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MACRO METALS LIMITED — AGM Information 2007
Nov 29, 2007
65283_rns_2007-11-29_33cadd83-8171-4722-978e-eafc75eda3a6.pdf
AGM Information
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30 November 2007
Company Announcements Australian Stock Exchange Limited 20 Bond Street SYDNEY NSW 2000
ADDRESS BY ALEX AGUERO
MANAGING DIRECTOR
To the BRAINYTOYS LTD ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 30 NOVEMBER 2007
Thank you Mr Chairman, and thank you all for your support and your attendance today.
I am pleased to report that our Company has made significant progress over the last twelve months.
The summary features of the Company’s progress are:
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First Sales and Revenue;
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Manufacture program grows to over 30 products in production pipeline;
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Several new License Agreements – Including HUMMER , our most recent;
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The acquisition of Enertec and Reveal;
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Appointment of Mr Larry Bernstein – Former President of Hasbro Toys;
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Some further corporate developments just announced.
First Sales and Revenue
Brainytoys made its first major sales and product shipments in the last calendar quarter of 2007, as announced to the ASX.
The biggest sales were in the Australian and New Zealand market for the Thomas and Wiggles MemoToys™ products.
Our Australian and New Zealand distributor, Modern Brands, has launched a TV campaign in Australia and New Zealand to support the launch for these products.
These promotional activities, in Australia and New Zealand, will continue into 2008 and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Modern Brands for their magnificent support.
Sales opportunities were limited for this Christmas season in the US but some early trial sales were generated for the Wiggles and Bee Movie MemoToys™ products in the US market.
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The MemoToys™ play pattern has proven quite popular and we have received several requests for other US- licensed and generic (non-license or Brainytoys design) versions from several US retail Chains.
In response to this demand, we will be delivering a generic and a US licensed (using Tootle the Train character from Little Golden Books) MemoToys™ versions to the US and other markets in early 2008.
Based on these sales, requests, and further developments since the Dallas trade fair, we expect that the MemoToys™ product range will deliver us substantial sales going forward.
In October, Brainytoys attended the Fall Toy Preview Show held in Dallas.
The Dallas Preview show is where US mass retailers get a first showing of offerings for the 2008 season.
Following product/packaging/price negotiations and manufacture commitments, the actual sales from the new range for us will start from January 2008 onwards.
Brainytoys will be attending the Hong Kong, Nuremberg, Birmingham and New York Toy Fairs.
Brainytoys’ sales volume is expected to increase substantially from January 2008 onwards as more products come off the production lines and we synchronize with the cycles of the US market.
Whilst not forecasting upcoming results, Brainytoys is aiming to generate several million dollars in sales for calendar 2008 from the expanded Brainytoys product range.
This revenue is in addition to the sales expected from the Enertec and Reveal businesses and from the potential UK acquisition.
Product Development and Manufacture
Following our attendance at Dallas, Brainytoys has now expanded its manufacture program, which will see the company deliver approximately 30 products to the market in calendar 2008.
Brainytoys’ primary task is to develop products with the potential to become “blockbusters”.
We define “blockbusters” as a product that can achieve sales of a million units plus.
I note that this is our definition only and a product with one million units in sales, in the US context, is not classed as a blockbuster.
In the US markets, the figure required is several million units sold before that classification comes into play.
We believe we have several blockbuster candidates in our product range.
In order to achieve our goal, Brainytoys develops unique play patterns and implements them in the form of products, such as our MemoToys™ line.
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A feature of our development process is that we can deploy our play patterns in multiple forms, as with the MemoToys™ range.
Brainytoys has a large number of innovative play patterns that it can draw from.
Our product offerings for 2008 only make use of a few of them, so the company has a substantial resource yet to draw from.
Brainytoys has brought several of these play patterns to IC level integration and made ready for manufacture.
It is important to dwell on this technical point, if I may, as it goes to our future product development capabilities.
Brainytoys has spent a significant amount of effort and resources in developing the several key underlying technologies associated with its products.
Most of this process has involved the implementation of our play pattern functionalities into prototypes and then into chip-ready software.
What this means in practical terms is that Brainytoys now has an extensive technical library, or tool set, of chip-ready software functionalities it can draw from.
These elements can easily and quickly be re-configured into further play patterns and products.
As we identify sales and licensing opportunities, we can then make use of these technical assets and bring new products to manufacture relatively quickly.
The Brainytoys production pipeline comprises the following key product lines
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MemoToys™ range – Wiggles, Thomas the Tank Engine, Bee Movie, Tootle, other Brainytoys Designs and Generics;
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Jay Jay ;
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Little Golden Books ;
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Bee Movie ;
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Hummer - Most recent License Agreement;
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Generic – Brainytoys Designs;
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Digital Wisdom Series - A line of Executive Toys in the form of Hand held electronic products targeting the Book/Gift/Specialty market retail chains.
Our product development now also includes a strong software component with a couple of PC Games products in the pipeline, including a Jay Jay PC Computer game and with the potential for this work to be extended to Game Consoles, Internet or Mobile Phone.
Further electronic/software products will be developed over the next year.
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Licensing
One of the keys needed to penetrate the important US market and in particular the US mass retail market, is the use of Brand Licences derived from book, television, or movie entertainment properties.
Brainytoys has been engaged in a process to build a broad portfolio of brand licences that it can use to develop toys for the US and other important markets.
Licenses the company is currently working with are:
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Wiggles;
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Thomas the Tank Engine;
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Little Golden Books;
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Jay Jay the Jet Plane;
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Bee Movie;
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Hummer (our most recent signing)
HUMMER is an iconic USA Brand with worldwide recognition and Brainytoys has several products in the pipeline for this line.
The Agreement will allow Brainytoys to develop a range of HUMMER branded products using standard electronic and mechanical drive systems, and remote control technologies sourced from our wholly-owned Enertec Division, as well as Brainytoys own suite of innovative play patterns.
An important note is that this agreement is Brainytoys’ first world-wide agreement, opening up substantial world markets for our HUMMER product line.
A major impediment this year has been the inability to extend our License coverage of the Thomas MemoToys™ product to US and European markets, despite Brainytoys receiving substantial demand for this product, from all markets, which would have meant sales of several million US dollars.
This response to the product validated Brainytoys’ business model, and the potential of the MemoToys™ product line, to the extent that if key licenses are attached to innovative play patterns, in key markets, the rewards can be huge.
However, the Thomas Licensors, for a number of reasons beyond our control, were unable to extend our rights beyond the Australian and New Zealand markets. Brainytoys will continue discussions with the Licensor.
Brainytoys is continuing to build its licensing portfolio in order to offer the US market, in particular, a broader range of products.
Brainytoys has been offered a number of licensing opportunities; including Movies, TV and Publishing properties and the company is evaluating these opportunities on an ongoing basis.
As we have just announced, after the Fall Toy Preview Show held in early October in Dallas, and following further meetings held with a major Licensing group in New York, Brainytoys was offered the opportunity to become the Master Toy Licensee for a significant US Brand, encompassing an extensive product range covering multiple price points and with major world coverage.
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Due to negotiations currently underway, we are unable to announce the details at this stage, however, further conclusive announcements are expected to be made within the next few weeks on this matter.
We are very proud to have been offered such a major opportunity. The offer was made on the strength of Brainytoys’ product execution skills and innovative play pattern developments.
The offer confirms that our efforts have registered with Licensors, opening up the potential for several other similar opportunities.
The potential role of Master Toy Licensee confers broad product development opportunities and opens up major mass market opportunities for Brainytoys.
If negotiations are successfully concluded this will be Brainytoys’ biggest licensing deal by far.
Our licensing advisors in the US estimate that this brand could potentially be worth over US $100 million in retail sales over the next few years and the opportunities open to Brainytoys are significant.
Appointment of Mr Larry Bernstein – Former President of Hasbro Toys
I would like to use this opportunity to welcome Mr Lawrence (Larry) Bernstein who has been appointed to our Board as a non-Executive Director, with effect from 03 December 2007.
Mr Bernstein is a former President of Hasbro Toy Division (the world’s second largest toy company with annual sales exceeding US$3 billion.
Mr Bernstein’s career at Hasbro spanned 19 years, culminating in an impressive business turnaround in revenues and profits.
Larry brings a lifetime of knowledge, contacts and industry wisdom gained at the very highest level of the world’s toy industry.
He took the Hasbro Toy Business from US $70 million in revenue, with losses, when his group took control, to a turnover of over US $600 million with double digit profits on the bottom line, setting the stage for Hasbro’s growth to the US $3 billion+ company it is today, making it the second largest toy company in the world.
He has deep knowledge and experience of the strong disciplines, methods, industry cycles and management skills required in running a fast growing USA-based public listed Toy Company.
Acquisitions – Enertec, Reveal and UKC
In July 2007, Brainytoys announced the proposed Acquisition of Hong Kong-based Enertec Enterprises Ltd (Enertec) and Texas-based Reveal Entertainment, Inc (Reveal).
And today we have announced a third potential acquisition in the UK.
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The Enertec and Reveal Agreements have been concluded and the acquisitions take effect on January 1 2008.
Rationale for the Proposed Acquisitions
Cash flow and potential earnings
- The combination of the Enertec and Reveal businesses is expected to result in an annual turnover and profit contribution commencing in calendar year 2008 of AU $10 million and AU $1 million respectively. This is before Brainytoys makes its own significant contribution.
Logistical Infrastructure and Sales Base
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The two organisations together employ over 14 appropriately qualified technical and sales staff in Hong Kong, China and the USA, and are pre-qualified (in terms of vendor numbers enabling EDI transaction flow) to supply to most of the key mass market retailers around the world, with a strong base servicing the specialty and second-tier retail chains in the US. The critical logistical and infrastructure elements offered by the integration of these pipelines is plainly evident.
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The center of power in the toy industry runs between Hong Kong/China representing vast manufacturing and production capacities; and the US, which represents approximately 50% of the world’s toy market. The European market represents approximately 30% of the world’s toy market.
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To be a major player in this industry, which is our ambition, we need to have strong infrastructure support in key operational centres (HK/China, USA, Europe), run by capable individuals with deep local knowledge and a proven track record.
With the Enertec and Reveal acquisitions and the potential acquisition of the UK operation, we satisfy those requirements and we have, in effect, a world-wide sales and distribution network.
Selling Skill Sets
- Enertec and Reveal already have mass and specialty retail chain market buyer relationships, and the sales network can be further expanded in accordance with Brainytoys’ requirements.
Incremental Sales Penetration and Profit Generation – Vertically Integrated Structure
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The use of the existing infrastructure and sales force to introduce Brainytoys’ product without incremental overheads, whilst also generating a distributor margin, has a potential to increase gross profit contribution significantly.
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The combined Brainytoys, Enertec and Reveal group will have over 200 products on offer, before we include the UK Company, and the opportunity to sell products from each Division across the network and substantially increase sales, is quite significant.
Value Adding Innovations to Enertec /Reveal Product and IP Portfolio
- Significant opportunities to apply Brainytoys’ technology expertise and know-how to the current Enertec/Reveal product range and intellectual properties result in additional product sale innovations and initiatives.
For example, through the acquisition of Reveal we have gained the rights to several game products, which can be developed as a game for a PC, Console, Internet or Mobile Phone.
With Enertec we gain access to a broad array of manufacturing and development technology.
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The combined Brainytoys, Enertec and Reveal group then has the ability to offer customers and licensors a full spectrum of products covering multiple niches, like:
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Remote Control toys,
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Low and High Tech Electronic toys,
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Electronic games,
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Board games,
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Construction kits,
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Collectables,
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Activity kits
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Die-cast vehicles
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Plush & dolls
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Publishing
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Animation & multimedia
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Educational products & toys
Enertec and Reveal
Distribution Coverage
| ENERTEC REVEAL US CANADA UK FRANCE AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND SOUTH AMERICA US Wal-Mart, Walgreens, KB, JC Penney, Hastings, Asda, Gadget Shop, Empire Stores, Auchan, Intermarche, Tandy, Dick Smith, Kmart, Toys R Us, Target, Big W Barnes & Noble, Calendar Club, LTD Commodities, Amazon.com, Toys R us, J C Penney, 2,700 outlets comprising national, regional and independent toy, games and specialty retail stores. 20,000+ |
ENERTEC REVEAL US CANADA UK FRANCE AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND SOUTH AMERICA US Wal-Mart, Walgreens, KB, JC Penney, Hastings, Asda, Gadget Shop, Empire Stores, Auchan, Intermarche, Tandy, Dick Smith, Kmart, Toys R Us, Target, Big W Barnes & Noble, Calendar Club, LTD Commodities, Amazon.com, Toys R us, J C Penney, 2,700 outlets comprising national, regional and independent toy, games and specialty retail stores. 20,000+ |
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|---|---|---|
| ENERTEC | REVEAL | |
| REGIONS COVERED► |
US CANADA UK FRANCE AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND SOUTH AMERICA |
US |
| CLIENTS SERVICED ► |
Wal-Mart, Walgreens, KB, JC Penney, Hastings, Asda, Gadget Shop, Empire Stores, Auchan, Intermarche, Tandy, Dick Smith, Kmart, Toys R Us, Target, Big W |
Barnes & Noble, Calendar Club, LTD Commodities, Amazon.com, Toys R us, J C Penney, 2,700 outlets comprising national, regional and independent toy, games and specialty retail stores. |
| TOTAL RETAIL STORES ► |
20,000+ | |
Combined, the Brainytoys group will be able to offer in excess of 200 products spanning a broad selection.
Enertec 2008
Brainytoys’ Enertec Division continues to enjoy success with its product lines.
• Radio Control line
The reaction Enertec’s new lines generated at the Dallas show in October from US customers has been very promising.
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Enertec is in negotiations with several domestic distributors and mass market retailers in the US, Europe and Australia, including several potential new customers for Enertec products.
Negotiations include OEM manufacturing agreements for a major US mass retail chain to manufacture Enertec products under the chain’s home brand.
Enertec has also just received orders from Kmart Australia for two new product launch promotions in the second and third quarters of next year.
• Action Toys line
Enertec continues to enjoy significant success with its Jumpsters line, receiving substantial orders from US and Australian customers.
Following the success of the Jumpsters line with Enertec’s USA customer - Walgreens - this year, Enertec has received further enquiries for this line from many other USA customers.
Walgreens is a US pharmacy chain - with approximately 6,000 stores - that also sells toys and which has developed a strong relationship with Enertec.
Enertec has developed extensions to the Jumpsters line - which will be available in early 2008 - and the response from the marker is also very positive to these new developments.
• Die Cast Lines
The success of Enertec’s entry-level Monster Wheels die cast has encouraged the company to develop “Our Town” a die cast line which has also received favorable reaction from major retailers. This line is expected to go into production soon with sales expected in early 2008.
• New Lines
With the new “Hummer” license, Enertec is planning to apply and to develop a range of R/C and Action vehicles in various sizes.
With the popularity of the “Hummer” license in the US, as well as the worldwide market, we expect this line to substantially increase sales for 2008.
Reveal 2008
The Reveal Entertainment division is expected to enter into a growth mode in 2008 based on a variety of factors: Enhancements in the manufacturing and finance of production, operational supports and management tools will assist in identifying and attaining growth.
Growth is expected to occur on four primary levels:
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New game releases: Freakonomics, Bible Trivia, Road to Appomattox, Sea Rovers, Cinco and Letter Rip are new titles scheduled for release in 2008.
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Growth through existing retail channels: Accounts such as Barnes & Noble, Calendar Club, LTD Commodities, among others are expanding their relationships with Reveal and are experiencing growth within their companies. Expansion in their commitment to toys and games increases our opportunities.
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New customer growth: Upgraded sales forces managed by Mike Brien, Brainytoys’ recent appointment to spearhead the US sales program, are expected to open new retail doors for existing, proven products in the Reveal line.
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Expanded product selection: Expanded product offering through Brainytoys and Enertec are expected to be offered as domestic sales opening up specialty customers. New distributor goods discovered, as well as licenses acquired, during the course of the year will create further growth opportunities.
Summary
Key Milestones
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First sales to Australian, New Zealand and US customers
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Developed several innovative and unique technologies to manufacture stage;
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30+ products in production pipeline
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Ready to tap enormous market and sales potential on a world-wide basis;
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Built key strategic partnerships;
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Developed streamlined technology development and manufacture pipeline;
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Building a world-wide logistics, marketing, sales and support network;
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Solid business strategy;
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Developed substantial licensing opportunities;
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Building up strong Board and Management capabilities.
Brainytoys continues to build its Licensed Brands and product portfolio, essential for US markets, and the company has concluded two key strategic acquisitions, which will set the company for substantial growth and sales over the next twelve months and beyond.
I take this opportunity to thank all our stakeholders and shareholders for their continuing support.
I pay particular thanks to:
Catherine Vann and Stephen Zadarnowski our senior management team, for their unswerving and boundless support of me and our corporate and creative efforts, and for their intelligence, expertise, and skill in progressing our placement into this industry.
Our development team – Designers Bradley, Jayden, Jocelyn and Mark, and our R&D Licensing and Project Officer Claire, for their amazing creativity, versatility, flexibility, expertise, knowledge, and considerable dedication to our business.
I also pay a special thanks to our Chairman, Mr Charles MacKinnon and Board members for their advice, commitment, and support in carrying this work forward to a successful and beneficial result for all of us.
Thank you for your attention and support.
ENDS
30 November 2007 For further information contact: Alex Aguero, Managing Director Ph: (08) 9331 8441 [email protected]
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