Good morning, everyone. Thanks, Din. It's 11:00 A.M., so we'll make a prompt start in consideration of those who are online. For those of us who are here today, you can join us for a coffee afterwards and we can continue the conversations. I'd like to extend a warm welcome to everyone, both those who are in attendance and those who are online, to the BLIS Technologies 2025 Annual Shareholders Meeting. I'm Geoff Plunket. On behalf of my fellow directors, our [Chief Executive Officer], Scott Johnson, and all the BLIS team, it's my pleasure to welcome you here today. This August marks 25 years since BLIS was established to commercialize the pioneering work of John Tagg. I'd like to acknowledge John's outstanding contribution over the past 25 years.
I'd also like to congratulate Alison Stewart on her appointment as the Dame Commander of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the recent King's Birthday Honors. Well done, Dame Alison. The next section just deals with the procedural matters for today, covering both those who are online and those who are here in person. When it comes to voting, for shareholders who are in attendance, you may vote as usual on the voting card provided to you at the registration desk when you arrive. If you don't have a registration card, please see the MUFG people. For shareholders online, you'll be able to cast your vote by pressing the 'Get a Vote in Card' button and validating yourself using your shareholder or proxy number. Shareholders online will also be able to ask questions by clicking the 'Ask a Question' button.
I encourage shareholders who have questions to send them through as soon as possible. A quick health and safety note for those who are with us today. In the likely event of emergency, the emergency exits are where you came in and to the left at the back, and the assembly point is outside by Albany Street. I'm sure the university staff will provide directions at the time. We'll be using slides during the meeting. For those of you online, you'll be able to see them and follow along. They've also been posted to the NZX and are available on the BLIS website. The agenda for today: first of all, I'm pleased to say that the meeting has been properly called and there is a quorum present. The agenda will include an overview from myself and the company's performance for the year to 31 March 2025.
Scott will provide you with a deeper review of the results and progress against our strategic plan. There'll be an opportunity for shareholders to ask questions. Following this, there'll be the formal part of the business where we have four resolutions for decision and voting. As I said earlier, at the conclusion of the meeting, there'll be light refreshments available at the back of the room for those in attendance. I'd like to start by introducing the Board of Directors. The directors will all be well known to you. We've had no changes in the board in the last 12 months. Aimee McCammon was appointed to the board in October 2021. Aimee is CEO of Pic's Peanut Butter, based in Nelson, and has a background in advertising, marketing, and governance. Dame Alison Stewart joined the board in September 2018.
Alison brings to the board substantial experience as a research and innovation leader. Barry Richardson will be well known to you. Barry joined the board in 2018, has a science background, and brings both BLIS-specific and international biotech and nutritional dairy industry experience. Our fifth director is Anita Johansson, who is CEO of Probi, a Swedish probiotics company and the company's largest shareholder. Anita is based in Copenhagen, and the head office is in Lund, which is in Sweden. Anita sends her apologies today. It's 1:00 A.M. in Central European Time. She'll review the recording of the meeting during tomorrow, her time. Anita joined the board in January last year. Anita has a background in pharmaceuticals and has leadership positions in various consumer healthcare companies. I'd like to move on now to an overview of the financial results for the year ending 31 March 2025.
It's pleasant to report that revenue for the year was NZD 12.6 million, a 10% increase on the prior year. EBITDA of NZD 1 million was up 26%, and net profit of NZD 0.8 million, or NZD 800,000, was up 30%. The financial year was marked by disciplined execution of our strategic plan, operational improvement, and addressing unexpected intellectual property issues. We are delivering on our key performance commitments of strengthening our commercial foundations and improving financial returns. Revenue growth was underpinned by solid growth across our finished product sales category and modest growth in our B2B revenue. Higher royalty revenue was partially offset by some softness in ingredient revenue from European customers. Growth was achieved in other ingredient markets. While this year's financial results were positive, considerable time was spent during the year dealing with unexpected patent issues.
It was pleasing to have the matters settled in July and a new five-year agreement entered into with Bluestone Pharma. Scott will have some more detail on this in his presentation. BLIS continues to be in a strong financial position with cash balances and short-term deposits of NZD 9.7 million at the 31st of March. Strategically, we remain focused on delivering revenue growth and improved profitability by working with partners in key B2B markets, for example, in the U.S. with Probi. Opportunities within existing B2C markets will also be leveraged. There is no change to the strategy which we've outlined in previous years. I'd just like to touch on distribution to shareholders. It's a question that now that we've been profitable for a couple of years, it's a question that we've fielded more regularly. I'd just like to set out the board's sort of view on that.
BLIS continues to enjoy financial stability, making modest profits and holding cash balances, as I said, of NZD 9.7 million at 31st of March. In respect to the current year, the directors have agreed not to propose a distribution. As trading profits continue to improve and greater visibility of the capital requirements of the business is achieved, the board will continue to review the company's capital structure and, if appropriate, will consider a distribution to shareholders in future years. That brings the end to my address. I'd like to pass over to Scott to provide you with a deeper review of the year's results. Thanks, Scott.
Thank you, Geoff. On behalf of the leadership team, I'd like to welcome all shareholders joining us today in person and online. Your continued support is greatly appreciated and essential to our journey as a company. Let me introduce the BLIS leadership team, smiling away up there on screen. Actually, team, if you could raise your hand when I call out your name and people can see who you are. Firstly, Melissa Drysdale, Head of Quality. Jen Walker, Chief Revenue Officer. Richard Wingham, Chief Financial Officer. And Dr. John Hale, Chief Technology Officer. Also a mention of Ashleigh Childs, our People and Culture Manager, who's currently away on maternity leave, enjoying the birth of her second child, Cleo, and we look forward to seeing Ash joining us back in December. To kick off the presentation, I'd like to give you a global market snapshot of the probiotic dietary supplement market.
The global market is projected to double over the next five years, and it has a very healthy compound annual growth rate of 12%. With established business partners in Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, BLIS is playing in the right markets to capitalize on that growth. There are a lot of tailwinds behind us. As Geoff has mentioned, we are pleased to report revenue of NZD 12.6 million for the year ended 31 March 2025, a 10% increase on the prior year. This growth was driven by solid finished product sales and modest royalty growth, partially offset by softness in our European ingredient revenue. EBITDA was NZD 1 million, up 26% on FY 2024, and net profit was NZD 800,000. We ended the year, again, as Geoff mentioned, with a strong cash position of NZD 9.7 million, with an operating cash surplus of NZD 1.7 million.
This result reflects disciplined execution, strong cost control, and continued momentum despite a few challenges along the way. As a result of improvements in FY 2025 financial performance, BLIS generated cash of NZD 1.8 million, up 70% on the previous year. Also of note is that Asia-Pacific, or APAC, is expected to play a bigger role in our business going forward. It was 18% of the mix geographically last year. That's up from 10% the prior year. If you remember back to that slide that I presented, on where everyone is playing in the globe, then Asia-Pacific makes up 38% of that mix. There is plenty of opportunity for us in the Asia-Pacific region. The business continues to have a channel mix of circa 2/3 B2B and 1/3 B2C, business to consumer. We don't see that mix changing that materially in the near future.
B2B revenue was NZD 8.1 million, contributing 64% of our total revenue. Ingredient revenue was NZD 6.2 million, down slightly overall, but North America grew 83% and Asia-Pacific grew 53%. Royalty revenue held steady at NZD 1.1 million. Private label grew significantly to NZD 800,000, led by a key Chinese partner. B2C revenue was NZD 4.5 million, up 29% and now 36% of our total revenue. Amazon USA grew 30% to NZD 2 million, and our BLIS web store grew 19% to NZD 600,000. Total wholesale growth, particularly cross-border e-commerce in China, was a highlight as well. Following our October 2024 announcement about a contract breach, BLIS worked closely with Bluestone Pharma, or BSP as we refer to them, and Lactosan to resolve the situation. We're pleased to have reached a positive agreement on joint ownership of patent applications, providing clarity and access to vital technology.
All parties have mutually released claims related to these patent publications, reflecting the transparent and ethical negotiations. BLIS also secured a five-year extension of our supply agreement, with BSP ensuring ongoing partnership and supply chain stability. We're now busy working our way through the execution of the joint business plan and getting on with growing both businesses. Finally, in the U.S., and obviously quite a topical, and it's quite a well-talked about topic at the moment, tariffs now apply to 15% for our finished products, which has led to modest price increases in 2025. Our ingredients business remains exempt from that. Our focus remains on disciplined growth in key markets and strategic partnerships, particularly with Probi [in] the U.S. We continue to have a focused pipeline of consumer-driven NPD products, and we've made significant progress on China's regulatory approvals for BLIS K12 and BLIS M18, investing NZD 300,000 in FY 2025.
Final regulatory assessments are now pending. Our strategic plan remains consistent, leading with predominantly a B2B focus. B2C plays a critical role in terms of brand awareness and also its contribution to our bottom line. For example, it's important to have a winning value proposition here in our home market, especially when you're scaling up offshore. Disciplined execution is fundamental to our future success. We've made tangible progress in our ESG commitments. We are working towards B Corp certification, and a proposed constitutional change will support this. BLIS is pursuing B Corp certification to demonstrate its commitment to responsible growth, ensuring that environmental, social, and governance considerations are embedded in our strategy. Far from being at the expense of profit, this approach strengthens long-term shareholder value by building trust, resilience, and sustainable competitive advantage through considering all stakeholders.
We've also launched our leading at BLIS Leadership Program and maintained green status with our My Green Lab recertification. We continue to prioritize safety across all sites, with no lost time injuries again in FY 2025. This extends our record to six years. To ensure supply chain continuity and support growth, we're working with a new fermentation specialist, with new supply expected in 2026. Short-term margin pressures are expected in the meantime. This August marks 25 years since BLIS was founded on the pioneering work of Professor John Tagg, sitting with us in the front row here. John has made an extraordinary contribution over this time and continues to support BLIS today. On behalf of the board, the BLIS team, and shareholders, thank you, John. It leaves me to one last slide. BLIS Technologies reported first quarter 2026 revenue of NZD 3.5 million, driven by private label and strong New Zealand wholesale sales.
The company forecast first half revenue of NZD 7.5 million, which will be 25% up on the previous half year, with EBITDA including one-offs slightly below last year. Full year FY 2026 revenue is expected to be between 10% - 15%. We thank our team for their commitment, especially through the IP challenge this year. Their professionalism has been exceptional. We are cautiously optimistic as we progress through FY 2026. We see continued strong demand for science-backed probiotics and will maintain our focus on strategic markets, innovation, and importantly execution. FY 2025 was a step forward, and we look ahead with confidence. Thank you very much.
Thanks, Scott. Now is the opportunity for questions on the financial statements and the presentations that you've heard from Scott and myself. We'll take questions for those in attendance first. Before asking your question, I presume we've got a microphone, have we? Just wait for the microphone to arrive. If you could say your name before asking your question, that would be great. We'll take questions from those people online if we haven't covered them already. Are there any questions of those in attendance today? Oh, very quiet. We can come back later on if anyone has any sort of follow-up questions. Let's deal with the questions that are online.
An online question from Matthew Lynch regarding the certification costs for [B Corp certification].
There are a few other things. Do you want to cover off the whole question at the same time?
I can probably cover off the certification costs and say the costs for B Corp certification are reasonably modest. In that process, we've also engaged with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. The costs were 50/50 shared between New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and BLIS Technologies.
We have a second question from Malcolm Irvine. Why are shareholders not advised when significant announcements are made to the stock exchange? I can probably answer that as well. The standard process for announcements is that they are released on the NZX. It is a case of following online. All the announcements are posted first on the NZX and on our website. There is an ability, there's certain apps and prompts that people can have for themselves personally to pick up certain stocks that they're tracking. Malcolm also has a second part to his question.
What is the one-off cost, or what is a one-off cost when it continues to the next accounting period?
Actually, Richard, I don't know why I'm volunteering to do this one because it's accounting treatment, isn't it? It's based on the average cost our inventory goes up when you bring in certain priced parcels of inventory. Therefore it affects your inventory cost for just before beyond that period. It washes through over an extended period of time. Does that please the CFO?
That's great.
Thank you.
I think the answer to that, just to sort of quote it further, we do have a one-off cost in our supply chain. One-off means it's not going to be repeated, but the one-off cost will impact us for this financial year, FY 2026. We've estimated that one-off cost at NZD 900,000. There's a few questions here I can see.
There are a couple of other questions. I think we can take those ones offline and answer those directly with Malcolm. There are no other questions online.
Okay. Are there any other questions for those in attendance today? No? Okay. We'll move on to the formal part of the meeting. We've got four resolutions to consider today: two involving the reelecting of the directors who retire by rotation, the third one authorizing directors to fix the remuneration of the auditors, and a special resolution to approve the changes to the Constitution. Resolution I proposes that Aimee McCammon, who is eligible for reelection, be reelected as a director of the company. Aimee is offering herself for election in accordance with the NZX listing rules and the company's Constitution. The board has determined that Aimee is an independent director. The board recommends Aimee to you as a director of BLIS Technologies and unanimously supports her reelection. I'll invite Aimee to address the meeting.
Good morning, shareholders and colleagues. I'm very pleased to stand for reelection for the board of BLIS Technologies because I believe really strongly in the company's potential, and I'd love to continue contributing my skills and experience to the board. I bring strategic vision, commercial acumen, strong governance experience, and also a proven ability to turn ideas into impact. As CEO of Pic's Peanut Butter for the past three years, New Zealand's favorite peanut butter, I might add, and an advisory board member for 10 years prior to that, I've had the privilege of helping a small brand grow into a much-loved New Zealand brand and also a significant export brand. As well as holding fast to the values and integrity that make people trust that brand and will pay more for it.
Prior to Pic's, I've worked with a lot of key lead power brands like Whittaker's Chocolate, Toyota, [Lotteries New Zealand] , 42 BELOW Vodka, and Tourism New Zealand, all the fun brands. These experiences give me a deep understanding of how to build brands both within New Zealand and also into export markets. In addition to that, I ran one of Peter Jackson's film companies, Park Road Post Production, where we increased our export earnings for the film sector by 50%. Currently, I have governance experience. I'm serving on the board of the New Zealand Film Commission, again helping New Zealand filmmakers, but also driving export earnings for that sector. I've previously been an independent director for Flick Electric and a trustee of the Arts Foundation.
For all of these reasons and my understanding of governance, strategy, and accountability, I'd be delighted to continue serving BLIS on this journey and respectfully ask for your support. Thank you.
Before we put the resolution to a vote, is there any discussion on the resolution? There's no discussion. I now put to the vote the ordinary resolution that Aimee McCammon, who is eligible for reelection, be elected as a director of the company. Please take a moment to mark your proxy voting form in relation to resolution number one. Resolution II is that Dame Alison Stewart, who is eligible for reelection, be reelected as a director of the company. Alison is offering herself for election in accordance with the NZX listing rules and the company's Constitution. The board has determined that Alison is an independent director. The board recommends Alison to you as a director of BLIS Technologies and unanimously supports her reelection. I'd like to invite Alison to address the meeting.
Okay. Hello everyone. I have been on the board of BLIS for six years, and I think over that time, I think we can all agree that it hasn't been plain sailing. We've had a number of setbacks along the way, but I think it's fair to say that a lot of those have been driven by external factors outside of our control. I don't want to labour on those since, you know, they're in the past and we have to look to the future. The last time I put myself up for reelection, I was talking about how confident I was about the positive growth opportunities for BLIS. While we've certainly made, you know, some good positive progress, I think you in the room and online and ourselves sitting here, we probably all agree that maybe we haven't achieved as much as we had originally hoped.
I'm a bit reticent about standing up here and saying the same thing again, but I'm going to anyway. I think I truly believe that we are now in a situation where we've got a very solid growth plan. We have a very clear idea of what markets we want to play in and who we want to partner with and how we want to partner with those people to achieve the targets that we've set. We also have a very strong cohesive management team who are laser-focused on executing to that plan and most importantly, generating the revenue targets. I certainly would like to continue to be part of BLIS's journey. I've probably got 10 good years left in me before I'm put out to pasture.
In that time, I really do want to support BLIS achieving not only the focus that we've got at the moment about, you know, revenue generation out of our foundational products, because clearly that's what's going to drive value for the shareholder. As a scientist and a sort of technology innovator, I so want to unleash the value that is sitting in the pipeline of innovation that we have at BLIS. This is something that I really want to focus on and look at innovative ways in which we can add value across the portfolio that we have without distracting from the focus that we must have on delivering our revenue growth targets. I've got some pretty good ideas around how we can do this. I just have to convince the rest of the board that they want to do that and the shareholders.
I am on the board of a number of other science-based companies that are focused on innovative biotechnology. There is actually quite a lot of synergy and complementarity between what we're trying to do in those other companies focused in the agricultural space and what BLIS is doing in the oral health space. Creating those networks and connections is also something that I'm very keen on doing. I'm also on the board of the Environmental Protection Authority, which is quite an interesting challenge. It's all about how we in New Zealand balance driving our economy, which is very much a biological economy based on agriculture and the primary sectors, with protecting the environment. I think that will keep me busy as well. I am now semi-retired, so now I have a lot more time and energy to put into these ventures.
I'm looking forward to working with BLIS as we move forward on its journey. I hope that you will consider me in a favorable light as I put my name up for reelection. Thank you.
Is there any discussion on the resolution? There appears to be no further discussion. I'll now put to vote the ordinary resolution that Dame Alison Stewart, who is eligible for reelection, be elected as a director of the company. Please take a moment to mark your proxy voting form in relation to resolution number two. Our third resolution authorizes the directors to fix the remuneration of the auditors for the ensuing year. Is there any discussion on this resolution? It appears to be none. I'll now put to the vote the ordinary resolution that directors be authorized to fix the remuneration of the auditors for the ensuing year. Please take a moment to mark your voting paper in relation to resolution III . Resolution IV , amendment of the Constitution, is a special resolution.
As first noted at last year's meeting, BLIS is in the process of becoming a certified B Corp company, which requires the company to amend its Constitution to reflect a legal commitment to all stakeholders. The resolution is that the Constitution of the company be amended in the form and manner described in the explanatory notes accompanying the notice of the meeting with effect from the close of this meeting. Is there any discussion on the resolution? It appears to be none. I now put to the vote the special resolution that the Constitution of the company be amended in the form and manner described in the explanatory notes accompanying the notice of the meeting with effect from the close of this meeting. Please take a moment to mark your proxy voting form in relation to the special resolution IV .
That brings us to the end of the formal part of the meeting. Is there any general business that anyone would like to raise? If there's no general business, that brings us to the end of the meeting. Thank you for your attendance today. As I indicated earlier, there's tea and coffee available at the back of the room for those in attendance today. Thank you.