Hidden Gems in Investor Presentations

One of Australia’s independent financial news websites, the Finance News

Network (FNN) regularly partners with wealth manager Shaw and Partners
to sponsor investor presentation events.

The events, now online due to COVID 19, allow CEO’s of up and coming
companies the opportunity to present their case to interested investors.
Attendees have the opportunity to question the business leaders as well.

The full text of each presentation is available online at the FNN website for
interested investors to look for prospective investments. Although well-
known ASX stocks occasionally make presentations, the more typical
participants are companies in the earlier stages of development taking
advantage of the opportunity to make their investment case. They have
stories to tell, with some more compelling than others.

Companies whose stories center on innovative approaches to the way

traditional business is done in the sectors in which they operate are often
most attractive to investors with tolerance for risk. Few of these companies
are generating substantial revenues and fewer still have reached
profitability.

The following price movement chart from the ASX website tracks the year
over year share price movement of four interesting companies from the
November investor presentation events at FNN. These are the companies:

 Knosys Limited (KNO) Software

 Etherstack PLC (ESK) Software
 BARD1 Life Sciences Limited (BD1) Healthcare
 Carbonxt Group Limited (CG1) Materials
 Galian Lithium (GLN) Resources

And here is their year over year share price movement.

Investors with the patience to endure the doldrums resulting from declining
lithium prices have been rewarded as lithium stocks have once again
returned to earlier form. Oversupply of lithium drove down the prices and
investors fled. Developments in the future of Electric Vehicles (EVs), with
most coming from Tesla, the largest EV manufacturer in the world, have
propelled lithium stocks back into the forefront of investor interest. Every
major automobile manufacturer on the planet is ramping up production of
EV models. A recently passed infrastructure bill in the US, the largest
market in the world, includes major investments in recharging stations
across the country.

Galan brings the promise of an improved process for extracting lithium

from salt brines. Lithium is found in hard rock deposits, with Australia
holding the largest hard rock deposits in the world at the Greenbush mine
in Western Australia. Australia ranks second in the world in lithium
reserves, trailing Chile. From the Statista ( a research firm for business
data) website:
South American countries like Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia extract lithium
from the extensive salt flats in the region.

Galan has multiple lithium brine projects in the Argentina’s Hombre Muerto
Basin at Humberto Muerto West and Candelas. The company also has a
licence application for a project near the Greenbushes mine. In January of
2021Galan acquired an 80% interest in Lithium Australia’s (LIT)
Greenbushes South lithium project.

Galan is at the forefront of employing high-tech methods of exploration and

production. At Greenbush, the company recently completed a deep ground
penetrating radar (DGPR) study to identify high potential targets. Galan
plans soil sampling and drilling at the identified locations.

The company is also experimenting with different chemical compounds for

extracting lithium from brine to optimise both the design of the extraction
ponds and the attendant lithium carbonate processing plants. Galan is after
extraction and processing techniques that will yield high purity lithium
carbonate at lower cost.
The share price has been rising for most of the year following a series of
positive announcements. In mid-July, the share price hit what was then an
all-time high following the news of the successful testing of the company’s
extraction process with purity levels of 99.88%, higher than the minimum
level of 99.5%. In addition, the consulting firm conducting the test believed
there was room for further improvement.

The share price slid as investors learned Galan planned a $50 million
dollar share placement to fund exploration and drilling progress along with
finalising feasibility studies at Humberto Muerto West and Candelas.

Galan has a market cap of $443 million dollars and last traded at $1.53 per
share.

Etherstack claims to be the “world’s leading licensor of wireless

technologies for the public safety and mission critical radio industries.”

The company’s customers include a variety of sectors, from defense to

resources to public safety. Etherstack technologies are used to encrypt
critical communications over “push to talk” radio systems, using “stack
software,” as well as in other applications

Located in the UK, Etherstack has a subsidiary company in Australia,

Auria Wireless, that uses Etherstack technology to manufacture complete
digital radio network systems.

In the past year, the company has achieved several product wins. The
Australian government signed a $4.1 million dollar deal to receive
Etherstack technology and associated delivery systems, with the potential
for additional business pending the successful completion of performance-
based targets.

Additional contracts signed during late 2020 through 2021 to date include
RCS Communications for a major Western Australian iron ore producer
(the second deal with this client); an AUD$500,000 subcontract with Electro
Optics Systems (EOS) to provide supply services to the Australian
Department of Defense; an AUD$11.6 million dollar deal with Samsung of
Korea for networking elements; and the Etherstack American subsidiary
company signed a USD$420,000 contract with US communications
conglomerate AT&T for software licences and equipment and needed
services to integrate the equipment.

Additional contracts were signed with the UK Ministry of Defence and the
Australian Department of Home Affairs.
On 23 November, the company issued new guidance for FY 2020, raising
both revenue and profit expectations. Etherstack has a market cap of $67
million dollars and last traded at $0.51 per share.

Bard Life Sciences is developing testing for the diagnosis of a variety of

cancers, including ovarian, breast, lung, prostate, bladder, and pancreatic
cancer. The company’s focus is on non-invasive diagnostic methods for
early detection of cancers. Many currently used diagnostic measures
cannot detect cancers until later stages.

The company has two diagnostic products in place – the hTERT test to
supplement cytology testing for bladder cancers, and the EXO-NET® pan-
exosome capture tool for research purposes. Bard’s cancer diagnostic
pipeline includes tests in development for ovarian and breast cancers, and
research-stage projects for prostate and pancreatic cancers.

The share price exploded upwards following the release of successful test
results on a Bard compound for early diagnosis of ovarian cancer. The
share price got another boost back in March when a collaborative research
study with Minomic International found EXO-NET® successfully isolated
exosomes in a study of a Minomic pancreatic cancer treatment, before
returning to earth.

In August, the company announced successful “proof of concept” results

for a treatment for ovarian cancer – ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent
assay). A proof of concept (POC) test demonstrates the potential viability of
the concept, or idea.

On 11 November, the company was granted a US patent for its BARD1

autoantibody treatment for the diagnosis of lung cancer. Bard Life
Sciences has a market cap of $96 million dollars and last traded at $1.04
per share.

Of all the presenting companies, Carbonxt operates in a sector that could

catch fire – reducing environmental pollutants.

The world appears to be coming together in joint efforts to reduce carbon

emissions and other pollutants, with coal being one of the leader sources of
carbon and other emissions. Companies have been working for decades
on “clean” coal. There are methods of carbon capture and sequestration
(CCS) in place but as yet none has made a large scale impact.

Carbonxt makes Activate Carbon (AC) powders and pellets for the
removal of pollutants generated from industrial processes. The company’s
principal market is the US and its clients include coal-fired electricity
generating plants, cement factories, and other applications with polluting
byproducts. The company has successfully reduced mercury and sulfur
emissions from coal-fired generating plants and has expanded its focus to
pollutant sources in wastewater treatment, potable water, and phosphate
removal.

The company has manufacturing facilities in the US states of Minnesota,

Georgia, and Ohio. On 2 February, the company announced an agreement
with a US coal producer, Kentucky Coal Processing, to produce pellets at
high volume by opening a new manufacturing facility for Carbonxt. The
new plant will be funded by an investment group at no cost to Carbonxt
and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of FY 2022.
Carbonxt has a market cap of $51 million dollars and last traded at $0.30
per share.