At the company’s annual shareholders meeting yesterday, one shareholder questioned why they had "little skin in the game" in terms of respective shareholdings, at the current share price, which was sitting at $0.032 yesterday afternoon, if they were so excited about its potential.
In response, chairman Geoff Plunket — who earlier said Blis had an exciting future and the outlook was positive — said it was a personal decision for shareholders.
Director Tony Balfour was questioned if his lack of any shareholding in Blis was an expression of no positivity in the company, with the questioner saying having no shares was "not a good look".
Mr Balfour said lots of independent directors had no shares in their companies and it made no difference to how he performed his role.
Last week, Blis announced that a review of the company’s strategy and business model had been undertaken following a disappointing financial performance in full-year 2022. Subject to consultation, the company said a small reduction in staffing levels was expected.
Blis broke a three-year run of profitability, posting a loss of $2.7 million for the 12 months to March 31. In 2019, Blis posted its maiden profit of $400,000, followed by $1.6 million in 2020 and then $600,000 last year.
Yesterday, Mr Plunket said the more tightly focused strategy would deliver a return to profitability, as the company focused on what it did best.
The strategic partnership Blis established in mid-2021 with Swedish probiotic company Probi represented a key part of that strategy. Revenue from that relationship was expected to start in the current year and it was expected to be under $500,000. This year would be a year of transition for the business, he said.
Chief financial officer Richard Wingham, standing in for chief executive Brian Watson, said there was a disappointing result in the ingredients business in full-year 2022, particularly in the United States and Europe.
There had been a recovery in ingredients sales in all markets in the first quarter of the new financial year, however it remained cautious around the US market.
Unaudited results for the quarter ending June 30 showed revenue of $2.3 million, which was a 29% rise on the same period last year, with an ebitda loss of $0.3 million.
During the question session, a shareholder said "thank goodness" for the shareholder review, as shareholders had spent several decades looking forward to an exciting future, which Mr Plunket said was a "fair comment".
Asked if the board was considering reducing the number of directors — and if not, then why not — Mr Plunket said it was under review. It was a small company, which operated in a global environment, and it needed to be nimble and effective.
A previous board decision had deemed the most appropriate size of the board to be five. Since then, there had been the partnership with Probi, which resulted in Probi chief executive Tom Ronnlund joining the board.
There had been seven directors while Aimee McCammon was transitioned on to the board — Tony Offen retired at the end of yesterday’s meeting after 13 years — and the long-term question was whether five or six was appropriate, Mr Plunket said.
Asked when a return to profitability was likely to occur, Mr Plunket said a more accurate update would be provided in the company’s half-year report. The first quarter had been a "substantial improvement" and forward orders looked positive.
Asked if directors would consider restricting fee increases until the company could pay a dividend, Mr Plunket said it was unlikely Blis would pay a dividend in the short to medium term; any money would be invested back into research, development and future capital growth.
Asked if the board had considered a share consolidation, Mr Plunket replied "yes and no", adding it was not under active consideration at present.
