in the production could have an adverse effect on the Company’s
business, technological change could cause the Company’s products to
become obsolete, the loss of one of the Company’s principal customers
could negatively impact the Company’s net revenue, the Company’s earnings
will decline if the Company writes off goodwill and other intangible
assts, options and warrants outstanding and available for issuance may
adversely affect the market price of the Company’s common stock, currency
exchange rate fluctuations could have an adverse effect on the Company’s
sales and financial results, the Company depends on a small team of senior
management. A detailed statement of risks and uncertainties is contained
in the Company’s reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including in particular the Company’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
December 31, 2005. Investors and stockholders are urged to read this
document carefully. The Company can offer no assurances that any
projections, assumptions or forecasts made or discussed in this release
will be met, and investors should understand the risks of investing solely
due to such projections. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise
any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances
that may arise after the date of this press release.
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