BLT - Blis Technologies

[simla]

The product was on screen for 6 seconds. That's probably not going to change the future, but good to see some coverage nevertheless.

On a different note, I was looking at the last annual report again. On page 23, we are told that "Capitalised development costs" were $550k in 2009 and $750k in 2010. The company is not in the habit of wasting money, so that sort of expenditure is presumably chasing something quite interesting? Food for thought perhaps.

[brucea]

Although it was a mere six seconds, there was a good close up zoom on the Throatguard bottle, so this was at least something I guess. Pity the M18 developments were not able to be raised. I may have mentioned this before that a friend of mine is a hospital pharmacist and knew nothing about Blis K12, so I had to recently educate him about the product. I suspect public awareness of K12 is quite low, although a few associate it as a treatment for bad breath (we know it is much more than that!) -however word of mouth advertising is unlikely to be that successful as few people would admit to having a problem with bad breath or even suggest (I know I cant!) to a friend who has it that they try it, due to the sensitivity of this topic. Hence the need for advertising to gain significant sales; let's hope Frutarom and their agents have the financial resources to promote this great product. The M18 probiotic stands a good chance for "word of mouth" advertising as everybody would feel comfortable discussing the prevention of tooth caries. Piggy-backing as an additive on the back of an established product (toothpaste, yoghurt etc) would be the dream way to establish brand recognition of K12 and M18. Forgive me if I have rambled!

[Cannibal]

Yep - short and sweet at best. The interesting thing for me is that he is becoming the subject matter expert in the topic for NZ at least and possibly elsewhere.

[h2so4]

Although it was a mere six seconds, there was a good close up zoom on the Throatguard bottle, so this was at least something I guess. Pity the M18 developments were not able to be raised. I may have mentioned this before that a friend of mine is a hospital pharmacist and knew nothing about Blis K12, so I had to recently educate him about the product. I suspect public awareness of K12 is quite low, although a few associate it as a treatment for bad breath (we know it is much more than that!) -however word of mouth advertising is unlikely to be that successful as few people would admit to having a problem with bad breath or even suggest (I know I cant!) to a friend who has it that they try it, due to the sensitivity of this topic. Hence the need for advertising to gain significant sales; let's hope Frutarom and their agents have the financial resources to promote this great product. The M18 probiotic stands a good chance for "word of mouth" advertising as everybody would feel comfortable discussing the prevention of tooth caries. Piggy-backing as an additive on the back of an established product (toothpaste, yoghurt etc) would be the dream way to establish brand recognition of K12 and M18. Forgive me if I have rambled!

Piggy-back on nicobate gum. Buy one benefit get one free

[simla]

A tough business climate versus a plucky little company ...

On the down side, we may as well admit that current conditions are not easy for strong sales growth. Here's a couple of entries on interest.co yesterday:

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/spr...r-green-shoots "This was confirmed most notably in Walmart’s poor first quarter sales results when CFO Tom Schoewe stated, "More than ever, our customers are living paycheck to paycheck." If that sentiment applies to other large retailers, it doesn’t bode well for 2010 GDP."

http://www.interest.co.nz/news/core-...p-wallets-shut And in NZ, "core retail sales fell 0.2% in the month, much more than economists had expected and extending the core retail sales fall to the fourth month in the last six months." "Government Statistician Geoff Bascand said this was only the fourth time a decrease has been recorded in core retail sales, compared with the same month of the previous year, since the series began in 1995. "


On the positive side, on the other hand, is that Blis already has a pretty strong beating heart inside it when you look. The Income statement (p20 of the last report) and the notes to it (p29), show the following. Sale of goods income was 1,237,888. Licencing fee income was 311,200. (Were licencing fees part of the "sales" or part of the R & D exercise? We're not sure are we?) Against that, cost of goods sold was only 514,459.

Blis is embarked on a strong expansionary strategy which is costing money. In addition to incidental expansion costs (such as legal costs), Blis also has preference dividends costs and the cost of the office structure which it needs, plus ongoing R & D expenditure. Those are sensible costs to carry given the view of Blis's potential, but they also cost money.

So we have two sides to Blis at present: (a) the income from a good ratio for revenue/cost of goods sold, which is it's already strong beating heart (and which the company put a lot of work into a year or two ago, it's not just coincidence); and (b) the costs of expanding into the future.

The fact that the company is almost able to make a profit even while also straining to achieve so much just goes to show the strength it already has. Times are still looking tough, but this plucky company has grown a strongly beating heart to tackle it with.

That's how I read it, anyway.

Either way, the company has two projects on its hands now: continuing to beat a path into the future, and yet also hammering away to lift current sales. That's pretty hard work for a small group of people, and I'm sure they'll be pretty happy when the cash flow finally gives more room to manouevre.

With the AGM in a couple of weeks, we hope to find out more about how that's playing out.

[Cannibal]

Excellent executive overview of Imagenetix here -

http://www.crystalra.com/pdf/IAGX_EIO_07-19-2010.pdf

It's a bit long but heaps on Blis and also lots on the probiotic market in general, with trends and risks explained.

[simla]

Hey, excellent find, Cannibal. Some real detail on Imagenetix.


And at last! Confirmation that Bioguard will be in all Costco sites in September this year. That is excellent if true. The report is so detailed that it must be based on discussions with Imagenetix itself surely?

"BioGuard™ is currently available on Costco.com, where the Company believes it primarily competes with products such as Airborne®. A trial program with BioGuard™ was completed at 55 Costco stores in the Pacific Northwest, which the Company complemented with television advertising campaigns to promote sales. It is scheduled for distribution to all Costco locations as of September 2010. Imagenetix is now also working to introduce BioGuard™ at additional food, drug, and mass-market stores."


And here's their analysis of the current competition, mostly other versions of K12.

"Imagenetix’s BioGuard™ faces competition from other products containing the BLIS K12™ probiotic, including Nature’s Plus Ear, Nose, and Throat Lozenges with K12 Probiotics (www.naturesplus.com), CulturedCare™ ProbioticGum with BLIS K12 (http://culturedcare.com), Aktiv-K12 Probiotics (http://aktiv-k12.com), and Swanson Health Products’ Oral Probiotic BLIS K12 for Immune System Support (www.swansonvitamins.com), among others.

Additionally, BioGuard™ may compete with products that use different active ingredients but address the same indications. For example, EvoraPlus™ (www.evoraplus.com)—a mint that supports gum and tooth health, fresh breath, and white teeth—uses Probiora3™ probiotics. Both the product and the probiotics are produced by Oragenics, Inc., a Florida-based biopharmaceutical company. The Airborne® health products (http://airbornehealth.com), which contain blends of vitamins, minerals, and herbs to support the immune system, may also pose significant competition for BioGuard™."


And an excellent and clear summary of the science supporting Blis, on pages 20 to 24. I'd love to see such a clear blurb on the front page of the Blis web site in NZ. Amongst other statements, "BLIS K12™ has been studied in more than 30 tests demonstrating its safety and effectiveness, summarized in Table 7 (page 24)."


And their plans for the future? "Going forward, Imagenetix aims to accomplish the following: ... Continue advancing the distribution of BioGuard™ as a year-round immune system booster at additional food, drug, and mass-market stores". (This fits in with my recent conjecture that K12 is not being pushed as a seasonal produst in the US?)

[simla]

This story is about selling probiotic food. It illustrates the ongoing theme that it is difficult to satisfy the health authorities on probiotics. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...-98373589.html

But does it raise the bar higher for companies like Blis, making life more difficult? Or is Blis's scientific research a tailor-made solution to this problem, making this an opportunity? Who knows!

It certainly echoes the problems Blis has already found in trying to establish just what the authorities will accept - it's all new ground for everybody, including the health authorities.

[simla]

It sure is quiet on this group lately. I would say it was just this group except that the same thing has happened to the share price.

It isn't logical, from where I'm sitting. There's no chance that this company has been sitting on it's hands since the last report.

[Cannibal]

This story is about selling probiotic food. It illustrates the ongoing theme that it is difficult to satisfy the health authorities on probiotics. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...-98373589.html

Not sure what your point is here. Nestle made silly claims that they could not substantiate and they rightly got whacked for it. None of the retailers of K12 and M18 based products have made unsubstantiatable claims and hopefully never will.

It does tar the probiotic marketplace in general though when someone as large and "respectable" as Nestle does this sort of thing.

I know that unsubstantiatable is not a word but it should be...