Blackbird (LSE:BIRD) — Half Year Results for Six Months Ended 30 June 2021

0:01 Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the BLACKBIRD PLC Half Year Results for the Six Months Ending 06/30/2021 Investor Presentation. Throughout this presentation, investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged and can be submitted at any time using the Q and A tab situated on the right hand corner of your screen, please. Just simply type in your question and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question it receives during the meeting itself. However, the company will review all questions submitted today publish responses where it's appropriate to do so. These will be made available to you via your Investor Meet company dashboard, and we'll send

0:32 you an e mail when they're ready for your review. I'd also like to remind you that this presentation is being recorded. Before we begin, we'd like to submit the following poll. And if you give that your kind attention, we would be most grateful. And I'd now like to hand over to Ian McDonough, CEO from BLACKBIRD. Good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon, Mark. Thank you very much, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Right. We're gonna start the presentation. We're gonna start on slide three. I I I'm imagining that a number of you have have have seen us present before, and so I know a little bit about what's on this on this slide. But just to recap, we are a we're an AIM listed business. We're a developer and seller of BLACKBIRD PLC. BLACKBIRD software is a video editing software that works remotely, works in the cloud.

1:19 It is patented, and it it it works on any piece of hardware on any bandwidth connection and produces professional video. We'll come back a bit more to what it does later on. We are, we're on AIM, but also on, as of recently, the OTCQX market in The USA where investors in 37 states can now buy BLACKBIRD through that exchange. It's very, very new. It's only happened in the last few weeks, really, and we will be promoting that, as we move forward into the into the to the next few months, doing a few a few new conferences between now and Christmas to, to promote our presence there. We have a very healthy market cap. This was taken on the September 8, so very happy with that. So just as a a bit more about the company.

2:05 And the first bullet point here, under Blackbird is IP company. This is really a key theme for this for this presentation. For four years since I joined the company, I have been talking about how our IP, and we have 16 patents in the company, if you count the ones that are pending, six pending. We've been talking about how the IP has value outside of our core video editing platform. This presentation is the first time that we're able to show a data point for that. It's the first evidence that we've we we can show that we've licensed the software outside of licensing our core product. And last week, we announced a a five year deal with a global broadcasting company who will take our our libraries and codec and build their own video editing software on the top of that.

2:55 It's a really significant deal for us financially. It's a largest deal we've done by a factor of two. It's also a very significant deal for us strategically, and, I would expect you you as investors to see more of those kind of deals in the future. The second bullet and the third bullet are also really key here and another key theme for for the for the presentation. We're cloud, and we are SaaS, cloud native and SaaS. Many of you may have seen in the last few weeks that there has been some movement in our in our sector, in our in our industry. And, actually, I would say it's rather hot. There has been a big acquisition made by Adobe, for instance, of a company called Frame. Io. If you read the analysis around that acquisition, you'll see that they valued the the the company on a on a number of things.

3:40 So the value was $1,250,000,000 for a company that was turning over around $20,000,000. So they say a huge multiple. But it was on it on its installed base and also the fact it was cloud it was cloud native and SaaS. And it's able to help Adobe move from a a a CapEx model and a a an on premise model, hardware model, into a SaaS and cloud model. By coincidence or by design, that's also what we're doing for the for the company that we did a deal with last last week. We will help be helping them over time to move from a CapEx on premise model to a to a cloud SaaS model. So a bit like a golden goose that can lay golden eggs, we can create value in other companies around the industry and move them from on premise CapEx to cloud SaaS.

4:33 Additionally, we've put out a lot of, information this year about us being environmentally friendly, and I'll touch on that a bit later. And in this hybrid way of working, as you can see, we are actually together, Steve Steve and I, but we're not able to meet many of our investors in person, so we're kind of still hybrid. We are offering as a as a as a platform freedom for the end user to work from anywhere, wherever that person chooses to. And for the companies that we sell into, we're we are making sure that that their workflows are resilient. The fact that you can do it from any laptop on any bandwidth connection really means that that that the companies we sell to have a very resilient workflow.

5:14 So the board slide, for those who have seen this presentation before, is identical to to to the last time we showed it. But I would just let everyone know that we have all become shareholders now. John Honeycutt was announced as a as a shareholder yesterday morning for the first time since we've now launched on the OTCQX. In addition, Andrew Bentley, who is the the chairman, also acquired new stock and so did I on behalf of my family. So, yep, all all all members of the board are are very happy holders of this of the of the stock. So the highlights as we go into, the presentation. So first of all, we've done our first tech licensing deal. We have, recorded record revenues for the for the first half, of 21% up. I would say that with the second half, it's going to be considerably better as much of the activity that happened in the first half is yet to be put into the numbers, including tech licensing deal, including including the deal with with ViacomCBS, Univision, and others.

6:12 So that's good to look forward to. Thirdly, we've we've launched two strategic papers this this this this year so far. One was around the environment and how sustainable Blackbird is as a technology, and the second around how cost effective it is own and run Blackbird if you're a CTO or a business. That's we did that on TCO, total cost of ownership. We've also been adopted for the first time by our first major US studio, in ViacomCBS. So to touch on the on the on the IP company that we have. So we have these 16 patents, and we're just on our first licensing deal. Let's say we we are actually now licensing this this components of our of our, software, modules of our software so that other companies can build, in this case, a video editing platform on top.

7:06 We believe it doesn't have to be a video editing platform. It could, in fact, be any video platform where where playback is is is going to be required. Because what we are actually, patenting in in our in our software is how pixels are seen on screen. So it really opens up the market, not just not just a video editing professionally, consumer, but well beyond that into into it's a video playback as well. So the other thing is that we are able to because we're cloud and SaaS, we're able to aid companies in their migration from from from the old world into the new world of of cloud and SaaS. Okay. So we'll we'll we'll touch on the how that deal is structured a little bit later because I'm sure quite a few of you are interested.

7:52 So routes to market. We always used to show this slide as a as a strategy slide in a kind of linear form. So it went from direct sales to OEM to public cloud. What has become apparent and clear now is that direct sales are always gonna be important to us, and and and they're very, very good for the company profile. You could see just in the last few months with the with the with The US deals that we've brought on board, it's really good for raising our profile. The OEM deals are gonna be also very important. IP licensing is a is a brand new circle that we have on here, and I think that there's gonna be some really nice deals that we can do there in the space. The company that we just done this deal with is is a is a is a is a very good company of of of excellent repute. But there are other ones, and there are other larger ones too. So I think there's there's there's more to come in our space.

8:41 And public cloud is a is a is a project that we will be launching now early twenty twenty two. That will help us to develop this the the the platform and the business models in two ways. One is the fact that for enterprise, legal teams in in in the in the big blue chip media companies will be able to look to those Microsoft, Google, and Amazon clouds and and get comfort from their reliability and cybersecurity. It's it's nothing not a problem that BLACKBIRD's ever had, but legal teams are often often put at rest by the fact that Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have been through lots and lots of examinations to make sure that they're the most secure and and reliable. Secondly, public cloud will allow us over time to address the long tail of our industry to have a self-service model in a marketplace.

9:29 So that's that's the the two ways that those those are that public cloud will help our developments as a business.

9:38 We showed this slide last time, so I'll cover it very briefly. This really just shows how our cost of ownership total cost of ownership and our share of wallet into place. So on the left hand side, you've got a a bar chart which shows how much it would cost a CTO comparatively to run a traditional nonlinear editor, usually, the names beginning with a, we know who they are, versus Blackbird. And it's as you can see there, the green arrow shows that it's 35 cheaper to run Blackbird versus it is to run a traditional, platform. The chart on the right, though, shows how much of that share of wallet Blackbird will win. The reason is because Blackbird is selling a basket of services and not just the the pure licensing.

10:27 So that includes infrastructure and bandwidth, etcetera. So just a key a key visual there to see that we're actually, you know, more more cost effective for the CTO, but, well, more lucrative for the investor.

10:40 Now this slide takes a little bit of explaining, so please bear with me. So we we we talked through this one last time, and we've added to this to make it slightly more complicated. So I'm gonna I'm gonna take it very slowly. We'll work outwards from the from the from the the small brown dot. The small brown dot is the is the professional video editing software market, and that is the market that is applicable for Blackbird's core product. That is around 600,000,000, and that's just that that is what we call our core our core SAM, if you like. The the yellow market the yellow circle is the 10 x of that. So as we explained on the previous slide, we can we we can win 10 x business within in the market because we're not just selling the video software. We're also selling a basket of services around that.

11:30 Now the orange circle, that is the total video editing software market. That includes high end video editing, so the likes of the the the major making feature films, but also consumer video editing. What the new technology licensing deal will allow us to do is to now call that also TAM. So we can now we can now approach companies that are in that space to sell them or license to them our software because we're not actually talking about an end product here. We're talking about a component of our product that can go inside of someone else's own someone else's end product. So we are getting a percentage of revenue share from the deal that we've just done.

12:17 So we would feel confident in saying that we can extrapolate that forward and say we could get a percentage of revenue share from that orange circle. The dotted line around the edge, now that is undetermined in terms of size right now. It's just please bear in mind that this this deal is very fresh. It's very new. It's only been announced last week. And we haven't yet ascertained the size of the potential market for for for the video for the the core video technology product, the powered by BLACKBIRD product, but we think it's very large. So watch this space. We'll try and get some kind of estimates of that by the time we come next. But that means that it's not just video editing, excuse me, video editing, but it's also video playback.

13:06 Right. Another thing that we're very proud of in this in this period is the fact that we have become, well known for for being a a leader in the industry on carbon reduction. We started this process in in in January to ascertain our own carbon footprint and to and to compare ourselves to other people in the in the marketplace. We worked with a company, a third party company called Green Element. And when they came back with their analysis, it turns out that BLACKBIRD is 91% more efficient or use 91% less carbon than a traditional NLE. This has gone down very well in the industry. In fact, it it really woke the industry up. You know, for a small company with with with the with the small number of people working for us, it's extraordinary, I think, that we've taken such a leadership role in this in this in in this part of the industry. We we are really now seen as a as as someone that's trying to make a a big change.

14:02 I've been on Sky News. I've been on a number of panels, probably one every month or so, since we launched this. We've also been awarded the London Stock Exchange green economy mark for the work that we've done in this area, and there are only a 100 companies on

14:16 the entire exchange that have that green economy mark. We think this is gonna get more important and bigger as time goes on. At least we will be making sure it does. You know, we don't know whether we can we can stop the world heating up, but I think that everyone over the next five to ten years will be giving it a very good go, governments and large companies, etcetera. And we wanna be at the very forefront of that. So we think this is a very important a very important initiative.

14:50 So some of our selected deals from this year. I'm not gonna go through everyone, but I'll talk to a bit of a bit of highlights. TownNews, for people that have seen this before, we're very familiar. TownNews has expanded twice again this year. When I say that, the the TownNews themselves have won two new deals totaling around I think it's around 26 or 27 new stations this year. So really good step forward. ODK is a is an on demand platform. They're headquartered in in Seoul, South Korea. They have a workforce in in Vietnam. They have content that they're taking out of Mexico, and they have their audience in The USA. So using Blackbird as a collaboration tool and hub, they're able to to to utilize the the different initiatives from all those different company countries and and have a successful workflow publishing out to The US audience. So really proud of how we're we're we're we're working with Hub there and as a collaboration tool.

15:49 Live View is a US Israeli company and Israeli company, and we are working with them to produce the German elections with the main German broadcasters led by RTL. Univision is the is the North American largest Spanish language service, and we're working with them on sports, news, and entertainment.

16:10 I will probably not go over every one of these logos, but EBS, you saw last time, we're producing some very prestigious games with them. One just happened in the summer. You might have seen. Cheddar News is a is a is a post cable network for millennials, so very happy to be on that. And then CBS Sports is obviously something we're very proud of, one of one of our most recent deals where we're working with them on on on their soccer production.

16:39 A lot of this is being made possible by the fact that we have really worked very hard on our API strategy over the last the last period. We now have multifunctional APIs right away right the way across the platform. When I first started with the company, you know, the the technology was was was could pretty much be viewed as a as a as a as a black box with a couple of things you could take in and a couple of things you can take out. It's really opened up since then. I it's it's it's it's still a far cry from saying it's completely interoperable, but interoperable is what we want to be as as fully as we can. We've made great strides there thanks to Steven and his team's work. The other major initiative that we're working on, of course, is public cloud, which we talked about a couple of a couple of road shows, and that is ongoing project that should see the the first launch early next year.

17:29 Gonna I pass over to Steve now to talk about the financials?

17:32 Thank you, Ian. So half one revenues were up 21% year on year. As Ian mentioned earlier, we expect a much stronger half two, which I'll come on to a little bit more later. So our core market is North America because they're the trendsetters and leaders in terms of cloud migration. In that market, we were up 33% year on year on a like for like basis, so really strong results in that market.

17:58 The figures are obviously all quoted in sterling. The pound strength against the U. S. Dollar, was the key reason or whatever that we were down by about 50 k or so, in terms of revenues compared to our comparative figure, last year. We are you know, have a SaaS model. And so one of the key KPIs that we will be looking at going forwards is the monthly recurring revenue. That's grown by 220 over 220 percent over the last two years, and we were at a figure over 150,000 per month in June 2021. Similarly, we would have seen a bit more growth in terms of the, that KPI versus December 2020 if the pound hadn't got strong against the US dollar. All of these figures exclude one off events.

18:45 So as Ian mentioned earlier, we've got the prestigious games that we're doing with, EVS. So the impact of those revenues will be seen in H2 and in 2022. Similarly, we have an OEM relationship with a broadcast post sector, and, you know, we get overages every month, from, volumes of content going into BLACKBIRD and numbers of new users. And when we deploy, we get, you know, installation fees, training fees, and sometimes a little bit of dev fees as well. All of those are over dues above the monthly recurring revenues. So excluding the one off events, those those numbers can be between ten to twenty k or so a month. So I wanted to give you a little bit more color around our new licensing deal.

19:34 So it's a €2,000,000 deal, which is a minimum expected revenue that we see from the deal. It's split into two components. Firstly, a development fee of EUR 700,000. We're expecting EUR 160,000 of that to fall into this calendar year and the remainder, 5 and 40,000 to fall into 2022.

19:58 Secondly, once the product is launched, we will take a share of the product license fees. We all of the, all of this is, underpinned by minimum guarantees. The deal is with a with a very reputable company, and we expect to see overages, you know, above these minimum guarantee levels.

20:23 So our contracted but unrecognized revenue, which is an indication of our future order book, really positive news here that that, you know, after we, announced the licensing deal, you know, that had virtually doubled to 3,800,000. The other really interesting fact is that we had secured $1,550,000 revenue for 2022, almost double the level of the comparative figure at this time last year. So we're going be starting 2022 off probably with higher revenues than we had in 2020.

20:55 Similarly, for 2021, after we've done the licensing deal, we'll have GBP 1,900,000 of revenue secured for this year, and I'm confident that we'll be over the GBP 2,000,000 mark for this year. So in half one, our cash burn was up slightly versus the prior year. Again, I'm confident that in H2 this year, that will come down and that we will see cash burn less than we had in 2020. I reiterate that we have a very strong balance sheet. We are debt free, and we had over GBP 5,700,000 of cash and short term investments at June 30.

21:33 We're very confident with our current strategy that we will hit breakeven within these resources. Thanks, Steve. So just last couple of slides now for the presentation. A couple of quotes here from key OEM partners of ours. First of all, EVS, who, as we've mentioned, we're doing some very prestigious events with. They have said that we are future proofed, cloud native, and can meet the demands of the world's most prestigious sporting events. TownNews, who are are the most successful OEM partner that we have and have grown quite considerably this year, have said that we give their broadcast customers huge competitive advantage. So really fantastic to get those endorsements from from really key people. So in conclusion, as a product, we are carbon efficient. We are cost efficient. We are time efficient.

22:24 We are we are very, very flexible, and we can literally can allow our customers to work from anywhere. So So that is much in in demand at the moment. And US market growth has been very strong, especially in this period. We've also now got our first data point around the the the IP value outside of our core product, has allowed us to effectively double our order book. So we're very proud of how it's gone so far this year. The year is still young, but I'm now open to answer any questions. So can see quite a few have come in. Ian, Ian, Steve, Stephen, thank you very much indeed for updating investors this afternoon. Ladies and gentlemen, please do continue to submit your questions using the Q and A tab situated on the right hand corner of the screen. But just given company a few moments

23:08 to review those questions submitted already, I'd like to remind you that a recording of these presentation, along with a copy of the slides and the published Q and A, can be accessed via your Investor Meet company dashboard. I'd also like to remind you that your feedback is important to the company. And immediately after this presentation has ended, you'll be redirected for the opportunity to provide feedback in order the company can better understand your views and expectations.

23:29 Steve and Steve and Ian, a number of questions were submitted ahead of today's event by investors. And I thought perhaps before we look at the live questions, we could address these. The first one reads as follows. It's from Derek. Derek asks, in the twelve months there has been has there been any communications with Apple, Adobe, or Amazon? And if so, can you can elaborate on any communication?

23:52 So, Derek, very difficult for me to elaborate on that, but we talk to big companies all the time, not just those companies. But it's very difficult for me to to to to go into too much detail about that other than to say I think we are well regarded in the industry. Industry. And and and, you know, those companies are of interest to us, obviously. But I don't wanna elaborate too much there. I think it would be a little bit indiscreet at this stage.

24:17 Thank you. Next question comes from Nathan, who has got seven questions rolled into one. So I'm going to break these out, but really, they relate to the different in models that you have now the OEM deal has been announced. He asked what exactly will the OEM be

24:32 selling? And then perhaps I'll go on to the next points as we go along. Great. Yeah. No. Good good question. So the OEM will be selling a advanced video editing browser based platform as part of a production suite, And they will be using their own UI and their own integrations into their own production suite. And so it's it it is that that we would get some kind of revenue or get the revenue share on on on sales from from from the sales of that editing suite rather than the entire editing rather than the entire production suite. Okay. That Yep. That that answers the next question, I think, to part, which is what is the basis of remuneration to the firm, BLACKBIRD, and to the OEM?

25:17 Yeah. Think Steve covered that often in presentation. It's a dev fee plus a revenue share effectively underpinned by a minimum guarantee. He follows up with, is the OEM running similar software from competitors?

25:29 Is there an element of exclusivity?

25:32 No exclusivity. I know they're not. And what level of integration is required? So we'll be well, I think this this actually answers a question that someone else has written on on the on the on the live questions.

25:45 We we we would imagine launching sometime mid next year, I think.

25:51 And what levels of integration? Well, that much integration. So, yeah, I think we we we will be we'll be working with them on that over that period. And two final parts to to Nathan's question. Is the OEM deal over five years at 400,000 per year discounted as it's the first of its kind and allows new entry into the market? Well, I think the the the deal the deal took a little longer to complete because it's the first one, but it's it's fairly priced. And his final question, are you any nearer to projecting profitability and sharing those estimates?

26:24 Well, as as Steve said, we've we've we've answered that as much as we can in the sense that we will not be raising more money within within now and and and and turn your profit. So, yes, we've gotten closer. Yeah. We're getting closer. I mean, this was our biggest deal with Neil as as Ian reiterated, you know, double the the value of any other deal with us. So, you know, our revenues are still quite lumpy. You know, one one deal could be transformational for us. I think in terms of the the the growth rates, can see just as Steve said, next year, we've got already more in the bag for 2022 than we close in 2020.

26:54 You know, we've got we've got double the amount in the bag for 2022 than we had this time last year for the for 2021. So the the the growth rates are are really good. That's great. Thank you very much. Turning to the next presubmitted question. Can you expand a little on the potential for expansion into new markets outside of broadcast?

27:12 You know, what markets are you referring to?

27:15 Yeah. I mean, at this stage, as I said, we haven't ascertained the size of these markets, but it's really about putting pixels on screens for us. And, you know, we we've we've got a we've got a a codec and library, surrounding libraries around that that can that can power an editing platform, but they can just as easily just just power playback. You know? So if people want something that is carbon efficient, cost efficient, speed efficient, bandwidth efficient, etcetera, all the things that that that BLACKBIRD can give them, then that opens up a market for us. So I think at this stage, we have yet to do that work, but we will try and get something next time to to explain the the scale.

27:52 Okay. Turning to the next question. Does the board think that the substantial fall in the selling price is due to the failure to properly manage market expectations?

28:00 And if not, why not? And really, what actions do you propose to remedy this? Well, I think, you know, we try and put as much information out as we can. And and the the, you know, the market, we're we're we're very you know, we are keen to to keen that that investors know as much as they can about what we're doing at Blackburn. So we when when we have the opportunity to put put information out, we put it out. We don't think we put in relevant information out or incorrect information out, certainly, so, you know, the market market decides. It was a very short blip in the end, I think, that the person's referring to. So, you know, it recovered pretty much to where it was on Friday. Thank you very much, Anin. Do you expect postproduction revenues to recover? And if so, is that loss of income from half one from the lack of postproduction that you can quantify?

28:52 Do want to quantify? Yes. As I mentioned, yes, we've started to see recovery in that area. It's it's probably between twenty to fifty k or so per year. It is variable because, obviously, it depends on on the volumes which go through these postproduction houses, but that that would give you some idea of the scale.

29:12 That's perfect. Is the Veritone tie up still active?

29:18 Yeah. There's a question about EdiShare as well. I think they're both both I'll take both together and say, They're both still active. We talk to a lot of customers and sorry, lots of companies. I would call those two guys partners rather than customers. But, yeah, we talked to lots of companies, and and those conversations are still ongoing. Thank you. And then finally, we've just got two or three or, in fact, two more questions. You said previously that you had hoped Tata would sign a similar number of customers to TownNews at the time being 50. Does this still hold?

29:48 Yeah. I think we we we have we have a great relationship with Tata. Tata are a little bit more, reticent to to publicize our our our deals we have with them, but we have had new deals in the period. And, yeah, it's a good relationship that is is that is is growing. Great. And then the final question that we received from investors is given the insufficient half one income, do you consider that the level of directors pay options and payments under the LTIP are justified and commensurate to current performance? Well, I'm glad you asked that question. So when I saw this, I was wondering, you know, when we what what what level of payment we should be paying them. They're all they're all paid below market rates, including ourselves, and we're all good executives, I believe. We are driving value for for shareholders, certainly, and and good growth.

30:39 The LTIPs and the and the the options would be worth nothing if we weren't driving the share price and and and and value there. So I'm not exactly sure what I'm meant to do. I certainly wouldn't wanna get rid of the people that we've got and bring inferior people in on lower pay. That wouldn't seem right. So I think I think I think we're in good shape with a very strong very strong team we have. That's great, Willie, and that deals with all the pre submitted questions. So firstly, thank you to those investors that took time to submit those questions and to you guys for being so transparent in your approach to them. Maybe I could ask you, if you'd be so kind as to open up the Q and A tab on the right hand side of your screen. You'll see there's a number of questions. And obviously, with the limitations of time, perhaps you can pick up those where you feel it's most appropriate. If you could read out the question, and then I'll pick up from you at the end. Okay. Great. It's a question from Nigel C. Would your transformational OEM agreement preclude Blackbird from being taken over by someone I e, have they imposed any conditions on BLACKBIRD's future deals?

31:35 Quick answer, no. There's nothing to stop that, and there's nothing there's nothing in terms of exclusivity in the in in the deal at all. Okay. Question from William. Do you want to ask that one, Steve? Yeah. The frame.io valuation comparison is interesting. Is the $20,000,000 revenue from Frame. Io a recent figure from back in 2019 when they raised funds? And, yeah, the answer to that is is the most recent figure, yeah, yeah, that we've seen. But, yeah, it just shows the value of cloud native solutions. We actually believe that we have much more valuable IP than Frame. How does frame.io compare to Blackbird or to other competitors? Well, what we understand, Nathan, sorry, Nathan, is that frame.io does have a good a big install base, but we also believe that BLACKBIRD has has a greater amount of IP than than they do.

32:27 Yeah. It's not exactly the same company, but it's a good marker in the sand. We're not saying not not trying to say that it's exactly the same company, but it's a it's a it's a company of interest in our space, and it's it's certainly interesting to look at. Question from e and d. Have you looked at working with you with YouTube u new YouTube, like the Theta blockchain who offer end to end infrastructure for decentralized video streaming and delivery that provide both technical and economic solutions. With your lower bandwidth, tech could be a huge market. Thank you. Steven, do you want to pick that one up? Yes. So we haven't looked at them specifically, but we we have two inputs into development.

33:12 One is is, like, incremental improvements onto our existing type of clients, And another is sort of much more strategic type things. And so we have definitely been thinking about blockchain and how we can use blockchain. And as you may have seen a couple of years ago, we started work on a player, which is actually used every day by our existing clients as it happens. And people like A and E included in their own products now. And obviously, with our tech license, that is now available to be used by our clients. So that particular I mean, there are there are hundreds of really interesting companies, and we are, from a technology point of view, making ourselves available in that space. Thanks, Steven. Question from Colin w. Can you say something about the upside potential of your licensing deal, and when do you think it'll go to market?

34:05 Will the licensing deal result in a b to b product or a b to c product or both? I'll I'll answer that actually as a go because, Colin, I'm gonna get lost here. Upside potential, we think considerable given the fact given the reputation of the company and the fact they're a very professional operation with a good install base. We're confident of upside. I think it's difficult to put a number on that, and it's probably not as not not the right thing to do on this call. But, yeah, we think it's a considerable upside. When do you expect to go to market? Well, we've indicated this is months, not years, so sometime sometime in in 2022, probably around the mid of the year. Would the licensing deal fill results in b to b? Yes. B to b, not b to c. On the licensing deal, what is the benefit to the licensor building their own editor with the BLACKBIRD inside brand or powered by BLACKBIRD, I should say, Colin, not BLACKBIRD inside, and that's gonna be cobranded rather than using their own the reason of Blackbird editor.

35:00 Well, we had discussions with with with the guys. And and in the end, you know, similar to how Acorn sold sold computers into schools in the eighties, you know, and they they realized they had an amazing chip design and and and it got licensed by Apple and became ARM. The some sometimes sometimes companies want to do their own UI. Sometimes companies want to build something that's specific to what they produce and is close to their brand. And sometimes it's easier to do that rather than to to redesign an existing product. I think think it's it's as simple as that. It's certainly good from our our perspective because it means we can modularize our our software and power another company's another company's end product, which is which is developing end product is not the easiest thing in the world. So I think it's it's it's it's it's good from a Blackbird perspective that we can take that role. It's what we're good at.

35:52 So, I'll answer that next one. Yeah. Will you be able to declare who the global broadcast company is at some point in the future? The answer to that is yes. Yeah. When when the product launches and everything, yeah, we'll it it will be we'll be named. We'll be going out there with marketing. And as I have mentioned, it'd be it'd be it would be under the brand powered by BIRD as well. Yeah. Okay. So from Nathan, do you believe the sales team and overall infrastructure are sufficient in size and expertise, or do you believe it requires further strengthening as the addressable market grows? I think the the the the fact that we have a piece of software that can be replicated millions, if not billions of times, a very low cost, especially when you look at these licensing deals, I would say that our our our the size of the company is is about right.

36:37 We have added a couple of people this year in r and d and in operations and one, actually, two in sales. So, you know, we're growing a little bit on on on the on the base, but not not mushrooming in terms of cost. I think, you know, we're very nicely geared in that respect. We can actually sell sell to really big customers, especially on the tech licensing side with with with with few few staff. Do Do you you wanna want to take take the the second question? Yes. So the second one, yeah, do you need do you see any need for larger than usual CapEx r and d investments? Not at this stage. We're not precluding it. Obviously, you know, it depends, you know, know, as Ian mentioned earlier, you know, our licensing strategy going out, you know, could go beyond the editing space. So we never say never, but no, not at this stage.

37:26 Good. Two questions on Tata, but I think I have updates on Tata. So the relationship's in good in good shape. There are a number of deals in play and on board already. And, unfortunately, I can't tell you who they are, but that's not my decision. Unfortunately, we need to need to respect confidentiality. A question from Mark r. Given some of the impressive client wins, for example, CBS, Univision, and BT, the growth in contracted but unrecognized revenues appears relatively modest in absolute terms, if not in percentage terms. Would you explain the disconnect between the names being signed and the financial impact? For example, is there a case of the way the deals are structured, either do not lend lend themselves to the recognition of income upfront, or is is it it the the case case that financial impact is actually considered to be relatively modest in absolute terms? Well, I think, Jon Yeah. Well, the first thing to say on that is, yeah, the likes of, yeah, the deals with CBS and Univision were post period, so they're not in the numbers at all.

38:24 And, yeah, secondly is really that, yeah, we have a very good track record of land and expand, you know, as as you've seen or whatever. So, yes, we would expect those to expand over time. Yeah. Where possible, we try to sign multiyear contracts. That's not always possible. And so some of the some of the deals are are annual. But over time, we would expect them to be renewed. Quite a few of the deals that aren't in the in in the in the unrecognized order book, I've been going for years. Mean, they're they're rock solid. Things like the the the US state department. We can't put that at the five year deal in because the the the the it has to get approval by budget every year, but we don't expect that ever to fall out. So there's a few things there that I just don't don't lend themselves, as you say, Mark, to to being put in that in that order book. Yeah. The other thing to reiterate is, you know, our existing customers are just really happy to work with us and everything. You know, the likes of did a webinar with us earlier this year, and, you know, they put BLACKBIRD right at the heart of their product right at the heart of the company. So, you know, loads of different departments are using us. And, you know, as you've seen, you know, we've expanded revenues and, you know, doubled the revenue since the start of the the deal a few years ago. Retention is very high. Churn is very low. Very, very low. Steven, do wanna pick up on the BLACKBIRD 10 question? Yes.

39:43 I would like to, actually. So there are two things, really, you can think about BLACKBIRD 10. The first is to incorporate into products that we then sell, and that's in the hands of the product team at the moment. They're looking at various markets and various options for that. And the second is to enhance our tech licensing because BLACKBIRD 10 will just fit seamlessly into our tech licensing, which will separately broaden our audience thanks to the extra resolution, for example. So that will then be applicable to new markets and new applications. So I think it will do two things, enhance our existing products and minus extra revenue, but also help to open up these new markets which the tech licensees will adopt. Great. Thank you, Jim. Do you want also answer the public cloud question? I know it's it's quite a Yes. So let's have a quick look. How's the public cloud progressing?

40:33 And is there any kind of certification approval stamp from AWS when complete? So I'll answer the second bit first. We don't need any approval stamp from AWS, but they know what we're doing and they're very helpful. And it is progressing. We've just signed this tech licensing deal, so that is just taking priority right now. But we have quite a few people in our development team, and so the public cloud is progressing at the same time. So it's progressing, and it will come out it'll drop out at the end. Thank you, Stephen. Question from Luca. Is a NASDAQ listing considered no? I think we'll answer that one very quickly. Never say never. I'll say it. But yes, as we've mentioned, we've just launched an OTCQX.

41:24 You know, we'd be looking to promote our story over the coming months to our US investor base and grow grow our presence over that. We've got an excellent opportunity to to to to talk about the BLACKBIRD story on a really big stage now with OTCQX. So I think 2022 would be not a NASDAQ listing, I would say. But, you know, as Steve said, never say no. From PLC, why did the licensing deal include the development of a new editor and not just the adoption of your own editor? Is that a negative comment upon our own editor? I I don't believe so. I think that that our own editor is is something that we have designed for our customers, and and the company in question designs products for their customers too. I think it's a real testament to our strength that they would like our technology to sit at the heart of the editor and and be integrated seamlessly into their production suite. So Yeah. I might just mention something. Ian mentioned the ARM analogy and ARM made computers, but when they started licensing licensing on technology, I mean, they moved into mobile phones, but even things like anti lock braking equipment for cars, anti lock braking CPUs. So the areas, once you start doing tech licensing, are way beyond your actual product. Although, in our case, they will involve video, but it could involve anything. I mean, it could go right into AI, for example, where they're processing video, to play, Ian's mentioned. So there's a much bigger range.

42:46 And as a tech licensee, they have that opportunity to extend their use of the product beyond our own use. So so Paul b has asked a question, will the OEM indicate that the products are powered by BLACKBIRD, and if why is it partnered? So the the partner is not disclosed because we are in in confidentiality, and, also, we're launching a product with them where Blackbird is a partner, and we want them to have as as as good a successful launch as possible without without competitors knowing too much about it. And secondly, yes, it will be. It will be powered by BLACKBIRD, and you will know more about it at launch. Okay. Turn it in. Yeah. We've got thank you for for the the clear clear presentation, gents. In your opinion, to what extent do you think you have room for growth in the share price in the medium to long term? Taking cash out of the market cap, the share is share is trading at 50 to 60 times current ARR, which is right at the top of the typical range even in The US. I appreciate the Adobe acquisition has created buoyancy in the space. Is ARR the right valuation metric for you?

43:50 Well, you know, we're we're on the start of our journey. As we've just mentioned, you know, we've just done our largest deal by a factor of two. There are other deals we can do in that same space, probably with 10 or so other companies. There's a couple of behemoths in the industry as well where, you know, if we were to do a deal with those, then, you know, it would be, you know, much larger itself. And then as Ian mentioned, outside of the video editing space, we also have an opportunity. Now we're in the tech licensing business as well to look at other areas. And we think, you know, that that opens up a massive opportunity for our technology and a huge, you know, potential TAM. Yeah. Great. Thanks, Steve. Richard, any news of future deals without giving names? I'm afraid not, Richard.

44:36 That would be the wrong way to approach this, I think. When will the 10 code code Blackbird 10 be released? Well, we've we will get to it when we're when we're in the right time. I think sometime probably next year, but I think it's it's as you can see from Steven's to to do do list, list, it's it's quite long. So we we'll we'll let him get this deal out of the way, first of all, because, you know, this is really transformative for us. Colin, is the rate of Tata's client uptake meeting your expectations? If not, could you please provide some commentary? Well, I'd say I'd say that I'd like it to go faster, but then I'd like everything to go faster, Colin. So there's there's there's no real commentary to add there except that we are continuing to bring new OEMs on board. So I would I would point to live view being there, a new OEM this year. We have quite a few other discussions in play.

45:28 You know? So I think it's town news is still absolutely the golden child. And if we cannot can have everyone everyone bringing customers in as thick and fast to town news, then it'll be fantastic. But in the meantime, I'll just bring as many many OEMs in as I can and and and make them all as successful as I can. Yeah. The next question I think we've answered, which is about why the the the licensee doesn't wanna just license our existing editor. The one after that is from Paul h is the question is, I'm interested in the OTCQX listing. What prompted that, and what are your hopes for how it will benefit the company? Any significant additional burden for you guys? What prompted it was that, you know you know, we want our story and, you know, to be known to the whole of the North American market.

46:16 We think, you know, we've got a great and fantastic global story to tell. You know, a lot of our you know, over 70% of our revenues last year came from North America. You know you know, a lot of the names that we're bringing on board are household names over there, not so, much so, over here. But, you know, The US community are really, you know, sort of active in terms of, you know, sort of investing in tech tech stocks as well. So we think this will help grow the liquidity of the company, which will benefit all shareholders as well. Okay. There's a couple of questions that mentioned actual customers, and and and probably would like to stay away from those because it could an actual prospects, I would say, because I think it could be a little bit indiscreet. So but there's there's the same. Would you for a particular customer, would you would would Blackbird improve their service? Well, I would think yes.

47:05 So, you know, that's why I would want to talk to the customers, but it's I don't wanna kinda go into depth on on individual potential customers. Also, recall from last Q call that the pricing was being revised and increased. Does the quote 35% saving reflect such pricing revision? The price the pricing is quite stable, and I would say that we're in a competitive market where we are the challenger brand. I think we also have to be keen on pricing because if efficiency if efficiency is our distilled down our core value, then I think we also have to be price efficient. You know? So I think it's not just about whether we can can raise the the the prices. We want to get adoption, and we also want to show that we're efficient in all ways. So so cost efficiency is one of those ways.

47:57 Colin, I appreciate you can't mention the names of the Tata clients, but can you say how many have signed up and also indicate when the new anonymized deals are signed? We can it's it's it's a it's a little tricky, Colin. I I I I I would I would say that we have a number in I'd say a number in play, a number on our our books right now. They are, you know, they're great customers, and and and I and I do wish I could tell you names, but, unfortunately, able to. So but the but the relationship is in is in good shape, and I think the investors should take away that the relationship is is very is is yeah. It's a great relationship, and we're looking to grow that even more. When when when we when it gets to the stage where we can do individual trading updates, then I think we'll look look at at that. That. But But at this stage, it's a it's a good it's a good place.

48:44 Yeah. Yeah. Steve and Ian and Steve, I might just jump in just as you've actually taken on every single question that's come through. And of course, if any more do come through, feel free to grab them or indeed, we'll make these available to you after the meeting. I know investor feedback is particularly important, and we'll shortly redirect investors to provide you with their thoughts and expectations. But in the meantime, if I may just hand back to you and either address any outstanding questions and then ask you to wrap up, that would be great. Excellent. Thanks. I just seen a couple of extra questions. Will we be expanding the size of the r and d team? Well, I think not dramatically, but we'll always look to to add add strength when we can. Dan One I'll just mention one advantage of licensing and also the APIs that were mentioned in the presentation is that we do much less of the work in the final product from the development point of view because we have standard interfaces.

49:39 So I think we'll get a lot more bang for our buck with the team we have. I see someone has picked on my my use of the word or the phrase global domination. Thank you, Amrit. When will you achieve global domination? Well, we will get global recognition through this one deal in our sector. So we'll be powered by BLACKBIRD in in one fell swoop around the world. So I think that's a good place to end. Thank you very much, everybody. I I do hope that we please you with with the with the progress that we've made so far this year. As I said, the year is still young, and expect more from us in the coming months. Ian, thank you very much indeed, and both to Steve and Steven for updating investors this afternoon. Can I please ask investors not to close this session as we'll now automatically redirect you for the opportunity to provide your feedback in order that the management team may better understand your views and expectations?

50:31 This will only take a few moments to complete, but I'm sure will be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team of BLACKBIRD PLC, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation. That now concludes today's session, and good afternoon to you all.