- Financial Results
- Revenue and impacts across first and second half of the year
- Bluechiip Branded and Bluechiip Enabled Products
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Record of interview:
1. BCT released its FY20 financial results last week showing a loss of
We began the year looking to get scale and efficiencies into the business while also generating flexibility in our operations for chips and readers and continuing to build our customer base. We made significant progress on this in the first half and begun ramping up deliveries as we entered the second half.
In early February we started seeing the initial impacts from Covid19 and by March/April most of the world was in various levels of lock down and activity levels fell sharply.
So, against that backdrop, I can say that but for Covid19 we were positioned to deliver a much stronger second half than the one we did.
Entering FY21, we are happy with the past year's allocation of resources on research and development which has delivered the business capabilities in terms of production efficiencies, flexibility, product development and customer engagement. For example, in response to specific customer demands we can now produce chips in multiple sizes. This in turn allows us to target more market niches within the broader biobanking and life sciences market.
2. Revenue was
The growth in cash receipts reflects sales made to customers during fourth quarter FY19 with cash receipts came in FY20 and also FY19. If you look at the FY20 Annual Report, you'll see that Trade Receivables were just
In the Notes to the accounts you will also see a
3. BCT has been reorganising its operations to ameliorate the impacts of Covid19, including reducing total expenses and putting a greater portion of its spending into R&D. Is the reorganisation complete and what is the impact of this both operationally and financially?
The focus on R & D in the past years is already delivering in terms of more efficient production, improved product range and quality.
Is this work complete? No, we are continually monitoring this in response to customer demand and the operating environment. For example, we can't travel to international trade shows however many companies have now moved on-line so we engage with our target customer base in this way. In the last quarter of FY20 we were able to remotely train a customer in
As we continue to develop our own branded products, we are also able to work remotely with potential OEM partners developing concepts and roadmaps towards
Financially, as noted above we expect to receive
4. BCT is now developing its own line of branded products as well as supplying OEM partners. What investment will this require and how do these two strategies fit together?
The capability to sell our own product direct has always been there and is a typical component of our OEM agreements. For example, in June we delivered product direct to a customer in
As well as the OEM customer agreements we have in place, we currently have a number of potential OEM agreements in various stages of negotiation and 35 developer kits in the market. The ability to produce and market our own product line is part of the negotiation process with each client in each market niche.
So, the two strategies work together by giving us flexibility to tailor to different markets. We may deliver a customised version of our own product to an OEM to service part of their needs and at the same time, deliver raw chips for them to integrate into their own specialised products where they can deliver significant scale.
5. Labcon purported to cancel its contract in July of this year. Being post balance date, it had no impact on the result in the FY20 accounts, but can you remind us what the cancelation means in terms of BCTs strategic direction, opportunities and market position?
I am limited in what I can say given legal proceedings have started which will involve claims and counterclaims but as noted in our announcement of 16 July, Labcon purported to terminate its contract which we are contesting.
As mentioned earlier, we are developing our own line of
We are well engaged with multiple OEM opportunities in the
6. Looking at the market in terms of the end customers, the bio preservation market is your primary target market. How large is it and how is BCT engaged in various segments of this market? Does Covid19 offer any new opportunities?
Well over 300m samples per year go into storage in bio-preservation and bio-banking globally. The market has multiple segments including blood banking, research national bio-banks which can have many millions of samples in just one facility, cell therapy and IVF.
Covid19 has resulted in a large increase in the volume of testing and bio-samples being put into storage.
This includes growth in adjacent life science markets such as active bio-logics, which includes therapies and vaccines. Many of these need to be shipped and handled at very low temperatures, for example, -80 degrees Celsius.
In terms of Covid19, our presence in overseas markets provides us with a platform to chase opportunities and, locally, we are also aware of the Federal Government's move to secure 25m vaccinations for
We are actively pursuing all of these markets.
7. Software is something that BCT has discussed more in recent months. Can you remind us how this adds to BCT's market proposition and how it complements BCT's overall technology, patent and certification position?
The software is an increasingly important part of our operation and is being developed with feedback from our customers.
It gives our customers significant efficiency and security gains and you'll see a segment in the Annual Report, on page 7, detailing how our overall system works in a client environment. By system we mean
A specific software example is that in the last few weeks we released software that includes CFR21.11 compliance, which covers regulations on electronic records and electronic signatures, allowing improved access for the pharmaceutical market.
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DISCLAIMER:
About
The unique tag is based on MEMS technology and contains no electronics. The tag can either be embedded or manufactured into a storage product, such as vials or bags. Easy identification, along with any associated information from the tag such as temperature can be detected by a reader, which can also sense the temperature of the tagged items. The traditional identification technologies have significant limitations. Whereas a barcode requires a visible tag or line-of-sight optical scan, bluechiip(R) technology does not. Unlike labels, barcodes and RFID, the bluechiip(R) technology can sense the temperature of each item a tag is attached to, or embedded in.
The bluechiip(R) technology has initial applications in the healthcare industry particularly those businesses which require cryogenic storage facilities (biobanks and biorepositories). bluechiip(R) offers the only technology that enables accurate and reliable tracking of products including stem cells, cord blood, and other biospecimens. In addition to functioning in extreme temperatures, the bluechiip(R) tracking solution can survive autoclaving, gamma irradiation sterilization, humidification, centrifuging, cryogenic storage and frosting.
The bluechiip(R) technology has other healthcare applications in pathology, clinical trials and forensics. Several other key markets outside of healthcare include cold-chain logistics/supply chain, security/defence, industrial/manufacturing and aerospace/aviation.
Further information is available at http://www.bluechiip.com
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