I have had a speed read through the thread so I dont rehash too much which has already been said however my apologies if I repeat what others have written already.
I also had some concerns about how the company was going (through the language of quarterlies) and that BBI seemed to be falling off the wayside and wanted to get to the bottom of why things were not as rosy as last year.
BBI I spoke with Geoff about this and originally BBI advised Geoff they wanted to have the products for sale with M&G included by 30/06/14. They were driving the process regarding making a 12 month project shorter(which correlates with the announcements) however this has been delayed by both the failed BBI float and also a major competitor launching some products which are superior to the M&G activated products (not sure who this is and how much there product costs yet?). Let me be clear that both Geoff and Josh both confirmed that we well and truly exceeded the HoT goal posts set by BBI and this extra sensitivity is in addition too. Neither company would have reasonably been aware and good businesses roll with the punches and that is what both are doing. You can understand from a BBI perspective why the goal posts have now changed and new goals are required. I spoke to Josh about BBI and he told me they have purchased some extra equipment which will arrive before Christmas which will most likely (he was very confident) help with the requirements of BBI. I also asked him whether Anteo were being compensated by BBI for having to jump through these extra hurdles and he confirmed yes to this. As Twin has said, alot of these companies have their budgets reset in January and Josh also confirmed that BBI needed to allow extra funds for us to meet their requirements (and increased revenue potential for us) and that BBI had done that. For the bean counters - the risk sharing included being reimbursed for the work by our scientists at the end of the project and that is why we have not seen revenues for this work yet. Trying to take an unbiased view and from the impression I recieved from both Geoff and Josh seperately I think it would be reasonable to think that this project could take till Q2 next year (April-June) before stage 5 is completed. That is just my opinion. POC1. It was great to have the opportunity to speak to Josh about POC1. Firstly, it was asked whether in his opinion could POC1 successfully launch the troponin test without the use of M&G. He looked at the two of us who were standing there at the time with a huge smile on his face and said no. I asked him if he could share why he thought that and he said that for the test to meet regulatory requirements it needed to give a correct measurement at least 97% of the time. He said that POC1 were still struggling with this and that the use of M&G meant they could consistently meet these requirements. He also said that during the testing phase they need to test 1000's & 1000's of times and that this was a problem for them. He also talked about POC1 not being able to multiplex with the device without M&G and that they were hoping to again improve outcomes further when they receive the new device to which Anteo will be the only company in Australia with this device. Interestingly, Josh said that multiplexing didnt just refer to testing of multiple markers and that the device could multiplex with the single troponin test ( I can only assume the different Troponin markers?). I didnt get to ask exactly what that meant and hoped that one of the DR's on the forum may have a better understanding of this.
Josh As Twin said, I also wish that they had given Josh 15 minutes air time at the AGM. I was intrigued as to why he would leave such successful companies to join such a small minnow - Anteo. He said that he and Geoff had been discussing him moving over for a few years (and he had been following the company for well over 5 years) however he felt the company was not in the position it needed to be to meet his criteria to make the move. He advised Geoff had been actively trying to get him to come over for over 3 years and this year was the year Anteo met all of his requirements to make the move. This directly aligns with his comments when asked by Twin during the AGM why he made the move where he said he liked to think of himself as an entreprenuer. For those that are not aware he spent a good 5 minutes talking about a test he developed for vitamin D and that it had been patented by Diasorin. I havent had the chance to look it up yet but for those interested a quick google search would surely find it. The reason I bring that up is he was quite proud to say he was the FIRST IN THE WORLD to successfully do this and explained the major diffculties of vitamin D testing and separation. You really cannot understimate the ability and skill he brings to the company. Josh also said he has absolute confidence that Anteo would succeed and that our current state of play was and I quote ‘a luanching pad’. I asked him whether he thought M&G is really “that good” and he said it absolutely is. He said to be able to bind onto any surface without damaging or changing the properties of an antibody in particular is something that isnt possible without mix and go. I really cannot get this point across enough. Josh really is the X-factor that Anteo has needed to get deals over the line. I have got the impression that previously when we have been at the negotiating table we have had dictated to us what companies need and we try and provide this for them. Josh brings the added skill set that he can also suggest additional things Anteo can do to further enhance either their requirements or well beyond them and that was exactly what has happened with POC1. He also has the added skillset of being competent at bringing tests etc to market from the development stage right through to sale launch. I had not truly understood up until the AGM that Anteo were not as competent in this area as we needed to be.
Josh was also asked whether he thought Anteo had the sales power to meet the internal goals anteo had set. Josh's answer was he believed in terms of the commercial deals that we had that level of expertise however we still lacked sales capabilities in our own manufactured products and that he was working on fixing this (through his industry contacts). He said that distrubutors usually wanted a 30-40% cut and that they needed to get the right people involved particularly getting mix and go activitated products into the big universities like Yale, harvard etc and that he had the contacts to make this happen. Josh oozes confidence and whilst he is definetely modest he also qualifies that with proof / a true understanding of what he is talking about and I am more confident than ever that he will bring us in deals over the next 12 months.
Lack of Deals I asked Geoff why so far we had been unsuccessful in getting these deals over the line. His answer was a fear of change in the industry. These big companies are very slow moving and conservative in nature. He was very confident that once one signs it really will snowball. Whilst I was standing there he was asked about bioseparations and he said the opportunities in this space dwarfed anything that was near fruition at this point. My view after leaving the AGM was that the product has pushed us to the point we are at rather than the right sales team. You will notice that the majority of the major interactions are on new tests etc that are not possible without M&G and this is the area they are having the greatest success. Having existing lines incorporated in afterwards or during a HoT seems to be the unspoken strategy.
Acquisition. I know this has been discussed in the threads but I just want to cement that the board have looked to not dilute us to target an acquisition. They are also looking for a SP increase if they have to raise capital for this.
I left the AGM very confident that we are finally at that point where we tick all the boxes. For such a small company we have an amazing board ( if you doubt the companies ability you should research each board member) and now we finally have the sales ability to get deals over the line. This also includes new contacts all over the world in the right places. We have an amazing product - with over 60 tailored variations with a specific purpose in mind. We have cash in the bank (almost an extra 1,000,000 with 90% of the options exercised) and we are developing new products which have not been previously possible.
(20min delay)