Dear All,
Time is up. There were loads of good questions and I have taken the top 11 for submission to Matt Wright formally by email. I have incorporated these into an email (below) which is drafted in the first person, so that
each of us can simply copy and paste it into our own email and send it in our own name to Matt. I would encourage you to each do this so that the 'anonymity' of Hotcopper doesn't dilute the strength of the request. An email from each of us reciting the same questions will, in my opinion, have significant force.
Matt's email is disclosed in the announcement released on Wednesday and specifies that all investor questions are to be directed to his email address which is
[email protected].
Please note, I have 'tweaked' the questions in terms of grammar, style, objectivity, etc. to maximize conciseness and clarity. I have endeavoured to preserve the essential meaning of the questions posed by each poster.
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Dear Mr Wright,
I refer to the Investor Conference Call scheduled for Wednesday, 18 October 2017 at 4.30pm AEDT to be delivered by the Board of OBJ Limited (‘the Company’). I am very pleased that the Board is willing to answer questions on notice from investors in this forum. There are many aspects about the Company I would like to inquire about. However, I appreciate that time is limited.
I would therefore be grateful if the 11 questions listed below could be specifically addressed by the Board. These questions are the product of a collaborative effort by investors within the Hotcopper investor community: www.hotcopper.com.au/obj/. Company investors sought to identify the most immediate investor concerns pertaining to the Company’s affairs and formulated questions which could be put to the Board during the conference call. The 11 questions which received the most support in that regard are:
- Can the Board please provide an update as to when it anticipates the Company entering into a revenue generating agreement with a corporate partner other than Procter & Gamble?
- Can the Board please provide an update as to when it anticipates the Company’s technologies will be commercialized in the product categories of surface hygiene, oral healthcare, and men’s and women’s shaving/razors?
- Can the Board please advise if Procter & Gamble recoups any costs for Research & Development/Marketing before royalties are paid to the Company, as the value of royalties received to date appears not to equate to 200,000 units sold with a royalty rate of 3-5% taking into consideration the combined bundled products wholesale prices?
- Can the Board please provide an update as to when it anticipates the Company commercializing its magnetic technologies used in conjunction with microneedles?
- The current ibuprofen/kneeguard pilot study says a future large randomised clinical trial will be conducted:
- How long does the Board realistically anticipate before the Company will have drug patch products on the shelves?
- Given this is a Company-developed invention, and the Board has said it will attract significantly higher royalties, what percentage royalties is the Company targeting in its business plan?
- Does the fact that the Company website has a direct link to a recent article featured in Biotech Daily column ‘Dr Boreham's Crucible’ on 29 September 2017 confirm that the information contained in it is accurate and correct, and in particular the statement: “The tie-up with P&G is a high-volume, low-margin affair with OBJ receiving a royalty on sales of three to five percent.”?
- At the Company’s investor presentation in Adelaide on 31 May 2016, the CEO/Managing Director, Mr Jeffrey Edwards, stated that all of the Company’s corporate partners that have divisions in Vitamin & Mineral Supplements (‘VMS’) had shown great interest in disposable patches and were looking at the entire range of applications in the Company’s Bodyguard platform for this purpose. Mr Edwards specifically named Pfizer, Procter & Gamble (Swisse brand), and Reckitt Benckiser as interested partners. Mr Edwards concluded by saying “I'd be amazed if this thing stays still for very long". In the more recent investor presentations conducted in 2017, the Board indicated that the Company is now pursuing “accelerators” to bring these VMS products to market. Does this change in Company strategy mean that the large corporate partners referred to above are no longer interested in Bodyguard VMS products? Has the Company essentially decided to “go it alone” using accelerators?
- Can the Board please provide an update as to the commercialization of the Company’s “second technology” licensed to Procter & Gamble, with particular emphasis on the timeline for product(s)-to-market?
- Is the Board aware of general discontent within the investment community arising from a perceived deficiency in the Company’s relations and communications with investors? Can the Board please advise how it is going to tackle this issue in both the short and long term?
- Can the Board please provide an update as to it its commercial partnership with Coty, Inc., with particular reference to the testing of prototype devices that were designed and manufactured by the Company and any existing or new product formulations that were put forward for testing by Coty? When does the Board expect a product on the market shelf arising from this partnership?
- In the course of presenting at investor roadshows in 2016, the CEO/Managing Director of the Company, Mr Jeffrey Edwards, specifically referred to the anticipated commercialization of the Company’s technology incorporated into a Nurofen tube applicator. Can the Board provide an update in relation to this particular project and the Company’s partnership with Reckitt Benckiser?
I endorse these questions and request that they be specifically addressed by the Board during the conference call.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
[INSERT NAME HERE]
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(20min delay)