Byotrol Share Discussion Threads

[loafofbread] 01/10/2021 09:50

It does look like a bit of a desperate move to shore up the figures for the first half, and avoid a 2nd profits warning if they update for the first half.

I've asked Byotrol to explain what the 'Americas' covers i.e just the USA or the whole of the left hand side of a Game of Risk board. Needless to say they never told me which makes me think it's 1/3 of the worlds land mass!

IIRC IRI had already stitched us up by doing a massive sub licence weeks after our deal earlier in the year.

[1gw] 01/10/2021 09:46

They'd already licensed the rights for 10 years, remember. So these payments are on top of whatever has been paid by IRI already and (I would think) on top of the minimum guaranteed payments that have already been booked as income and are committed as cash.

I read this as a pragmatic deal to deliver income this year and help bridge the earnings gap through to (hopefully) more material royalty payments from Solvay and other licensees in FY23 and beyond.

It's also pragmatic in terms of boosting the incentive for IRI to invest - which in turn should lead to higher royalty payments to byotrol over the 3 years than would otherwise be the case. If they can get professional sales to a decent level as a result of the tie-up with the "significant US distribution company" then this will produce upside compared to the original deal.

I think the US landscape has changed for byotrol with the news that Solvay is pursuing EPA registration for Actizone. If this is a superior product to byotrol24 then it perhaps makes sense to run byotrol24 for near-term cash rather than position it to take ownership back again (or re-license) after the initial deal 10-year term.

Finally, we have seen how byotrol24 is attractive to some enterprising resellers in Asia. So anything which ups the profile and market share of byotrol24 in the US, ahead of Actizone establishing itself there, is likely to increase the value of byotrol24 as a brand elsewhere - which should lead to better deals to monetise the technology in other geographies.

[tradertrev] 01/10/2021 09:22

hmmm... I may well have misunderstood this, but it looks like we have sold all rights to Byotrol24 in the Americas for £1m plus royalties for only 3 years, such royalties likely to be pretty modest. Can't believe that's a great return on the investment.
I thought the US EPA approved long-lasting surface sanitiser was hailed as one of the great opportunities for the group and it looks like it's just been sold for £1m and change.
If someone can show where I've misunderstood I'd appreciate it.

[football] 01/10/2021 08:10

finncap






Implications. The profit on sale of Byotrol24 (c.£1.0m) will be recognised in FY 2022 and represents c.65% of the FY 2022 forecast royalty & licensing income (£1.55m). Furthermore, Byotrol has potentially secured a strong partner that should be able to maximise the opportunity for Byotrol24 in the US and provide upside for FY 2023 forecasts. Given Byotrol retains all ownership and rights over the Byotrol24 formulation outside the Americas, we expect future monetisation events to occur in due course.

[football] 01/10/2021 07:59

Daresbury-based hygiene group Byotrol has completed the sale in the Americas of its US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registered, long lasting antimicrobial surface spray to its existing licensee, Integrated Resources Inc.

The agreement involves a sale by Byotrol to IRI of all rights to the formulation in the Americas, including registrations and patent rights, in return for:

Cash payments amounting to $1.4m in total, paid over a maximum of two years, with the first payment already made. For US regulatory reasons, Byotrol will remain formal legal owner of the formulation until the payments are complete, although substantially all economic risks and rewards have now been transferred to IRI
Three years of royalty on all IRI sales;
Further payments to Byotrol should IRI onward sell the formulation within three years; and
Byotrol continuing to act as the preferred technical services provider to IRI and its customers on the formulation, paid-for by IRI on a case-by-case basis.
Simultaneous with this sale, Byotrol has entered into a preliminary three-way agreement with IRI and a significant US distribution company to register with EPA and then sell the formulation into US professional markets. Should formal registration be achieved, sales by IRI to the distribution company will accrue additional royalties to Byotrol.

Byotrol retains all ownership and rights over the formulation outside the Americas.

The agreement continues the company’s strategy to cease its day-to-day operations in the US, while maintaining rights to share in the success of its partners and licensees.

Byotrol chief executive, David Traynor, said: “Byotrol24 is going to a very good home in Integrated Resources, and we look forward to sharing in their continuing successes in the Americas.

“We are particularly pleased with the new relationships IRI has been building – and that we have been helpful in securing – in the last 18 months and we expect them to accelerate progress now, particularly in the very large US markets, helping to underpin management’s expectations for the current and next financial year.

[wisecat2] 01/10/2021 07:51

looks a very clever deal

[1gw] 01/10/2021 07:11

Yes they did. That should sort out 1H and FY22 performance. Well done byotrol.

[loafofbread] 30/9/2021 19:40

If they did, we would never know!

[1gw] 30/9/2021 18:23

So, did they manage to close a material IP deal right at the death of the half?

[1gw] 30/9/2021 11:37

I don't track the nominee holdings (which I take to be HL, II, HSDL and Redmayne Bentley).

But the shareholding evidence (ignoring these presumed nominee holders) is that the larger declared holders are relatively happy, with all but the Bottomleys increasing or maintaining their holding since that reported in the 2020 annual report (as of 12th October 2020):

Amati, Tonex and ?What If! reported holdings on the (latest) 22nd September 2021 list are unchanged from those reported in the 2019 AR (as of 11th October 2019 - i.e. 2 years ago).

Lim Teck Lee holding is unchanged from that reported by TR-1 as of 19th August 2020 (a lower number was reported in the 2020 annual report but I think that didn't take account of the August 2020 TR-1).

Newlands are up to 25m shares, from 16m shares in the 2020 AR or from 12m shares (13m incl spreadbet) as of 12/10/20 holdings notice. They declared 28m as of 19th August 2021, but that included a spreadbet and excluding the spreadbet they were just under 25m shares in that holdings notice.

V Silvester is up to 16m from 14m in the 2020 AR.

The Bottomleys are down very marginally to 14.4m from 14.5m in the 2020 AR.

Craig Andrew Weatherhead is new to the significant shareholders list this year with 16m shares.

So to me that supports a narrative of the larger shareholders, with many of whom we might suspect DT has reasonably regular contact, being happy, and selling pressure coming from retail shareholders or smaller institutional holders who rely more on formal communications from the company.

[1gw] 30/9/2021 09:16

Resurrection.

I'm pleased to say that Lim Teck Lee Investments has appeared back on the list of significant shareholders on the byotrol investor site, with 20.4m shares (4.5%). That appears to me to be the only change from the list posted on the same site on 28th September.

So share price weakness nothing to do with that shareholder it would appear. Thesis moves back to retail investors selling down?

[1gw] 29/9/2021 13:39

Looks like someone with dry powder has decided that's close enough to the bottom to start adding. Hope they're right.

[supernumerary] 29/9/2021 00:16

loaf - I don't think anyone's happy about the sp, but if Lee's really been trying to get rid of 20M shares, it's hardly surprising that it's fallen, especially as that would provoke stop losses and inhibit buyers. Just have to be patient. Easy to say, I know...

[football] 28/9/2021 23:21

Loaf I don't want calls has what your told and what happens is two different things

[supernumerary] 28/9/2021 22:06

Well it's up to date now, so he'll have to find something else to complain about. Which I've no doubt he'll do :¬)

[1gw] 28/9/2021 21:30

supernumerary - loaf means that before today, that page on the website had a "last updated" tag of December 2020. I know this because I checked it yesterday as I was expecting it to be updated when the annual report was published.

So the list may have been updated on 22nd September 2021, but it wasn't published to the website until today (or late yesterday).

[stevesham] 28/9/2021 18:20

Oh dear, I do sense current shareholders are not happy, I think I will give this a miss having watched for a while, patience I feel has paid off, particularly when there are more solid places to invest

All I see is lack of growth, lack of news flow, poor sentiment, falling share price, but great potential, however the potential is not enough without the other

Good luck all holders, I really do hope it works out for you

[supernumerary] 28/9/2021 14:16

There's no TR1 for Lee, which implies that he's still selling. Which in turn implies the knife is still falling...

[1gw] 28/9/2021 13:51

Annual report has been uploaded to the site and the major shareholders page on the website has been updated.

Unfortunately they tell different stories.

Annual report shows holdings from August ("As at 18 August 2021, the Company had received notification...")

This shows:
No significant holding by the Newlands
20.4m shares (4.6%) held by Lim Teck Lee
No significant holding by Craig Andrew Weatherhead

The website apparently shows a later position ("Last updated 22nd September 2021") and shows:

25m shares (5.5%) holding by the Newlands
No significant holding by Lim Teck Lee
15.8m shares (3.5%) holding by Craig Andrew Weatherhead

My guess is that the AR numbers are both out-of-date and wrong (The Newlands declared 4.4% voting rights held as shares (plus 0.6% spreadbet) as of 26th April 2021 and then 5.4% shares (plus 0.7% spreadbet) as of 19th August).

So assuming that the website is correct, the major news there is that it no longer shows Lim Teck Lee as a significant shareholder. If he has sold down, at least below the 3% level, and perhaps has more to go that would perhaps account for some of the share price weakness.

[football] 28/9/2021 12:03

LOL! yet again -0.05 down