SkinBioTherapeutics (LSE:SBTX) — Superdrug Commercial Agreement

0:02 Morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the SKINBIOTHERAPEUTICS PLC investor presentation. Of your screen. Please just simply type in your questions and press send. Given a significant attendance on today's call, 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 we'll publish those responses where it's appropriate to do so. Before we begin,

0:32 as usual, we would just like to submit the following poll. And if you could give that your kind attention, I'm sure the company would be most grateful. And I would now like to hand you over to the executive management team from SKINBIOTHERAPEUTICS PLC. Stuart, good morning, sir. Thank you, Jake. Good morning. Good morning, all. We have a short presentation to walk you through the recent super drug announcement. For those of you who are asking questions about Croda, we will cover that and the operating divisions briefly prior to a later presentation, which we'll give post year end once we've closed the accounts out where we will give trading update. So as an investment case, there's a single slide. As you can see, those of you know the company know all of this, but we do have a number of attendees who are new investors to the company. So for the benefit for their benefit, we are a strong science based company. The science initially came out of University of Manchester.

1:28 It's a proprietary technology which takes live bacteria and turns it into a lysate, and I'll tell that in just a moment. That's to give basically skin barrier enhancement repair, how the skin looks, how it feels, and how it repairs itself. We are located in the Northeast Scientific cluster in Newcastle Pontine, and we have sales operations and distribution worldwide through two sales pillars, which I will discuss in just a moment. The technology is applicable across several sectors, five separate research projects which are ongoing, which I'll give a brief update to in a moment. We have a very experienced board who have been in life sciences and med tech for twenty to thirty years. We've also broadened the executive team in 2025, hence the introduction of Sam Hewittson, who's our new chief operating officer. We've also brought in new finance director, missus Emily Bertram.

2:23 We have a mix of product lines and revenue streams, which cover, as I say, five separate strategic pillars and scientific pillars. And we have significant commercial and development partners, which I'll detail in just a moment. We are targeting multibillion pound skincare markets on both in house and with acquired bolt on, which we've executed two of, which we'll update on just a moment. And we're executing that dual strategy to accelerate scale reach and profitability earlier, And we are seeing very much now by the analysts as an industry consolidator. For those of you who are new to the company, we deal very much with the microbiome. So just as a brief explanation, the microbiome is a term that's used to describe the community of microorganisms that live in on and around the body and very much all connected.

3:11 The human microbiome has extensive functions such as the development of immunity, defense against pathogens, hosting of nutrition, including the production of short chain fatty acids that are very important in hosting energy metabolism. And the synthesis of vitamins and fat storage as well as having a direct and very important influence of human behavior. All of this kind of makes the the the human microbiome an essential organ of the body without which we would not function correctly. So in terms of, you know, our our platform science of what we actually do, you split that into two halves. On the left hand side, the external applications, where we talk about SKINBIOTIX. This is our proprietary cornerstone technology where we take live bacteria and turn that into a lysate, a more stable platform. We've got very strong global IP around these lysates and they're registered globally.

4:06 We have applications in cosmetics, wound care and the professional cleaning sectors as well as potentially further down the line pharmaceuticals. We have a commercial and manufacturing agreement with Proda PLC, which they market as Zenokine, which was launched in April this year on the April 8, and I will talk about that on the next slide. Our platform was born out of the University of Manchester in 2016 based on the work of professor Cath O'Neill and professor Andrew McBain that focused on on studies that suggested that bacterial strains could increase tight junction function via the modulation of protein components, and the different pathways involved vary depending on the bacterial strain. In our case, we we chose the strain lactobacillus rhamnosus, and that is our proprietary platform, and that's what the company was built on.

4:56 Effectively, that's what brought the product deal to the market. We were IPO ed in March 2017. But can I also just on this area emphasize that our primary technology revolves around the production of bacterial lysates and the process involved in that, and that's where our IP sits? We do not sell strains of bacteria. I think there's been some confusion, and I had received some questions from investors that we sell lactobacillus sphagnosis to Krona and why would they buy from us? That is technically very much inaccurate. We do not sell strains of bacteria. We we we own a process of taking strains of bacteria and stabilizing through ligation. Secondly, we have scientific pathway that focuses on the gut skin axis, and this is the superhighway that exists between the gut and the surface of the skin. And as I've said many times before, the best way to describe that in real terms is when we eat something that disagrees with us, we come out in a rash or blotches and our skin gets red.

5:56 It's that access that we exploit by delivering complex and very specific probiotic formulations into the gut that then our beneficial activity is reflected on the surface of the skin using that superhighway. And the super drug agreement that we're going to talk about in more detail very much exploits that science and just much greater leverage with multinationals.

6:23 So let's let's talk about Croda. I know that many of you here have a lot of questions about that. Let's just remind ourselves of of the relationship here. So this product, Zenakide, as it's now known globally, was was launched on the April 8 eleven weeks ago in in The Netherlands at the In Cosmetics show in Amsterdam to to global applause, standing ovation within within the auditorium. Had all of the highlighted features that we expected, the enhancement of skin, natural barrier, the anti aging, the increased hydration, all of the claims that we were looking for. And then very unexpectedly, and under a great veil of secrecy, they announced that it increased melatonin, had advanced repair during sleep, it also enhanced sleep, and therefore had stress reduction. And this was all clinically proven. This is a new newly created category. It was in a class as an advanced cosmeceutical.

7:15 In fact, one of the science needs called called it a Swiss army knife of cosmetic ingredients. We are bound by strict confidentiality on this and and let me just be very clear about this. This is a this is a section of agreement that we have that talks about confidentiality and the sharing of information. And the customers are very conscious of confidentiality. Kronos customers are very conscious of that confidentiality. And if they breach that by leaking numbers or anything else, nobody would deal with them again. So they they keep this information very close to the chest. They can't talk about volumes, about formulations, concentration levels, formats, packaging, launch dates, geographical regions, and and product can't talk about which particular customer are doing what. If they did, then all those customers wouldn't deal with them again.

8:05 So every company wants to know what what what the other is doing. Every one of their customers wants to know what they're doing. And all of, crawlers directing, greeting competitors want to know what crawlers doing. They keep talking about loose lips, sink ships, and they're very cautious. Let me describe it this. This is a very delicate balancing act because zenokine, we now know it, is the next generation multipurpose product. And pretty much every SIDERMA and KROWNER Beauty customer have lots of products that contain contain Matrixyl that, you know, hundreds of millions of pounds worth of KROWNER sales. They're all with the customers that are out there, and they also have retinol included products, which all fall under the EU retinol initiative. So therefore, all those products are at risk. And therefore, transition to Zetakine needs to be handled with extreme delicacy.

8:54 Just if you could just think about that for a moment. There are hundreds of millions of pounds worth of sales at risk here, so nobody's gonna come charging in, issuing numbers and and strategic plans and announcing which customers doing what and where and at what price and what concentration level. All I can say is this launch is done. The hard yards are behind us. Just check out the Internet activity. Eleven weeks ago, the world had never heard of the word xenokin. It it's a it's a made up word, and now it's everywhere. Very high levels of activity indeed. The sales are progressing very much as we expected. You know, we are extremely happy with the commercial progress of our partner. But let's let's be very clear about this. We do not sell this product. We handed that responsibility to product.

9:42 We were very, very disappointed not to be able to issue numbers. That doesn't mean that I lied, that I misled the market in any way. It means that product aren't ready to release that information yet because their partners aren't ready for that information to go to the market. So, you know, we are disappointed that we

9:59 can't give you that information. It would make my life considerably easier. Simon's life and everybody within the company. Our lives would be so much easier if we could release that information to you. But let's not forget, this is the team that built Matrixyl and Matrixyl 3,000 from the ground up. We could not have chosen a better partner. They are experts at this. The timings might be off, and let's face it, they always have been, you know, with this project, but please don't shoot the messenger. The destination is very much worth the journey here. This product is seen as a as waging success, but I think we're all going to see that in the long run. There are certain things that I can say, certain things that I can't, and I dearly wish that I could tell you all of the details of this, but I simply cannot. And to breach that confidentiality would be catastrophic for the fortunes of this company. They really would. It doesn't mean that we've misled. We very much haven't. I said that we will release numbers by the end of June because I absolutely believe that that was the case.

10:55 That was what I was led to believe. Three months post launch, which I took to be end of June, early July, that is not the case. As soon as I have sight of these numbers and I have a green light, I will shout it from the highest mountain. I you have my solemn work on that. Talking about journeys with great journeys that have great destinations, I shall now hand you over to Simon, which will talk about the exclusive distribution agreement that we've just signed with Superdrug. Thank you, Stuart, and thank you very much for this by being my first investor meets company. I'm delighted to be talking to you about looking at expansion of Axis Biotic's reach. This is an exciting opportunity for the company and one that we are looking forward to very much.

11:41 As you're aware from previous conversations, Stuart has had and the team multiple conversations with high street, operators, and we've been looking at assessing which is the best partner for us to to go with. It is worth, I believe, highlighting at this point that, actually, a lot of these conversations were facilitated and accelerated through our acquisition of Dermatronics, highlighting one of the many other benefits of the MNA strategy that the executive team has taken on board. We chose Superdrug for multiple reasons. It's got a fantastic national footprint. It is a dedicated, company focused very much on the skin care products market. And this is where we will be launching for the first time Axis Biotics acne, and that is a product which we believe has a excellent demographic fit with the Superdrug customer base, and that was a key reason for us looking at this.

12:38 We also have an ability to control the marketing support and the promotions that we do with Superdrug and very much feel that this is an actual partnership that we are entering into, and that is something that we thought was a differential for us. They also were very keen to partner with us and had a very strong interest in the microbiome and the growing interest in the gut skin access. And that was an area, again, where we felt there was a real strong connection. We will be looking to do this launch in a phased rollout alongside Superdrug. Initially, we would be looking at circa 200 stores for rollout. Those stores have been specifically selected by Superdrug for the cost for the customer base that are looking at medicated skin care, which is where they will be looking to place this.

13:30 So they are working with us to give us the best opportunity to position that product to make maximum success. We will be looking to support the rollout, with with heavy promotions or certainly from a marketing perspective because we are keen to work alongside them to accelerate the rollout to the rest of the stores, in The UK. We have signed an exclusivity agreement for two years, and we believe that is an absolute sweet spot for, for us. It allows us to really partner with, Superdrug and work alongside them and then look at our commercial options thereafter. But as the RNS clearly states, we also have the ability to control and keep our existing online presence, which is predominantly through our own website and from Amazon in The UK.

14:22 As far as where we are at the moment, we have placed orders for stock with WingClove, who, as you're aware, is our partner. The lead times for those stock is, significant around the twelve week period. So we we need to look and have placed those orders now, and we need to put a sufficient order in there to cover not only initial

14:42 launch, but also look at making sure we have stock for the accelerated process that we're hoping for. There's been a significant amount of work already undertaken by the team. We've done a fantastic job on looking at building this retail offering as we transition from an online only provider. We're continuing to plan and execute the launch strategy alongside Superdrug, and that's a phenomenal opportunity for us. As being previously mentioned, we will be continuing to look at the opportunities for the format of delivery of this product. As you're aware, capsules, gummies, and tablets are all under consideration.

15:31 We will there's a detailed process that needs to be undertaken there given the complexity of the product, and we will be working alongside WingClove on that. We will also be looking where possible to utilize biotech solutions or or BTS in that process, and certainly looking to get them involved in order to enhance margins as best as we can during that position.

15:57 But, certainly, we see this as a major milestone for the company, our first national high street agreement, and it's, certainly something that we're, excited about. Go to the next slide, please, Stuart. Thank you, Sami. So as far as the fundraise is concerned, this is basically to to drive Access Biotics to the next level. The super drug, deal does require investments, and that's the principal driver for the activities that we've done. We are looking to enhance access biotics for not only the super drug opportunity, but also drive other opportunities in wider markets. As we've touched on, the delivery format is something that we are looking at, and we do feel it allows us to look at enhancement of the customer retention, which is already high from what we've seen in our online subscription model.

16:50 As far as, other areas, we will be looking at undertaking additional and more extensive trials. We feel that this is the really important area to provide stronger claims and wider validation of both the PS product and the AC product. And we also feel that will definitely give us an opportunity to be able to explore not just different geographical markets, but also potentially different segments of the market, which potentially increases our span and and appeal in in multiple areas. As the r and s has stated, the gross proceeds raised was 4,200,000. And at this point, I'll hand you back to Stuart to talk over a couple of the extra areas he wants to touch on here.

17:37 Thank you. So it was never our intention to raise more working capital. I made that statement some time ago, and and we actually very much believe that. And I think when you see the year end numbers and you see the cash flow and the cash that we have, that statement still ring true. However, we we had an opportunity here, to to to launch this product. The it was always intended that we would do this in 2026. We were dealing with two high street retail organizations. Superdrug were very much ahead of of the pack, and that's because they are the experts in Gen z as it's called, generation z zed, if you like. These are the the the teenagers through the 21, 22 year old. They don't shop at the other store or the other stores. They tend to shop shop in Superdrugs. That's why we need to look at format. We need to look at gums. We need to look at tablets. We need to look at capsules to make it easy.

18:26 That format needs to be very, very handy indeed. That launch was brought forward from '26 to '25, and it was brought forward very, very quickly indeed. We tried to delay this next year, but Superdrug, as with all of these retail outlets, for them, space on the shelf is money and time is money as it is for all of us. We were very much told, you can delay this a year if you like, but we could give no guarantees at all that that shelf space will still be there this time next year. It was our intention to sit and wait until cronifons had continued to flow and flow and to to the level that we could fill this demand. Time was not on our side. The the manufacturing lead time for this product is about twelve weeks. They want to launch this product in week thirty seven, and it needs in order to launch in week thirty seven, it needs to be on their shelves in their warehouse by week thirty five. Now if you count back twelve weeks from that, that means we placed the order some time ago. In order to do that, we need to make sure that we had reserves of cash in order to meet the demand.

19:32 As with all high street retail opportunities, there are punitive measures in place for going on back order. Nobody wants to see empty shelves. The day that we cannot provide them with product, we get fined. So we cannot be in a position where that happens. So we have to have sufficient stock to meet demand. That's why we needed to do the placing. In order to do that placing, I have to do it very quickly, and I mean very quickly. There's no way that we had time to do a roadshow, traditional roadshow. We had just changed Nomad and Brokers. The the new sales team did not know the story. We didn't have time to go out and do traditional financing methods. This needed to be done very swiftly indeed. We we took a select group of investors who have a history of moving very quickly indeed, and and we spoke to them very limited.

20:20 They were only brought inside once the appetite was fully established and the subscription notes were issued. That was the only stage that it came inside. No discount was given. It was offered exactly the same price to retail investors who I must thank most sincerely for their continued support. We didn't do a roadshow. We didn't ask some of our institutions, and I got in quite a lot of trouble from some of our long standing institutions for not approaching them, for not asking them to participate. I simply did not have the time to do this. This wasn't done through the traditional broking methods. We didn't have the time to do the roadshow either. I needed to do this quickly in order to be able to sign a contract with Superdrop. The the the placing was done at exactly the same time we signed the contract. Only once I knew that the demands could be met, could I sign that contract. That's why it was all in the same r and s legally.

21:08 I would not have been able to separate the two. So I want everyone to be aware there was nothing down and dirty about this this this raise or or about this contract. This was need to have must. It was a strategic opportunity. We stole the opportunity and we took it. That's what we are paid to do, to seek out opportunities and to seize them. Card medium if you like, whatever phrase you wish to use, but that's what we've done. And and we fervently believe strategically, this is the right move forward. Not only is is a great platform for us to launch acne into the right market and also continue the success of the psoriasis product, it also is is is in a great attraction for the multinationals who we continue to talk to. We'd like this product to be sold on a global basis in the right format.

21:53 We are now making strides. It's now on to shelves of 200 stores, and that will rise. There's a phased rollout. We could end up on the on on the shelves of all 800 plus stores super drug. Right now, it's the top 200 in

22:06 Medicaid and skincare because that's the right place to launch them. We quite frankly, we wouldn't want to launch with 800 because the amount of stock required is is is is very large indeed. We are prepared for that now, and we're prepared to put this in the right format. Again, the right deal. Was it done at the right time? No. I would rather have done it next year, but I'm not going to lose the opportunity to get this product into the hands of the people who need it and to advance our strategic and our commercial goals.

22:36 Just a word now about the National Psoriasis Foundation that was in the same RNS. People will say that was by design. No. It wasn't actually. And do we need the National Psoriasis Foundation accreditation in order to get super drug? No. But let's say it didn't harm. They could certainly help. As far as super drug were concerned, we were still pursuing the National Psoriasis Foundation accreditation. It just so happened that it came in the same week. You could call that coincident. You could call it luck, but that's exactly what happens. They are facts. The National Psoriasis Foundation accreditation is something that we've been pursuing for a number of years. It's extremely difficult, to to obtain. We have to go through significant safety and performance testing. Customers can buy this product through the Amazon site following the link of the National Psoriasis Foundation website. This is the largest psoriasis organization on the planet.

23:27 We jumped through all sorts of hoops to get this. We're extremely proud of it. I must thank our marketing team and in in particular, our marketing manager, Vicky Turner, who's done an outstanding job pursuing this this this this recognition. It allows us to put this on packaging. It allows us to put this on our website, and it allows US citizens and and people in The US who are members of the National Psoriasis Foundation to click on that link. We are the only food supplement listed there and some very prestigious products They can then be led directly down the purchasing platform.

23:58 It opens the doors in The US to us, and that won't be locked on many of our our investors and many of our customers. This is the the holy grail for us. It's the biggest market in the world. Struggle to sell product there in the past because we don't have this recognition. Now we do. The gates are open and, you know, the packaging that we're using is is international. So some of the stock that we're now pushing through can be sold in The US as well as the rest of the world. So very, very proud indeed of that particular accolade and that particular award. So well done team, and yeah, onwards and upwards.

24:32 Simon. Thank you, Stuart. So, yes, a brief overview of the the two acquisitions that we have concluded to date. So Dermatonics, was acquired in January 2024. That has now had a full year of, being within the group. It is a foot care specialist, with a global reach. The key attractions for that business were the very high quality products that they have and a very strong and loyal customer base. There's excellent traction that they have particularly in the podiatry market where continuing to see podiatrists switch to the dermatomic products, where trusted professionals are seeing the absolute quality of that product, which is a fantastic position for us to be in.

25:21 In October 2024, the business of, Biotech Solutions or BTS was acquired. That is a contract manufacturer and provides opportunities for us to keep business inside the group from Dermatronics, and the process is going on there. It also allows us to look at future acquisitions to bring products into biotech for that as well to enhance not only margins, but also quality. There is a strong relationship now between those two businesses, not only looking at the transfer, but also looking at new product development opportunities as well as other cost initiatives between the two businesses. So we're very pleased how that is now starting to come together.

26:09 The businesses have been integrated into group systems, and further work is being done to drive synergies and opportunities out of that. As far as the year end's concerned, we are obviously just starting that process now, and there'll be a more detailed update from a trading perspective during the summer once we've got the the books closed off from that perspective. Thank you so much. Just a word now on our r and d programs. We are a science business, and we continue to innovate. We have a a accelerated wound closure program, which is a med tech application. This was done through the University of Manchester with professors Cookshank and McBain. Andrew McBain, obviously, being one of SKINBIOTHERAPEUTICS cofounders, cofounding scientists.

26:58 And then the the the the aim there is to license this out to experience multinational part, very much in coderesque, if I can use that phrase, type deal. I've stressed this before. This is extremely complex science. We're talking about putting glycidic bacteria into an open wound and around hard to heal wounds. So, this is this is complicated to say the least. We are in discussions and continue to be in discussions with multinationals, but these things are going to take time. I thought we would have got a deal done last year. One of our chosen partners hit a bump in the road, and we were we were put on on pause. That that project is now moving again, albeit slowly. As well as that, we have the oral health program, which is with professor Andrew McBain that looks at protecting the oral cavity for blocking of things like gum disease, tooth decay, and and alopecia, etcetera. First phase was complete last year, and and we're looking to complete the second phase in due course. But there is a there is a bit of a backlog on that, but we'll report back as and when we can. And then the inflammation program, which is professor Kath's program at the University of Manchester, which is how the microbiome could influence and and balance body's response to harmful UV light as well as inflammation in general, and that program is ongoing. We'll report as and when we can.

28:19 Just a note on investor relations, you will note that in in May of this year, we we changed over to a broker, Nomad, over to SKINBIOTHERAPEUTICS. We're appointed as our sole nominated adviser and broker, and I'm pleased to say that that relation's progressing very well indeed. Our new analyst is doctor Carl Keegan, who is very much a specialist in in this field, and he will initiate his analyst note as and when. That's that's pretty much out of my hands. That's that's very much in the hands of Singer. In terms of our strategy, our focus for investor relations for the the remainder of this year and and and last year and this year which to communicate regularly, but only with quality contact and and and standardize on this platform, on the IMC platform rather than some of the other platforms which proved very expensive.

29:07 And also, tried to minimize our interviews behind paywalls. I know that there's a there's a great degree of sentiment behind doing interviews behind the paywalls. We try to do that very selectively, and we do try to have the paywall lift very quickly indeed. Certainly, the people that we deal with do do do accommodate that. We've got a review of our investor relations process for the coming year, and and we'd like to maintain what we've just said previously. We we'd like to increase our sticky profile as as as, you know, we are seen by some of the institutions as one of the most active companies on it. If you look where we were two years ago and you look where we are now, we've gone from zero revenue to, you know, more for 5,000,000 revenue and and and growing. Now the Krona deal is done. There's a super deal done. You know, we need to talk about those things, you know, more openly. And and as the numbers start to roll in, it's important that we do attract more investments.

29:59 We have plans for in-depth capital markets day to talk about our r and d and and focus on on on the future prospects of the company. And then, you know, we we we are looking at how we process the the question that that are asked by our investors. I do get

30:15 somewhat bombarded with questions from from from from investors. We are very active and I never take that lightly. We do try to respond, you know, in a timely manner. Last IMC that we did, we had nearly 400 nod questions that that that that were asked. If each one of them takes three to four minutes to respond to, that takes up an awful lot of a lot of time. It took us quite some time, but we answered every single one of them and they were published back on the IMC platform. I can't say that we could do that every time, but, you know, we will endeavor to have as many questions as possibly can. Some of the questions were asked, it's impossible to answer because they're material sensitive, and I'm simply not allowed to. Some of the questions asked are very hostile indeed. And quite frankly, some of them some of them somewhat rude. Some of them are accolades and and applauds, and and some of them are very genuinely good questions and, you know, very interesting questions indeed, which we're delighted to answer. We do try. Please don't think that we ignore your questions. We we simply do not.

31:15 So in summary, we've we've come a hell of a long way in the last two years. As I said back then, we had minimal revenues, you know, high r and d costs, huge losses as continue to research and develop. And our project with Cronos seemed to be never ending. It seemed to be, you know, getting kicked further down the road. But it came to a crescendo and what a crescendo it was. You know, this product is an absolute game changer. You've heard it from not just me. You you're probably sick of the sound of my voice, but you've heard it from doctor Surinder Gahal, who headed that r and d team and, you know, spent thirty seven years with Croda. I know in some in some of the, of the social media circles, there's been ex quarter employees who've commented on this. And I know on some of the the pundit platforms that that's been dealt into in in a very detailed and and and very well done manner. So you can see from those on the inside, this is seen as a huge success, this product. I just wish I could tell you how big a success it is. And believe me, if I could, I would. Why would I not?

32:19 To say, is it a failure? I can categorically guarantee you it is not a failure. Croda would say that this is a very exciting time for them. It was launched eleven weeks ago. As I said, the name Zepakind had never been heard. It is a game changer. It's been hugely accepted throughout the industry, and and everything is progressing very much to plan. If I could give you the details, I would, and I'm I'm repeating myself again and again. Moving on to AXIS BIOTIX. You know, we we've signed this exclusive DOG a deal with Superdraw. I told you we were talking to two high street retail chiefs. People were saying, where's the deal, Stuart? Where's the deal? Well, it came a little faster than we were expecting, to be honest. I I preferred this deal to have happened next year where we would not have need to have done a raise or at least a bigger raise as as as we've done. I'm afraid that out of my control. We we saw the opportunity. We took it. My apologies for that. We have to seize the opportunities when they stand in front of us.

33:16 This will launch in in week 30 '7 across 200 stores, the big stores for Medicaid skincare. We have negotiated very well indeed. We've we've reserved the rights to sell directly through our own website. We've reserved the right to sell through Amazon. We've reserved the rights elsewhere in the world. And we've also, to top all of that off, you know, to put the cream on top of the whole thing, we've got that that wonderful National Survices Foundation accreditation in The United States, and therefore, we've opened that market. So two commercial deals in two of the pillars that we have, big ticks in the boxes there. Yes, you've yet to see the revenue. But then again, two years ago, we had revenue and now we do. That revenue will continue to grow. R and D projects ongoing. I've just gone through them. They're very much alive, very much flourishing.

34:05 And we will see the the fruit of the labor there very shortly. In terms of infrastructure, we've got a a very much an internal focus on efficiencies. We now have a chief operating officer. We've got a new head of finance. We're looking at cost savings, looking at efficiencies. We do do focus very much on business development and the extension of partnerships. People keep asking about m and a. When when we did this raise, the first question out of the people that we spoke to is, is this for an acquisition? To which the answer is no. It's not. I told you we would not do acquisitions in the near term, and I meant what I said, and I'll stand by that. Financial update, the placing an open offer is very much to support the launch of this product and what what we hope to be significant success. We brought in a new nomad and that will bring new research with it, hopefully, to a depth that we've never had before.

34:53 And then we will be issuing, as Simon just pointed out, a pre closing trading update towards the back end of July, early summer. Don't shoot us if it's not towards the end of July. We've gotta close out the entire group now for the first time. The the the accounts are more complex than they've been. If that drifts into early August, please don't start blowing up the the the bullet boards by saying he's failed again. I'm not gonna give you hard hard numbers anymore. I've learned that lesson. I was given a date by by, and I foolish you to pop that out and transmit it to you because I believe that that's my duty to do so. I will not be as liberal in the future. I will give you the information as soon as I possibly can. Why would I not? And I think that kinda brings us pretty much to the course. There's the pillars that we've talked about at the beginning underpinned now by four revenue generating operations.

35:49 You want Jake, do want me to move on questions now? Stuart, Simon, absolutely. If I may just jump back in there, and thank you very much indeed for your presentation this morning. Ladies and gentlemen, please do continue to submit your questions just by using the Q and A tab that's situated on the right hand corner of your screen. But just while the team take a few moments to review those questions that have been submitted already, just like to remind you that a recording of this presentation along with copy of the slides and the published q and a can all be accessed via your investor dashboard. Stuart, Simon, at this point, guys, if I may just hand over to you to just read out those questions and give your responses where it's appropriate to do so. And if I pick up from you at the end, that'd be great. Thank you. Not surprisingly, there is an awful lot of questions there, probably more so than last time. So there's no way we're gonna get through all of these, but we will try to hit the the headline ones as best we can. Thank you to the team at Vigo for for grouping them together so that we're not repeating ourselves.

36:47 So first question, where are the hard numbers that were promised about fraud until before you end? I I think I've answered that. We we were told that we would have visibility and permission to release those numbers about three months after launch. They asked for three months to to be able to gauge up type. They've asked us now to to to to not to do that until they've spoken to their trading partners because the sensitivity lies very much with their trading partners. We are under very strict confidentiality about disclosing those numbers without their permission. We are only eleven weeks post launch. As I said, the world had never heard the word Xenokin eleven weeks ago. Once updated and and once released, the analyst note would provide estimate of total revenues including those quarter numbers based on on on the analyst vast experience on what's happened elsewhere and and and he's very much chosen because of his expertise.

37:45 Do you know which, if any, major cosmetics houses are incorporating into new products and where they will be launched? As I've said, we handed over the responsibility of selling to KRODA Beauty. We have no visibility on who is is doing what. That is very much down to KRODA. We know who their customers are. We know who the major customers are. And indeed, all of you know who their major customers are. In fact, some of you who've gone as far as to contacting Croda directly to ask for samples and also to ask them who's buying what and who's launching where. And I I would caution that that that method of approach. Croda have actually come back to us and complained that they are having investors reaching out to them.

38:30 I can't stop you from doing that, but it does cause us some problems with our relationship. And indeed, those of you who've done so will also note that Croda have given you exactly the same answer they give everyone else. They cannot and will not divulge that information. All they say is that Xenokin's being widely accepted with great great enthusiasm. So I can't answer that question because I certainly don't know. Why did you choose to deal with Superdrug? Isn't Superdrug seen as more of a cut price budget retailer and not known for sophisticated products? I would disagree strongly with that. Superdrug is one of the leading health and cosmetic retailers in The UK with extensive national coverage. They've got in excess of 800 stores. They are particularly strong fit for Gen z and and and and and that niche area where we need to exploit for the acne market more so than some of the other players in that market.

39:22 We believe this is a great mix of protecting our own channels direct in Amazon coupled with the the super drug reach, and it's a great deal for the group. I think just on that as well, Stuart. Yeah. Go ahead. I think, you know, we obviously did our research into into the businesses that we were looking to partner with, and, you know, there is absolutely multiple premium products within Superjug as well as the demographic fit that you've said. I think another factor is that, you know, there is a very good working relationship and very positive feedback from Dermatronics in that Superjug relationship. So we were very keen to work with people who we thought there was a a true partnership opportunity. So, you know, we have done our research absolutely into choosing that partner, and we believe that it ticks a lot of our boxes.

40:09 Yeah. Well said, Simon. And I think also to add to that, super you've been very keen and and, you know, very cooperative in in talking to us about what comes next. You know, could you do could you do an eczema product? Could you do rosacea? And keen to have that on the shelves too. So we have a ready made home for products that don't even exist yet. So all other are in development. Please provide details of how the 4,000,000 is being spent. Scant details available now. We've we've got an awful lot to do before the first launch in in September in a very short period of time. We need to ensure that we've got sufficient stock going forward to avoid any shortages and any any punitive measures taken against any penalties, financial penalties for being on back order or short of stock.

40:54 We've got manufacturers up. We've got brand new retail packaging, which we we're not using the existing package because it doesn't fit on on super drug shelves and it's not jazzy enough for for retail launch. We've got we've also gotta maintain our existing spot levels and all of this takes time, and we've gotta temper that with the demand that we see on a daily basis. We're also planning towards new formats of of capsules and go and explain why that's important. This product marketing in in in its in its essence is making the product easier for the customer to buy, and that's exactly what we're doing is making the product easier for the customer to buy and to use and to take on a daily basis. So yeah. I mean, all of that takes time. It takes money, and it it it has to happen quite quickly. You why did you raise money via the placing retail offer? What other options did you investigate?

41:45 We didn't have an awful lot of time to investigate anything. We did talk to the bank. We did talk to a number of finance providers. None of that would have been able to be done in the right time. A roadshow traditional roadshow would have taken us weeks, and we'd only just changed brokers. So we didn't want to jeopardize the launch with with all the negotiations with Superdrug by delaying, And we believe that the placing in retail offer was probably the best option was optimal. We only spoke to a handful of institution investors who who had always said, if you need money, come to us first. You know, we'll move swiftly. But we also want to enable retail investors to to to participate in that as well. You know, had we done that through a a bank or whatever other option, retail investors wouldn't have been able to participate in that at all.

42:37 Yeah. At a previous investor presentation, it was mentioned that you were looking to do a deal with a high street company. It was also announced that no further business required. Did you know at the time of the previous presentation that a further fundraise was required? Absolutely not. Categorically not, we did not know that Superdrug would want to launch this product early. We think and and all it is is a guess is that there's a there's something dropped out of their week 37 launch and we were asked to jump into it. Could we have waited? Yes. But we may want to jeopardize any chance of a launch next year at all. They made that very clear to us. So, no, we didn't know. And, yes, we did it with the the best intentions of the company. What assurance if any can you give about the fundraisers?

43:23 The placing was condone with a very limited number of participants. As I've said, all of who was spoken to or everyone we spoke to participated. Nobody was talked to said, no. Thanks. We didn't undertake this lightly. We didn't undertake a roadshow. Everything was finalized at the same time as the super drug deal. With respect to future fundraising, you know, I said previously that we wouldn't need to fundraise working capital, you know, probably somewhat naively. I didn't see this coming. Categorically, when you see the cash flow, you'll realize we did not need to to to fundraise to for working capital. Somebody's asking a question further down here, you know, would we have had to have a sign off by auditors going concern? No. No. We wouldn't. We didn't need to do the fundraise for for that for that reason at all. The fundraise is very much just support the super drug launch categorically.

44:17 What's next there? Will biotech solutions be producing AXIS Biotix product? No. No. AXIS Biotix is manufactured by Wing Clove as before. We are looking at biotech solutions for maybe putting it in capsules or tablets or or gums or something of that nature. And we have looked at capital equipment in there. Yes, I'm looking at further questions down here. Have we looked at leasing the equipment other than buying it? Yes. We have. But there's there's quite a significant amount of equipment required to to bring that in house. And yes, as Simon mentioned earlier, it does enhance our margins. It it would make this a sweeter deal for us rather than having this done in sachets at at at at. I can't you answer all our questions on these calls of either IR channel. This is extremely frustrating.

45:06 I appreciate the frustration, but, you know, when we get nearly nearly 400 questions off the last IMC and you you add up the questions that we get asked on a weekly and daily basis, you're coming up to six, seven hundred questions a month and sometimes in excess of that. We try to identify the themes of each questions. A lot of people saying, tell us about this and tell us about that. They're all very much of the same theme. So we try to answer those on the IMC platform and and, you know, via the boards. We try to answer as many questions as we can, but we do have to leave time to run the company and just seek out opportunities, you know, to push for numbers to make sure that you're at the access by obviously getting the right deal to manage the research and development programs.

45:52 Our intent is to communicate to the market wherever we possibly can via the proper channels, via RNS when we have material news and not to provide information piece of your via selective briefings. And and we are trying very hard. We are a very small team. We're trying as hard as we possibly can to meet all the questions. And I'm getting a red light going off to say that we've gone past a lot of time. Is that correct, Jade? Hi, sir. We have just come up to the forty five minute mark. And and as you say, you do get a number of questions on these calls. So perhaps what we can do is give you back all of the questions that were submitted after the meeting for you to review if that works for you, sir. Thank you. Perfect. Well, Stuart, Simon, thank you very much indeed for being so generous for your time there and updating investors today and for addressing those questions that came in. And, of course, we'll give you back those questions after the meeting. But, Stuart, perhaps before really now just looking to redirect those on the call to provide you with their feedback, which I know is particularly important to yourself and the company. If I could please just ask you for a few closing comments just to wrap up with, that'd be great.

46:53 Thank you, Jake. Thank you all for your time listening. We we this is a short slot that we would normally get. We take what we can get. I felt it very important that we got a slot at all. We we got out to speak to you all about Superdrug. But also, I know there's some concerns about the crawler timing. As I've said previously, please don't shoot messenger. I would love to give you all the information we have. We do have a very strict confidentiality clause within the contract. In summary, what we're just talking about today is we've signed an exclusive two year deal with a a nationwide company rolling out the 200 stores, you know, in a very short period of time. Both access products PS and acne products, this is the very first time this product will be available to the public. We've managed to retain our independence and our worldwide rights of product to Amazon and through our own website.

47:43 We've had an extremely tight deadline to prepare for launch. But through the placing the open offer, we have the firepower to do that. And we've also gained the the recognition from the NPF. The current business required no additional working capital. We were absolutely fine as we were. The placing retail offer is purely just for the launch of this of this super drug commercial agreement. We have delivered on our promises. We've launched multiple products. We bought two companies. We've diversified our revenue streams. We've got significant commercial deals signed with very significant partners. We've strengthened our infrastructure and our offering through m and a, and we've also hired new talent into the business. We are a strong business with huge potential for new opportunities, and we delivered on what we said we would do. We are not always on time, and we're not always bang on the numbers that we've said, but we are one of the few AIM companies that's very active. We are delivering what we promise. I'm sorry that my promise is sometimes on timelines, and I'm truly sorry that sometimes we have to fundraise in order to support strategic opportunities.

48:48 But they are opportunities, and they are enormous in their potential. Croda is the big one, and I know some of you are angry with me and angry with Croda. We can do we can only do and deliver what we have. I can't give you something that I don't have, and I what I cannot do is breach a very onerous commercial agreement that would lead the company into perilous waters. Zevacaine is and will be a huge hit, and I'm sure that only time will tell that. But just just Google it. Look at it. The week didn't exist eleven weeks ago, and now it's all over the Internet. And very soon, you'll see it all over supermarket shelves just like you will our access by PS and the c product. Thank you for your time, and thank you to my team for continually delivering. Thank you. Thank you. Perfect, Stuart. Simon, thank you once again for updating investors this morning. Could I please ask investors not to close this session?

49:39 She will now be automatically redirected for the opportunity to provide your feedback in order 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 management team of SKINBIOTHERAPEUTICS PLC, we would like to thank you for attending today's presentation. That now concludes today's session. So good afternoon to you all. Thank