RE: Sharesoc Presentation27 Mar 2024 12:40
I totally agree that John and team have managed to marry the science with the market, however I don't think that this is a recent development. It's been fundamental to the growth and success of the company to date.
For example Yvon first created a superabsorbant polymer in 2008 and I'd bet that they've engineered many others in all sorts of different sectors. John has said you can make so many things from itaconic acid, it all comes down to margins and profitability and we're not quite there with superabsorbants.
My point is that they made a conscious decision to focus first on the dish tab market (they have a functional advantage in dish tabs due to having 2 carboxylic acid groups). It's clear that John et al did the maths and they realised they could not only provide a green alternative, but also one that produced better results and was cheaper. John sums this up in the most recent RNS "...the Company's key competitive advantage is in delivering both performance and affordability."
A win, win, win for customers which can be seen in the N. American sales to date. As John says, ITX ingredients are in products in every price range: the premium shelf dish tab products, the budget, and also the ECO ranges.
But, the most interesting part of the ShareSoc presentation for me was John talking about the expected dish tab market growth in Europe.
FY23 Cleaning (mainly dish tab) revenues anfd growth
AMER = $6.9 million
AMER = 35.6%
EMEA = $1.0 million
EMEA = 89.3%
Two points
1. The European dish tab market is bigger than the US. John says this is now the focus.
2. Rossman (Germany) picked up a top award for their dish tab using ITX ingredients. Where one brand gets the ITX advantage, others soon follow.
It's clear we should anticipate huge revenue growth in Europe in the coming years.
P.S. Leather, superabsorbants, and paints are much bigger opportunities than what ITX have done so far in detergents.