BLT - Blis Technologies

[Oman]

Regarding SP and future earnings etc. has anyone wondered why the recent rights conversion was set at between 25:1 and 100:1 per convertible share?

For a business that appears to have been turned around from a one-product company to one with multiple K12 products, and with K17 in the background as a potential follow-up development area, it has made me wonder.

If there's a share split I expect the conversion to be pro rata so why did BLT write in 100:1 at all? Disaster position maybe?

The other question is the manufacturing and inventory. Presumably BLT has followed through on the USA/India location idea, but inventory holding and distribution ties up heaps of capital even with good JIT management ...so where's that money coming from? Trade credit? ...ummm. Maybe.

There are still a few questions lingering. Maybe we will get answers next week as I expect Barry will make a 'current good news' announcement just before the Annual Meeting.

[simla]

Here's an interesting link with a Taiwanese web address, selling the Blis Fresh Breath kit.

http://store.pchome.com.tw/healthplus/M03955306.htm

(To translate: http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ , Chinese to English)

The web site itself seems to say Blis was added on 19 June. And according to Babelfish, the automatic translation website (wonderful invention), the company's physical address is in the Taiwanese city of Changhua City, itself a fairly small city of 230,000 people, but which Google Earth shows as part of a very much larger urban area (sorry for my ignorance, I haven't been there). They seem to sell a range of healthy NZ goods (such as Manuka honey, flax fibre and aloe vera) plus healthy foods.

Now the last Blis report said of Taiwan: "While an earlier project in Taiwan has been delayed, additional projects have now commenced through Futarom. Early progress in this market will be subject to regulatory approval." (p6). Since this has recently appeared, and has a Taiwanese web address, and a Taiwanese company street address, does that mean Blis is now on sale in Taiwan (pop 23m)? And does that mean there is regulatory approval then? Or is the fresh breath kit a different rule perhaps? Hard to say what this implies really.

Does anyone read Chinese and can tell us more? Babelfish translates the product name, for example, as "Li Shi-tone cloth fresh group"! And does anyone know enough about Taiwan to suggest how significant this site is? The translation of the company blurb may say (!) that this company is on a TV shopping channel also.

Is this an actual opening into Taiwan, or just a one-off of some sort? Very hard to tell through the translations!

[simla]

I've figured out some basic web searching in other languages now.

As usual, the crowd in Dunedin are well ahead of us. Who knows what else they've been up to. According to babblefish, http://www.e-isk.com/news20090518.html says this (seems to give a slightly different translation each time):

"News release 2009 May 18th
The lactobacillus in your New Zealand departure mouth (K12) finally the Japanese landing!!

This time, at our company it imports & sells the patent product “epoca” which uses the lactobacillus “K12” in the patent product of the New Zealand BLIS corporation and the mouth.
Is already attracted attention in such as dentistry industry the tooth lap to illness measure, as the CARE commodity inside the new buccal cavity from bad breath improvement. "

And a brochure at http://www.e-isk.com/epoca090514

Again, what does this imply? Is Blis in Japan now (pop 130m), or is this some sort of one-off thing again. Again, this is an importer, and the product label is in English. So maybe both of these companies have just done this themselves? Or have Blis/Frutarom worked out they can sell the breath kits while waiting for approval for the other? Who knows. Next week's presentation should be interesting whatever.

[Bobby_Fischer]

Very interesting finds Simla.

K12 has been on sale in Japan (and Korea, I think) for at least 3 years as "Aktiv-K12", through Dr Honda's dental network (which seems to comprise 100's of clinics throughout Japan). Dr Honda is an associate of the redoutable Dr Katz and markets Therabreath products for him in Japan (see here, for example: http://www.honda.or.jp/k12). So presumably K12 is legal for OTC sales in Japan and has been for some time - at least as a "cosmetic". The "Epoca" product seems to comprise lozenges instead of the Aktiv-K12 "expelable" formulation, so this may indicate a change in regulatory status?

One senses that sales momentum is finally beginning to build - could be an exciting time ahead and it's been a very long time since I've felt any excitement with BLIS. Mind you there has been many a false dawn with this one I'm afraid. Still holding MANY shares, still waiting .... Enjoying your enthusiasm.

BF

[simla]

So, what news next week? Only about 9 months ago, there were really only two questions to answer: how was Ireland going to open; and what reaction would Blis get at the ingredients expo. We've been through a bit since then.

The two questions on the table now, less than a year later are: how many countries will Blis open in this year; and how does the company plan to market this product - now that it is available in several markets, and was NZ a model for that somehow this winter?

[Steve]

I got off the bus one morning and was accosted by someone outside a pharmacy handing out strawberry tablets as part of a Blis promotion. While they tasted ok, I don't recall which product it actually was...

[simla]

That's really interesting, Steve. Someone's definitely putting in effort. For myself, I've only seen it mentioned in about 3 chemist flyers this year, nothing else. What have other people come across? Marketing and promotion seem to me to be the big topic now that we know the markets are going to open and the company is financially secure for some time at least.

[mccollr]

Did all shareholders here purchase the half price offer to shareholders a few months back for "Blis Restore". Great product.
Maybe a bit of promotion from within would be a great start. I bought 10 packs that I have given to friends as they recoup from illness or the flu.
Rod

[Steve]

Did all shareholders here purchase the half price offer to shareholders a few months back for "Blis Restore". Great product.
Maybe a bit of promotion from within would be a great start. I bought 10 packs that I have given to friends as they recoup from illness or the flu.
Rod

I have never located that piece of mail, so I missed out on that one...

[simla]

Here's a Japanese site selling the breath kit. The translation wittily instructs us to take the mouthwash every 4 minutes ... http://www.siis-store.com/4_17.html I cannot see the physical address in the translations, but domaintools.com reports the domain name owner and server as both in Japan.

I hope tomorrow's news gives us an idea of the scale of what they are doing in Asia currently. These little glimpses are hard to read.