Microsalt (LSE:SALT) — Investor Presentation

0:01 Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the MICROSALT PLC investor presentation. Questions are encouraged. They can be submitted at any time via the q and a tab that's just situated on the right hand corner of your screen. Please just simply type in your questions and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question it receives during the meeting itself. However, the company can review all questions submitted today and will publish our responses where it's appropriate to do so on the Investor Meet company platform. Before we begin, we would decide to submit the following poll. And if you'd give that your kind attention, I'm sure the company would be most grateful. And I'd now like to hand you over to the executive management team from MICROSALT PLC. Rick, good afternoon, sir. Thank you. My name is Rick Guinee. I'm the CEO. And with me today is Gary Rumson, our CFO. We'd we'd like to step you through a operational and, strategic update of MICROSALT and where we are, as of this date in 2026.

0:52 So I'm gonna click on here. I'm assuming that all can see the presentation, and we've moved on to to our little our bios. Basically, myself, I've been in the food business my whole life. As you can tell by the color of my hair, this isn't my first, my first rodeo. Both Gary and I are extremely extremely experienced in the food business as is our entire management team. You know, our whole thing, our whole our whole vision is to help lower cardiovascular disease across the globe, And we do that by commercializing our patented low sodium salt. We're the only people in the world that can make salt the way we do it, the way we can we produce a low sodium salt across a number of applications.

1:41 And what's great about this is that we start with salt and we end with salt so that it has the same functionality as traditional salt except with lower sodium. And as this this little picture indicates, we are we we have been successful in commercialization. This is an actual warehouse on the right hand side. And and, actually, this is our warehouse in Mexico City. So we have made significant progress. We're gonna step through that in just a minute. You know, a little bit about our market and, where we're going. You know, low sodium is an international issue, and the governments have have made our life a little easier by regulating sodium reduction.

2:27 The World Health Organization, as you might know, has has indicated that we need to lower sodium by 30% by 2030. That's a that's a that's a big ask. But governments across across the planet, The UK, EU, Latin America, even The US, this typically lags, is starting to regulate sodium, levels in food. In some markets, The UK market specifically, you have HSSS regulations that that dictate how products can be marketed and sold depending on their sodium level. And as these regulations continue to, get more aggressive, more and more food manufacturers are forced to lower their sodium. When they come to that question, they really don't have very many choices.

3:15 In the old days, before MICROSALT, they used to rely on potassium chloride. Potassium chloride has a a flavor and a taste on its own. It's metallic. That requires you to to add flavor enhancers, which destroys your clean label. And not having a clean label is a very bad thing in today's market as we go through and as the consumers get younger and younger, the first thing to do in stores is to turn, a product over and look at its label. And if it has words they don't understand or has a chemical feel to it, then there's a chance that that consumer is gonna put that bag back. The the market for MICROSALT is enormous.

4:01 You know, just the sodium reduction market alone is $6,300,000,000, but we don't think we're we're limited to that because we actually are attacking the entire sodium market. Wherever you buy yours your groceries, whatever store you use, where the whatever country you're in, just look around. Almost every single item in that store needs to have sodium reduction, Whether it's pickles or bread or if you're in a snack aisle or in the breakfast cereal aisle, it doesn't really matter where you are. Sodium has to come down, and we are the major player in that particular market. And, you know, in markets like Canada and UK where health concerns are a public cost, every dollar we spend for sodium reduction returns $12 to the economy.

4:54 People people aren't getting, you know, those super expensive high blood pressure medications. They're not going to hospital. They're not missing work. So it's it's it's a it's an unusual circumstance for MICROSALT to have this much regulatory support, and and so that's only growing. Sorry. I gotta click here. You know, as we just as we just mentioned, there there's there's multiple addressable markets for us. You know? I will say that other than salt being used for aeronautical purposes, you know, they spray salt on on d I as deicing chemicals, We will we will not address that market.

5:42 But anything else where sodium is in food, we can address we can address successfully. Part of our our function here is to act as the SME, the subject matter experts for sodium reduction to our target market. Our target market is the largest food companies in the world. We wanna change the food supply. And in order to do that, you have to sell the big, larger food manufacturing companies. Don't get me wrong. We love our small customers. They're great, but they're not gonna make an impact on the food supply the way the major customers will. And those are our target markets. Those are the people we seek out, and those are the the the folks that we're working with, hand to hand as we speak.

6:34 Switch my screen slide here. This is a bit of a company milestone page. I'm gonna flip this one to to Gary. Okay. Thanks, Rick. Hi, everybody. Yes. As as you may recall, we listed it in the AI market in 2024. In that same year, we started to implement our strategy of moving the business to bulk sales, And we achieved our first bulk sales in the autumn of twenty twenty four, and that customer continues to buy at similar, if not higher levels on a monthly basis ever since that date. In 2025, we hit revenues of 2,100,000. We added new formulas into the market, and we as introducing premium.

7:23 And we also completed two equity fundraisers, one in February and one in December. The first one was to support the move into the bulk sales, and the second one is ahead of accelerating our growth towards the second half of this year as we'll come to. Revenue is projected to grow to 4,500,000 in the current year. We've now signed a full year JDA with customer three that gives us basically access to virtually all of their development and reformulation staff across the world. So we now sit in what they call their briefcase, which is a list of 10 vendors with essential ingredients which are effectively promoted by customer three. And we're the only low sodium item in that briefcase.

8:16 We've also seen just on the global FMCG sales. Rick, can you remind me which one that really refers to? There's a few. Oh, sorry. Yes. I recall that one. I apologies. Yeah. So that Sorry. That yeah. That that is what we expect to roll out towards the end of this year. So that will be a major item that's going live at the end of this year. And as we do that, and we've actually seen that so far this year, we see scale efficiencies in our margins. So last year, we were doing production runs of about 50,000 pounds in weight with a price associated with that. We've now lifted that up to 200,000 pounds, which gives us a much better cost per unit going forward. And that we will see that come through into the margins as we go forward as well and further as we scale up further.

9:09 We've also achieved the fast company world changing ideas award, which is excellent, and we launched our Microsoft sorry, MICROSALT PIVER product as well, which I think Rick will talk a little bit further on later on. And as we go into 2027, we're still expecting revenues of around 15,000,000, and that really is underpinned by the major rollout we expect to see towards the end of this current year. We expect sales to expand into other geographies as well. The the 15,000,000 or the underpinning of the 15,000,000 that we see next year only relates to this product being rolled out into North America, and this product is a global product. So we would hope we would expect to see it go into further territories in due course.

9:54 And the margins will continue to improve as we see the production efficiencies as well, and we should become or we will become cash flow positive and profitable at once those volumes ramp up during f y twenty seven. Thanks, Gary. I just wanna take it this is a good time for us to talk a little bit about how we work with our customers so you understand a little bit about the timing. You know, as I mentioned earlier, we're we speak with the largest food companies in the world. They're international producers. They have, multiple brands. Each brand has multiple items, And it could be, you know, it could be a brand in Mexico. It could be a brand in Canada. It could be a brand in Spain. And because because our remember, our goal is to change the food supply across the world.

10:44 So what happens is this. First, we do our typical sales work where we we make we make introductions, and we gain entry to the our research and development departments. MICROSALT is then put through what's for the first test is called bench testing. Bench testing is when they, you know, they mess with it in the lab, and they check all the paperwork, all of our certifications, all of our COAs, all of our quality control steps. These are big companies with with a high exposure at the consumer level, so they they you you have to be extremely vetted in order to become a supplier. We then move from bench testing to batch testing. Whereas you're we're still in the in the lab, but now they're making a bigger batch.

11:31 They might make 10 or 15 pounds of finished product, and they'll start to send the batch testing out internally in their company for just a taste test. How does it taste? Can you taste the difference against the control, which would be their their old formula? After that's completed and after they've everybody has agreed that, you know what? The batch testing's tasted really good. We really couldn't tell a difference. We did confirm that the sodium level is reduced. We have fully vetted their manufacturing facility. We have fully vetted their their their their certifications. Then they then they say, okay. Now we have to do our final test, which is production. That's real time on real machines using real materials at real speed.

12:21 So imagine if you're a production manager somewhere in the world and you're part of your paycheck is to how many bags a day you're making. And then along comes MICROSALT and says, okay. You need to stop the machines for a day. You need to clean out everything you're doing because we're gonna run a test run for about five hours. And, you know, so that's hard to schedule. And in the particular case that that we're talking about in one of these large items, we had to wait almost nine months just to get on the production schedule timeline. And it's you know, as consumers, it's not something we wanna rush. We wanna make sure that when the product gets out into the into the real world for consumers to buy that it's done right.

13:11 After the production testing is when the procurement people kick in, and they say, okay. Listen. We gotta buy new packaging. We've got, you know, x number of pounds of the old material we have to consume first. So the longer story this is this is why it takes so long because it there's a lot of steps involved. But here's the reward. Once they convert, it's extremely difficult to go backwards. So when we have a customer, we have them for years. And when you're talking about the biggest food manufacturers in the world, that's a big deal. We're not just getting order to order. We're getting orders for years. Excuse me for one second.

14:01 That this story ties into our what you see is our revenue because our revenue comes in lumpy. What'll happen is is we'll and in this particular case, our our revenue jumped from 26 to 27. We will go through that entire process for this one item, and then we'll get the that one item. So let's say it starts to we'll start an inventory build, and our sales will jump dramatically because that item has kicked in. And in this case, it's all of North America. Then our sales will level up because we're getting that amount every single month. And then a next item will come along, and then we'll our sales will jump again. Now quite honestly, this the the increase you see from 26 to 27 is a big one, and we do think we have several of those in our future. But it but this is a a premium item. This is an iconic item for this particular company that is sold worldwide.

15:02 And it's the fact that we're in this reformulation is the ultimate confirmation that the product works. Customer three has also extended to us in several other product lines in two other countries as we speak, both Mexico and Canada, in different categories as well, not just the same category. So there is a high degree of confidence, in us, in them, and them and us. But it does explain a little bit about why it takes so long. People people sometimes are a little frustrated with us, and it's fact that our revenue our revenue growth seems to look to be slow. And this is why. It's because there's a lot of tests. There's a lot of sign offs. And, you know, these, kind of companies, when they turn it on, and as you can see from Gary's numbers from 26 to 27, it's big numbers.

15:56 So it's not a little thing to have happen. So we're you know, we've picked these customers intentionally to play the long game, to change the food supply, to make MICROSALT, an irreplaceable part of the food landscape. And we're we we believe with their with with everything every day we come to work believing that we're on track because we have conversations. We have existing business. So so that's a little bit about why it takes so long and about why our revenue jumps look the way they look because it'll look like there's no growth, but that's really that's really not the case. It's we're just waiting for the next item to hit to hit. And, typically, these large companies with multiple brands and multiple items, they only do it one at a time.

16:46 It would be just too internally confusing if they tried to organize a a multiple brand change at one time because every brand has to have a different formulation, whether it's a different flavor of cheese or a different you know, if it's if it's a soup or whatever it might be. They're gonna take it one at a time. So, again, we have the reward for patients is that when we get the business, it's not going away. We don't have to worry about it. We're the only only thing we can't do is run them out of stock. And Gary and I have made sure that that's never gonna happen. So with that long story, I'm gonna advance. No. We have you know, it'd be silly for us to sit here and say the one product is a one size fits all, and that's not the case.

17:34 We have a number of different products that help with, sodium reduction depending on on how old your machinery is, what particular system you're using. Are you seasoning it topically, or are you using an oil based seasoning? Are you doing it before before you're heating it or after you're heating it? So all these things make a difference, and this is where our research and development is so important because we're out in front with these people. We understand where they wanna go, and we're the ones that are leading them. They're not telling us. We're telling them how they should be doing their low sodium initiatives. And I will tell you that what's happening to us, and this is great news for our investors and great news for our future, is that they're seeing that our low sodium research and development technology is leading them in other directions.

18:31 How they handle their sugar, how they handle their flavor distribution, It's all coming our way. As Gary mentioned, in this one particular customer, they've got a tool called Briefcase. And the the inquiries we're getting through Briefcase is that they're seeing that the technology behind MICROSALT can also apply to other areas. And since we own that technology, we own that development. So from a future standpoint, it's it's it's really a a great step for us. I'm gonna shift my shift my screen here in just a second. Hang on. Sorry. There we go.

19:25 We have a couple of different products. I just wanted to talk about two. One is called Microsoft premium. Basically, this is fine, and we designed it for french fries. The french fry market is worldwide. It's and it's kind of the low hanging fruit when you think about reducing sodium, but people wanna be able to see the salt on their french fries. And you have to be able to to distribute it in the restaurants in in exact proportions. You know, we've all been through the drive through and people wanna people see people shaking salt on things and how much salt is coming out. Well, it's a science. And we've developed Microsoft Premium with with those specifics in mind to be able to guarantee them. Every time you shake the shaker, you're getting four grams or three grams, whatever it might be. And, yes, you can see it. And, this is this was a a big technological breakthrough for us because we act basically, we added density to our products or allowed it to be distributed better in what they call the back of the house and the restaurants.

20:24 And it also made for packaging packaging improvements. Since it's a little heavier, it's easier to package. So it was it's a it's a really great, foundation for us. MICROSALT PRANIMUM is will be become our our foundation product as we go forward. Part of our process when we when we we make MICROSALT is that we reduce the crystal size. And by reducing the crystal size, we increase the surface area. But by doing that, we lose some density. Basically, it becomes lighter. So we do have to add some weight back. And we have in in North America, we use maltodextrin, and we just came out with this new product called MICROSALT Fiber. MICROSALT Fiber is a combination of a sodium chloride salt and, dietary fiber, both added together via the MICROSALT technology so that we can offer low sodium as well as a dietary nutrient at the same time.

21:26 This also this addresses specifically addresses the GLP one diets that are, becoming quite common, but it also allows us to to improve the health claims for MICROSALT. We're not just lowering sodium. We're lowering sodium and and delivering a nutrient. Now sure. You know, you're not gonna get your daily fiber from salt. You know? That's not gonna happen. But the fact that we've been able to change our need for a carrier into a a nutrient added, product line is really fantastic, and the initial results for Microsoft Fiber have been outstanding. When we say to these people, what would you like to see? And we list our our carriers.

22:15 We have three or four that we use on a regular basis, maltodextrin, fiber, tapioca starch, potato starch. Almost to a one, it's, oh, I wanna see the fiber. I wanna see the fiber. That's that's really exciting. So this, again, sets us up for long term growth with these super large food companies that they take a while, but no one else is gonna come behind them and do what we do. Here's just kind of a recap of what where our r and d, spend goes, and that's to developing these new products and to staying ahead of what the food companies want. You know, we've got fiber. We've got, you know, several other products that that make it worth our while. Premium, we talked about.

23:02 We have standard blends if if someone's using super old machinery. And what where this leads to is it basically no matter what you're making, Microsoft will work. We even have a version that will work in soup. Works great in things like hummus and sauces, and the purse works topically on chips. That's the easy one. Works in bread. It's it's truly a revolutionary new technology. And I wanna say this before we get too much longer. We are a food tech company. We are bringing new technology to the food industry. We're not just selling a different brand of salt. We are selling a new technology, a new way of adding flavor, because that's basically what salt does.

23:52 New way of adding flavor to food. And as I mentioned a a little earlier, they're now seeing that this can deliver additional benefits with additional things like, you know, flavor enhancers or sugar or whatever it might be. So we're very much a food tech company. We very much are delivering new technology that wasn't available before MICROSALT. And, sometimes those things take a little time. But when you're dealing with the companies the size we are, then it's worth it because they're they cannot they cannot flip flop back and forth. The supply chains are too big. And speaking of supply chain, well, that's a good segue, Gary?

24:38 I'm gonna flip, I'm gonna flip you into once I change your screen, I'm gonna flip you to to slide 12 and let you take care of slide 12. Okay. So, yeah, sourcing and process. So, yep, we just buy SALT, just normal SALT that, you know, is is commonly available. We've got capacity for about 5,000,000 kilos of MICROSALT currently as we stand now. And correct me if I'm wrong, Rick, that would be turnover in the region about $28,000,000. Correct. Yeah. So yeah. So, basically, our production process requires salt, clean water, and a chosen carrier. And then Rick's talked about some of the carriers that we are using such as the fiber, etcetera.

25:25 Yeah. We tested both internally and externally, and we have a contract manufacturing model. So it's actually a capital light model. We have two approved suppliers now. Both are, you know, basically blue chip manufacturers of scale. And one good thing, I mean, as a CFO, I don't often want to say this, but, you know, a long large levels of stock are not an issue for us in this business because we've got a sixty month shelf life on the product. We know it's sixty months. It's probably longer, but we stopped counting at sixty months. So, yeah, we know. We can build that stock and hold it there and have it available to address the issue as as Rick was saying about we can't run our customers out of of stock.

26:11 So our production strategy means we're, you know, flexible. So, you know, if if we did, for example, this product that's rolling out at the end of this year, if they decided to roll it out into Europe, The biggest manufacturing plant they have for this product is actually in Poland. We will be able to find, you know, suppliers in Poland, partners in Poland or in Eastern Europe, certainly, who would be able to help us on the manufacturing side because this is standard food manufacturing equipment, basically. Thank you, Gary. Okay. You know what? It and, you know, I just wanna stress how important this shelf life thing is. Supply chain issues are very important, especially when dealing with And it's a it's a it's a huge asset, a benefit for us to be able to say, I can store your stuff no matter you were where you want it to be.

27:12 We have it stored in several places in Mexico City. We have it stored in The UK. We have a we have it stored in a number of places. So it's it'll it takes the burden much of the burden away from having to having rolling inventory. It does mean that we do need to have stock available because we cannot run you know, we you cannot tell a company the size we're we're speaking with. Hey. Shut your machines down for two days because there's no salt. I mean, you know, you every everyone in this call can understand that's just not gonna happen. So, we do carry higher inventories than some other food companies because we have a longer shelf life. But it's to protect our customers and to make sure that, you know, we're their we're their highest performing supplier, and that's our goal.

28:01 A real quick conversation about the competitive landscape. There there's really not nothing surprising here. As you can see, we're all the way on the left. We're coming in at a hundred and fifty milligrams of sodium versus the traditional table salt, which in The US is Morton table salt at 590. So as you can see, we really deliver a different a whole different perspective on on how to lower sodium. And as you go to the right of the of the of the screen, basically, what you're seeing is potassium chloride and things that cover up the flavor of potassium chloride. You know, my mother never turned a package of food over in her life. And but that's the first thing my kids do, and they don't hesitate to put things back if they don't like what they see in the back of the bag.

28:54 And every single major food company is aware of that. And to the point now where they're future proofing their brands by making sure that sodium is low so that mom and dad don't turn it over and put it back and make a bad example for the eight year old who will then associate that brand as being unhealthy, and she won't buy it when she buys for her kids. So this is this is not just, hey. Today, we need to lower sodium. It's I need to protect the next generation of shoppers. Who's gonna buy my brand, you know, 10 from now? And if we don't do this now, we're gonna lose a portion of those shoppers. So you can see you can see going across. So we're in a really good stance from a competitive standpoint.

29:47 This is a patented process, plus we have spent an enormous amount of time learning how to do it. There's an an exhaustive amount of know how on how to exactly produce MICROSALT under different conditions, if it's hot outside, if it's humid, all those different things that can that can impact production. So we feel really strong about our ability to physically produce the product. One second here. You know, our operational highlights, you know, we've covered a lot of this already, but but but we continue to strengthen our commercial partnerships with the key key customers. We're getting more and more business from these larger con companies, albeit on their timing. We're we're getting more and more business and more and more opportunities.

30:40 They are coming to us asking us for solutions on their hummus business. They're asking for solutions on their bullion business. They're asking solutions for all kinds of things. So we've we've really, done a great job, and we'll continue to do it on on being the player that they can trust. You know, we we do trade shows across the world. We do trade shows in The UK. We do trade shows in Paris. We do trade shows in in Asia. All meant to make sure that people know who MICROSALT is, and, yes, we can solve their problems. When you talk about the b to b large b to b global food companies, they are a labyrinth. They're like an an octopus with a thousand arms, and sometimes one arm doesn't know what the other arm is doing. And it's our job to stay focused and to make sure we we can commercialize as much as we can as quickly as we can. And I don't want you to misunderstand as I explain how big the customers are and how long it takes.

31:51 We are pushing every day for them to commercialize. So it's it's not like we're just there for the ride. We are there to work. We are there to to help them convert and help them convert as quickly as possible So that commercializes for us. You know, we we just recently had a a story where customer three is one of the world's largest food manufacturers that just granted us complete, control of one of their iconic cereal brands. Started with started with Canada, but it's now gone all across, North America. And, the same is true with one of their, iconic breakfast food items. It's not a cereal, but it's a breakfast or food item.

32:37 So we're we're being introduced to more and more of their, you know, their flagship brands. We're not just on the sidelines with a little tiny brand here and a little tiny brand there, and no one will know if something goes wrong kind of thing. That's not it. We're under the spotlight with, their major brands. You know? And as we continue to work with that, we continue to to to bring in more experts specifically on the culinary side. Our late our latest is, chef, Louis Cartet. He's an internationally, recognized bakery specialist, and we brought him in to help us develop our bread approach when we're dealing with we are having conversations with the largest bread manufacturer in the world.

33:23 And, you know, we we needed some bread expertise on how you actually bake bread and what really happens when you add the water versus at one temperature versus another and all the nuances that come along. So we do go out and we do bring in expertise. So make sure that when we speak to these these, companies, we're speaking the right language. From an investment proposition standpoint, you know, we kinda talked about the strong market demand and regulatory tailwinds. It's not going away. Today's customers will be tomorrow's customers, and they want lower sodium. Diet dietitians are demanding lower sodium. Governments are finding people that don't provide low sodium.

34:10 Interesting side note, in Asia, they reward you. If in Asia, if you produce a low sodium item, you get paid to do that versus fined if you don't in in most of the other western markets. Our customers are the big giant blue blue chippers, so they're not going out of business. We can rely on them. Our technology is is patented. It's rock solid. We're we work on it every day. So we we're in a really great standpoint from from that that perspective. You know, you have to be flexible when you're growing across the the world. What works in Iowa won't work in Southampton, and we are aware of that. And this which is why we have so many different products and so many different formulas.

35:01 I didn't really mention earlier, but most, governments have regulations regard regarding iodine and fluoride. So each one of our formulas comes with different levels of that depending on your, regulatory, demands. Always working on new products. This is what we bring to them. When when they scratch their head, how do we fix this? We want I think, call MICROSALT. Ask MICROSALT. Call Rick's people. They know what to do, and they can figure it out. And so that's how we're positioning ourselves. We're not just saying, hey. We're a vendor. We're a we're a solution for them. And, you know, I'll say this tongue in cheek, guys, because we all know and then we all live in the real world that a lot of awards are purchased.

35:51 And I will tell you that this award we just recently received from fat the FAST company, we did not buy. We actually won it. And I hope someone is out there smiling because that is the truth. You know, they actually picked us up out of a exhaustive list of companies that, are really trying to make a difference with healthier food innovation and, by really attacking the food supply itself, not just by going out and selling a little bit of salt here and a little bit of salt there. I'm gonna switch my screen here a second. That's the end of the the the presentation part. We do have some questions. Gary, I'm gonna flip this the question parts over to you and see where we are here.

36:46 Sure. Okay. First question, I think, one one for you, Rick. I can't buy MICROSALT in The UK anymore. I wanted to buy a sample to take to a client. Okay. I can handle this. Sure. Okay. I will tell you specifically in The UK market, you guys have unusual labeling laws, and we decided that it would it didn't really make sense for us to to attack the retail market under our brand brand label because, you know, our we are a b to b company. However, if anybody has a request for a sample, all they need to do is go to our website, and we will certainly deliver samples. That isn't that isn't an issue.

37:33 And as far as the business progressing and how they receive updates, we're a publicly held company. We have legal obligations to to advise the market, We do the best we can. I will say that as a backdrop to my other conversations about our customers, they are extremely shy and avoid press notifications on almost every example. So they're they are hesitant to allow us to name them in press releases, and that's just because of the the unfortunate nature of social media these days. And it's it's better to be safe than sorry.

38:19 We're not hiding anything. We're just respecting the commercial the the terms and conditions of our commercial agreement with these large companies. That you know? Because we're an ingredient, and they prefer not to shine light on specific ingredients. Gary, the next one is you. Say again. Sorry? We have a next question. Yeah. This one's for me. Please explain why your margins are so low. I guess we're you're referring the the question was referring there probably to f y twenty five's published numbers. That was a period when, as I mentioned earlier, we were still buying at our production runs were 50,000 pounds in weight per production run. And now we've quadrupled that to 200,000 pounds.

39:09 We do see better buying price per unit, and that is coming through or will come through in better margins. Just to give you a sense of that, when we go on to the machine in our manufacturer, they have to close their line down for a day and clean it, And then they will run our product and have to clone it close it down again for a further day before they can then run somebody else's product. And clearly, you know, we're paying for that clean downtime over a 50,000 pound production run versus a 200,000 pound. So you can see the economies of scale there. That also it could be it's also compounded by the fact that if we're buying more salt, we're getting better prices, we're using full trucks, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. So you can see that, you know, that as the as the business scales, those margins should continue to improve. Okay?

39:58 Alright. I think the next one is also for me. Your major shareholder is having cash issue cash issues. Does it worry you that they might be forced to sell a lot of their shares or demand a return of their loan to you? We don't obviously, we don't have control over our over any of our shareholders' financial position. We do maintain regular communications with all major shareholders. However, any decisions around their shareholdings are you know, they're a matter for them. Our objective is to continue to create value through customer wins, revenue growth, and operational delivery, irrespective of those shareholder decisions. Alright. Next question I see is lead times.

40:43 You know you know, it appears from the outside looking in that we haven't had traction, but indeed, we do. The commercialization of that traction, again, as I explained earlier, can take a a painfully long period period amount of time. But it is few and far between when people, elect not to address low sodium. It's just a matter of it's it's a very, very, very big industry with a lot of history, a lot a lot of moving parts, and we are delivering new food technology. So what I can say is that we all have to be just be patient with the conversion rates and allow us to work with these larger companies at their pace.

41:32 The one thing you don't wanna be is the person that's always pushing, pushing, pushing, and then you just you find yourself not invited to to the party anymore. So we're working with them, and and we just we'll have to be patient about that. Okay. Next question was against for me. Yeah. Basically, it's a question about what are our efforts around diluting Tech Capital's 57% shareholding as as we progress forward. Yeah. We we do remain focused on broadening the shareholder base through engagement with institutional investors, family offices, and retail shareholders. And as we progress towards larger scale commercialization, we believe delivery against these milestones will and the revenue growth will help us to do that.

42:22 Okay. Yeah. I think that's all the pre submitted now. A few of have arrived on the day. One for you, Rick, can you speak about the prospects of sales to customers other than a, b, and c? Absolutely. As our product becomes more more widely known as, you know, as it's in the market, I should say, we didn't include it in this presentation, but we started counting in January 2025, and we're at 1,500,000,000 healthy servings of food made with MICROSALT. So we are commercialized. And as that becomes more visible internally in the food business, we are getting more and more outreach from other customers. We have significant conversations, with extremely large manufacturers, both in Asia, Africa, and in Europe as we as we speak.

43:16 Again, we have a long, a long sales cycle, but I don't want anyone to think that we're just sitting on customers customer a, b, or c. We are not. That's not gonna get that that's not gonna get us our vision. Our vision is to change the food supply. And that means we need to sell to that guy in Australia. We need to sell to that guy in Bangkok. We need to sell to that guy no matter where they are. And we we are at it ten to twelve hours every day. Very happy with our product presentation and its flexibility, and our our research and development can pinpoint specific opportunities. I will mention ramen noodles. We think we've cracked the code on ramen noodles. Ramen noodles, as you can all imagine here, how many millions of servings of ramen noodles are made every year? And we also know that they're crazy high in sodium.

44:09 But we think we cracked the code there, and we are working with one of the the world's largest producers of those as we speak. So, yes, rest assured that we are not just sitting back and gonna live on one this one cost. Even though it's impossible for me to over these people that we currently are working with, we are not just sitting back and waiting for that. Okay. Thanks, Rick. Next one also for you. How has MICROSALT PIVOR been received in the market? Fantastic. When people see that they can they can add a dietary nutrient to their their label, it's a plus. When they when you can say dietary fiber on the back of anything, especially with our GLP one diets, becoming commonplace, it's a big deal.

45:00 Also, anyone who has concern about maltodextrin, pretty much that's regulated to, The UK. We don't have to, you know, make excuses for our carrier. You want fiber? We have it. If we want tapioca, we have But the specific question, Microsoft Fiber is is been very well received. And the minute we bring it up to a customer is I wanna test that. I wanna test that. So, we're real happy with the level of engagement we have so far. It's been too new to get any orders just yet, but it's in final testing, in a lot of different places. Alright, Gary? Okay. Thank you.

45:47 Again, one for you. You mentioned interest in applying MICROSALT technology to other ingredients like sugar. Would this still be patent protected, or is it specific to salt? You know, that's a really good question. Depending on how we get how we get to this point with the sugar, I don't think we could straight up just do the same thing instead of sodium chloride, you sugar. I don't think we can do that. But there are techniques involved in our process that will apply to sugar. And I think I'm I'm not a lawyer, but I I think we have a real opportunity here to, help these customers where they're when they're trying to reduce sugar.

46:33 You know, sugar is a a major flavor component just like salt, and they need to reduce it just like salt. And so we share some common goals here. And our r and d guys are really good. And so I think I can't tell you right now that I have a product, but around the table when we sit and talk, Yeah. This should work. So cross your fingers. I think it's gonna work. And I'll I'll certainly be certainly be when it does, I'll be we'll be saying that loud and proud for sure. Okay. Next one I have is, I can understand how, the smaller crystal works on, say, a crisp or a chip. But can you explain without getting too technical, Rick, how it works on dissolved applications like soup?

47:26 Sure. It's all got to do with how much free water is in a formula. Free water is the water that's left over after it interacts with the other components. Let's just say we're making soup and you're making chicken soup, and all those components, absorb water. And then how much water do you have left? And then what Microsoft does is is part of the benefits of making the crystal smaller is that we've intensified its electrostatic capabilities. So it repels itself like a magnet, and it sticks to everything else. So it's gonna stick to that piece of chicken, and it's gonna stick to that noodle or whatever else, a carrot or whatever else is in your soup. Yes, a certain percent of MICROSALT will become dissolved in the water.

48:12 And when it's dissolved, you lose that, the functionality of that expanded surface area. However, our new technology allows us to to maintain the flavor profile. So you gotta remember, we're here to lower sodium. So we've lowered sodium in the soup, and now we've been able to maintain the flavor profile even, in the face of some dissolution. You know, salt's gonna dissolve. Just that just happens. But we can we figured a way to maintain the salt the flavor by utilizing, extra flavor points on the salt that is attached to the chicken and the carrots and all that other stuff or, you know, oil.

49:01 If there's oil in the soup, some people put oil in their soups. Okay. Next question, which I'll take is, will there be a need to raise capital in the next one to two years? Obviously, we continually, assess, our capital requirements in light of our growth plans and available resources. Yeah. Our objective is to make sure we're appropriately funded. Equity is always an option. But at the moment, we've signed heads of terms with two potential sources of funding, one of which is an asset backed lender. So we keep it always under review. Oh, we've got a question. After this sugar question, would it be better keep to keep the focus on SALT, Rick, to keep focused?

49:50 Yes. And we are focused on SALT. And for last eighteen months, we've just pushed the sugar question aside. It's only recently that we've begun to realize that what it's called not to get too technical, but what it's called is called tech stacking. And you can take a number of different components and apply our patented production process to each individual component. And when you put them together, you have a this super particle of food flavoring, and that's when the sugar thing came up. We are focused on salt. We are a salt company, and we will remain so. So, and I don't want you to think we're we're not chasing every shiny penny. But when you sit in the meetings that we sit at with the companies, customers that are as big as they are, and they look at us and say, what do you think about sugar?

50:43 We say, well, you know, we're thinking about it hard. You know, we think we have a solution, but, you know, we we keep their feet to the fire as well. We want them to commercialize MICROSALT. Everybody understands that we're all in business, and they need to order from us in order for us to do for them. Anything else, Gary? I think that about wraps it up, Rick. Fantastic. And I just wanna say thank you to everybody. I know we're in a challenging challenging market right now, from a market standpoint.

51:34 MICROSALT has not faltered. We have not lost a single customer. We are we have every confidence in our expectations for the future for '27 and beyond. Our market is not going away. Our patented technology is only becoming more and more important. And luckily for us, our business model allows us to the more we sell, the more profit we make on a percentage basis. It's not just, you know, I don't need to add 10 more sales reps. I don't need to to fund the growth. Sure. We need more people at some point, but I think you know all what I'm saying. It's a very profitable business model to be an ingredient. And I wanna just close with that. I didn't wanna be too salesy, but, you know, I've been in business a long time, and this is an unusual concurrence of events where the world is demanding the product we have.

52:35 Gary, you got any closing comments? No. I don't think I can beat those, Rick. Perfect, guys. If I may just jump back in at this point, and thank you very much indeed for updating investors this afternoon and addressing all of those questions that came in. So apart from that, guys, I'll end the session and redirect the attendees for their feedback, which I know is particularly important to you guys. Ladies and gentlemen, could I please ask you not to close this session as you'll now be automatically redirected for the opportunity to provide your feedback in order that the management team can really better understand your views and expectations. This will only take a few moments to complete, but I'm sure it'll be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team of MICROSALT PLC, we would like to thank you for attending today's presentation. That now concludes today's session. So good afternoon to you all.