ANN ARBOR—Officials at Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Inc. (OTC: KBLB) announced Monday that its shareholders voted at their annual meeting July 24 to approve uplisting the company’s stock to a national securities exchange.
Officials said attendance at the meeting greatly exceeded management’s expectations. Originally planned for 45 minutes, the meeting lasted for over three and a half hours, with Company management holding open question and answer sessions during both the formal and informal portions of the meeting.
Kim Thompson, the founder and CEO of Kraig Labs, provided a presentation to shareholders on the significance of the company strategy to uplist to a national exchange and the underlying efforts the company has made to prepare for this transition.
Jon Rice, the Company’s COO, shared an overview of the company’s multiphase production model, progress in the buildout of its overseas factory, and the company’s market strategies leveraging collaborations with leading brands in select market channels.
Several member of the Kraig Labs staff were in attendance at the meeting, including Dr Trevor Kane, the company’s newly appointed chief scientist. Samples of the company’s recombinant spider silk thread and silkworms, at each stage of the lifecycle, were on display for shareholders to see and touch.
“I believe that today’s shareholder vote and approval of all of the ballot measures puts Kraig Labs on a solid footing for our future growth,” Thompson said. “I would like to personally thank all of our shareholders for their support of the proposals. With their overwhelming support and encouragement we are emboldened to carry forward with our plans to disrupt the textile markets with our eco-friendly and affordable recombinant spider silk.”
Details of the voting results can be found on the Company’s website, www.KraigLabs.com/sec-filings/.
Shareholders also voted to return Thompson to the board by a vote of 812 million shares to 7.4 million. In an SEC filing, the company said it is working to add at least three independent directors to meet the listing requirements of a national securities exchange. Shareholders also approved a reverse stock split of between one-for-10 and one-for-40 by a vote of 747 million shares for to 62 million shares against. Kraig currently has more than 822 million shares of stock outstanding, and closed Monday at 22.89 cents per share, giving the company a market capitalization of roughly $188 million.
Kraig has spliced spider genes into silkworms, leading to silkworms that spin cocoons whose fibers have some of the strength properties of spiderweb fibers. Among the first applications of the textiles to be made from these super-strong fibers are protective garments for the military.
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