The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring financial educator and author Jared Dillian has been released. Listen here.
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Are the 10.75s buys then? What is the live bid and ask atm then please? I cant check on my platform thanks
Thank s RK, first time looking in, like the growth this yr and possible contracts going forward so made a small purchase whilst I research further.
Can buy at 10.75 which I was chuffed with.
ATB,
panman.
Good morning Panman
Nick runs a tight ship and keeps expenses under control and will do everything to mitigate costs.
By having our Polish facility and access to Europe we are on the front foot, unlike many other companies in our industry.
RKB
If they get any of these bigger contracts can they fulfill them without placing for working capital etc?
Operations Update
UK revenue up c. 73% to c. £307,000 (unaudited) in the year to 31 March 2023
Approximately 68% average gross margin across all UK business lines
£125,000 UK inventory at cost at 31 March 2023
Approximately £1 million gross cash at 31 March 2023 (including £500,000 held in escrow for completion of the Polish acquisition)
One of the largest ranges of CBD products in the UK - over 70 formulated products and, in its own stores, over 400 stock-keeping units (SKUs)
Even more significant are the potential new customers that Voyager is currently engaging in negotiations with. The Company’s vertical integration has enabled it to offer a wide range of products and services in both the UK and EU and potentially service orders of considerably higher volumes. This has opened up a bigger market opportunity for the Company and examples of some of the larger orders on which Voyager is currently finalising terms are the following:
Supplying a range of products to a prominent CBD brand that distributes throughout the UK.
Single product manufacturing under licence for European distribution.
Fulfilling monthly recurring orders for bulk supply of CBD isolate to a European market.
Engaging in licensed manufacturing of multiple products to support expansion into European markets by a US brand.
Collaborating with a European partner to support high-profile brand.
The Icing on the cake:
“Although there can be no guarantee that any or all of these negotiations will materialise into firm contracts, based on the depth of conversations to date management are optimistic that several will move into the production phase shortly. To provide perspective on the importance of these opportunities, it is worth noting that each individual opportunity holds the potential to exceed Voyager’s revenue from last year.”
RKB
Best advice to maintain youthful skin is avoiding stress - not investing in VOY might be a good start!
Featured in the Independent
As the Links don’t appear to be working since the LSE South East Maintenance 9 days ago, I have transcribed below what it said.
Ascend neck & decollete ceramide cream. 4-star rating
“If you’re looking for something to target neck lines & sagging skin, reach for this cream. Testers were impressed with the whole range of skincare from this brand, with its night seruc (£35 Ascendskincare.co.uk) in particular working overnight miracles on acne so it was hard to pick just one product. But this one really stood out.”
“This 100% plant-based cream was a joy to apply, with skin on the neck and decollete feeling deeply hydrated, and all our testers noticed lifting and firming over the course of a month. Neck lines were visibly reduced, and the skin overall appeared more youthful.”
RKB
PS ComTruise I know you like to look good, maybe try some of our products.
https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/fashion-beauty/skincare/best-cbd-oil-hemp-beauty-skincare-benefits-a9291806.html
Cash must be extremely tight if Nick and Eric are having to further dip their hands in their pockets to raise £100k.
The Polish acquisition has been a convenient distraction from the underlying slow motion car crash that is cash burn and unsustainable gross margins.
I await the full year results with interest.
General Meeting
Our GM was held yesterday in Perth, Scotland.
I was the only Private Shareholder present in the company of all four Directors.
All Resolutions were passed unanimously.
After the GM was officially closed at 11:10am I had some coffee and a chat with the BoD.
I am conscious that anything said by BoD has to be general information and nothing that is considered “Insider Information” so we had an informal chat in general about our expanding business and our Polish manufacturing facility.
I was also introduced to all the staff present who were busy going about their duties and I was able to ask them about their various tasks.
I observed a customer’s Order being carefully packaged and prepared for courier uplift (not one that Royal Mail could handle)
I was given a personal tour of our very large manufacturing room (the one that was just an empty room last September) Discussed a client’s manufacturing requirements and how our staff not only in Perth but also in Poland, collaborate in the “alchemy” of designing a new product that began on paper with a client’s ideas and transferred into a high-quality finished product that the client is 100% satisfied.
If only ordinary shareholders were to take the time to visit our site in Perth, they would understand the vision our BoD have and be able to observe a hive of activity with all the staff working towards the same goal. Making Voyager Life a CBD Company to be proud of.
RKB
PS As there was no RNS issued yesterday, could we receive not only the GM update but some other news?
General Meeting
There is a General Meeting on Monday 20th March 2023 in Perth, Scotland.
The purpose of the GM is to basically approve 3 Resolutions to complete the Fundraising from late last year of the CBD Extraction & Manufacturing Facility in Poland.
Two of our BoD are investing £200,000 in total, but due to the FCA Rules there has to be a GM to facilitate a Rule 9 waiver from the Takeover Panel.
All Shareholders should vote (in my opinion) for all three Resolutions.
As the GM is in Perth, you may want to attend in person and meet the BoD and have a tour of our set-up and have a chat with our staff.
RKB
PS Remember the previous owners spent about £17 million on the Land & Buildings and fitting out the state-of-the-art facilities that we acquired in Poland and we only paid £1.5 million.
Great update RKB
They are certainly getting their act together and finding that freehold property fully equipped at a bargain price gives one a lot of confidence being onboard fully invested and hopefully not to long before it becomes a profitable journey .
Poland Facility
Last month Voyager acquired our facilities in Poland from Goodbody Health Ltd.
Voyager, (subject to Polish government approval), owns the land, buildings and equipment.
Other buildings house the biomass (for processing) and heavy equipment. There is a basic office building on site.
The facility has a dedicated power supply with an electricity substation on site. The upper floor of the facility houses the laboratories and testing areas. These areas are restricted and are accessed by secure lift and fingerprint entry. The facility has security gates, high fences, cameras and alarms.
In Poland Voyager now have a team comprising pharmacists, chemists and a scientific adviser from Medical University at Lubin. The team are well educated (two have PhD’s) and well connected in the European cannabis/CBD market.
Before Goodbody Health Ltd acquired the facilities (which they sold onto Voyager Life at the end of December 2022) the previous owners spent about £17 million on the Land & Buildings and fitting out the state-of-the-art facilities.
Voyager Life only paid £1.5 million (£500K cash & £1 million Loan note)
With many CBD Companies currently experiencing a difficult time at present, what we have in my opinion is a dedicated BoD who remain focused and who are building a Brand that now has direct access to the European Market for our products.
RKB
Proactive Interview
Nick spoke today to Proactive about our new loyalty programme and also gave an update on our recently acquired facilities in Poland.
Our loyalty programme is a bit like a Tesco Club Card where you receive points for your spending. Voyager has four levels of loyalty:
Voyager
Pioneer
Explorer
Globe Trotter
“Based on their spending with each tier offering enhanced benefits and bonus points awards.”
Nick talked about our freehold Polish facility that we now own (since 1/01/23)
“This is where we have a state of the art extraction facility, on a freehold site, there is plenty of space to expand. When I talk of expansion it is really the manufacturing side that we want to expand, when I talk about the extraction facility, it was built too well and too big and it has plenty of capacity for us to grow into.”
“What we are really interested in is mirroring the manufacturing, what we do in Perth, Scotland.”
RKB
https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/1004788/voyager-life-rewards-programme-will-help-integrate-online-and-high-street-outlets-1004788.html
Loyalty Programme
From tomorrow the 1st of February 2023 Voyager Life are launching a Loyalty Programme app.
Voyager Rewards will allow customers to earn points with every purchase they make on its website or in any of Voyager's three shops in St Andrews, Dundee and Edinburgh. Customers can redeem their points for money off future purchases and, in addition, will receive special offers that are only available to Voyager Rewards members. As an opening offer, all new members will be able to purchase the Company's Natural 500mg CBD Oil at a market-beating price of just £10. New offers will be advertised every month on the app as well as VoyagerCBD.com and social media.
Voyager Rewards is an app compatible with both Android and iPhones, downloadable at rewards.voyagercbd.com, but customers will also be able to request a rewards card if they prefer. In addition to points earned on their shopping, customers will receive bonus points for completing information, referring friends and on special occasions, such as their birthday.
Nick Tulloch, Chief Executive and Founder of Voyager, said: "We have always prided ourselves at being at the forefront of innovation and customer service in the CBD industry. Loyalty programmes may be common across the retail sector but Voyager Rewards is a sophisticated scheme offering points for money off future purchases, member-only offers and the ability for our customers to enhance their rewards the more often they shop with us. Unusually in our industry, all of this is available to both our online customers and those who visit our stores. Health & wellness is rewarding, and we are proud to play our part in that."
RKB
PS We are a young company that has BoD who are innovative and I believe having this Loyalty App will contribute to increasing our revenue.
Proactive Interview continued.
“No, it’s fully operational, it comes with a very able and talented team and a couple of people will join us from Goodbody, so it will be operating under our stewardship right from day one and what we will be doing in the first two months is fully integrating the teams. One of our strategies is to formulate products in Scotland as we do at the moment and now manufacture them now in the UK and Europe and in additional to that there is the additional revenue stream of selling CBD isolate & CBD distillate not only into Europe but also into the UK. We are very optimistic that revenues and new customers should follow. The objective here is to become that service to the CBD industry of being able to provide the raw material CBD, manufacturing and all the services that are needed for that customer to take that product onto the retail shelf.”
RKB
https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/search/advancedSearch/all?keyword=voyager+life
Proactive Interview
“We have announced an acquisition of a CBD extraction and manufacturing facility in Poland, which we bought from Goodbody and we paid £1.5 million for the business (£500,000 in cash and £1 million in loan notes) and we supported that with a fund raise of £500K (£200K from myself and our Chairman) and Voyager it is a very significant move in our development.”
‘So, what was it about this deal that was so attractive to you that you decided to put your own money in?’
“The two things that stand out for us is that it makes us pan-European and also gives us full vertical integration. Since the advent of Brexit, one of the challenges we have with European customers is the inspections by Customs, we have never had a product lost or ceased but it can often take three weeks to get a product into Europe. The other challenge our European customers have is that they have to pay duty. What this facility in Poland does it adds an additional revenue stream in that they extract and produce CBD isolate & CBD distillate that we can sell as raw material and it also gives us the ability to manufacture in Poland products that we have formulated and created in Scotland thereby servicing not only our European customers but more importantly a much wider market of potential CBD businesses.”
‘So happy do you think your investors should be with the price that you have paid for this place?’
“On an asset basis it is a very fair price. On the last time this facility changed hands for Canadian $24 million or about £14 million at today’s exchange rate, that was right at the top of the CBD Market Boom so it would not be correct to compare yesterday’s prices with today’s prices, and the previous owners jointly between them have invested considerably and in particular have built the central part of the facility which is the extraction part. So, £1.5 million we think we have paid a very fair price. On an asset basis we think we have got a very extensive facility for a reasonable amount of money and now we have to turn that asset into revenue.”
‘Speaking of revenue, you are going to over the running of the facility (on 1st January) is there anything you need to do to get it up and running or is it currently operational?’
RKB
Proactive Presentation
Nick has given an interview to Proactive.
I will post full details of the interview on Monday
RKB
https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/search/advancedSearch/all?keyword=voyager
Good Morning ComTruise
You must be the one everyone gravitates to in the kitchen at the office parties.
Did you see the article in the Scotsman Newspaper today?
“This acquisition simultaneously fulfils two of our objectives, namely, to extend our business into Europe and complete our vertical integration. Voyager will now be in a position to control the CBD supply chain from extraction to manufacturing to product accreditation to retail. As our VoyagerCann manufacturing division has grown, we have increasingly dealt with European customers who, as a consequence of Brexit, may find delivery times are elongated due to customs checks and prices are distorted by customs charges.”
“Going forward, our product range that is already formulated and made in the UK can now be manufactured in Poland and distributed across the European Union’s single market. The retail prices of CBD products are under pressure, and we are now not only well placed to protect our own margins but also to offer better deals to our end customers.”
RKB
https://www.scotsman.com/business/scottish-cannabidiol-firm-voyager-life-seals-seven-figure-breakthrough-push-into-europe-3956119
Good
1) Acquisition to create vertical integration and improve margin
2) CEO putting his hand in his pockets for fundraise
3) Cash management (flattered for half year results by significantly delaying payment of bills - see Trade Payables on the Balance Sheet)
Bad
1) Reset of employee share options to much lower levels (not much consideration for poor shareholders who entered at a much higher price)
Ugly
1) Turnover worse than all expectations (B2B revenue 'delays')
2) Unsustainable Gross Profit - barely covering Nick's salary in H1.
H2 will be critical to massively grow revenue and improve margin otherwise the cash position will look precarious by the time the full year results are announced.
I predicted Nick would be back for a fundraise for the 'next big thing' - today's fundraise is purely for the acquisition but I maintain a negative outlook about a another fundraise. Risk / reward heavily skewed to the downside here IMO.
Excellent Acquisition
Voyager Life have acquired some assets from Goodbody Health Ltd (Aquis GDBY.PL)
Our BoD said in a recent press release “As the market in which it operates consolidates and further opportunities present themselves for Voyager to expand its range of activities, the Directors will continue to examine potential collaborations and combinations whilst at all times maintaining its conservative approach to running costs and the importance of sustainable revenue generation.”
What we have acquired today the CBD business of Goodbody Health Ltd in Poland. We have premises which contain an extraction facility. We are paying £500,000 cash and giving them a Loan Note of £1 million.
I believe this is a win-win for both Companies. We now have a European base that we can manufacture our products and by-pass any post Brexit issues we may have with us being based in the UK.
Goodbody Health can concentrate on their wellness centres which I believe they manage well.
RKB
White Labelling
This is an article on CBD White Labelling.
Voyager offers a White-labelling service which they are expanding all the time.
I have seen their facilities at their Perth Office and they are expanding their manufacturing facilities and increasing their staff and the number of products for their customers.
CBD is now becoming mainstream, and the industry is expanding and a quality Companies like Voyager is the one that will deliver.
RKB
https://theaci.co.uk/white-labelling-cbd/
A well-run Company
This press release confirms to me what I have always known.
If you invest in a Company you have to have confidence that the BoD will look after shareholders interests and aim to grow your Company but not take undue risks.
RKB
Response to Press Speculation
Voyager, the health and wellness company supplying high-quality Cannabidiol (CBD), hemp seed oil and hemp-related products, notes speculation in the press yesterday about a potential acquisition under Board consideration.
As announced in the publication of its annual report last month, the Company has been examining potential consolidation and partnership opportunities . Merger and Acquisition activity has already been evident in the UK CBD sector and the board of directors expect this to continue. With its strong balance sheet (GBP1.17 million cash as at the date of the annual report on 12 August 2022) and its management team, Voyager has already received several enquiries but also is exploring other opportunities of which it is aware.
One example of these was the possibility of acquiring the business and assets of Tree of Life UK Limited from the administrators and it was this potential acquisition that was disclosed in a press article yesterday . This business had previously been one of the UK's most successful distributors of healthy, natural and organic products and the Directors of Voyager considered that the vertical integration with the Company's product range and own brand manufacturing could create value for its shareholders. Nevertheless, for a number of reasons - including several risks which were outlined in the press, the Directors have concluded that this is not an acquisition that the Company should pursue and, consequently, talks have since ended.
Voyager remains committed to its principles of sound financial management and transparent corporate governance. As the market in which it operates consolidates and further opportunities present themselves for Voyager to expand its range of activities, the Directors will continue to examine potential collaborations and combinations whilst at all times maintaining its conservative approach to running costs and the importance of sustainable revenue generation.
In light of the press speculation, the Company yesterday requested that its shares are temporarily suspended on the AQSE Growth Market, pending finalisation of its acquisition discussions and trading will now be restored.
One other listed CBD Company
There is another listed CBD Company not on AQUIS but on the Main LSE Market under the “Medicine & Biotech” sector.
You may be familiar with this Company, Cellular Goods (CBX) and you may have seen an RNS yesterday about an RTO for them.
It is often advisable to compare Companies in your sphere so that you can have an understanding if your own Company is being well run for you by your BoD.
Yesterday CBX’s website was down but from their RNS’s & Companies House I have analysed CBX and compared them to Voyager Life.
CBX shares in issue 507,250,000 as at 6/04/22
VOY.pl shares in issue 9,252,920 as at 27/09/22
CBX cash as at 1/12/21 £9,150,000
VOY cash as at 31/03/22 £1,400,000
CBX Listed on 26/02/21
VOY Listed on 30/06/21
For the following comparisons I have taken the most recent Annual Accounts CBX 12 months to 31/08/21 VOY 17 months to 31/03/22 which both include their listing on LSE & AQUIS.
Directors: CBX 7 VOY 4
Directors Fees: CBX £397,202 VOY £191,000
Revenue: CBX £0 VOY £178,000
Warrants: CBX 24 million VOY 925,291
Loss for year: CBX £3.34 million VOY £801,000
Total Assets: CBX £10.75 million VOY £2.32 million
Share Based Payment Charge: CBX £907K VOY £67K
Audit & Legal Fees: CBX £406K VOY £60K
Consultancy Fees: CBX £515K VOY £0
Advertising: CBX £830,225 VOY £0 (£830K for Advertising and CBX had no Revenue, VOY no Advertising and £178K Revenue!)
CBX have issued Interim Results to 28/02/22 and their Revenue was £13,000 and their loss for the 6 months was £2.4 million. Their cash balance was £5.53 million.
All I can conclude from CBX Interims is that they are spending about £603,666 a month (6 * £603,666 = £3,622,000) (£9,150,000 - £5,528,000 = £3,622,000) and this is for Revenue of £13,000.
From what I know about Voyager, our Revenue alone from our three shops would be £360K per year if we were to annualise our most recently communicated weekly sales (see video at about 5 min 25 sec) but we have three revenue streams, Shops, Online & Trade Sales. Currently our shops are 55% of our revenue but Nick aims for Trade Sales to be 50% or more and my calculation estimates that our next years revenue will be close to £1 million.
When a Company does an RTO shareholders expect their BoD to act in their best interests and from our Annual Accounts and meeting all our Directors, I am confident that we are in the safe hands of Nick, Eric, Nikki & Jill.
RKB
https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/search/advancedSearch/all?keyword=voyager+life
CBD Regulatory News
Voyager had an excellent article in CBD Regulatory News about our CBD Refillery range.
“Although it’s still early days the refillables have definitely opened up a new customer base. Both psychologically and factually, a sub-£10 purchase is more popular with those new to CBD as well as people who (not unreasonably) don’t want to spend too much on a new product.”
Mr Tulloch explains how it all began: “We’ve always tried to be environmentally friendly in what we do, so this was where the thought-process started, but it was actually a conversation with a retailer along the lines of—they would like to stock CBD but (in their shop anyway) they felt it wouldn’t succeed unless the RRP was less than £10.”
“That got us thinking about how to make a range within that price point but without compromising on quality or size. The idea was to create a CBD range that is accessible to all, especially in the current cost of living crisis. Keeping everything under £10 was a key criteria for us.”
“In addition, Voyager has its own manufacturing facility in Perth, so can control the process from start to finish. While refillable consumer products are increasingly common in the food and skincare sectors, as far as Mr Tulloch is aware, Voyager is the only CBD brand currently trading in this way.”
“With some 50 products across its Voyager and Ascend Skincare brands, Voyager claims to have one of the largest ranges of CBD products in the UK. Within its own shops, 270 SKUs are available for sale, including four third-party brands. The plan is to keep extending its own ranges, as Mr Tulloch outlines: “We are in the latter stages of finalising a further extension to our ‘environmentally friendly and packaging-lite’ range. It’s another everyday bathroom product with CBD, and will be priced in line with the refillables. As for Ascend, we launched two new products a few weeks ago, and our plan is to more or less double the range by the end of the year.”
For a Company that has only been listed for 15 months we have achieved many goals and our BoD and staff are determined to ensure that Voyager Life has a bright future.
RKB
https://cbdbusiness.news/voyagers-response-to-the-cost-of-living-and-climate-crises-brings-cbd-to-new-customers/
Thanks RKB for your posting as the AGM clashed with me being away with my family.
Good to hear you got good vibes from our newly recruited NED’s with positive information and vision plus of course all directors .
You left me intrigued what this room being fitted out is for but I’m sure time will tell and of course the up and coming trading update should show their progress made on are three current streams.
As always I’m hoping like all shareholders a steady progression and a share price uplift.