Simla,
That Stuff story leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Exploitation?....or just a matter of circumstance? Doesn't read well.
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So EE did it .... and profited ..... but jeez he needed 'a wee bit of extra cash at the time' .... yeah right
Never mind guys EE played by the rules .... thas the way the game is played in this .... so get over it
But never forget .... EE and his mates are decent guys
The company has called the umpire in to make a call, and that's how our society works. Let's just wait and see what they say. Regardless, though, there's no denying that that party has been very useful to the company to date.
But I'm surprised nobody has commented on the results themselves.
Two years ago, we hoped for early runs on the board as K12 arrived in Costco. That particular path didn't go especially smoothly as far as we could tell, and we have spent the last two years trying to get a feel for where things were going.
But this report lays out a much more solid situation. There are several useful onsellers in the market now. Therabreath is in Walgreens and looking at others, and has done a pretty thorough job of gaining internet stories. Now Foods is clearly running with the thing. Jarrow sounds pretty happy. U!be in Japan are getting somewhere. Culturedcare are still widely available. Russia is keen. Australia is stable. NZ is doing well. Something's going down in Japan. Stratum seem to have been a success. China is still progressing. GRAS must be picking up interest. Sales seem to be back to healthy growth. Gourmet look like they will bring in some cash. And there's a ton of other onsellers. All up, a much more solid situation.
Existing shareholders will be a lot happier when the next issue is over on satisfactory terms. But that still remains the most likely outcome surely?
And once cash is in the bank, the company looks in a pretty comfortable position from that report. No? Comments anyone?
I wonder who deserves a red card Winner69?
Most of what I read about BLT is positive. They are working in a poor economic climate with restricted funding. It would certainly be nice to be financially secure but BLT is dealing with the vagaries of a fickle market and there are few risk takers around to play white knight. The BLT products are one factor, but the others are; the buyer demand, and if there is buyer demand will people buy at the price BLT wants?
I also think of the ROI for a substantial investment. For most of us the ROI is rather negative and has been for some time, so who is going to provide the cash to keep BLT alive? The answer to that is partly in the risk-reward ratio. I agree with most of what you say Simla, but the cold fact is that BLT is right on the edge of a financial abyss. Sales are one thing but we don't know much about the cost of those sales. What exactly is the real profit per sale I wonder?
If they get a cash injection that will be great! They will survive and probably prosper, but I think the commercial situation is a tad desperate. BLT is at a tipping point. Right now it wouldn't take much to tip the business to disaster!
No one deserves a red card in my opinion. The marketing team are all working at making the BLT business a success, but it's going to be hard to achieve! Assuming margins are inflexible BLT has to increase sales to gain more cash flow, as they are trying to do of course. The question in my thinking is whether they have sufficient time! That's the last factor in the story ...time! It's taken so long to get to where they are now that there's not much cash left for running the business.
Agree that the next issue must proceed. But they have a story to tell and my assumption is that that will be okay. I'll be happier when that's passed us though, certainly.
I don't see the abyss that you see, other than in the immediate future of the issue. As far as I can tell, the sales for last year occurred in just 4 months of the year. If so, then they're making progress. In the last 12 months they have gained Therabreath Multi, Jarrow, Now, GRAS, Stratum, something in Japan, China, Gourmet. Previously they were relying heavily on Bioguard and the previous distributor. That's almost a complete change of main income sources as I read it, and the last results suggest it's working for them. Also a big change in that increasing immediate sales have finally made it to the number one slot of objectives - good!
Yes, it remains a risk. But if the issue proceeds, I get the whiff of victory from that report. But, yep, it's a tricky world out there. Anything may yet happen. (ps. Love where you're going with your website.)
"That's what markets are for"
Dead wrong!1
I'm not sure if this is what you meant, Oman, but p29 lists sales revenue for the company, not the group, (ie Blis not Gourmet I believe, and the headings wrong way round by the look of it) last year of 1188k, and cost of goods sold of 461k, a profit of 727k. The list of expenses, also on page 29 which is almost the total expenses in the P&L, effectively has overheads of 725k (employee, director,lease), non-capitalised R & D expenses of 555k, non-cash expenses of 402k (amort, depr). That gives you: overheads 725k + capitalised 555k = 1280k + non-cash 402k + cost of goods 461k = 2143k. (There were a few other small things.)
Or in another order: production profit (727k) - overheads (725k) = 2k surplus - 555k non-capitalised R&D - 402k non-cash = -955k before finance costs - 121k amort -400k divid - 225k impariment gourmet = -1701k (compared to -1733k on p18 because I skipped some small income and expenses, pretty close).
So, grouping the non-cash together: -402k non-cash (amort, depr) - 121k (pref amort) -225k impairment gourmet = -748k non-cash (although gourmet cost cash, but the write off was obviously a non-recurring prudent write off).
ie Loss of Blis operation (not gourmet) approx = 1701k = 2k production surplus beyond overheads - 400k dividends (not next year) - 555k non-capitalised R&D -748k non-cash items
Or, operating (2k production surplus - 555k non-capitalised R & D) = just -553k. Not actually bad considering their sales were massively impaired for most of the year. On top of which are 748k non-cash (capital depreciation accounting entries really, no?) and 400k dividend which is over now = -1701k. On top of which Gourmet lost 26k. (okay, that totals -1727k compared to declared loss of -1759k. I simplified a bit.)
Okay, that won't be exactly accepted accounting standards. It's just re-expressing things for the sake of argument. But I must say I sometimes wonder if Blis don't present their accounts in almost the worst possible light! You must admit it looks very different if you put the figures in a different order.
I'm not trying to convince anyone that that is a good way to look at it. I'm just explaining why I don't see things as being so bad as it sounds with the bald statement of a $1.76m loss.
Comments very welcome! That's just my maths and amateur accounting, do your own if you're interested! (And, yes, none of that addresses the cash situation, which needs sorting.)