BLT - Blis Technologies

[Benny1]

No, there are two vacancies and the company only put up one candidate.

"In addition to Mr Plunket’s appointment, BLIS will be looking for another board member to replace Dr Peter Fennessy who has also indicated he will not be standing for re-election this year. Dr Fennessy has been a director since 2000 and was Chairman for 11 years (retiring as Chair in July 2017)." https://www.nzx.com/announcements/317597

Or that's my reading of in anyway.

Thanks for that Simla 😀

[bull....]

The company will have the benefit of lower Forex headwind at the moment , should benefit accounts

[Leftfield]

Have taken todays hiatus to quit my remaining 'freeholding'. BLT did well for me, but I'm pruning my portfolio and increasing cash reserves for the second half of 2018.

[Sideshow Bob]

I have a guaranteed way to improve the share price.....

1 for 10 share consolidation! Or 1 for 20!

Like seriously, does there need to be 1.1 billion shares on offer.

[simla]

Sorry to hear you've stopped too, Left Field. We can only hope that the shareholders can be bothered to vote Barry on as it would appear that the company sees no need to change tack in any way. Baffling in light of the financials, to me anyway. Q1 revenue at an annualised rate of 6.56m and yet still a loss, even at EBITDA, again.

[pierre]

The following is my take on the BLT AGM last Friday. Hope you find it interesting and reassuring.
The AGM was attended by about 50 shareholders.

At the start of the meeting a vote of thanks to Barry Richardson, (who attended the meeting in the audience) for his stewardship of the company and in particular for his skill at capital raising,was proposed by the chairman and passed with acclamation.

The chairman and CEO then basically reiterated the details released to the NZX the night before the meeting with most information being given by CEO Brian Watson during his presentation. Naturally, they were both upbeat about reporting a projected profit for theyear and Brian paid tribute to the work of Barry and the team for the company’s current position.

A few days prior to the event I emailed a list of questions about the company’s results and activities to Brian Watson. A number of the questions in my email were answered in last Thursday evening’s announcements. These included the quantum of the forecast FY17 profit, the first quarter sales and profit announcement, an outline of the vision for the company’s future and the direction in which product developmentis heading. Also, the matter of future capital requirements was addressed in the announcements but only to the extent that the board is reviewing the issue and no decision has been taken yet.

Brian advised that since joining the business in mid-February he had visited the company’s key markets and principal customers. He said he now has a good understanding of what the company is aboutand is optimistic about its prospects for the future.

He said last year’s product quality issue wasresolved to the satisfaction of the parties concerned and that the company has learnt plenty from the experience. As a consequence, key appointments have beenmade in the areas of quality assurance, product development and processimprovement. He also referred to last year’s appointment of a CFO – clearlythere are now sufficient beans coming in to count to justify that role!

The GRAS approval has resulted in heightened interest in Blis products from markets in Europe and Japan and this augurs well for the future. The company is reviewing its own manufacturingfacilities and those that are outsourced to ensure they can maintain growth and product quality. Fonterra was revealed as one of BLT’s outsourced manufacturers.

Overall, I felt Brian spoke very well and presented the company’s position and its prospects clearly and enthusiastically. He appears to be a very capable and confident leader and I believe he will be the right man to take the business to the next level.

At the conclusion of the formal part of the meeting thechairman sought questions from the floor. I asked a couple and also spoke toBrian Watson personally after the meeting.

CHINA: Asked about slow progress in China the chairman advised that the regulatory environment in that country hadchanged about four times in the past few years making it difficult to penetratethe market. Trials are ongoing and the company is expecting that anannouncement regarding China will be made in the last quarter of this year.

KEY RISKS:
I asked the chairman whether the Board hasidentified any key risks to the business such as competition in the market. Hereplied that the company maintains a risk register containing around 15 items that are reported on by management at each board meeting. Two principal areasthat are monitored particularly carefully are competition and regulatory risks.
He advised that competition is appearing from three companies in particular (he gave their names but unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough to record them). He said despite that, BLT is well placed to capitalise on its position and to prosper in the market.

Director Bevan Wallace also spoke to theissue of regulatory risk and said that this was the area that mostly contributed to the chairman staying awake at night. BLT needs to maintain awareness of not only the claims they make about their products but also those made by distributors and resellers. Also packaging and labelling of shipments for export are areas that need constant attention.

PRODUCT FOCUS:
Brian sees prospects for accelerated growththrough branded consumer products as the best and most profitable way forward butwithout limiting sales in other areas. Categorisation of the company’s productsis an issue in the pharmacy trade e.g. they are not cough & cold products – so hewould ultimately like to be able to market a range of Blis products in the same way as Thompsons or Blackmores do with their ranges.

TV ADS:
These will continue running through to the end of August to capitalise on the winter trade.

CLINICAL TRIALS:
The Porirua trial sponsored by the NZ Health Research Council is completed but the results cannot be shared untilt hey are published by the HRC.

SHARE CONSOLIDATION:
The company is aware of the negative "penny dreadful" perceptioncaused by the high volume of issued shares and the relatively low SP.Consolidating the shares would cost the company an NZX fee in the order of $30,000. The board feels there are better uses of company funds at present though the matter is not off the radar.

The company is commissioning an independent research report on BLT that will be released to the market when completed.

MARKETING/WEB SITE:
Brian said that a major makeover is planned for the company’s web site – including the Investor pages. He said that heintends to continue direct marketing of the company’s products online as wellas selling through pharmacies.

BLT IS AN EXPORTER:
80% of sales are from exports and this percentage will increase over time as existing markets are expanded and newones developed.

Attendees received a "goody" bag containing Blis products and were treated to an exceptional variety of finger food following the meeting. I ate your share!

SUMMARY:
Despite profits being forecast there is no prospect of dividends in the foreseeable future. In my view, I think further capital raising could well be a possibility but this would be a good thing if it is to develop facilities to bring more production in-house and to undertake more market expansion.

The business is being steadied with production capability and process improvement developed so there is a sound base from which growth can be accelerated over coming years.

Plenty of potential exists in current markets and new ones will be sought. Product development and innovation will continue with a focus on branded finished consumer goods (obviously where the margins are).

Overall, my perception is life is looking pretty good for BLT and itspatient shareholders.

Bonne chance to holders
Pierre

I scrolled back through the pages on this thread to find my report on the ASM I attended in 2016. I certainly sounded quite bullish based on the information provided at the meeting.

I'm not feeling anywhere near as confident about the company, the CEO and the board these days - and I think there are a number of questions above that need to be repeated at this month's ASM.

I'm still uncertain about attending - is anyone else planning to be there?

[Leftfield]

Sorry to hear you've stopped too, Left Field. We can only hope that the shareholders can be bothered to vote Barry on as it would appear that the company sees no need to change tack in any way. Baffling in light of the financials, to me anyway. Q1 revenue at an annualised rate of 6.56m and yet still a loss, even at EBITDA, again.

Thank you for your kind words Simla, however I doubt my defection will cause any ripples in the BLT world.

I’ve been a BLT shareholder since 2012 buying at an intial 1c. I purchased because a.) I liked the product. b.) I wanted to support this off-shoot of the Otago Uni and importanty, I guaged that at that time the BLT SP was due for an upswing.

I got the last point right and at one stage my BLT investment (which I later added to as it climbed) made a gain of 350% and while I did not sell all my holding at the peak, I have subsequnetly sold down as I have seen this company struggle to gain traction (despite having a good product in the now trendy field of ‘pro-biotics’.)

This time last year I gave my remaining ‘free held’ shares a stern talking to, but unfortunately I have not seen the progress I had hoped for. With the benefit of hindsight, I should have sold my entire holding when the ‘death cross’ TA signal was breached in Jan 2017.

The latest saga re the Directorship of the original founder Barry Richardson greatly saddened me and I no longer have faith in the Board or the Management.

Quite simply, I cannot see any signs of a ‘game changing’ strategy that suits BLT’s ‘game changing’ product. My simple question is what is BLT’s strategy to see BLT climb from a $7 mill company to a $70 million company? (or more.)

So I’m out, Should I see any evidence of a winning BLT strategy, then I will be amongst the first to buy back in, but in the meantime GLH.

[winner69]

Good post of a few yewars ago pierre

Liked the bit about Barry in the thank you bit getting 'acclamation' re his ' ...in particular for his skill at capital raising'

Had to keep the gravy train going eh

[bull....]

worth a punt? decline from 6c if profits improve was probably oversold? at just over 1c

[bull....]

rise over 2c looks like a break of downtrend from 6c i reckon