Digital Angel Corporation Enters South African Livestock Tagging Market Through Exclusive Distribution Agreement
30 March 2006 - 12:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
Partnership with IdAfrica Provides Digital Angel Products Entry
into Cattle, Sheep Markets in South Africa, Neighboring Countries
SO. ST. PAUL, Minn. and HVIDORE, Denmark, March 29
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- 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 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, 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. Contact: Allen & Caron Inc Michael
Lucarelli (investors) Len Hall (media) 212-691-8087 949-474-4300
DATASOURCE: Digital Angel Corporation CONTACT: Michael Lucarelli
(investors), +1-212-691-8087, , or Len Hall (media),
+1-949-474-4300, , both of Allen & Caron Inc, for Digital Angel
Corporation Web site: http://www.digitalangelcorp.com/
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