Quarterly Activities Report
Melbourne, Oct 28, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Bluechiip Limited (
ASX:BCT) (1BL:FRA), a leader in the development of advanced sample management solutions for harsh environments, is pleased to release the company's Appendix 4C - Quarterly Cashflow report and update for the quarter ended 30 September 2022.
ACTIVITIES REPORT FOR THE QUARTER ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2022
Corporate and Business highlights
- Recorded sales of $240k and cash receipts of $193k.
- Customer conversion and sales closure. Ten end-users have now ordered Bluechiip products, which will be used across 12 laboratories.
- Actively executing development activities with FujiFilm Irvine Scientific under the licence and development agreement executed in October 2021.
- Continued discussions and negotiations with potential OEMs in pursuit of additional OEM partner agreements, including delivery of concepts and prototypes to pharmaceutical, cell therapy and biobanking OEM customers.
- Closing cash and cash equivalents of $1.56m as at 30 September 2022, with no borrowings.
- Continued to work on the 2021/2022 R&D Tax Incentive registration; expect to receive approximately $800k in refund during the December quarter FY23.
- $300k of customer cash receivables expected this quarter.
Additional information
During the quarter ended 30 September 2022, the Company recorded sales of goods and engineering services of $240k (Q4 2022: $527k). The Company also recorded cash receipts from customers for the quarter of $193k (Q4 2022: $258k) for products and engineering services.
The Company's US subsidiary, Bluechiip, Inc, has been actively engaging with customers mainly in North America. The Company, through its recently-expanded sales and marketing team, continues to aggressively build its pipeline, targeting customer engagement and sales closure.
Bluechiip's new range of consumables and Advanced Sample Management Solutions continue to receive strong interest from local and overseas customers. Since product launch in the December quarter 2021 end-customer use has continued to grow, with orders from 10 customers in 12 operating laboratories.
Each of these customers is expected to generate repeat orders as the Bluechiip-enabled solution is embedded into their high value sample inventory management processes.
Customer end markets include large pharmaceutical, cell therapy, clinical trial and research organisations, with significant opportunities to organically expand Bluechiip's footprint and usage. The adoption by laboratories of Bluechiipenabled solutions has grown steadily since launch, from four in the December 2021 quarter, to five in the March 2022 quarter, 10 in the June 2022 quarter and 12 in the September 2022 quarter.
Laboratories/businesses currently using Bluechiip-enabled products/solutions include:
- Northwestern Medicine (Chicago, USA)
- Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI - Boston, USA)
- Bioinova (Czech Republic)
- OrganaBio (Florida, USA)
- Crux Biolabs (Melbourne, Australia)
- Palacky University Olomouc (Czech Republic)
Endorsement from Bluechiip's end-users:
The Bluechiip system allows me to have a significant amount of oversight throughout our banking process
Dr Akhil Chawla, Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery, Northwestern Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
Bluechiip helps us work more efficiently with confidence in sample integrity and identity
Dr Mary Clare McCorry, Director of Technology and Process Development, Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), Boston, Massachusetts
The Bluechiip system provides a full audit trail to help us adhere to good manufacturing practice
Dominika Lykova, Cell Therapy Specialist, Bioinova, Prague, Czech Republic
Bluechiip plans to continue to grow its sales and marketing team, especially in North America, over the next 12 months to service the growing demand for Bluechiip-enabled products.
Bluechiip is actively executing its development activities with FujiFilm Irvine Scientific under the licence and development agreement executed in the December quarter FY22, and is actively pursuing a supply agreement as product development moves towards product launch.
Bluechiip continues to enter discussions and negotiations with potential OEMs in pursuit of further OEM partner agreements, which includes the delivery of concepts and prototypes to OEMs in the pharmaceutical, cell therapy and biobanking markets.
During the quarter, staff costs and commercial production and research and development dominated cash outflows: $699k (Q4 Jun 22: $732k) and $161k (Q4 Jun 22: $118k) respectively. The Company is financially well-supported with closing cash and cash equivalents of $1.56m as at 30 September 2022, with no borrowings.
The Company expects to receive receipts of at least $300k in the coming quarter from its ongoing sales made to customers and debtors, which are being closely monitored. The Company is working on the 2021/2022 R&D Tax Incentive registration and expects to receive approximately $800k in refunds during the December quarter FY23. In addition, the Company has a standby R&D Advance Tax Prepayment Loan facility from a lender secured over the refundable FY23 R&D Tax Incentive.
Outlook
The Company continues to respond to market conditions, including:
- Building direct customer base with new installations, as well as meeting repeat orders from existing customers for Bluechiip Advanced Sample Management Solutions, including Bluechiip-enabled consumables, readers and software for the global biobanking market directly into North America and Australia/New Zealand and through distribution partners globally.
- Aggressive pipeline expansion through in-person meetings and product demonstrations with potential customers, especially in North America.
- Expansion of US sales and marketing team to drive pipeline expansion.
- Progressing execution of development activities under the licence and development agreement with FujiFilm Irvine Scientific with an active pursuit of a subsequent supply agreement over the next 6-12 months.
- Progressing towards OEM partner agreements with potential OEMs, including in the pharmaceutical, cell therapy and target biobanking space. These sectors have gained significant traction for the Company's products and solutions.
- Managing existing cash reserves, which will be allocated to the manufacture of readers and Bluechiip enabled consumables as demand increases and to evaluated R&D activities while prioritising expenditure in line with the Company's overall strategy.
*To view the Quarterly Report, please visit:
https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/32J162A8
About Bluechiip Limited
Bluechiip Ltd (ASX:BCT) understands that every sample - stem cells, blood, eggs, sperm and other biospecimens - is critical, so our objective is to manage each one with optimal quality in the most efficient way. Bluechiip's advanced management solution is the only one that provides sample temperature with ID in cryogenic environments to. Most importantly, this delivers confidence in every sample.
Bluechiip's unique patented technology is a MEMS-based wireless tracking solution that contains no electronics. It represents a generational change from current tracking methods such as labels (hand-written and pre-printed), barcodes (linear and 2D), and Radio Frequency Identification. Bluechiip tags are either embedded or manufactured into storage products such as vials or bags. Each product can be easily identified, and critical information such as sample temperature, is detected by readers and stored in the Bluechiip software. In addition to functioning in extreme temperatures, the Bluechiip(R) Advanced Sample management solution can survive autoclaving, gamma irradiation sterilization, humidification, centrifuging, cryogenic storage and frosting.
Bluechiip's technology has applications in healthcare, including in cryogenic storage facilities (biobanks and biorepositories), pathology, clinical trials and forensics. Other key markets include cold-chain logistics/supply chain, security/defence, industrial/manufacturing and aerospace/aviation.
Bluechiip: Delivering confidence in every sample.
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