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Hi DireCons

I agree the AxisBiotix product is good and have friends who use it. Also agree the retention rate of users is high which is a good sign. It also tells you it is a product you either need or you don't, not a discretionary purchase. However the overall uptake is tiny because you have to factor in that the TAM is relatively small (especially if just the UK). So this is a niche product which needs to be marketed internationally. It is not a suitable product for physical retail as the target market is a small percentage of a physical retailer's footfall. "Advertising" needs to be based on precisely targeted online promotion (e.g. with partnerships with the likes of the National Psoarisis Foundation), undertaken on an international scale. SBTX simply do not have the skills and resources to do this.

Perhaps even more importantly, they have no other food supplement products and brands to spread the cost of sales and distribution operations. So we have a product with low sales and a dedicated overhead. The margins on each box may be good, could even be better, but the bottom line is the sales will never be big enough to cover the fixed overheads. Other food supplement companies have additional products which will largely or completely cover the sales and operations overhead so they would have a much better chance of making a success of the product.

A bit more (or even some!) advertising simply won't be sufficient.

Even then this is not a blockbuster...I'm hoping the new management take a long hard look at the disparate business Ashman created ("spinning plates" 🤣) and make the hard but necessary decisions about where to focus their limited resources.

Hello shy

AxisBiotix is losing money AND consuming cash (and would need a lot more investment to have a hope of turning around the situation - even the new management is hinting at this). So it is detracting not contributing to the target of cash breakeven.

The management need to be ruthless here and stem the losses - SBTX does not have limitless cash and the cost to raise additional funds to invest in AxisBiotix would be high, likely far higher than the return SBTX can make from AxisBiotix. Far better to sell off/license off the business to a company who already has a significant business in food supplements and can therefore spread the cost of operations and marketing support for the brand across a range of food supplements - there are quite a few companies out there marketing food supplements who might well be interested in adding another line. SBTX don't have any other food supplements, neither do they have the resources or expertise to get this product into profitability.

SBTX should focus on topical products and IP licensing - more than enough opportunity here.

Shychap, take another look at the IMC. At 12m30secs into the Presentation, Levett uses a slide that refers to the "Pathway to Cash Breakeven centred on operating businesses Dermatonics and BTS".

Further on, Parsonage (not Levett), refers to "Two Business Segments" of Products and Services. Worth noting that even she states they are being cautious with investment in AxisBiotix. The fact is it will take a lot of money and other resources to build out this brand to give it any chance of becoming profitable. In reality they simply don't have the time or the resources to do it.

Parsonage has a very different view of the business from Ashman and that is refreshing and her analysis is correct:

The two acquisitions have potential and need managing (this wasn't happening under Ashman - what was he doing? oh yes, fabricating dodgy documents and spending our money on fancy AxisBiotix packaging...). Particularly good news that Parsonage sees Dermatonics as a priority with clear opportunities for growth.

Very telling that Levett refers to "two operating businesses" (Dermatonics and BTS) so AxisBiotix not considered an "operating business" (read what you will in to that...). Parsonage says they are being very careful with investment in AxisBiotix. I hope they will conclude they have to get rid of it, cut costs and get to cash positive more quickly. They simply do not have the financial, marketing or operational resources to make AxisBiotix profitable.

The focus needs to be Dermatonics and IP licensing. BTS will mostly look after itself. The Board are right to focus here - there is no need to focus on the Croda Zenakine deal as this is in place and all the work now is down to Croda's subsidiary, Sederma. They have a good track record - just let them get on with it. The growth customer segment for Sederma is the smaller entrepreneurial brands (and that is the growth segment in the market, not the big brands who are losing market share). So maybe Parsonage is being (understandably) conservative about the revenue potential.

If the management follow this through and are laser focussed on those areas of greatest opportunity the rewards will come.

Hi martinu

I agree with your sentiments on Bertram. A previous poster stated she signed off false accounts but that is incorrect as she was not responsible for the FY25 Accounts (and only CFO Board position from Jan 2026). I guess the problem here is she is tainted by association (fairly or unfairly) and faces the question of what she knew when and whether the issues were raised sufficiently quickly. I do have some sympathy here as it is always difficult to raise concerns about a colleague in the first few months of your appointment, and especially so when that colleague is the CEO.

On balance I suspect the resignation is neither positive nor negative for the business whose short-term prospects depend mostly on how the Zenakine deal pans out (and that is not within the control of SBTX). I would however like to see the Board tackle the issue of losses at AxisBioitix so that if the Zenakine deal does progress well the benefits are not wiped out by losses at AxisBiotix.

PG, a fair point about there being no CFO on the call. I wonder perhaps if the thinking is that neither of those presenting had any involvement with Ashman and they are hoping the focus therefore (including for questions) will be all about the future and not about the past. They maybe hope the past can be filed away now but I suspect it is never quite as easy as that...

Looking to the future, I'm hoping they address the issue of licensing/royalty income from Zenakine (that is, when and how much) and what they are doing about the part of the business which is losing money and consuming cash (that is, AxisBiotix).

Hi net, getting shot of AxisBiotix is not exactly doing something new, rather more like lancing a boil 🤣. No point the money coming in from Zenakine and then going out again to subsidise the loss-making AxisBiotix operation. It needs addressing so the Zenakine monies actually translate into bottom-line profits rather than disappearing off on a grandiose scheme that has a low probability of success...

The dodgy accounting is not the only ugly Ashman legacy...

Hi Toyin

Yes I think there is some potential value in AxisBiotix but SBTX do not have the infrastructure and marketing expertise. Neither do they have complementary food supplement products so that you can cover the cost base and turn a profit. Say, for example, you put together WellBiome and AxiBiotix - you've suddenly cut the overhead cost in half (roughly). But SBTX don't have any other food supplement products to go with AxisBiotix. I don't think it would work sticking it in with Dermatonics, it just wouldn't fit the brand. And I don't believe selling through physical stores will work (as previous posts), so not a great fit for Superdrug.

Aquae, just to be clear the sales on TMall are DIRECT sales by Optibiotix

Hi Aquae

First I have to disagree that Opti are only B2B, e.g. I can buy Wellbiome from Amazon UK - 30 sachets for £18.99 - hey, sounds a bit like the AxisBiotix setup don't you think? And then, if I were so inclined, I can buy via Alibaba on TMall platform in China or via Amazon in India - they don't just use distributors. Shiraz Butt, their MD of Consumer Health, seems credible and knowledgeable about online selling worldwide and they have done the hard yards of selecting the right platform for each market. Where can you find this expertise in SBTX?? (look at the Opti IMC for 2025 results where Shiraz Butt presents on the work he has been doing).

This is far from being a pump for OptiBiotix (pleased I did not add this stock to my list of woes!). It was just an example of any company in this space who may have a better chance of being able to spread the costs over a broader range of product, not necessarily the optimum company (I think I said at one point EVEN Opti could maybe have a better chance). That said, someone like Opti might be more willing to consider it as they are desperate to get more product moving through their established infrastructure! I'm sure if SBTX looked into it there are a fair few companies out there in the food supplement space who might be interested. I just don't see it will ever be a blockbuster and SBTX now have other opportunities to spend time and money on. As a small company, you can only do so much and I think Ashman was expanding into too many different areas (Dermatonics, BTS, IP Licensing and AxisBiotix). Dermatonics and BTS can fit quite well together and could showcase a product like Zenakine, the IP is the crown jewels of the business so it rather leaves AxisBiotix looking like the odd one out and the one losing money and needing investment (marketing, promotion, streamlined manufacturing and distribution) and management time which I don't think SBTX has.

The choice of a company to take it on is secondary (and whatever happens I don't see these products making the kind of returns to justify much of an increase in the SBTX share price).

Ashman seemed to have an outsized attachment to AxisBiotix as their first product but there should be no "sacred cows".

Hi Toyin - re. AxisBiotix I'm just not sure they have the resources (human, capital and worldwide distribution capabilities) to build this, given they don't have any other food supplement products that fit with the branding. If you compared to even Opti, they already have a few food supplement products sold online internationally (indeed 73% of their sales are now outside UK). So much easier for them (or another company with similar products) to take on the Axis-Biotix products and put the sales through their existing website and distribution capabilities. Currently all the website and sales costs are (not!) supported by just the minimal sales of AxisBiotix products and there is a lot of work (and cost) to come to give these products a chance. I'm not convinced SBTX have the resources to do this without compromising the effort and capital required for greater opportunities like marketing the IP more aggressively and expanding the Dermatonics range.

Even large companies sometimes need to refocus. As a small company I feel SBTX need to think long and hard about where the 1 or 2 greatest opportunities lie and focus all their effort and capital on those. I remember Ashman saying he saw his role as "keeping all the plates spinning" and it seemed to me that was one of the reasons why nothing ever got done (maybe also incompetence!). There certainly didn't seem to be sufficient focus and strategic thinking. At the very least I hope all the options are looked at by the new management rather than just accepting that Ashman's decisions and company structures were the right ones.

This tells you a lot about the lack of marketing savvy of the previous management.

There is so much more potential for boosting online sales worldwide, particularly the Dermatonics brand. But there is also a need for some new product development here - nothing for the last 2.5 years since SBTX acquired Dermatonics.

My concern is that there is also a need to market the SBTX IP (arguably nothing for the last 6 years!). And then there is the distraction of the ill-advised physical store marketing of AxiBiotix. Does this small new management team have the bandwidth to do all this? I'm coming round to the idea that offloading AxisBiotix may be the best option - for Ashman it was a sacred cow but hopefully the new management can think logically and be ruthless.

Hi John, agree we don't need management to over-communicate (and some do).

I'm not sure about quarterly reporting - the Americans have been talking about reducing to every 6 months as they feel the current system encourages short-termism and adds unnecessary cost. Would rather the management has some discretion as to when to communicate outside reporting period and obligatory communications. But I feel MSI lean a bit too far towards minimal communication. Some companies issue the odd "Reach" statement which can be useful (a really good one recently from Ensilica on the occasion of 25 years' trading with an insight into some key recent customer wins in exciting new areas, especially work to reduce energy consumption for data centre compute and to optimise data centre usage - if this British technology works maybe we don't need Elon's data centres in space...). Can't see MSI even considering a "Reach" announcement 😂

Hi John, investors are a fickle lot and if the drones aren't flying, they lose interest in how to shoot them down...They have moved on to a company promising colonies on Mars trading at 99x sales 🤣

Hi shychap, agree eventually Superdrug will want to pull the plug anyway - let's get ahead of it!

We already had listings with Superdrug AND Boots via Dermatonics (and yes I can say they are hard-won). Ashman's folly actually puts this hard-won credibility of Dermatonics at risk.

For what it is worth I would have been developing Dermatonics branded, Zenakine-based Day and Night Creams and try to offer them to Superdrug in place of the Axis-Biotix shelf space. Bet they would sell well!

Thanks Roger, your efforts are much appreciated (and evidently needed due to MSI news blackout).

If MSI are having some success with their land-based systems it would be nice if they could tell us shareholders about it, even just via a "Reach" announcement. OK the orders may take time to turn into profits, and I'm all for "underpromise and overdeliver", but if the benefits are delayed this gets a bit too close to "mushroom management" 🤣

I've not seen any evidence that SBTX have the capability needed to make this product line profitable (or even cash positive!). And since it is consuming cash it is a massive distraction from monetising their IP or making Dermatonics the success it should be. So another option would be to see if another business can make AxisBiotix work (with maybe some sort of minimal licence deal). It would allow a significant reduction in overheads at SBTX.

A company like OptiBiotix (who know SBTX very well) are already geared up for online sales internationally so could easily absorb this additional product line (indeed, they could do with the extra sales!). Opti have no great success to date but from watching their staff present on IMCs they do seem to have more of an idea of how to sell their products online worldwide.

Just another idea.

Yes shychap agree SBTX has not done a great job (or much of a job at all) in using social media, influencers and straightforward targeted online advertising as far as I can see. Such activity must though be focussed on the target market and that is psoriasis and acne, not "skin blemishes".

I have friends with psoriasis - it is debilitating. Forget any "skin blemish" treatment - often anything topical that is akin to make-up can make the situation even worse and very painful. You are unlikely therefore to just pick up the cheapest treatment off the shelf and hope - you will research it at the very least to try to satisfy yourself it won't make the condition worse. You will be desperate to find a solution which stops the flair-ups. The two AxisBiotix products are designed for this market and it undermines their credibility if you promote them as just a treatment for skin blemishes, especially as their success rate is perhaps about 60%. That would make a lot of dissatisfied customers for an expensive skin blemish treatment (and that would be evident in negative reviews, whilst few will bother posting if their skin blemish became a little less visible!). In contrast those who find this works for a serious condition will be willing to post a positive review (and we have seen a few, alongside of course those who found it made no difference).

These products should be sold exclusively online, promoted online and marketed worldwide (online!). Hopefully with the blessing of support groups like the National Psoriasis Foundation:

https://www.psoriasis.org/

They will never be mass market products.

Hi Toyin, I hope not even Ashman ordered stock which would cover 2 years of even low sales...

More effort promoting the products online in UK and internationally could use up some of the stock ordered (and at far better margins!). I reckon just now every box sold through Superdrug loses us money. As Einstein said, doing the same thing over and over again in the hope of a different result is the definition of madness.....

Hi shychap

Skin blemishes are one thing and psoriasis and acne are another. The TAM for skin blemishes may be huge and there are plenty of topical treatments available at a relatively low price. I don't see many high street customers with a skin blemish buying a powder at £30 a month to mix with water and drink.

On the other hand, those suffering from psoriasis (or acne, albeit this can be a more "transitory" market for teenagers) would research the market online and possibly willingly pay £30 a month (or less if you subscribe online) for a treatment. But there is a reasonable amount of research available on the number of sufferers and it doesn't add up to a huge TAM...