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NASDAQ:HOVR11/13/2025

Pelican Way Research Short Report on HOVR

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HOVR Research Dashboard - Pelican Way Research

NEW HORIZON AIRCRAFT $HOVR

Pelican Way Research • Published November 13, 2025 • "A Joke of an eVTOL Company With Zero Prospects"

CORE INVESTMENT THESIS

HOVR is a prospectless eVTOL company scraping by on endless dilution, operating out of a tiny building in a rural airport and a residential home occupied by the CEO's wife, with an auditor being sued for gross negligence in a Ponzi fraud case.

After more than a decade of R&D, the company has no full-scale aircraft, no type certification in progress, and no clear commercial pathway. HOVR operates from comically small facilities and has only a 50% scale model while competitors like JOBY spent more than 100X on R&D. Pelican Way Research concludes that HOVR is misleading investors and the stock is headed materially lower given its lack of real product, consistent disregard for shareholder safety, and serial dilution.

COMPANY OVERVIEW

COMPANY NAME
New Horizon Aircraft Ltd.
Formerly Astro Aerospace
HEADQUARTERS
🇨🇦 Canada
Nasdaq Listed
CURRENT BUSINESS
eVTOL Development
Developing 7-seat hybrid-electric Cavorite X7
CEO
Brandon Robinson
Compensation up 172% to C$700k in 2025
CASH BALANCE
~$20 million
As of August 31, 2025
PRIMARY RISK
Extreme Dilution
Shares jumped from 11mm to 40.9mm (236% dilution)

KEY RED FLAGS

R&D SPENDING (TTM)
$4.4M

JOBY spent $447M (100X more) and ACHR spent $357M (80X more) in FY24. HOVR is decades behind peers in development.

INSIDER SELLING
$3.5M

Management sold 1.1 million shares at $3-$4 before authorizing additional dilution. Executives dumping shares while retail investors left holding the bag.

SHAREHOLDER DILUTION
236%

Diluted shares exploded from 11 million in 2024 to 40.9 million by October 2025. Management dilutes shareholders to fund their science project.

EXECUTIVE OVERCOMPENSATION
+172%

CEO compensation jumped 172% to C$700k, COO up 147%, CFO up 205%. Management paid copiously while diluting shareholders without building a viable product.

R&D SPENDING COMPARISON: HOVR vs Competitors (FY24)

HOVR
$4.4M
TTM R&D Spending
JOBY
$447M
100X More Than HOVR
ACHR
$357M
80X More Than HOVR

Despite spending negligible amounts, HOVR claims to compete with industry leaders who have spent hundreds of millions developing full-scale aircraft.

EXTREME SHAREHOLDER DILUTION

11M
2024 Shares
40.9M
Oct 2025 Shares
DILUTION INCREASE
+236%

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION INCREASES (CAD)

$257K
$700K
CEO (+172%)
$198K
$489K
COO (+147%)
$133K
$405K
CFO (+205%)

Management being paid copious amounts to dilute shareholders without building a viable eVTOL.

KEY PLAYERS

Brandon Robinson
CEO & Founder

Compensation increased 172% to C$700k in 2025. Sold shares before authorizing additional dilution. Lists his wife's residential home as a company facility without disclosure in SEC filings.

⚠️ Potential related party issue with undisclosed residential "facility"
Jason O'Neill
Chief Operating Officer

Compensation increased 147% to C$489k in 2025. Part of management team that sold $3.5M in shares while diluting retail shareholders 236%.

⚠️ Insider selling before dilution events
Brian Merker
Chief Financial Officer

Compensation increased 205% to C$405k in 2025. Previously worked with Discovery Air Chile, which later signed a questionable LOI that wasn't actually about leasing aircraft.

⚠️ Potential conflict with Discovery Air Chile LOI
MNP LLP
Current Auditor

Became HOVR's auditor after the company restated financials. Currently being sued for gross negligence tied to an alleged fraud/Ponzi scheme case unrelated to HOVR.

⚠️ Under litigation for gross negligence in separate fraud case
Davin Kazama & Dustin Shindo
Pono Capital Three SPAC Sponsors

Brought HOVR public via SPAC in last-minute transaction after originally wanting Japanese companies. Shindo previously led Hoku Corp (delisted/bankrupt) and other poorly-performing SPACs.

⚠️ Track record of failed SPACs and delistings
Astro Aerospace
Former Parent Company (9.9% Stake)

Acquired Horizon for $16M in 2021. Later collapsed and was delisted around 2023 but retained a 9.9% stake from which they profited despite being defunct.

Defunct company that somehow profited from HOVR listing

ADDITIONAL RED FLAGS

🏚️ Comically Small Facilities

HOVR lists two "facilities": a tiny hangar at a rural airport (so small you couldn't fit a full-size eVTOL) and a residential house occupied by the CEO's wife. Management said "no one should look into it" when asked about the house.

❓ Local Obscurity

Site visit revealed airport restaurant waitresses had never seen HOVR operating and didn't know what the company did. The airport manager called it "only an experimental thing" still in design phase with just a small-scale model.

🛩️ Toy Airplane

Current model is only 50% scale of eventual target. After a decade of R&D, HOVR has no full-scale aircraft, never finished original 5-seater, yet claims it can leap to a 7-seat aircraft. Own filings admit critical elements "yet to be designed, produced, and tested."

📰 Incoherent PR Strategy

Discovery Air Chile LOI announced for 2028 delivery despite having no full-scale aircraft or certification. CEO later admitted LOI wasn't about leasing but "future flight-data sharing." Pays $50k/year to Zacks for promotional research.

🏆 Can't Compete

Lilium pursued similar 7-seat aircraft, built full-scale prototypes, and still went bankrupt. Airbus suspended its eVTOL program. HOVR claims to compete with JOBY and ACHR on its website despite having only $20M cash vs their hundreds of millions in R&D.

📉 Zero Progress

Photos from 2021, 2022, and 2025 show virtually identical prototypes. Industry experts estimate $141M-$200M needed just for certification of a single aircraft. HOVR has ~$20M cash and no certification in progress.

Pelican Way Research's Verdict

According to Pelican Way Research, New Horizon Aircraft ($HOVR) is a prospectless eVTOL company misleading investors about its technical capabilities and competitive position. After more than a decade of R&D, the company operates from comically small facilities (including the CEO's wife's house), has no full-scale aircraft, no type certification in progress, and no clear commercial pathway. Despite this, management increased executive compensation dramatically (CEO up 172% to C$700k) while diluting shareholders 236% and selling $3.5M in personal shares before authorizing further dilution.

HOVR spent only $4.4M on R&D while competitors like JOBY and ACHR spent $447M and $357M respectively - approximately 100X and 80X more. The company's auditor is currently being sued for gross negligence in an unrelated fraud case, and its SPAC sponsors have a track record of failed listings and delistings.

Pelican Way Research concludes that HOVR is a serial dilution machine with consistent disregard for shareholder safety. The firm believes the stock is headed materially lower given its lack of real product, need for continuous dilution to survive, and management's pattern of enriching themselves while retail investors lose money.

🔻 PELICAN WAY RESEARCH SHORT POSITION
Investment Thesis: Headed Materially Lower

Published by Pelican Way Research • November 13, 2025 • This dashboard represents a short position