Member Info for AquaeSulis01

and the effect on global oil sales
"Electrification is spreading to light commercial vehicles, up 85pc year-on-year. Over 60pc of buses in service in Chinese cities are already low-carbon. All municipal buses on the eastern seaboard will be electrified by 2025. Long-haul trucks are next in line.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates that EVs worldwide have already displaced 1.5 million barrels a day (b/d) of oil use, or 1.5pc of global demand. This is about to accelerate exponentially.

“China’s demand for oil is suddenly going to start falling. Half of China's total car fleet could be electric by 2030. If you add up the numbers, that could subtract several million barrels of oil a day,” said Lord Turner.

“China’s high speed rail network means that there won’t be so much internal aviation either. Oil use per capita is never going to be anything close to American levels,” he said.

OPEC maintains the fiction that oil demand will keep booming until the middle of the century, but this is based on the obsolete premise that Asia's rising middle class will more than compensate for declining imports in Europe and America.

“Whatever they say in public, the Saudis know the game is up. They can see that the world’s largest car market for petrol cars is going to collapse,” said RMI’s Mr Bond."
https://www.lse.co.uk/ShareChat.asp?ShareTicker=HBR&share=Harbour-Energy&thread=553AB24E-A216-43E0-8E98-0749A3359CA1

Interesting piece in the Telegraph for those expecting oil prices to continue to rise.
"The existential threat to Saudi Arabia and the OPEC cartel comes from China, not from net zero or from green deals in the West.

Chinese sales of petrol and diesel cars fell 20pc in absolute volume terms in February from a year earlier. Sales of plug-in electric vehicles kept rising explosively and reached a record 32pc of the market for standard passenger cars.

At the current pace, EV sales in China will hit eight million this year, helped by the proliferation of battery-swapping stations. Rather than charging your own car, you do an instant swap. No need to wait. No need for charge-points everywhere.

Sales have surged despite the elimination of subsidies at the end of last year. China’s best-selling EV is the BYD Song Plus, which retails for about £22,000. Number two is the smaller Wuling Mini. It starts at around £4,000 (not a misprint).

“They are producing cheap EVs for the mass market, which is still completely lacking in the West. It is absolutely taking off,” said Lord Adair Turner, chairman of the global Energy Transitions Commission (ETC).

The consensus forecast until recently was that EV penetration would reach 40pc of Chinese sales by 2030. That threshold could be crossed as soon as this year if manufacturers can produce fast enough to meet the demand. “We think EV’s will reach 80pc of sales in China by 2030,” said Kingsmill Bond from energy strategists RMI."
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/ambrose-evans-pritchard/

Wonder what Pierce Esim does actually sell when the only product advertised on their English language website is GoFigure which the deal was never concluded for. https://pierceesim.com/

The move to the AIM exchange for PBX cannot come soon enough. Just re-watched the 17th Nov 2022 Investor meets yet another time to remind myself why I bought back in and have continued to add at this price despite sentiment being understandably at rock bottom. There is a slide produced at the presentation that showed Opti M/C at £17.2M with 20.8% SBTX holding valued at £8.3M and 44% of PBX holding valued at £11.2M. Today the Opti M/C is just £9M largely because its Skin holding (now 18.7% diluted)is now valued at £5.8M and its PBX holding valued only at £3.08M. The sad thing is, unlike the prebiotix side of the business, we have been told sales of LPLDL continued to increase throughout 2022 so no real reason for such a dramatic drop in the PBX M/C other than the lack of liquidity on the AQSE site on tiny volumes. Add in the fact that second half sales of the prebiotic first gen products will be significantly higher than the first half because Optipharm and H&B finished running down excessive stocks previously ordered to guard against the Supply Chain issues end 2021, and now the addition of three further named large partners; NAHDI, THG and Apollo Pharmacies, together with evidence of traction in the US markets and there is reason to be optimistic going forward.
Finally, we have been told that 2023/ first quarter 2024 will see both the US Partner and Firminech launching sweetbiotix products which really will be a cherry on top.
So in summary, true value of the holdings in PBX and the investment in SBTX expected to increase, second half sales of prebiotix in 2022 will be significantly higher than first half and expected to grow further in 2023, and first launches of sweetbiotix products now very likely this year following final optimised scale-up achievement by the US Partner and the keen involvement of Firminech, plus we may also hear news on the microbiome modulators which SOH is also very excited about.

Let's hope they are about to reveal the Gold lode the Company believes exists at Brewery Lane

"Naturally our drill team are keen to get back to Creswick, given the exceptional grades in the 2021 drill core retest, the positive soil sampling results from Davey Road (see announcement from January 23 2023 here) and the rock chip sampling results from the original Creswick property at Brewery Lane (see announcement from February 7 here) and Figure 2 above. Given the evidence amassed to date, the Board is of the opinion that in spite of the co**** nature of many of the samples, a gold lode could exist across the regional alluvial workings close to Brewery Lane, further afield along strike of the DMS into the new tenement area and east / north east across Spring Hill Reef and Mills Reef. With a raft of soil sample and rock chip sample results scheduled in the coming weeks, the drill team will ensure the holes are completed as quickly as possible in order that we can confirm our belief that the Creswick lode exists, and with the MIDAS rig still on site, continue with follow-up drilling as dictated by progress and results."

We don't know the circumstances of Rene's departure (personal reasons, pushed or jumped) and I failed to find any public notification of him joining a new company at Director level when I last checked. To be honest, I doubt anyone in the Company knows the exact date that the US Partner and its first Customers propose to launch products associated with sweetbiotix, only the progress that has been made to complete scale-up so that it is good to go once Customers are ready to incorporate it. Consequently, whilst prebiotics first generation products remain loss making, and the ability to sell skin or PBX down at the current share prices and liquidity to make up the shortfall is limited, the focus in the near term will be on reducing overhead costs to prolong cash burn I suspect.

The optimised final scale-up by the US manufacturer was achieved towards the end of last year so providing no change to flavour or properties at the higher level we may well get news of launches this year. Can't see why at the very least it doesn't appear as a stand-a-lone alternative for sugar to go in beverages at least. Hopefully, something positive to look forward to in the Results RNS due out anytime now.

I hate interpretive text nothing should read not found

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/pepsi-drinkers-disgusted-new-recipe-29571851

From memory think Walmart products were limited to gummies martinu

Watcher, it was not a poor RNS, at worst it was neutral with a fair amount of promise built in, Noting the recent performance of your other investments; GCAT, ZPHR, and WSBN, your time might be better spent focusing on what went wrong on your decisions there rather than providing superficial comments here

AT the very least I expect bel to post and advise everyone to buy Opti now that its holding in skin has gone up rather than down

Well bel, the Market sometimes takes a bit longer to properly digest a RNS but got it right eventually; NO BAD NEWS

Should add cash at 01/01/23 was £766K plus £2.6M from cash raise and monthly burn rate is circa £266K per month so not sure what figures you were working from fj

Hi fjones, no immediate need to fundraise thanks to the raise done Dec22 and I suspect that any future money needs beyond the end of the Calendar Year will be swept up as part of any equity/loan deal carried out for the proposed acquisition.

Prebiotics

That would be a good start as would reading the clinically proven study results. Also even more basic is to know enough about the company to understand the difference between previous which opti deal in and probiotics now looked after by a separately listed company, PBX where your post actually belongs. Is that enough to be going on with?

bel, we have not received any underwhelming news, in fact I breathed a huge sigh of relief because there were no nasty surprises there. The share price fell dramatically leading up to this RNS because liquidity and trading here is very low and any HNWI such as yourself that takes it into their head to either buy or sell will affect the share price disproportionately.

The products here work and are in an exciting growth area which I believe is universally agreed by shareholders, in fact I suspect not a single person expects the acne trial to disappoint. My reading of teh Croda update is that they are looking to extend the agreement they have for skinbiotix into areas beyond cosmetics which is another huge positive. As for selling Opti, I actually believe when the accounts for both Opti and PBX are published it will act as a catalyst for both companies share price but let us wait and see

Farris, due diligence for the acquisition is proceeding, it doesn't happen overnight and will require funding. There is absolutely nothing new in this RNS that warrants a further drop in share price.

""Our priority focus for the first half of FY23 to drive forward new product development and sales in AxisBiotix, with the ultimate goal being a partnership opportunity with a multinational, along with the continued progression of work with Croda and the research programmes with Manchester University and the pursuit of an accretive acquisition opportunity that could bring solid sales revenue. We are pleased to report advancements in all areas.

"For AxisBiotix-Ps™, we have grown our customer base in the UK consistently month on month. The sales in the UK are still at a relatively early stage; however, the customers who have adopted AxisBiotix-Ps™ into their daily regimes have shown fierce loyalty to the product, as demonstrated by their very positive feedback and the 80%+ retention rate. With continued targeted marketing in the UK and entry into new European geographical markets during 2023, the aim is to further expand sales.

"The next programme in the AxisBiotix pillar is in acne which has been progressing well with the consumer study anticipated to commence during H2 2023. The focus for the SkinBiotix programme with Croda/Sederma has been on manufacturing scale-up, and the development programmes in oral care and skin health are showing promise.

"As stated in the FY22 results, we are investigating external opportunities that provide synergies and accelerated routes to market, to run alongside our own product commercialisation. We continue to actively engage in discussions. However, we will only pursue such opportunities if they make sense for the business and create immediate value for our shareholders.""

thomas, we have an ongoing and developing further into other potential areas partnership with Croda."In the spirit of the "smart partnership" that the Company has with Croda, it is now preparing for further, formal discussions with Croda regarding applications of other areas of the Company's technology"

The revenue figure for Axis has been known by anyone doing basic order number calcs so no surprises there. Progress on the Medibiotix Pillar most welcome news too.
Whilst the date for the acne Consumer Study has slipped, I am actually glad it has because the last thing we need is a another great product launched with inadequate marketing to support it. Hopefully, any future launch will coincide either with a MultiNational Partner agreement secured or the Acquisition in place so that there are retail outlets available to display it.