Thanks. Was my first ANO agm, and I must say it was nice to meet other shareholders - who it seems are all in for the long haul. Definitely a nice alignment of shareholders/management/company etc
For those that couldn't attend - I would recommend going in the future if you can.
as to my thoughts;
1) It would seem they're tracking well for the 30m guidance - customers happy, main distributor (deveroux) now loves us and is in a nice symbiotic relationship (they're as important to us as we are to them)
2) They're looking to 'simplify' the business and focus on being the main powder player. A discussion was held around distributor v manufacturers v brand owners etc - and potential competing interests. ANO's sole focus is to be the main player in the production of powders. And to this end they're looking to build a distributor network and will provide support 'instruction manual, advise on mixers etc' to the manufacturers. But they're not looking to undercut anyone else's business. For them the real goal is to get as many distributors, manufacturers and brand owners (and ultimately consumers) using the powder. Best way to do this is to ensure everyone is happy to use/promote etc knowing they are not going to be undercut in the future.
For me this makes sense - distributors aren't going to promote your product if you then look to cut them out and go straight to the manufacturer/brand owners etc. A story was told about how edgewell group (banana boat) came to them directly and they had to direct them back to the distributor.
From this though I have gathered that some of the white label stuff may now be happening outside of ANO (AIR). For me this is an understandable decision. Ultimately their competitive advantage isn't in white labelling etc it's in the production of the source ingredients-and if they're happy to simplify this that's all the better. Doesn't mean they won't research, support and promote formulations etc (they will maintain chemists) - just they want to ensure they're focusing on what they're best at
3) new powder products. This one is a bit hard to understand, but essentially they've managed to refine the process so they can make the zinc powder 'to size'. I understand that some cosmetics might require bigger/smaller etc sizing and they can now cater to this market. They discussed a little bit about the dispersions - from their point of the view, selling as a dispersion doesn't really add much value to ANO (main markup is the zinc) - but it does add a lot to the freight costs etc as the end product is a lot more bulky. It then goes from ANO>manufacturer to have the remaining ingredients added in. Overall it doesn't make a lot of economic sense to add the dispersion at the source rather than when the final product is being made. They made comments about how they're happy to help customers switch to just the powder and doing the dispersion themselves (I understand with reference to equipment support etc). Just another example of how they're actively looking to help their distributor/manufacturing network.
4) quality of service/product. Commentary was made around how they're being very thorough in ensuring quality in/out (all precursor zinc carbonate tested, all end batches tested as well) and how they've had to make changes to their suppliers etc - but the outcome is that they're getting a reputation as a quality supplier. With a short time frame for making products - a dodgy batch can seriously stuff up a manufacturers/brand owners plans - they're trying to ensure they can hit the trifecta; reliable product quality, reliable product availability and reliable product support.
Overall I got the sense that the biggest struggle is still keeping up with the demand/market for the zinc powder - but that they're laser focused on still growing this market and being the 'source producer' rather than trying to do everything at once.
My question (as reference by
@anthill_commerce) went to the importance of deveroux - but also I wanted to know what are Deveroux doing that some of the other distributors don't seem to be, and what could ANO do to improve this. I gathered from the answer that they're now focused on providing support etc to the distributor/manufacturer network (as well as signing up new distributors in new markets). So watch this space, could be either deveroux expanding (in Canada now apparently) or just a few others to do what Deveroux have done and there could be a serious uplift in activity.
Hope this helps.
Cheers
(20min delay)