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DIGITAL ANGEL ELECTRONIC RFID LIVESTOCK TAG SALES FOR 2006
EXCEED TOTAL SALES FOR FULL YEAR 2005
Sales Expected to Reach Approximately 1.9 Million Tags
by End of September
SO. ST. PAUL, MN (September 14, 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 sales of its
electronic RFID (radio frequency identification) livestock tags in Canada
and the U.S. are expected to surpass 1.9 million tags by the end of
September which, after only nine months, is nearly 12 percent higher than
the total of 1.7 million sold in all of 2005.
The increased sales
are generally due to a greater awareness of the value that electronic tags
(e-tags) provide for livestock traceability, which is fueled in part by
the federal government-sponsored National Animal Identification System,
said President and CEO Kevin N. McGrath. McGrath noted that while the
national system is not due to be fully implemented until 2009, cattle
ranchers are beginning to make the move toward electronic tagging which
allows beef purchasers the ability to know where the cattle have been
throughout their lives.
“We are seeing an evolution in the cattle
ranching industry, particularly among the sophisticated, large cattle
buyers, toward electronic tagging,” McGrath said. “The full adoption of
the NAIS program is still in the future, but beef producers and the
general public are much more aware today of the importance of
traceability, particularly given the issues surrounding Mad Cow Disease
and other potential animal health issues such as Hoof and Mouth Disease.
We believe this general awareness is a trend that is here to
stay.”
The sales increases are generally coming from Digital
Angel’s larger U.S. and Canadian distributors who have traditionally been
leaders in driving the adoption of advances in cattle tagging in the
industry, McGrath added. Canada is also working toward implementing a
national livestock identification system and is further along in the
process than the U.S.
McGrath also noted that sales of visual tags,
another key element in Digital Angel’s livestock tagging business, remain
strong along with the increase in electronic tag sales. Many ranchers have
both tags on their cattle, he said.
Digital Angel also recently
announced that it had begun selling electronic livestock tags in Brazil,
the largest beef exporting country in the world and home to nearly 200
million cattle. Digital Angel currently has a livestock tag sales presence
in six Latin American countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile,
Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay.
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 http://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, that Applied
Digital Inc. owns 55.4% of the Company’s common stock, that 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
assets, 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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