BLT - Blis Technologies

[simla]

Thanks, NeopoleII. I'd probably choose to use more cheerful adjectives maybe. "Slow death" implies a fixed fate, whereas I see this company as being very proactive indeed, for example. But clearly the last US sales revenues dented even my optimism a little. Was it a blip from changing distributors, or was it something else?

It is very frustrating to be in so much uncertainty at this stage. Most of us probably saw China and GRAS as pretty good fruit to have picked, but we'd also be happy to see less picking of fruit now and more making of jam.

[simla]

You must judge for yourself whether we shareholders have neglected those questions. This is the last full year report. http://blis.co.nz/media/pdf/PUBLISHED_ANNUAL_REPORT.pdf However, on page 50, you will note that the Board hold rather substantial holdings themselves. And here is an announcement that the Board all participated fully in the last issue also. https://nzx.com/companies/BLT/announcements/213516 You may assume we shareholders do not ask these fundamental questions about the business if you will, but surely it is difficult to assume the Board itself neglects them too.

[neopoleII]

""but surely it is difficult to assume the Board itself neglects them too.""

you might want to read the pike thread and the nzo thread about what some shareholders think of company bord of directors.

there are good directors, bad ones, imcompetant ones, greedy ones, corrupt ones,
finding a company with a good board of directors is just as important as the company fundamentals.
i have lost complete respect for the BLT board.
but then, my share holding has been devalued by 95% so there is not much point talking to them anymore.
i prefer to warn folks on this thread to beware.

[simla]

NeopoleII, I really appreciate your posts and thoughts, but there's no way in the world that I intend to discuss people here, only the company. I'm here to discuss the publicly available information about Blis Technologies with a view to deciding on my own investments in light of other people's observations on that public information. I contribute in return for what others contribute back. (It's been a bit one way lately chaps...)

I agree that a Board can be effective or otherwise and that that is an important point. But I see no evidence that this Board has done anything other than act diligently and intelligently. Further, they've put a lot of their own money at risk, which is surely a sign that they want to succeed. If anyone here thinks they could pull this off in their sleep, then put your name forward. Myself, I think it is obvious that launching an international enterprise with a new probiotic is a pretty tough call, and I remain impressed with the progress made in the last 3 years.

If things didn't end well ultimately, I would have no intention of taking my anger out on people who have worked hard for us. There have been some very fine minds at work on Blis and very much work put in. We have all consciously chosen to invest in something that has a risk of actually failing at the end, and we should accept that we have done that voluntarily.

The situation is presently frustrating for shareholders. The news for about 18 months has been a combination of advances and setbacks, leaving us little the wiser as to how the future looks. The huge global slump hardly helps. Let's hope things are clearer next year. There is still a whole lot happening in this company in my view. Good products, energetic management, a strong cornerstone shareholder, and much market development - to name some. There are problems to overcome too, however.

ps. Sympathy for your 95% loss, but the share price slumped 88% to 12 cents between 2001 and 2003. I don't really think it's fair to bring that into the last 3 years of vigorous new strategy. Three years ago, the share price was about 4 cents, still is.

[Chippie]

Hi David
your posts are reasonable and the questions you raise are correct.

I asked myself these questions before I invested in the company. It is a speculative investment but for me I beleive the rewards far outweigh the risks. I have also corresponded directly with Barry Richardson several times and believe he is the right man for the job.

As with any investment the trick is not to invest more than you are prepared to lose. But I am in and prepared to lose it all (but hoping to make a truckload)

[simla]

Thanks, Chippie. At last someone lending me some confidence. You said it well.

The thing is, David, that we've all travelled a very, very long way to be here. As NeopoleII says, there was very little in place a few years ago, whereas now so much has been assembled. But we're all aware that it hasn't quite jelled yet, and it is very frustrating to be so close and still not to know the outcome.

NeopoleII and I don't really disagree that much. We both see the same situation. He doesn't want to invite disappointment by hoping too much now, understandably, whereas I tend to optimism. But we both see the same thing, and we're both hoping, but not knowing the actual result yet.

And the Board really do know all about this. There is no mystery about the missing step at this stage, and there's no chance that they're not aware of it and they'll all be scratching their heads as hard as possible. The change of global distributor was a huge step to take, and obviously aimed entirely at the concerns you raise. The Blis strategy has always been to say they could not afford to market it themselves and had to have a middle party to do that. Here's an ODT article on that front from 2009, also mentioning that the distributor is the one expected to find the global companies. http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/6...out?page=0%2C1 That is their solution, but it needs to be made to work. And it really is staggeringly bad luck that they are running a startup while also having to deal with the worse financial downturn in a century.

I only work from public information, like everyone here. But we did ask all those questions before we went ahead and invested in a startup company with such a large task. It wasn't an easy decision. As Chippie says, we hope the rewards will well exceed the risk. It's frustrating to be so close now, but still not to know the outcome. But the company is certainly aware what's needed to push past the finishing post.

[simla]

Well, David, you got me defending my position. That's good, and it's why I like a spectrum of opinions. I don't assume I'm right, which is why I always try to explain my reasoning rather than just stating my position. However, you understand that we are never trying to talk anybody into buying, selling or trading Blis. That decision falls entirely on each individual's shoulder. Most of us here already have Blis shares and we just exchange possible views on public information, or provide links to new information, in order to sort our own thoughts better.

You'll gather I'll be very interested to see what effect a new global distributor has.

[THEONE]

I have lost a considerable amount of money investing in Blis also, so I guess I to have a right to be unhappy. If you look at the financials alone, it isnt pretty reading. Sales have not grown and have recently fallen off a cliff. I am worried they may need to do another capital raising if things dont improve fast. But long term I see the immense potential
Gras-Get a few big companies to put in their youghurt and that could be worth millions
China-Alot of companies would love to have this approval, it takes years to get and probably over USD 100,000 at least. Surely the chinese distributor, is ok, if they have the time and money to do this. If this gos ok this will be worth alot.
Other pipeline products, M18 tooth decay, q24 for skin applications

At the end of the day, Once blis can cover its fixed costs of around 1.5 million, pretty much the rest will mainly be profit. They are just making Bacteria which is cheap to produce and easily scaleable. If they can make sales of 10 million, maybe they can make 7 million profit. I think one day they can do it, but i have been wrong so far. The product is a bit complicated alot of people have never heard of Probiotics let alone Blis. The product is great, maybe a bit complicated to use. But it is scientificaly proven. The key is in the Marketing, looks like most of the companies selling products with Blis ingredient are too small and havent invested heavily in marketing. They need the big companies to take it take it up and that takes time. I think at the current share price, the risk reward ratio is very good. They arent that far away from breaking even. Maybe even a potential takeover target at current share price.

I usually think very negatively towards management, i think they are self serving and short sighted. Barry Richardson and the board has my support though. I think they are doing a great job with the cards they have been dealt. You can see they are trying very hard, by all the different things they are doing. Sure some of it hasnt paid off yet. I think Barry does things for the long term good of the company. I think Blis could make a profit if thats what they wanted, but they are investing for bigger profits further down the road and that is costly. Simla and others thankyou for your comments. Its good to read others comments. Good and bad. Its good having a constructive discussion. I guess time will tell whether we are correct, so far i have unfortunately been wrong though. Maybe take a couple more years but one day i think one day they will get some solid runs on the board. Unlike a certain cricket team...

[THEONE]

http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Default.a...2593=1#comment

[simla]

Let's just remember, too, that the reason we are waiting is because most of us were really public spirited in putting up money in various issues from a startup because we believe NZ needs that sort of thing. We did it knowing we might never see that money again, and I'm pretty proud of all of us for doing that. Group hug, everybody.

Nice to hear John Tagg on local radio. I hope there are ads, too. Thanks for the link, and comments.