BLT - Blis Technologies

[Chippie]

Popped into Thorndon New World today for the first time in at least five years. I note they are selling the Probiotic K12 icecream. One litre tubs. Four different flavours including the one Moocher told us about. Bold, simple wording on the label. Most appealing. It is a buck or two more than their standard 500ml range. If only ALL my health needs could be met through icecream

I picked up some of the Ice cream today. The kids liked the Vanilla with chunks of chocolate and nuts. My wife and I preferred the pineapple lump ice cream. It was pretty good!

[emearg]

I'm seeing a lot of probiotic advertising on TV at the moment.

However, none of it is for the Blis products. It's all for an Australian outfit called "Inner health". My interest levels were pied after I visited a pharmacy the other day (an independent one in St Heliers, Auckland), and saw large Inner Health merchandising, but nothing from Blis.

Out of curiosity, I visited the Inner Health website, and was very impressed by how clear and inviting their website was. (no e-store facility, since they obviously have a number of retailers and e-tailers on the case)

http://www.innerhealthplus.co.nz
vs
http://blis.co.nz/

Sadly Simla, it looks like Blis are going to have their lunch eaten by their opponents.

This is excellent news! The more people educated about probiotics the better! And Simla is quite right, almost all other probiotics are for the gut.

[emearg]

Yeah, I agree. Bliss' inability to get the marketing right has cost this company and its shareholders dearly! Scientists and marketeers don't make for a happy marriage I think. One deals with objective facts and empirical evidence and the other lives and breathes spin!

That is very true. Thankfully Barry changed the game plan from trying to do the marketing himself to engaging others. Pharma what you call em do it in NZ for the Blis K12 range. That costs them money not Blis. Frutatrom did it globally. Now Stratum. Blis doesn't have much money to spend on advertising. They have made that clear. Probably a good thing based on their website! That said, there Facebook presence is pretty good.

I can feel an email coming on to Blis asking why they aren't telling everybody on Facebook about their new icecream range. That is very cheap advertising!

[emearg]

I picked up some of the Ice cream today. The kids liked the Vanilla with chunks of chocolate and nuts. My wife and I preferred the pineapple lump ice cream. It was pretty good!

Good to hear! Where did you get yours?

[neopoleII]

""Thankfully Barry changed the game plan from trying to do the marketing himself""
Barry spent virtually all the cash bliss had on his advertising campaign before he changed his game plan...... this is what has caused the damage and the situation we are in today.

[simla]

At last I understand why we talk at cross purposes sometimes. The current CEO is not the one that did the earlier work, but has pursued a significantly different plan starting 2006/2007 and with quite a bit of success.

So the early money went on the TV ads? I gather these ran starting about 10 years ago, but rather oddly I don't remember seeing them if so, although I was rather busy at the time. I can understand that costing quite a bit. That presumably was an attempt to do what some posters here have called for from time to time: to create a market through local advertising.

However, that wasn't Barry's doing. He was appointed CEO in August 2006, http://www.sharetrader.co.nz/showthr...l=1#post173445, and soon after introduced the new game plan. His basic idea was that Blis couldn't afford to create a huge market from it's own cash, and he proposed pursuing the ingredients path along with appointing a global distributor to find overseas partners who would afford to market their own products containing the Blis ingredients. He spent 2007/2008 creating internal efficiencies and gathering the basic building blocks together. Then in 2009 the rights issue was to fund pursuing it in earnest.

Despite quite a few setbacks getting in the way, that strategy has been achieved to a quite considerable degree, culminating perhaps in the K12 ice cream we see now.

[simla]

Here's an amateur photo of the K12 ice cream for those who want a look. I think you need to be logged in to see it. It's a bit bent because I've already opened it! "Helps boost your natural immune system". "Probiotic support for oral and throat health."

Blisk12_Gourmet_Vanilla.jpg

[neopoleII]

However, that wasn't Barry's doing.
yes, it seem your right regarding Barry, my memory is getting foggy. it been 12 odd years now give or take a year or so.... and with the relentless slide in sp and relentless rise in share volume I've just basically given up on this co. for me to get my original investment back the company would need to be worth $500,000,000.... dont think that is going to happen in my life time.
would be nice to see a couple of punters make a few bucks from their 1 cent investment if it hits 2 or 3 cents......... as long as someone is willing to buy a few mill.
i guess every investor needs a kick in the pants to learn a lesson...... my lesson is to learn about the ceo and board first..... then the company they are running and its product.
this is how i avoided the finance company fiascoes.
as a foot note
i respect the products of BLT today as much as i did when i first invested heavily.
its those who control this or any company that i now feel that have to prove themselves before i invest my hard earned cash....... it seems the NZX is awash with crap ceo's and boards.

[simla]

Does anyone have an opinion on the exact figures of the BFF loss? On p38 of the last report, the BFF loss is set at 251k. p38 also says a 225k write down was made on the purchase of BFF. p18 places the 225k write down in the company, not BFF, which would make it in addition to the 251k? Yet p18 also says that the company and the group made almost the same loss, despite the write down seemingly being outside BFF. p3 says they incorporated a 251k loss from BFF following acquisition. So is it 251k plus 225k, or 251k including 225k?

BFF looks like it will do good cash flow anyway, because the cost of goods sold on p29 shows they make a fair margin, and my observations in the supermarket suggest it is selling pretty well, and they're still looking to expand sales region, and bring in the K12 ice cream. But is it ready to start profiting straight away from any new cash flow, or is there a bit of a catch up first? Or doesn't it matter anyway, since the first year's result probably included rejig costs that won't recur this year anyway?

[Nigel]

Hi guys, do we know when the capital raising is taking place, and whether the public/shareholders will have the option to be involved?