Member Info for lordloadsoflolly

Letitrun - I get what you're saying about gaining customers via Amazon rather than their own website.

But I don't fully agree with you. The trouble with Amazon is that you pay them commission on EVERY sale.

So even with the many subscribers they've built there, Amazon is deducting commission each time another order goes out to the same punter. And that commission ain't trivial - at a guess around 15% + VAT (it depends on how the products have been categorised). Problem with Amazon is that they won't give you email addresses (even customers' telephone numbers disappear after a limited period). So you never fully own "your" buyers.

If you can attract that same customer to your own site, sure it costs more upfront. But by then adding them to your mailing list (assuming they opt in) or including flyers in their parcels offering a small incentive to repeat purchase, any subsequent business comes at vastly lower cost than Amazon. And Opti's site does offer its own slightly discounted subscription model.

Targeted Google ads (other near-monopolistic tech giants are available) can be a relatively cost-effective form of customer acquisition.

Letitrun - apologies, you're right. That £150k spend on an Amazon Account Manager was by PhD (a previous company Shiraz worked for) NOT Opti.

My bad.

I'd still like to know when Shiraz will deliver similar e-commerce growth here compared to what he claims he achieved in previous roles elsewhere.

Like I said, upgrading Opti's own site would be an obvious place to start. I doubt it inspires anything like as many new customers as it should to purchase right now.

Peeps expecting major news around 7th July may simply hear whether the drill ran smoothly or not.

Surely it's only when wire-line logging & flow testing results are in that we'll really know what's what.

Their latest RNS stated:

"Drilling is expected to take circa 10 - 14 days to complete, following which the Company will move immediately to wire-line logging and flow testing. The Company will keep the market updated as drilling completes."

Stas20 - I'm most certainly NOT still building a holding here.

in fact, I've pretty much written off this investment (short of TEK radically changing tack to show it can actually create shareholder value from any of its holdings, rather than constantly funding them 'til we're wiped out completely).

MaverickD - I sense you're now programmed to repeat "RNS next week perhaps" every single week until 31 December.

Then what?

PizzaGate - yes, that sounded interesting.

Though SF & WW are both in declining markets, what with the rise in injectable weight loss drugs. Whether adding Slimbiome to the ingredients would turn their fortunes round is debatable. But certainly worth a shot if they decide to pursue it.

Going back to yesterday's presentation, I do think there's an issue with the commercial nous of SOH & team. Shiraz was waffling on about the miracles he'd performed elsewhere, increasing turnover at previous company from next to nothing to £20m in the space of a year or two.

So how come he's not doing the same here & the company's own website still looks like something out the 90s? That should be their flagship B2C site. Instead, they seem to be happy to shell out over 15% of their TOTAL turnover (and with it any chance of profit) on Amazon.

Sure Amazon's important too. But as Friedman pointed out, it's hardly rocket science to list on there, run a few targeted ads, monitor their respective conversion rates, fine tune & grow. Why can't Shiraz do it? What EXACTLY is he being paid (a no doubt vastly inflated salary) for? Other than to tell us how well he's done elsewhere, which frankly nobody except him gives a monkeys about.

Remember, SALT also did a £2.3m fundraise in February this year, diluting Tek’s holding from 77.24% to 63.54%.

Yet another Bank of Mum & Dad example.

Letitrun - think it was Q1 25 sales (not H1 25) that were ahead of H1 24.

Swanny27 - expenses are still very high. £150k for an Amazon Account Manager, for example. Really?

However, subscriptions are a great way forward, reducing overall acquisition costs & locking sales in (both from inertia & satisfied repeat customers).

One thing I learnt was that Nourri is a relatively small outfit (I’d assumed they were a major player). But they sound more innovative & nimble as a result, so possibly no bad thing.

Overall, the US presentation sounded a bit vague & non-committal to me in terms of likely future sales growth. Odd as I’d have expected it to be a major channel for us - though ultra-competitive, so maybe that explains the caution.

All still very hush hush, wink wink, don’t mention the sweetbiotix. Yes there may be NDAs and yes they don’t want shareholders impersonating company employees & approaching potential partners for info. We get that. But to tell us year after year that discussions & negotiations are ongoing is starting to wear a little thin now. Surely they must be able to divulge a rough idea on likely timings at this stage.

Skid35 - presentation all seemed a bit vague still and Q&A session at the end was a total joke.

Other IMC webinars I've watched have allotted way more time to shareholder questions, addressing them thoroughly. Seems to me SOH didn't like what was being asked, so simply swept it under the carpet.

That said, there does seem to be some serious sales momentum growing. But exactly how much (and how much falls into this FY) remains a mystery - to me at least.

And that was kinds my reason for watching this presentation!

Many thanks aquae - sounds like Cholbiome BP’s the way forward.

Much appreciated.

Thanks Aquae - is Cholbiome BP similar to Cholbiome X3, only without the red yeast?

Presumably Cholbiome X3 can reduce cholesterol slightly more effectively than BP?

Could you explain your reservations about red yeast? From what I've researched, it seems taking Cholbiome X3 is pretty much the same as taking actual statins.

Was your concern with the red yeast over potential liver/kidney/muscle issues or just general possible side effects? These mainly seem to be potential interaction with alcohol, grapefruit & other medications, which could possibly lead to symptoms like heartburn, stomach pain, bloating, upset stomach, dizziness &/or headache.

Sounds as though BP may suit most people better. Unless X3 is much more effective - in which case it might be the ideal solution for those with particularly high cholesterol scores.

PensionInvestor - and I think you're totally misguided, but I respect your POV.

Luckily we live in a country where people can still voice their disagreements and get along together.

Bigbench - maybe. Who knows? Thought it’s a US public holiday tomorrow (Independence Day).

That said, with Trump firing off tariffs every few minutes, every day is looking more like American Independence Day right now.

And many of us would actually relish being totally independent of the States at the moment, whilst their loose cannon remains in office.

Yes, we know there are acquisitions going on in the sector.

Pity they never involve IMM though.

Hardboy - as you probably know, it HAS to complete in the second half of this year or the deal fails altogether, as 31 Dec 2025 is a hard stop date, written into the takeover agreement.

So yes, not very helpful of them to re-state this as the timetable. But at least it’s got shareholder approval now.

I’m still toying with adding, but with only a c1.6% discount to the deal price, not sure it’s worth it. Particularly if things could drag on into autumn or even winter 2025. I could then get a better % return in cash savings - and without the risk.

Thanks PizzaGate & Bk2011 - think you can still ask questions online in real time, assuming you can view their live presentation.

Wildtiger - I’m not & I haven’t.

The only thing that might have given you that impression is when you start posting nonsense.

Hope that clears things up for you.

Can anyone here who’s taking/taken Cholbiome say whether it helped reduce their cholesterol? And if so, by how much (if known).

Also, any decent discount codes available? Shareholders may be entitled to special discounts, but as my Opti shares are nominee-held, I wouldn’t know!

Thanks

Friedman - the prolonged delay is certainly very frustrating, but I haven't (yet!) reached the same conclusion as you on Sweet.

SOH's Final Results RNS of 30 06 25 states "We are pleased by the high level of corporate interest in our second-generation products but frustrated by the time it is taking to progress to the launch of an application containing these products. However, we recognise the more innovative the product the more cautious large brands can be in being first mover in a very conservative food industry, but are confident of success."

I don't think he'd still be able to say they were confident of success if the companies they're negotiating with had said they definitely weren't interested. Sending the odd email to a third party who'd already signposted a clear lack of interest wouldn't be a) a sensible use of time or b) indicative that any negotiations were ongoing.

Box of KleenHEX for Brentw1 please.