Amaero (ASX:3DA) Q3 2026 Earnings Call

0:00 Good morning, and thank you for joining us for the Amaero Ltd q three f y twenty six investor webinar. I'm Jay Morgan, investor and media relations manager. And today, I am joined by chairman and CEO, Hank Holland, who will be running through the q three results and the presentation, which was lodged with the ASX this morning. As always, we will be taking questions from attendees following the presentation. So to ask a question throughout today's webinar, please use the q and a function, which can be found at the bottom of your screen. Vince, I'll hand over to you. Thank you, Jane. Good morning, and thank you for everyone else for joining us. I'm Hank Holland, Chairman and CEO of Amaero. We're pleased to report Q3 FY twenty twenty six results that came in line with our expectations and to share an update of the continued momentum we're seeing across our business heading into a very strong fourth quarter.

0:54 I'll take you through our financial performance, the state of our revenue pipeline and several strategic initiatives that we've advanced this quarter, including our redomiciliation of The United States and progress towards a potential U. S. IPO. We'll then open the line for questions. Let me start with reaffirming our FY 'twenty six revenue guidance of 18,000,000 to $20,000,000 And as of today, over $18,000,000 of that guidance is fully contracted. In Q3, we recognized $2,600,000 in revenue, a 301% increase year over year. That figure breaks down as $1,800,000 from powder sales and $700,000 from our PMHIP business. It came in right on top of the $2,500,000 in contracted revenues we disclosed back in January.

1:44 Looking ahead to Q4, we have $8,400,000 in contracted revenue, up from $7,200,000 of contracted revenue disclosed in January. We expect a significant inflection point in the fourth quarter, with contracted revenue in the quarter contributing approximately 45% of total FY 2026 realized and contracted revenue. On the cost side, trailing twelve month G and A expense grew 18% year over year, even as trailing twelve month revenue expanded by more than 300%. I'll come back to that contrast in a moment. It's an important part of the financial discipline and the operating leverage story. We ended the quarter with $38,300,000 cash balance, which included $4,900,000 of restricted cash.

2:30 During Q3, we submitted a draw request in the amount of $5,800,000 to XM Bank for incurred capital expenses, and we expect to receive the disbursement in April. Pro form a cash balance adjusted for the receipt of XM disbursement equals 44,100,000 including restricted cash. On strategic milestones, Tim Johnson has been nominated to join our Board. Our redomiciliation of The U. S. Is on track to be completed by the end of June. Our PCA OB audit with BDO USA is advancing in parallel. And we continue to work towards a potential U. Listing in late calendar twenty twenty six or early twenty twenty seven. I'll cover each of these in more detail shortly. Trailing twelve month revenue reached $11,800,000 in Q3, an increase of 347% year over year. Both business segments are contributing to growth. Powder revenue driven by exclusive supplier agreements and contracted shipments contributed approximately 80 of total revenue, and PMHIP manufacturing contributed approximately 20% of total revenue.

3:40 Manufacturing contracts have longer sales cycles and require customer qualification, but those processes are well underway and we expect PMHIP growth to outpace our overall growth rate and increase its share of revenue mix as we move into FY 2028. We currently have atomization contracts for 14 refractory alloys that include niobium, molyb, tantalum, tungsten and rhenium. And we have 14 active PMHIP contracts. The FY '26 revenue bridge is straightforward. We've recognized 10,300,000 year to date across the first three quarters. We have 8,400,000 contracted for quarter four.

4:26 That gives us line of sight to $18,000,000 to $20,000,000 guidance range with over 18,000,000 contracted. Next slide, please. On the investment side, tangible assets gross PP and E plus inventory have grown from approximately $41,000,000 in Q3 FY twenty five to $72,000,000 today. That capital is going directly into production capacity and inventory. It supports the revenue ramp, enables us to fulfill contracted demand and mitigates tariff and supply chain risk. Every dollar we've deployed is aimed at scaling the business and creating a differentiated and defensible market position.

5:11 As other companies are beginning a multi year capital investment plan, we are concluding a three year $72,000,000 investment plan, and we're positioned to take immediate advantage with production scale of the favorable thematic tailwinds for defense industrial base, for critical mineral supply chain, and for sovereign manufacturing. Our core principle has been to invest early to attract an experienced team that spans technical, operational and financial leadership, then grow the team and GA expenses in a disciplined manner. As the Chairman and CEO and as a largest shareholder, this is yet another example of alignment of interest with management and shareholders. The data supports the case. Trailing twelve month revenue is up 347% year over year, while trailing twelve month G and A expenses were up 18% year over year.

6:04 That divergence, revenue grown at nearly 20 times the rate of G and A, is operating leverage, it's our ethos, and it's a discipline that we will maintain. Let me walk through the cash bridge for Q3. We started the quarter with a cash position of $52,600,000 including restricted cash. From there, net cash used in operations was $7,100,000 inventory purchases $600,000 CapEx was 5,400,000 FX change impact of $1,200,000 brought us to our March 31 closing balance of 38,300,000 which included $4,900,000 of restricted cash. During Q3, we submitted a draw request in the amount of $5,800,000 to XM Bank for incurred capital expenses, and we expect to receive the disbursement in April.

6:54 Pro form a cash balance adjusted for the receipt of the XM reimbursement equals $44,100,000 including restricted cash. We are on schedule and on budget to complete the three year $72,000,000 capital investment plan this quarter. Let me spend a moment on a redomiciliation because we believe it's strategically important step, not just a structural formality. In February, we announced our attention to redomicile from Australia to The United States, establishing a new Delaware parent entity. Our ASX listing will be maintained, the 3DA ticker will be unchanged, and shareholders will retain equivalent economic ownership through CDIs. Our operations, strategy and management remain entirely unchanged.

7:44 What changes is our corporate home. On the commercial side, redomiciliation positions us to satisfy Department of War's Foreign Ownership Control and Influence, or FOCI requirements. That's a prerequisite for eligibility on classified defense contracts, which represents a meaningful expansion of our addressable market. On timeline, our scheme book is expected to be distributed to shareholders in early May. Redomiciliation is expected to be completed by the end of July, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, with a PCAOV audit completed in parallel. Beyond the operating rationale, redomiciliation supports three important objectives. First, U. S. Market positioning.

8:31 We gain greater visibility with U. S. Customers and stakeholders. It helps address foreign ownership control and influence issues. It improves our comparability with U. S. Listed defense and advanced manufacturing peers. Second, strategic flexibility. It simplifies our structure for potential M and A or partnerships and positions us for a potential U. S. IPO in late calendar 'twenty six or early 'twenty seven. And third, capital access. A U. Domicile and potential IPO give Amaero access to a larger, deeper investor base and the potential for improved valuation and liquidity, along with enhanced access to lower cost debt and equity capital. Tim Johnson's board nomination in March was in preparation of a potential U. S. Listing.

9:18 Taken together, this is about ensuring that as we grow, our corporate structure and market access reflects and supports the end market customer while supporting the enterprise valuation and liquidity. On the financing, we are pleased to announce that Exchem Bank has increased its loan commitment to Amaero from $22,800,000 to $26,100,000 a US3.3 million dollars increase. This is non dilutive capital that directly supports incremental CapEx deployment. The amendment reflects Ex I'm Bank's continued endorsement of our platform and further aligns us with our Make More in America initiative. Government backed non dilutive financing of this kind is accretive to the capital stack, and it provides an important signal of support from The U. S. Government.

10:14 On the commercial front, two announcements deserve specific attention. First, we're also pleased to announce that we've entered into a three year distribution agreement with United Performance Metals, or UPM, an affiliate of O'Neill Industries, which generated approximately $3,400,000,000 U. S. Sales in calendar year 2025. Amaero has been appointed as UPM's exclusive supplier for titanium powder. We've already received initial purchase order of 4,000 kgs, which is included in FY 2026 contracted revenue. And UPM is committed obligated to maintain a minimum inventory of 4,000 KGs with ongoing replenishment orders, create a recurring volume dynamic that scales with their end market demand. This is a significant distribution channel addition and is generating revenue from day one.

11:04 Second, next page, please. After the end of the period, we announced a one year master purchasing agreement for FY 2027 titanium powder shipments with minimum contracted revenue of $7,800,000 To put that in context, it's roughly equivalent to our total FY 2026 titanium powder revenue in a single contract. Shipments are structured as equal quarterly deliveries from July 26 through June 27 with fixed pricing on committed volumes and upside from additional orders. The customer expects FY '27 orders to exceed the minimum commitment. Combined with a planned 100% increase in titanium powder production capacity in FY '27 over FY 'twenty six, this agreement gives us strong early visibility into next year's revenue ramp.

11:58 Stepping back to the broader commercial picture. We've taken a very deliberate approach to aligning with select strategic partners via long term agreements. In each case, the partner is strategically positioned in a market vertical. In the case of ADMIN, Doctor. Dow and the organization have pioneering experience in printing C103 and other refractory alloys. In the case of LO3D, they have differentiated position as the only made in USA OEM with large format printing capability for defense and space applications. In the case of Titanic, they're the leading force in The U. S. Defense industrial base manufacturing of qualified components. In the case of Kunitz Godwin, they're a trusted partner for processing PM hip manufactured components and they have a large expansion underway for three d printing machines dedicated to titanium.

12:47 And in the case of UPM, a leading distributor, aerospace, defense and medical industries with a large sales organization. Separately, we have numerous programs, plural, and numerous defense primes, plural, that are advancing first articles in qualification for production contracts. As is our practice, we will announce the commercial opportunities once we are awarded a production contract. Specifically, looking at Q4, we expect titanium revenue to increase 62% compared to Q3. I'm pleased to share that this will reflect full capacity utilization for the current quarter. We have orders for 14 refractory alloy powders in the backlog, and we have 14 active PM hip contracts, only one of which has been announced.

13:38 That's a strong commercial foundation entering the largest quarter in our company's history. To bring it together, Q3 delivered on plan. Q4 is fully contracted and represents a step change in quarterly revenue. FY twenty six guidance is reaffirmed to 18,000,000 to $20,000,000 100% contracted. Our balance sheet is solid with pro form a cash position of $44,000,000 post Ex I'm reimbursement. We're advancing our U. S. Redomiciliation on schedule. We expect to enter FY 2027 with strong revenue visibility with long term agreements and contracted shipments. We are executing, we are scaling, we are focused on where we need to be in a year and in three years to address critical needs of our partners in the U. S. Government, Department of War and the commercial sector.

14:29 Amaero is uniquely positioned as a leading advanced material business and a leading advanced manufacturing business. The Act had boldly commissioned the largest scale and lowest unit cost US production of refractory and titanium alloy powders and to position Amaero as the leading PMF manufacturer of complex near net shaped parts. Thank you for your time this morning and I'm happy to take your questions. Wonderful. Thank you for that. And again, I encourage webinar attendees to use the q and a function, which can be found at the bottom of your screen if you've got questions for Hank. There's been quite a few that have already come through, so let me jump into them. So, Hank, q three revenue came in at 2.6 nil, which of course is at 301% lift on the prior corresponding period.

15:19 Can you walk shareholders through how the team has converted the commercial pipeline into contracted revenue? Yeah, part of we announced earlier in the year was we had contracting revenue that was delayed, given the FY twenty five continuing resolution and the government shutdown. We have seen since the government reopened late last year, an acceleration of contracting. Part of that is reflected in the contracts we have in the current quarter, the fourth quarter of this year. So we have not only, I think, done a good job at converting these current contracts in the Q4, but as we look into next year, as I mentioned, on the titanium side, the contract that we announced of $7,800,000 that's equivalent to roughly FY '26 titanium revenue, right? I think as we go into FY '27, that will be about one half of plan for FY '27, that one contract.

16:13 In that same announcement, I said that before the end of this fiscal year, we expect to announce a refractory development contract. That too, I think, will be about one half of our planned refractory revenue in FY '27. And likewise on the PM hip side, I think by the time we get to the end of June, I think roughly one half of our planned PM hip revenue will already be contracted. So I think we'll go into FY '27 with significant portion of our plan contracted and probably already have contracted roughly equivalent to FY twenty six revenue. Wonderful. That answers one of the questions there. The second one, what impact, if any, are you experienced from the increase in energy costs, obviously, from the Iran conflict?

16:59 And how are you managing to keep overall cost growth down? So, one of the things that I'm grateful for is when we came to Tennessee amongst other incentives, we signed a ten year subsidized electricity agreement at 5.8¢ a kilowatt hour. The national average before this energy shock was 19¢. Right? And mind you, most of the electricity in The US is gas fired, right? Most of our electricity demand, most of our electricity generation. So those electricity rates will be climbing. So we are immune. We have no impact whatsoever from the fuel increases that we're seeing in the broader energy increases that we're seeing in The US. And moreover, we're not impacted in any way by the shipping curtailment in the Hormuz Strait and in general in The Middle East.

17:52 What little imports we have from outside come from China, which again, that shipping has not been impacted. And likewise, we have you've seen a lot of inflation in certain base metals, as everyone is aware. In the case of titanium, which is a primary thing that we import from China, as you might recall, we've got a long term U. S. Supplier agreement with Perryman, and we have a long term agreement with an aerospace mill in China. In fact, our titanium prices in China have come down about two dollars a kg from about $16.75 a kg at the start of this year to about $14.50 a kg now. So we've actually been able to negotiate lower prices on titanium bar. Thank you. Bear with me. There's a lot coming through.

18:39 So trailing twelve months revenue was up 347% year on year, while g and a expenses grew only 18%. You touched on this in the present, but can you talk to how the team is maintaining that operating leverage as the business scales? Yeah, primarily, if you think about early on going back a year ago, eighteen months ago, we decided to be on our front foot and to aggressively invest the handstand up, I believe, the most experienced team in our industry in The U. S. I think we've got a very, very strong team, particularly when it comes to gas atomized titanium. On our team includes the inventor of gas atomized titanium, Fred Yulton, Eric Bono has worked with him for three decades. So a lot of costs early on to stand up our team. Since then, we've been we continue to add to our team, we've been very, very disciplined to add on the G and A side. Most of our incremental hires today are in the factory, right, actually in production, not in G and A, if you will.

19:37 And then likewise, expenses. Obviously, we've got certain fixed expenses we've had to absorb as far as the facility and so forth. We'll see our gross margin improve as our revenue scale. But on the G and A side, it's primarily a discipline in hiring is where we're going to maintain that growth. Wonderful. This one's come through quite a few times. So U. S. Federal Budget now resolved and the Department of Board's Sovereign Manufacturing Agenda is gaining momentum. How is Amaero positioned to benefit from this policy environment, particularly with the US Navy letter of support and PMHIP qualifications underway? Yeah. So let me it's a great question. And let me give a direct and maybe what some might consider an indirect benefit.

20:22 On the direct side, and and and the same would be true with the Iran conflict right now. Obviously, we live in a world that is increasingly unstable from a geopolitical standpoint. The president has recently submitted a $1,500,000,000,000 defense budget. That's a $1,150,000,000,000 baseline and a $350,000,000,000 reconciliation bill on top of that. So $1,500,000,000,000 defense budget. So that obviously helps us significantly. One thing that I would point you to in the most recent announcement I made in my quote, there's a quote that I this won't be verbatim, but roughly said, we will continue to collaborate closely with our partners in the US government and the US Navy to innovate, to integrate, and to scale.

21:10 Notice that it's first time I said to integrate. So one of the challenges that we have in The US right now is you've got these parts that travel all over the country for disparate processing. And what we've got to do a better job of in The US is to co locate and to integrate adjacency capabilities. This creates a great expansion opportunity for us and one that would be very well supported by the US government. So stay tuned for more there. And it has a direct benefit in the shift in policy that we're seeing. On top of that, I would argue, other than AI, and of course in The US, we've got a bit of a software hiccup from a valuation standpoint in general, there is not a more sought after investment theme than where Amaero sits at the nexus of. Three themes, defense industrial base, critical mineral supply chain, sovereign manufacturing.

22:01 Right? And thus, as we're in conversations right now about a potential IPO in The US, incredibly strong support of the investor base here. Another data point on that, if you look at the defense ETF in The US, it's at a 52 high. If you look at Amaero and most of our peers in Australian market, the ASX, we're all trading about 35% to 40% discount for a fifty two week high, right? So there's a real valuation arbitrage between The US market and ASX as well. And particularly with small cap investors because there aren't that many investable companies, a lot of interest in companies such as Amaero in this thing. By the way, I would I would point out to you it's been announced. One of our suppliers for tungsten and moly, a company called Elmet, e l m e t.

22:49 They have filed to go public. They've given a range that's supposed to price on Wednesday of this week. You know, I I would suggest watch elements and see how they do when they go public. Bello three d went public August of last year at $3. Today, I think they're trading around $12. So watch other companies that are considered in a similar ecosystem as where Amaero sits. Thank you, Hank. Next one here. So is there still interest in C103 powder? And what percentage of sales do you expect it to be going forward? And again, what's the outlook for the C103 pricing? Yeah. So in general, what we felt all along is that as we scaled that, albeit we'll have three atomizers for titanium, we'll only have one atomizer for refractory.

23:40 But because refractory prices are so much higher, and by the way, the refractory atomizer will never have probably more than about 50% or 60% capacity utilization. So we're going to keep that where we're going be very agile and be responsive to orders. Where titanium will get up to running essentially 100% capacity utilization. This current quarter on the Atomizer dedicated titanium, we are adding 100% capacity utilization. We're full. We cannot accept other orders this quarter. Okay, to give you an example. That being said, going forward, we expect that refractory revenues will roughly equal titanium revenue. Okay? Only one atomizer to three atomizers, but refractory revenues will roughly equal titanium revenue. If you asked me two years ago, I would have thought more of that would be C103 than now. Had that changed our revenue outlook, it's just changed the mix of those revenues.

24:28 So I announced that we expect before the end of June to announce a development refractory contract. So stay tuned. Coming. We feel confident about that. But notice the name of that contract, development refractory. What does that entail? Hapnium prices, which keep in mind C103 is about 10% hapnium, are up about 75 in the last nine months. So as hapnium has gotten increasingly expensive and thus C103 has gotten increasingly expensive, the Department of Defense is increasingly asked to what other development refractory alloys can we atomize that have similar high temperature application, right? And so this is something we're working closely with the government on. Again, stay tuned. So yes, there's demand for C103.

25:13 Keep in mind, C103 was first used in 1969 in the Apollo Lunar Landing Vehicle. So we've got six decades of decades. These other alloys we don't have, right, years of decade. So there will be certain very mission critical applications that C103 will be called for. And that price is actually relatively stable. It's climbing, albeit not as much as happening. And if anything, the margin has come down a little bit given that. So yes, there will be C103 demand. I think prices climb, but not quite a lot from where they are now. But I think the refractory opportunity in general is about the same as percent of revenue, but the mix of that is going to shift to other development refractory alloys from C103, I would expect. Wonderful. Next one. This webinar attendees just asked for your long term vision for Amaero.

26:04 So is it to build the company for potential acquisition, or is it to maintain ownership and establish Amaero as a national asset to the Union Navy Defense Force? So my background is essentially as an investor in private equity. So I think of businesses as platforms. And part of what I I always had the vision of Amaero. And now I think we're on that cusp. And it's another really, really important reason for now is the time for the IPO of The U. S. And the redomiciliation of The U. S. Is we've established a foundational capability, a leader in refractory and titanium spherical powder, a leader in PMF manufacturing, and we're now at the stage that we'll begin to scale revenue. The opportunity for us now where we've got I've been in Washington, DC 10 of the last fourteen weeks, right, to put some context on this.

26:53 And the reason for that is there is so much interest in the US government to essentially create these regional manufacturing hubs. And so the real opportunity I see for us in my vision is how do you take our foundational capability, in a very disciplined, thoughtful way, expand that. Expand that into adjacencies where we become an integrator, advanced material manufacturing company that is essential not only to defense but also to the commercial sector. In a perfect world, I'd like to be 50% government source revenue and 50% commercial source revenue. So what we call a traditional dual use company. But that would be my vision. As far as selling, I always want to build this building the business where we would be an attractive acquisition target to someone else. And part of the way you get a higher multiple is you want to be involved in very strategic businesses, I. Addressing critical vulnerabilities in the supply chain will get us a higher multiple.

27:50 I think that we are a year and a half away, two years away from being deemed highly strategic in The US manufacturing and supply chain ecosystem. Do we sell? Do we merge? Do we just continue to operate at that point because we're a highly profitable company, right, as we get down the road? You want to have all those options. But I certainly want to have a corporate strategy that is going to make us an attractive target to someone else. Sorry, you're muted, Jane. Sorry. This one again comes through quite a few times. Just commenting on the expected timelines for the Argonne recycling plant. And given the positive effect on the margins, can the installation be potentially brought forward?

28:40 So we ordered the Argonne recycling in December of last year. We announced at that time we expected to complete the installation by the end of this year, so December of this year. We are on track for that. It probably then takes three months to optimize all the operations. So we'll begin to see savings in the first quarter of the calendar year in '27. Probably really get the most significant amount of those savings beginning the second quarter and then you continue to optimize for some period. But you're exactly right. We're already the lowest cost producer, and this will significantly improve our unit cost profile. And I think that we'll begin to realize that early in 'twenty seven. I don't think it's possible to pull it forward more. We really shortened that. Initially, it was estimated eighteen to twenty months. We brought that into twelve to thirteen months. I think we can achieve that. Unlikely, we can pull it forward more than that. At the same time, as you might recall, we ordered the fourth atomizer, third one dedicated titanium.

29:38 As we speak right now, if you were here in our factory, ALD's technicians are on-site. They're installing the third atomizer, which we said we'd commission in June. We have a pretty good experience or track record of doing that ahead of time. If you were here, what you would see is atomizer number two is covered in a curtain. The reason it's covered in a curtain is we don't want the ALD technicians to see the changes, the modifications that we made to the earlier atomizer. And so atomizer one and atomizer two are off limits to ALD. We will accept that. We'll then make the modifications that we make. That will be we are at capacity, as I said, currently. We'll get more capacity as we roll into next quarter with the next atomizer. Thank you, Hank. This one's come through a few times as well. So given the global supply concentration in both niobium and titanium, can you walk us through your sourcing strategy, specifically whether you rely on multiple suppliers, and how resilient your supply chain is to geopolitical risks such as tariff sanctions or trade disruptions?

30:45 So a great question. Let me take those separately beginning with titanium. So titanium, we don't have an element issue. So titanium comes from mineral sands, ilmenite and rutile, which, for example, probably close to half of the global supply is in Australia, right? So you've got a lot of the ore, you've got a lot of the precursor elements. The challenge is titanium sponge, which is then used the way you make titanium bar is about 20% titanium sponge master alloy and then scrap. That's how you make titanium bar that we then buy and atomize. China has got about 65% or 70% of the titanium sponge capacity in the world.

31:31 Okay? In the developed world, in the allied world, about 20% plus is in Japan. By the way, that's the highest quality sponge in the world is in Japan. And The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia has stood up in recent years actually the joint venture with a Japanese company some type sponge capability as well. We have a long term supply agreement with Perryman, a private titanium producer in The U. S. There's four producers in The U. S. Tiemets, ATI, Howlett and Perryman. We've got a long term supply agreement with Perryman. They in turn have a long time long term supply agreement for for a Japanese titanium sponge. So we've got a very secure relationship for US titanium. China, we've got a long term supply agreement with a very, very well respected aerospace mill.

32:19 This company actually came to us through a defense I'm sorry, a medical company that we're working closely with. And the real issue there is price. So even after a 50% tariff, which is what we paid today on Chinese titanium bar, unfortunately, our US sourced titanium bar is 100% more expensive, even after a 50% tariff. So secure titanium supply chain, it's really the price issue is a determinant. On the other side, niobium is the least of our words. So niobium, yes, it's highly concentrated largely coming out of Brazil. But keep in mind, unlike rot users, that is bar sheet metal tubing that use, you know, large, large, large amounts of product, we're using a very small amount. I mean, niobium this year, we might use 10 tons.

33:13 It's a tiny number, right, in the in the grand scheme of of metals, if you will. And so we've got no issue getting niobium. Not a worry at all. Hapnium, zirconium, harder. Right? Hapnium and zirconium come together as far as they exist together as elements. And again, a large amount of that is coming in China. We do have some of those deposits in North America as well. And then really where you're seeing the price appreciation right now is tungsten, for example. We've got an atomization project we're doing right now with tungsten and tantalum. Tungsten prices, since we put in our order for bar, which is the start of this year, tungsten prices are probably up 150%, maybe 200% since January, Right?

34:03 And this is really China going out very aggressively buying tungsten supply all over the world, right, and essentially trying to push The US out. Tungsten is really important in The US right now for certain munition applications, also for thermal protection systems given the high temperature. So it's less of an issue of can we get it. And again, iOBM is not a concern. It's more an issue of some of these we're seeing very volatile price increases given the pressures from China. Thank you for that. Again, lots of questions coming through. Has the US government shown any interest in taking equity stakes in companies like 3DA as they have with companies in strategic minerals such as MP Materials?

34:49 Again, great question. I want to be somewhat careful with what I say here. The White House in this administration, the Trump administration, really beginning in the fall of last year pivoted and made a strategic decision to really focus, given the prior question about China and critical minerals, right, in sourcing materials, rare earths in particular, think about the battery supply chain, right, in particular, to really focus on creating more resilience and independence and duplicity in supply chain of critical minerals. And so they went out and what they've done is they have made a number of strategic investments in companies, primarily in the critical minerals area and very narrow in critical minerals, for example, rare earths, okay? And then what they've done is in certain other applications that are adjacent, so think semiconductors, they made a 10% investment in Intel, right, as an example.

35:54 Historically, a company like Amaero would go get government funding, government grants from something called Defense Production Act Title III or IVAS, Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment. And I'm of the opinion that those programs are largely on pause. I don't think that capital is available the same way that it was. And thus, we've taken the proactive initiative to begin conversations with US counterparts for other possible capital opportunities with the US government. And I really can't say more about that at this time. I'm not necessarily interested in a scenario where the government would take equity interest in Amaero. I think there will be other scenarios that we could approach that would not require that.

36:44 Wonderful. Okay, next one. This webinar user is just asking about the fifth atomizer. Is that still the plan and will it fit in the existing floor space? So the current plan that we've committed to is four atomizers, all of which have been ordered. Right? We've commissioned the first two. We'll commission a third one, by June, and a fourth one that is on order now. That'll be three dedicated titanium and one for refractory. That's all that we have the current plan for. So we do not currently have a plan for item number five. We do, in the Titanium Room, have room for an item five and item six. But the only way that I would envision that we would order five and six is with a binding offtake agreement with a strong credit counterparty.

37:29 And that's what we're saving that for. We're working on some very large commercial opportunities right now. We've held that back. And that would be a way for us to, structure a preferential commercial agreement, partner with someone, not unlike Tesla did with Panasonic on their mega battery installations. So that's along the lines that we're thinking. We do not, though, currently have plans to order item number five. And again, I would only see that in conjunction with the binding offtake agreement. Thank you, Hank. Sorry, we are getting through them. This one is just on TJ Johnson's appointment. Encourage webinar attendees to go back and read his experience because it is very impressive. This question asks, what drew the board to him specifically? And what does his appointment signal about Amaero's next chapter?

38:17 So let me provide insight on a question that wasn't asked that is related. As an ASX listed company, we're all ASX listed companies are required to have a minimum of two Australian residents as board members. I mentioned earlier in this call about poking or foreign ownership control and influence. So if you want to get a classified defense contract, you've got to go through an evaluation process where the Department of War evaluates foreign ownership, control, and influence. And part of what they look at, and candidly, they scrutinize, is non US persons on your board. So one of the things that we will evaluate with The US listing is do we recompose our board of only US persons given the increasing work that we're doing with defense?

39:09 Alright. So a determination has not been made. No announcement has been made, but it's something the board will evaluate in consideration with these cloaky issues, if you will. So now to the question about Tim. TJ and I have known each other for years. He was on the board of a prior portfolio company called LogicSource, a company that I bought from Bain Capital Ventures. Was most recently the CFO of Victoria's Secret, very large public company, is currently on the board of, I believe it's three New York Stock Exchange listed company. And we brought him on the board not only as someone with very, very strong experience as a director, but in anticipation of chairing our audit committee, right, which is increasingly important as a US listed company.

39:55 And he's, you know, very, very well suited for that. So I know him. We've got very good chemistry, and he's very qualified. And so as we continue to round out the board, part of what we'll look at now is what is that matrix of roles that we need. Right? I could imagine, for example, we don't have anyone on our board today that let's say, you know, that comes out of the US military. Right? That spent time, whether it's in program management, logistics, whatever it might be. And my nature is I don't want someone involved titterly. I don't want someone involved for their name. I only want someone involved if they're gonna be substantively involved. HR McMaster, I don't talk a lot about Lieutenant General HR McMaster. HR McMaster and I talk on a very regular basis. He's a very close friend. He's a close trusted advisor.

40:42 Right? He's engaged actively with Amaero. And so we'll look at that for the board. And I think that'll you know, part of what we look at is do we invariably, we'll add people to the board. But do we more broadly reconstitute the board to account from some of these U. S. Issues relating to classified programs? Thank you, Hank. Next one. So do we expect many opportunities to flow for meeting the safety requirements? Yes. And what I said in The US earnings comments that I made, and I was very I underscored it. We are advancing multiple programs, plural, with multiple defense primes, plural, to qualify classified programs.

41:29 And so the first step is to move forward to qualify those programs. After that, there's a process that you have to go through to get your facility as a secure facility, right, essentially a classified facility. And all this would be part of that review that I described. So, yes, if you think about what we're doing on the last page of the presentation, we have not announced the counterparties, and I'm not in a position to now, but I did have a logo on there for the US Navy and the US Air Force. So, you know, think submarine, think missiles, right? And those would be areas that you would expect that increasingly we would be involved over time. Wonderful, Hank. Well, looks like that's all the questions that have come through. Perhaps you want to just get some final comments on what investors can look forward to from a news flow perspective over the next sort of six to twelve months.

42:20 So first of all, very much appreciate everyone, shareholders and other investors looking at Amaero. It's an exciting time. This is a year we always said would be an inflection point for Amaero, that would be the yield that we began to scale revenue. I think that is the case. We are glad to reaffirm 18,000,000 to $20,000,000 guidance of this quarter. We equally feel good about going into FY '27. We think we'll be well positioned with good visibility going into FY '27. So stay tuned. Exciting time for Amaero and we very, very much appreciate all the investor support. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you all for joining us. And if we have missed any of your questions, please feel free to reach out via the contact details on the bottom of our ASX releases. We look forward to hearing from you next time. Thank you.