The Dunedin-based probiotics company yesterday delivered its financial results for the year ended March 31.
It delivered revenue of $10.2million, up from $8.9million the previous year. Its ebitda loss of $0.6million was down from a $2.1million loss last year, while an after-tax net loss of $1.35million was down from last year’s $2.7million loss.
In a statement, chairman Geoff Plunket said the listed company’s financial performance continued to improve.
There had been a rebound in revenue from Europe, the first revenue from the company’s strategic partnership with Swedish global probiotics company Probi, and early signs of an improved performance following a strategy reset, Mr Plunket said.
Chief executive Brian Watson said that shift in strategy, confirmed in July 2022, was aimed at focusing on Blis’ strengths and returning to a sustained profitable trading position.
"Our strengths centre around scientific discovery and probiotic innovation. We are pleased with our progress implementing the revised strategy and there are early positive signs of this delivering improved results," he said.
The strategy refresh resulted in a renewed focus on business-to-business (B2B) opportunities and the decision to discontinue both the direct-to-consumer business in Canada and marketing of Blis’ skincare brand Unconditional Skincare Co.
Blis achieved revenue growth across all revenue categories; ingredient sales, royalty revenue and business-to-consumer sales.
It enjoyed an improved trading result in the second half of the financial year, with positive cash earnings. A positive ebitda of $0.6million was achieved in the second half of the year.
Mr Watson said good progress had been made on Blis’ key objective of returning the company to a profitable trading position.
The coming year would see a continued focus on both growing revenue, enhancing research and development capabilities, he said.
Current research and development activity was focused on the commercialisation of existing technologies to supporting commercial opportunity aligned with its B2B priorities.
New product development included enhancing its skincare offering. The skincare category remained an attractive opportunity and its live probiotic serum represented the first of a number of identified technologies for a broader skincare portfolio.
