Hi there,
I went along to the AGM on Tuesday as I saw it as a chance to talk with management to re-assess my investment in the company given the continuous bearish analysis, comments and sentiment about the company and disparate data. I am a long-term holder of this company and after listening to the speakers at the AGM and talking to some of the A2 team I am very confident we are in the hands of a very hardworking, focused, upbeat, quietly confident team.
I thought I’d share what I found (apologies if you this has been repeated by other posters):
Kantar measure
Peter Nathan explained that Kantar measure is based on a panel of customers aged 1-12 months only and therefore only covers stage 1 and 2 IF users.He said they know many of their customers skip stage 2 altogether going straight onto stage 3.Therefore, the Kantar measure of 6.4% mkt share (as the company says) is under capturing their mkt share and their own internal measures (given stage 3 is their largest seller). He was also positive on the Smart Nutrition opportunity – saying they are creating a category with it as well.
He appeared to be upbeat, focused, quick speaker and very importantly still enjoying his role in the company (I asked him if he was still enjoying the job).He is seeing a lot of change in the channels in China even in the last 6 months.He believes because A2 is smaller, they can be more nimble and agile across the channels.He mentioned a platform called Pinduoduo selling A2.My understanding from what he said (to some fund analysts) is they are not distributing to them directly but being supplied by someone else.
Hong Kong Label
There is no change to the formula but it will help them penetrate Guangzhou and south China better. I was also told that IF coming from HK was considered prestigious in Guangzhou and south China.
US Market
Blake was very positive about the US market.He said that vendors want 2 things from its merchants: to grow/create a new category and to increase volumes.He said A2 is doing both which is why retailers are approaching them.He also said that they are not getting so much aggression from the national farming and advertising bodies that initially opposed them.
Note: I was surprised at how large the creamer containers are.
Susan Massasso leaving
She confirmed that she is indeed leaving for family reasons.She said she has three children who are in stages of their lives where they need her and that the travelling her job entails takes her away a lot.She is very positive about the company and may work part time in the future. (Apparently, she rang Geoff and he told her she “can’t leave” and she replied that “he did” and he said to her “but I’m old”).
What keeps her up at night is trying to capture the massive opportunities they still have.
Jayne came across as a warm, focused, honest, intelligent and passionate CEO.She seems to be genuine and very proud of our fast-growing company.
I have to say David Hearn demonstrated his worth as the chairman of the company at the AGM. He competently answered a lot of questions across wide ranging topics with ease.
In the time I have been invested in A2, I have learnt there are few analysts/fund managers that really understand the company and how far it has come. That's why DYOR is so important.
Hope this helps and this is just my opinion and thoughts.
Best wishes to everyone!
Products displayed at AGM:
(20min delay)