Healthier salt disruptor Microsalt has cut its sales forecast for the year after the US launched plans to phase out eight commonly used artificial food dyes by the end of 2026.
Microsalt, which supplies a healthier salt alternative to major snack manufacturers, said the US ban on petroleum-based food colourings, plus existing low sodium initiatives, would cause delays in new product formulations and cut sales for the year from an expected $2.5m to $2m.
It is the latest problem for the pioneering startup after it revealed unauthorised debt repayments of $500k to Tekcapital Europe earlier this month. The announcement added to a sell-off which has seen the company’s share price plummet almost 30% this year.
While an internal investigation concluded last week that the repayments “were paid early with no legal requirement for them to have been made at that time”, they did relate to “bona fide liabilities”.
The board added due to enhanced systems and controls implemented last year, “it would not be possible for this situation to recur”.
Microsalt will now hope its continued growth helps bring investors back on board, after its sales rose to $900k in the first six months of 2025, up from around $500k in the second half of last year.
Microsalt said “one of the world’s largest snack food manufacturers” was ramping up its orders in North America and while non-contractual, Microsalt now forecasts resultant sales will exceed $5m in 2026 and expand to $11m in 2027.
The company listed on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange in February last year with pledges that it was in early-stage discussions with three UK supermarkets to use its product in their own-label ranges.
MicroSalt was initially focused on the US, Mexico and Canada but recently starting selling in the UK and Belgium.
It raised $2.9m in February with $1.2m of this use invested to expand its inventory to meet the higher sales orders it expected in the second half of this year, prior to the US ban.
Rick Guiney, CEO of MicroSalt, said: “We are pleased with our H1 2025 sales results and continued scale up of our deployment with Customer 3 and its group.
“The robust sales pipeline and our ability to deliver consistent functionality across varied reformulation platforms underpins our confidence of future success.”
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