Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
The Grounded Pilot
I note that you have been grounded since December last year. Three months seems a long time away, did mummy take your tablet away from you for not doing as mummy says?
When you are building a Business, you can grow organically or you can acquire other businesses.
Nick has in the past bought assets from a Businesses that went into receivership (at a bargain price)
The recently completed acquisition of Amphora Health will be earnings enhancing immediately.
Nick & the BoD did their due diligence on Northern Leaf and Voyager Life could have waited a little longer and maybe acquired the assets (plant, machines and goodwill etc) for less, but the price we are paying is a fraction of what Northern Leaf will be worth, after it is in our control (along with Frank Walker & Geoff Eyre)
After you have seen the incoming interview with Nick, explaining the rationale behind the merger and the value of the assets you will be amazed.
RKB
PS I see your Atlantic Lithium has been crashing and it appears it is going down without a parachute. Maybe its time to stock-up on VOY.
Proposed merger with Northern Leaf
The Merger would value the enlarged group at in excess of £5 million
Based in Jersey, Channel Islands, Northern Leaf is a cultivator and processor of pharmaceutical-grade medical cannabis flower. The Merger will be effected through the acquisition of the entire issued capital of Northern Leaf in consideration by the issue of new Voyager ordinary shares ("New Voyager Shares"). The transaction will create the first vertically integrated cannabis company in the British Isles with both pharmaceutical and health & wellness operations. From its two bases in Scotland and Jersey, the enlarged group will have multiple revenue streams and will comprise:
100,000 square feet of state-of-the-art indoor growing facilities
GACP and GMP accredited facility
Pharmaceutical customers in the UK and overseas
VoyagerCann's manufacturing facility - both Voyager products and white label
Three consumer brands - Voyager, Ascend Skincare and Infused Amphora
Retail through online portals and Voyager's three own stores
Wholesale of health & wellness products throughout the UK
The fine detail of the exact merger terms are in the RNS and they expect revenue generated no later than 31st March 2025 of between £2 million and £5 million and the terms are structured so as to achieve £5 million.
DYOR
RKB
Completion of Amphora Health Ltd
Nick gave an interview recently about the completion of the Amphora Health Ltd.
This acquisition adds two major things to the Voyager Portfolio.
Vapes
23 Products on the Novel Foods List.
The Vapes are not disposable and having 23 Products listed on the Novel Food List, really expands our product range.
The acquisition cost was £50,000 in shares but we are receiving about £50,000 worth of inventory (which we can sell immediately)
All the Amphora products will be manufactured in our premises in Perth Scotland within a few months.
In the Interview, Nick mentioned that they were recently at the “White Label Expo” and Voyager Life were inundated with enquiries over the two days.
Last week, Voyager Life were at Crufts a 4-day event selling our “Pet Range”.
RKB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4uQSv4FqBY
Acquisition of Amphora Health Ltd Completed
It has been confirmed that Voyager Life has completed the acquisition of Amphora Health Ltd today.
This purchase, in my opinion was a bargain and it brings a valuable asset into our Company.
“Over the coming months, Voyager expects to commence manufacturing of Amphora branded products, primarily its range of CBD oils and vapour products. The CBD oils are validated on the FSA's novel foods list and vapour products represents a new product listing for Voyager. As previously announced in respect of forthcoming changes in UK legislation, Amphora vapour products are not disposable but are currently sold in cartridges for use with a rechargeable battery. Furthermore, Voyager intends to supply the formula as an e-liquid for customers to refill their preferred vapour products themselves.”
RKB
Third Post Green Line.
RKB
Heading says it all.
RKB
Retort to David Ash
So, you think Chill Brands Plc will struggle against Supreme?
You say you have never looked at Supreme until now?
You think you can post a few throw-away comments and not expect a retort?
Their 88Vapes are the pocket money ones, selling currently online £2.50.
Chill Zero Nicotine Free Vapes are more expensive at about £8.95 for 1500 Puffs.
If / When disposable vapes ban comes in when Legislation is passed, which Company will still be selling their vapes?
RKB
Purchased Chill Zero Vape
My nearest Morrisons is in the East End of Glasgow. I did not see our Chill Zero Vapes on display, so I enquired at the desk.
The assistant went through to the storeroom and said there were seven boxes there and asked me how many I wanted.
I purchased one Lemon 1500 Puff Vape.
I asked why our Vapes were not on display and she said that they were waiting for a display stand.
RKB
PS Vape has security tag on box.
StockBoxMedia Interview
Nick talks about the reasons behind today’s acquisition of Amphora Health Ltd
https://twitter.com/StockBoxMedia
RKB
Acquisition of Amphora Health Ltd
Voyager, the health and wellness group formulating, manufacturing and supplying high-quality Cannabidiol (CBD), hemp seed oil and hemp-related products, is pleased to announce that it has acquired Amphora Health Ltd (“Amphora”), owner of the Amphora and Infused Amphora brands which comprise a range of CBD oils, vapour products and accessories.
The consideration payable for Amphora will be satisfied through the issue of 416,666 new ordinary shares of £0.01 each in Voyager at a price of 12 pence per share (approximately £50,000) in aggregate to Amphora’s shareholders. In addition, a further 416,666 new ordinary shares at a price of 12 pence per share may be issued in the event, inter alia, that sales of Amphora or Infused Amphora branded products exceed £100,000 over the 24 month period from completion.
Nick Tulloch, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Voyager, said: “We are delighted to be adding into the Voyager group the well respected Amphora brands. A 4.7 (excellent) rating on Trustpilot is testament to the quality of the products. This acquisition achieves two objectives for us. Importantly, it provides us with 23 products validated on the FSA’s novel foods list, thereby further opening up the UK market for our ingestible CBD products. Just as significantly, it brings us into the potentially lucrative vape market with four established formulations.
“In both cases, we will aim to bring manufacturing of Amphora products into our VoyagerCann manufacturing facility, thereby lowering the cost of production and enhancing margins. “It is also important to note, as has been the case with many of our operations, this acquisition has been achieved at very low cost. Several of our competitors have spent considerable sums on novel foods compliance and product development. The opportunity to combine Amphora’s business with ours at a modest price is expected to be beneficial for all shareholders.”
RKB
Locations where Vapes are available
Currently available in:
1 USA Smoker Friendly Stores. Initially 60 stores.
2 UK Independent Stores. 475 Stores.
3 Amazon UK.
4 Chill.com website UK & USA
5 WH Smiths 150 Airport Shops
6 Leading UK Forecourt Operator. Shell, Esso & BP. 265 locations.
From Monday 29th January 2024 Chill-Zero Nicotine-Free Vapes will be available in 1,500 Morrisons Supermarkets.
Possible locations in the future: Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Amazon in various European Countries & maybe even Egypt.
RKB
The Ripple Effect
Part 2
Ripple Seven: 20th December 2023
Chill Brands Group, the consumer packaged-goods distribution company, is pleased to announce the sale of its Chill ZERO nicotine-free vapour products into a top five UK supermarket. (Later identified as Morrisons Supermarket)
The Company has received a substantial initial purchase order which will see the listing of its Chill ZERO products in 1,500 of the leading supermarket chain's UK stores (the "Order").
Ripple Eight: 22nd December 2023
Chill Brands Group, the consumer packaged-goods distribution company, is pleased to announce the sale of its Chill ZERO nicotine-free vapour products to a prominent operator of UK petrol stations, trading under major brands including Shell, Esso and BP.
The Company has received a substantial initial purchase order which will see the listing of its products into stores managed by one of the UK's leading operators of roadside retail locations. Following the sale, Chill ZERO products will launch into 265 of the operator's forecourt convenience stores during Q1 2024.
Ripple Nine: 3rd January 2024
Discussions are underway for the launch of Chill vapour products into select European markets and the Company expects to make significant progress during the first half of the year.
RKB
PS By definition, a ripple effect occurs when a disturbance occurs in a system and moves outward to shake up an increasingly larger part of that system.
The Ripple Effect
In the recent Sunday Roast Podcast with Charles Archer & Callum Sommerton, Callum was asked the question “how have you grown so rapidly?” and Callum said, “the term I use is concentric circles”.
When I think of concentric circles, I think about the ripple effect (like when a stone is thrown into a pool of water) you see concentric circles spread outwards. These circles are waves that propagate outward from the centre.
Ripple One: 9th October 2023
With the initial launch of our Chill Nicotine Free Vapes in August 2023, we are now available in 150 WHSmith travel shops with Chill Zero vapes, at high traffic locations — which benefit from 500,000 passengers a day.
Ripple Two: 12th October 2023
£350,000 of orders from UK retailers since launching Chill ZERO the month before (September 2023) — including to 200 independent shops, facilitated through The Vaping Group and Phoenix 2 Retail.
Ripple Three: 12th October 2023
Following the launch, Chill ZERO products will shortly become available for purchase and next day delivery to adult customers using the UK's leading online e-commerce platform via Amazon Prime delivery.
Ripple Four: 9th November 2023
Chill Brands Group, the consumer packaged-goods distribution company, is pleased to announce that its Chill ZERO nicotine-free vapour products will launch on Vape Local (https://vapelocal.co.uk/)) this month (November 2023)
Vape Local is one of the UK's leading wholesale websites for vaping products, serving a rapidly growing network of over 4,000 retail store accounts. In joining the site, Chill ZERO nicotine-free products will gain exposure to thousands of potential stockists spread across the entirety of the country.
Ripple Five: 17th November 2023
Chill Brands Group, the consumer packaged-goods distribution company, is pleased to announce that it has received an initial order for its Chill ZERO nicotine-free vapour products from the UK's largest category-specific distributor.
The Company has reached agreement for its products to be marketed and sold by Flawless, the leading distributor to category specialist vape stores in the UK. Flawless supplies over 5,000 wholesale accounts and has more than 50,000 active customers.
Ripple Six: 7th December 2023
Purchase of vape products by leading US retailer with launch into seven new states. Chill Brands has received a purchase order for its nicotine-free vape products from Smoker Friendly, the largest dedicated chain of smoke shops in the United States. Starting in 2024, Chill ZERO products will enter an initial 60 stores of Smoker Friendly's many US locations.
RKB
Good afternoon Suthy
I have 100% more green bars and soon there will be more if Thegodsbewithme is posting anything else.
RKB
I believe there were 89 posts yesterday and 46% were obviously total garbage.
FG and the teams are working 24/7 and they will deliver.
Did any of the green lines watch the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures? All about AI artificial intelligence.
Did you see the part in episode two about brute force?
If the green lines had engaged in intelligent conversation with FG over the past 6 or 7 years and knew his academic background, then they may have realised that there is an alternative to brute force and it will blow your mind.
Patience will be rewarded and the green lines will be history.
RKB 🐝
Yes
RKB
Chill Options @ 8p 16p 32p & 40P
The details for our three Directors are detailed in the RNS 11/09/23 and our share price closed that day at 4.1p - 4.3p the same as yesterday’s closing price.
There has been numerous RNS’s over the past four months and still our share price has not reacted.
This morning Petra Diamonds issued an RNS about Options for two of their Directors and for this to vest, their share price must almost double (increase from £0.669 to £1.307)
For Chill Options to vest the share price has to increase 10 fold from £0.04 to £0.40.
At £0.04 our Market Capt is about £18 million and at £.40p it would be about £180 million.
I believe Callum, Trevor & Antonio will exercise all their options.
RKB
PS The comparison with Petra Diamonds was used to highlight what one Company in the Mining Industry think they can achieve in three years (100% increase in share price) compared to what Chill Brands Plc think (will) achieve in three years. DYOR
Investing Strategy: The Chill Brands Edit
Part 11
Where next for Chill?
It’s not controversial to say that the company is growing fast — in a few months, it’s gone from almost no brand presence to 2,365 physical independent and branded locations, Amazon UK, and is expanding in the US — with plans afoot for Europe.
You can break down the revenue streams with ease: the UK retail channel, where arguably most of the revenue is currently derived — a total market value worth more than £3 billion in 2023. Then there’s the US retail channel, which is a far larger market but where Chill has only just got started. And remember, the company scaled extremely quickly in the UK so may be able to repeat this feat stateside.
Then there’s e-commerce: Chill.com, Amazon and other popular vaping-specific sites. These likely have the strongest growth potential in time but will require much larger brand recognition — which will be built through physical shops. It’s worth noting e-commerce will provide an easy early way to break into Europe.
Then related, is the sale of third-party brands on Chill.com — yes, the site will cost money to run, but simply taking a cut of all sales without any of the wider risk components makes this an attractive channel.
Chill does recognise the expense of expansion, and notes it is taking ‘take every opportunity to carefully structure deals that provide upside from the first order rather than relying on future reorders to create financial value.’ And further, it expects ‘to record a material increase in revenues for the full financial year.’
For a potential investor, the growth story is excellent and words from management are highly encouraging. Some may wait for those words to be converted into more concrete numbers — but then you could miss what may prove to be a cheap entry given the growth thus far.
You might want to spend hours agonising on the risk-reward ratio.
Or just buy some shares and chill.
This article has been prepared for information purposes only by Charles Archer. It does not constitute advice, and no party accepts any liability for either accuracy or for investing decisions made using the information provided.
Further, it is not intended for distribution to, or use by, any person in any country or jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contrary to local law or regulation.
RKB
PS I asked for and was given permission to post the above by Charles Archer.
www.investingstrategy.co.uk
Investing Strategy: The Chill Brands Edit
Part 10
I will leave investors to ponder the danger and rewards of convertible loan notes, but the same HNW also subscribed to £1 million of ordinary shares. And at the end of the day, you cannot grow without finance — and on 5 December 2023, the company converted more than £3 million of current and non-current liabilities into equity, which were presented in its prospectus.
Revenue in the period rose by 325% compared to the same half a year before. And excluding legacy inventory write downs, margin came in at a healthy 31.9%. Chill also expects its margin to improve dramatically due to the ‘high-margin’ nature of its core vape products, alongside the typical growing economies of scale — and it ‘expects to record substantially higher revenues during the second half of the financial year.’
Of course, when you look a little deeper, revenue may have increased sharply, but only from £19,610 to £83,392 year-over-year, leading to a gross profit of a little over £1,000. Then there’s the operating loss of circa £1.5 million — however this was better than the loss of £2.2 million in the comparable period.
But these figures are all essentially meaningless as potential investors are buying into the Chill ZERO story, which launched a few weeks before the end of this results period. The question is whether the massive investment will pay off in terms of profitability, margin, and reorder rates.
RKB
Investing Strategy: The Chill Brands Edit
Part 9
Financial situation
Other than the legislative risk — where some investors are deeply wary, and others consider Chill to have a large competitive moat — the other question to resolve is financial. The company is clearly in the midst of a capital-heavy expansion, and this is not cheap.
Of course, Swann’s cash will go some way to bridging the gap, but the other question is this: is the business model sustainable? What will long-term reorder rates, revenue generation, profitability, and margin look like? These are all fair questions — and while there is some initial data to analyse, the reality is that you will need roughly six months of data to make an objective evaluation. For balance, this is reflected in a share price that has barely moved despite the rapid progress since September.
Given that the major Chill Zero expansion is starting this month, you would then expect financial figures midway through this calendar year. For context, this is not a positive nor a negative, but simply an industry standard. When you launch a new product, there tends to be extremely strong sales to begin with, which then taper down to a regular reorder/revenue rate — you need a few months of data for it to be worth reading.
While you will likely see a reorder rate RNS in the near future (I’d suggest anything above 25% with this retail model would be encouraging), it’s not possible to predict how the launch will go in Morrisons, which is arguably the catalyst to turbocharge growth.
But we do know that combined gross sales and purchase orders were in excess of £2.1 million (including VAT) in late December. And we also have half-year results published on 28 December, covering the six months to 30 September 2023: where Chill noted that the launch of Chill Zero saw ‘a notable improvement in the Company’s trading performance.’
The company did have to raise funds in March and April 2023 to the tune of £3.16 million (before expenses) in order to build its empire. Part of this funding involved a £2.6 million raise from a HNW — including convertible unsecured loan notes with a value of £1.6 million. These carry a coupon of 12% per year for three years from March 2023, convertible at 8p per share.
RKB