Ann: Powder Production at Capacity to August 2019, page-19

The Queensland Investment Club seemed to be mostly retiree retail investors, but sophisticated investors for sure with plenty of collective experience and capital. Geoff and Rade gave solid presentations. Several shareholders were in attendance and I think that must have made a good impression. Later throughout the night I did hear rumblings about ANO looking like a good punt. A few interesting bits of information:

BASF alone has a EUR700 million UV chemical business that is "up for grabs"

ANO product has superior transparency to other zinc oxide

Gold works well for blocking UV but is a bit too expensive for that purpose

Titanium dioxide only covers UVB and requires chemicals to cover broad spectrum, so whats the point?

Quality control is a top priority. Every batch of precursor is tested for heavy metal content and every batch of finished product is tested for SPF. Customers place an emphasis on consistency of quality and are unlikely to reformulate as long as they can get that. SPF scandal can put a small brand out of business.

Chemical UV inhibitors were not originally intended for high frequency use, consumer behavior and needs have changed to apply much more frequently.

The harder they work the luckier they get. Geoff is now prioritizing growth in Europe, which only approved nano zinc oxide in 2016.

Corporate culture was rebuilt from the ground up after the change in control. 15 out of 16 employees in Perth were let go and 7 were hired to right size the business and get the culture right. That culture seems to be laser focused on activities that build shareholder value.

Estee Lauder and Clinique are known customers, the rest is largely a secret held by distributors.

California expected to ban chemical sunscreen later this year. Australia will hopefully soon follow.

Rade would like Brian's junk to be worth a billion dollars.