Blackbird (LSE:BIRD) — Final Results

0:02 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the BLACKBIRD PLC final results investor presentation. Throughout this recorded presentation, investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged and can be submitted at any time via the Q and A tab that's situated just on the right hand corner of your screen. Please simply type in your questions and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question it receives during the meeting itself. However, the company will review all questions submitted today and publish responses where it's appropriate to do so. These will be available via your investment company dashboard, and we'll notify

0:32 you by email when these are ready for your review. Before we begin, I would like to submit the following poll. And if you'd give that your kind attention, I'm sure the company will be most grateful. And I'd now like to hand you over to Ian McDonough, CEO. Good morning to you, sir. Good morning. Thank you very much, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you much very much for joining our investor presentation again for the final results for for 2021. We're getting quite used to this now, so I hope it's an an enjoyable format. Please go ahead and and submit as many questions as you can, and we'll we'll try and get our our best to get through them in the meeting. I'm joined here today in in the office here with with Steven White and also by by Zoom by by by Steven Streeter. So he can answer questions as well. Right. I'm gonna start off with with slide three just as a recap for, I think, probably everyone's knowledge already, but just in case you didn't know, Blackbird PLC is is an AIM listed business. We are a software development company that sells the Blackbird content creation tools that we sell to many major media companies around the world.

1:36 We have a a cross trade from AIM back to the OTCQX in The USA. This is something that we we put into force last year, 2021. I have to say it was done at the at the at the height of or just the beginning of another COVID lockdown. So we haven't had a great deal of chance to to promote that yet, and that's something we're gonna be doing this year. The reason that we think that there'll be an interest there for The US market is because the majority of our customers are US based and actually are household names in The US whereas they're not particularly in The UK. Growth is is really very strong in The US. We currently have a market cap of 64,000,000, clearly some some distance away from where our high was recently. Obviously, world events are have have have had an impact, but we're all confident that we will will be well back up there and and surpass those numbers at some points very soon.

2:31 We are an IP company in our hearts. And when I came to the to the market last time, did a I did one of these these IMC meetings just before Christmas. We talked about having 16 patents that time, including six that were pending. We come this time, we've actually got 18 now. We've got 14 that are granted and four more that are pending. And that number of IP of of patents will grow as we develop new customers sorry, new products in new markets, and and they'll be innovative and dis differentiated around these patents. We're completely cloud native, and so that actually has a number of massive advantages, including being very efficient. And what what what we've what we've been saying to the market actually is we're very efficient at decarbonizing media supply chains.

3:18 This is different to a net zero argument, which I know has come in for quite a lot of flak over the last few weeks. Our decarbonizing is is actually about lowering cost, not about raising costs. We we could take a lot of carbon out of the media supply chain, also a lot of cost out of the media supply chain. It's really about saving energy at source. For the work that we did in this area, we were awarded the best tech company 2021 by the Sports Pro OTT Awards. And actually really gratifyingly, the inaugural environmental sustainability award company of 2021 by the IABM awards. So it's really nice to see that a a challenger brand like ourselves is getting recognition for the for the work that we're doing in this area.

4:00 The board hasn't changed for the last couple of times that we've on a road show. But just to remind you, we've got some significant shareholders here on the board. Myself and my family own around seven and a half percent of the stock. Steven Streeter owns around 17% of the stock, and all the board all the board are investors in the business. Steve White and Andy Bentley actually also invested in the last round as well as myself and my family. So we're very much we're very much nailed our colors to the mast, and we're very much believing in the success of the company. So 2021 highlights. Well, this was really transformational 2021 because we did our first tech licensing deal back in September. This means that our our technology, the magic that's the heart of of Blackbird, is now gonna be put into another company's product and and sold around the world. The company in question is a global broadcast company. They have an excellent reputation, and they have a global business. So when that product gets launched in the middle of this year, then then the the the brand the the co branded product will be in many newsrooms and sports production rooms around the world. So it's a really big step forward for us.

5:06 Financially, it was the largest deal that we've done by a factor of two. It included a a minimum guarantee sorry. It included a develop development fee. Steve will talk you through the details. It also was underpinned by a minimum guarantee of a percentage of gross sales. So minimum guarantee underpinning a percentage of gross sales of that product. Second big highlight of last year, we did a success successful, and I'm sure you all agree, timely placing in December at a price of 2018, which is double the the price that we did it in in 2019. And we raised £8,000,000 to to provide funds to enter new markets. We've always talked about the applicability of our of our software and our our our patents and the technology to enter new markets, and this is now a really excellent chance for us to to to show that through that.

5:57 Revenues for the year are up 32%, another record year. Order book, more impressive even, is that is up 93% year on year. We broke the £2,000,000 market mark for the first time revenue, and we'll talk you through a little bit of the details with that as we go. And we got some super a list client wins last year. Since I last spoke to you, we brought brought on FIFA. Also through the year, we brought on our first US major with with CVS, which is now part of Paramount. We also brought on Univision, Eurovision, and and others. We also showed ourselves as as thought leaders in last year. We released two papers, one around total cost of ownership, which is about taking cost out of the media supply chain, and also about decarbonizing the video industry as a whole, showcasing BLACKBIRD's independently derived data points that show that we're 91% more carbon efficient in certain workflows than our competitors.

6:51 This is a slide that really just shows historically where we've added routes to market since I joined the company. So I joined in '20 late twenty seventeen. So we we were working back in Soho then just in on on small production house deals. We moved into infrastructure deals in 2017, added OEM partnerships in 2018, really built robust APIs and multifunctional APIs in in 2020, which has enabled us to have a deeper integration for major sporting events with the likes of of EBS and also powering powering other companies' products in in the powered by Blackbird model. What we raised money for just before Christmas, the £8,000,000 raise, was really to develop the green block there that you can see at the top, which is to look at look at products powered by products outside of our core vertical of of media and entertainment content creation. So this is a this is an example of how that looks.

7:49 If you think of this entire dartboard as the as the the the the video world, the media entertainment content creation is really the slice at the top. That's the bit that we're in now. And if you look at the BLACKBIRD IP circle in the middle and move to the outer part of the circle, you can see in that in that cake slice, the first the first product is the Blackbird platform, and that is the product that we sell every day through our direct and OEM deals. The next section for that will be the public cloud. That will be a self-service scalable back end that will allow us to attack the long tail of media and entertainment content creation. If you continue to move outside to the edge of that circle, you can see the word roll up. Now this is about m and a activity. This is about buying other companies in our space to bulk up.

8:37 Because we have such incredibly powerful and applicable IP, we don't think that's the right way to go. We would prefer instead to to to move around the dark pool pretty much in a clockwise fashion, moving into different different verticals. So the first one you can see there is distribution, and that is a that is a a key area of focus for us to to to look at in our in our first or our second product.

9:03 Now probably most of you who joined us before recognize this slide. It's just to just to to recap. It shows that the total cost of ownership versus share of wallet, really. So on the left hand side, you can see two bar charts. One is one is the the our our competition's total cost of ownership, and the one on the left on the right is the is BLACKBIRD's total cost of ownership, which shows that we are up 35% cost savings on the on the whole media supply chain.

9:33 And that's important. We need to we need to we're a challenger brand, and we need to be compelling to our to our potential to our potential prospects in order to to to win business. So we need to show that that that that competitive edge. However, on the right hand side, we also see that the the because we sell sell a larger basket of goods, Blackbird is actually taking a 10 x share of wallets from every deal that we're in. So when you look at the the competitor competitor in the market, like BIRD is taking a 10 x of that. And that's reflected here on this slide, which shows the total addressable market of our of our video editing product versus the serviceable addressable market. So I'll start with the orange circle here. The orange circle is the video editing software market forecast for 2025. It's $1,100,000,000.

10:22 The brown circle in the middle of that is is the part of the market that our software is applicable to directly. That's 600,000,000, so $600,000,000. Because we sell sell a larger basket of goods, the yellow circle is our serviceable addressable market. It just demonstrates that we've got a a unique product that can satisfy many needs, and therefore, we have a large market. The dotted line around the edge of that circle is is demonstrative of the fact because we now have an IP licensing business. We have an IP licensing edge to route to market, we that have a much larger market to go at. We haven't determined the size of that yet, but it really just shows that it's a it's it's large and it's it's there, and we have that advantage now.

11:07 I just want to recap what's happened to to to our our promotion of our platform decarbonizing for companies. So we we launched a a sustainability paper spring twenty twenty one. Quite incredibly, I think we're one of the first in the industry, the the media entertainment and video industry to do so, which had some compelling independently derived data points, showed Blackbird was was up to 91% use less 91% less carbon than competitors over two weeks ago sporting events. We were very highly showcased at the time on certain media channels, including Sky News, the LSE, London Stock Exchange, awarded us a degree of Economy Mark. And then towards the end of the year, the the the the work that we did and and the profile that we built also allowed us to to win the IBM Environmental Sustainability Company of the Year.

11:59 Since then, we've been involved in the IBC accelerator program together with Sky, the BBC, BC Sport, and NBC Universal supported with with Amazon, Microsoft, and and and Blackbird and others. There's a really so the the editor of choice used in that accelerator program to demonstrate how cloud tools can reduce environmental impact. BLACKBIRD was the editor of choice. We've also been put onto the Albert list of approved suppliers. Albert is the the sustainability arm of BAFTA and it's pretty much the the the world leader in in recommending sustainable workflow tools. We're the only editing platform to be on that list, and we're very, very proud to to to be so. So it's it's been a it's been a successful campaign so far. We've brought people along with us, including the the names I mentioned before. We're recently on a on a webinar with Microsoft as well.

12:58 This is very much an important story in in Europe at the moment, but it's a growing story in The US as well. So the three major European customers that we brought on in in 2021 have all have all drilled down and and ask lots of questions about our Greek credentials. Microsoft is pretty much the the the the the front runner in The US in terms of understanding that, but it is a it is a growing story in The US market as well.

13:25 So we mentioned before that we've raised some some money in the markets to to to to to to develop new products. This slide is just really to to to amplify the fact that although there will be a new market that we're entering, they will have will be the DNA that's common between our current products and our new products. And that is the fact that we've got the the the same DNA at the heart of it. That's the BLACKBIRD magic that is accessible. It's efficient. It's low cost in terms of financials and also environment, and it will always be highly differentiated. So it'll be innovative, relentlessly innovative. And that's what that's really key to note. So,

14:01 you know, in case anybody thinks there are any handbrake turns in in in in launching a new product, absolutely not the case. We'll be building everything on the on the unique patterns that Steven and his team have built over the years. So just some logos here to to to, again, to to to amplify how the fact that the some of the major media companies in the world are coming towards Blackbird and and and joining joining us in our in our quest. So first of all, we've got CBS, our first US major, came on board August last year. We do all CBS's international soccer and European soccer on on on BLACKBIRD now. Well, they do it, I should say. We're the software software partner.

14:44 Univision is North America's largest Spanish language service. We launched the service middle of last year, and we've already expanded it. So there was a recent expansion in January of this year. The global financial news organization that that I'm not allowed to say the name of, but I think you guys probably all use this service, That has also expanded in the last few months, and so that's another land to expand. In terms of European customers, we've got some lovely names now on on the on the roster, EBS, FIFA,

15:15 BT, Eurovision Sports as well, which is a recent a recent addition. And we actually held a webinar just this Monday. Well, Eurovision held the webinar, I should say, to attract its 115 members that they have in the EBU to look at Blackbird and and and take on Blackbird as part of the OEM model. So really some some super new logos for for this year, which really shows the the the quality of the the the awareness and the tool and and and and everything else that we've got in the market, the sales team and and the marketing that we've got there that's really, really paying dividends. Right. I'm gonna pass over to Steve now to talk about some of numbers. Thank you, Ian. So revenue was up 32% year on year. When we came to you at the interims, we were up 21% year on year. So we had a really strong half two, booking 1,200,000 of revenue.

16:06 Ian showed you some of the logos, on the previous page, but, yep, we had a really strong performance again in North America and growth 30% year on year. And, you know, North America accounts 1,250,000 of our revenue. The chart on the right hand side, the the yellow blocks are monthly recurring revenues, and the red line is our total revenue in the month. As you can see, the yellow blocks have grown. So our monthly recurring revenue has grown by 42% over the last two years, and just just just under 160,000 per month in December 2021. You'll see the gap between the red line and the yellow block being much larger in December 2021. These are one off items, such as the development fee that we recognize on our tech licensing deal.

16:58 2021 was a transitional year, and we're very much setting ourselves up for the future. The tech licensing deal that Ian mentioned would have another 540,000 of euros of revenue booked in 2022. And then when the product launch, we've got a 15,000 per month, pounds, worth of minimum guarantee for 2022, and that figure grows over the five years of the deal. We also didn't book any revenues from FIFA in a year. We closed that deal mid December, and, you know, we've deployed in the early part of this year. So our contracted for unrecognized revenue or, you know, an indication of our order book going forwards, you know, great progress made in the year.

17:46 You know, we're up 93% year on year to £3,700,000. At the end of the year, we'd secured 1,800,000 of revenue for 2022. And as we indicated in the r and s, you know, at the end of February, we've actually, secured 2,030,000 of revenue for this year, which is pretty much all the revenue we booked for last year. So we're starting 2022 in a really strong financial position.

18:15 Our cash burn, yeah, we we've made some investment in both 2020 and 2021 in terms of staff, you know, and in particular in the r and d team to make sure that, you know, we we keep our competitive edge and stay ahead of, you know, the competition, in products and in sales too. But we brought it down by a 100,000 year on year. We have very, very strong gross margins. So as revenues do grow that top line, they will start to play through to EBITDA.

18:44 We have a strong balance sheet. We have no debt. And as at the end of the year, we had 12,800,000 in cash and short term investments.

18:54 Thanks, Steve. So to conclude the presentation today, just to remind you on the product side of things that the product is highly carbon efficient. It's also bandwidth efficient. It's hardware efficient. It's time efficient and cost efficient, all of which make a compelling case in in in these times.

19:11 We've doubled the order books pretty much or 92% up on the order book in the last year. And as Steve said, by the end of February twenty twenty two, we'll also have the pretty much the same amount of money in in revenue for 2022 as we had in the whole of 2021. So a really good platform to spring from. We also have a new new routes to market through powered by by BLACKBIRD. We have a growing patent patent portfolio. As I said, we've gone from 16 patents back at Christmas time already to 18, and that will grow further. And we are very applicable to new markets. We've talked about this a number of times over recent presentations. We've now got that capital capital on board to enter these new markets. We'll be bringing the team on board to attack those new markets, and so watch this space.

20:01 So thank you very much. I think there are some pre submitted questions, which I think Mark will go through first, and then we Ian, Steve, Steven, that's great. Thank you very much for your presentation this morning. Ladies and gentlemen, please do continue to submit your questions using the q and a tab that's just situated on the right hand corner of your screen. But just while the team take a few moments to review those questions submitted already, would I like to remind you that a recording of this presentation along with a copy of the slides and the published q and a can be accessed via your investor dashboard. Ian, Steve, Steven, you're absolutely right. We did receive a number of pre submitted questions from investors ahead of today's event. And if I may, I wanted to start off the q and a session with these. The first one reads as follows. The share price is halved and deals seem to be few and far between. Do you think it would be in the best interest of shareholders to try and find a buyer for the company, especially while BLACKBIRD is still ahead of the game?

20:49 I think the the clue for that question is in the first few words, which is the share price is hard. We don't don't think this will be an opportune moment to find a buyer for the company. We have so much potential, and it's hard on the back of external events that generally we have no control over. You know, anyone that's been in the market long enough knows that that's that's that that that portfolios can go up and down, and we would look for a for, you know, the the future of BLACKBIRD to be very much on the up despite some some temporary setbacks on share price. Thank you very much for that. The second question that we have for pre submitted reads as follows. When will the new codec be released? We understood that it would be released last year, but it was delayed.

21:31 Steven, do you want to pick that up? Yes. I'm happy to pick that up. So the way the technology works, we have very strategic technology, and it moves forward on multiple fronts. So for example, the low carbon aspect of it, and we've won the inaugural

21:48 award for environmental friendly technology and and video production. That was envisaged and implemented over many years. And now with, you know, Russia threatening to cut off the gas and the electricity, this is sort of really coming to its own. So the thing about BIRD 10 is it is a very advanced technology, but we haven't needed it for any of our existing customers or markets. So we haven't rolled that out because every month we delay implementing it. The technology moves on another month and the markets move on another month, and we're better suited. But I have to say that the fundraising we did was to explore other markets where this sort of technology will be much more applicable, as well as, of course, being applicable in our existing editing market.

22:36 So it's really to do with market needs. That's why we haven't released that. But the market is moving fast, and we would be ready to meet it. Thank you very much for that, Steven. The next question that we have here reads as follows. You mentioned that by the middle of this year, a standard licensing agreement would have been set up. Are there any contractors ready to participate as soon as this is ready, or could the licensing agreement have to wait before it becomes taken up by contractors? I think that question refers to the to the to the Powered by BLACKBIRD deal we have with the global broadcast company. There is a you know, that is that is gonna be in the hands of the the global broadcast company to roll out. And and, you know, this is a this is a product they've been looking for for some time. We think there'll be a strong appetite for it, and we believe there's already a first major major customer in in line for it.

23:30 But it's where you this is where we're we're part of an another

23:34 product, which will be which will be sold out. I think that's what the question refers to. Please, if if the person who asked it wants to clarify that, then happy to to answer second part of it. Thank you very much for that. And the next question we have here reads as follows. The company seems to have made a decent gross margin, but has never made a net profit for twenty years. Indeed, there is over 20,000,000 of retained losses in the balance sheet along with a similar share premium account. Is this close to breakeven soon, or are you just going to keep issuing new shares to

24:05 fund the losses? So, no, we're not gonna keep on issuing new shares. What we have indicated is that within the the resources that we had prior to the raise at Christmas, which was around £5,000,000, the core business would get to profitability. The the additional funds that we raised at at Christmas were to enter new markets, as as Steve just said. So this is to take the applicability of the of the patents and and the technology into new markets to grow in different markets at different rates. So that's that's that's I think that I think the question was was

24:38 getting at that. So the quick answer is no. Absolutely not. We will be we will be reaching profitability within the £5,000,000 that we had priced Christmas and that the new money that we raised will be looking at new markets.

24:50 Thank you very much for that. The next question we have here reads as follows. Can we have more news on OEMs? Are more to be signed up soon? And what are each of the OEMs producing in revenues? Do you want to take on the the financial side of Yeah. On the financial side, yeah, it's written in the annual report. But, yeah, the the OEM revenue was up 43% year on year to 930,000. So good progress is being made there. You know, we can't just, due to confidentiality, you know, list every deal that gets made. But, you know, where we can, we do give news to the market such as the expansions that we did with the announced with TownNews during the year. Thank you very much. I know Yes. There will be more coming on. There will be more coming on in terms of that. So just a quick addendum to that.

25:36 Thank you very much for that. And I know you've just touched on this previously, but, if you could please provide a bit more color. Other than the general licensing agreement being prepared, in the meanwhile, what is the likelihood of another large licensing agreement in the near future? Well, that is a that is a focus for the for the company as a whole, not just the sales team. So I think the likelihood is is strong. Thank you very much. And the last pre submitted question we have here reads as follows. Can you please explain what a company that has for many years claims to have a leading technology platform with no rivals has not seen to progress with a share price and still low turnover? Yeah. Not not exactly sure about what we mean by the share price. I mean, the share price has has in the in the past twelve months gone up to 40p.

26:25 And I just refer back. There are some there are some headwinds at the moment that I think the global global stock markets have. So, you know, we can't be able to hold responsible for those, I think. In terms of the turnover, we're a challenger brand in a in a in a market that is is quite entrenched, and we've, you know, we've done well to to to turf out some behemoths of some media supply chains and

26:47 and and continue to do so. As you can see from the the brands that we just brought on the last year, you know, we're winning hearts and minds certainly within within our industry. In addition to that, we've also recognized that we have ability we have the potential for our technology to to to meet demands and and build products in other areas. So that's why we did the race before Christmas as well. So we're having more than one dog in the race, I sense.

27:15 Thank you for that. Ian, Steve, Steven, as you can see, we've also received a number of questions throughout today's presentation, and thank you to all of those investors for submitting their questions. Could I please ask you to read out the questions and give a response where it's appropriate to do so? And then I'll pick up from you at the end. Thank you. There's a question from William. We don't seem to have made any major deals for the editor outside of sports and news. Why has hasn't traction been greater with the pandemic, etcetera, etcetera? So the the key for that is that we really have been focusing on sports and news in the sense that we have the most USPs, the most unique selling points within the sports and news sector. The the inputs and outputs, the integrations are for sports and news are things we we understand and know very well, and and our APIs are are really focused on that. As you move outside of sports and news, things do get a little more complex, and I think that's probably where we we haven't yet applied our our focus.

28:10 So that's a good answer for you there. So I think that the revenue the revenue growth over the year has been has been good, and the the the advances in power by BLACKBIRD that you will see you you know, it's it's difficult to see it right now. You're you're you're hearing our words about this rollout, but it's difficult to see it until it's actually launched middle of the year will be will be, you know, transformation. Good. Okay. So question from Sean. Yeah. The next question is from Sean is how much of the 8,000,000 raise was left after expenses? That was about £7,500,000. And also a question for Sean.

28:55 Approximately 30% of revenue goes to pay the board. Will the board take a pay cut given that the company is loss making? Well, we don't think it's in the in the interest of the investors to to dilute the talent we have in leading the company. Certainly, as a shareholder, I don't think that's the right way to go. And we're in a competitive market for for talent. It's getting more competitive as I'm sure you're aware, Sean, especially on on on the tech side of things. So we we don't think that by by reducing the or diluting the talent we have available to us, that's gonna be successful for the company. Don't think it's in the investors or the company's interest. Question from William. What went wrong with Tata? Can we expect any financially meaningful deals through Tata in the first half of twenty twenty two? We are in in progressive conversations with Tata.

29:42 I think it will be verging into the confidentiality areas to to go too deep on that. It hasn't progressed as quickly as we would like it to for for for you know, for for multiple reasons, but we are looking to solve that issue. I think that we can. So we'll have news for you when we have it. Question from OJ. When do you expect the core video editing business excluding the new Power BIRD market to become profitable? I refer back to the the the answer a few minute moments ago. Something like John Major. That was that that that we said that we get profitable within the 5,000,000 that we have in in the coffers before before Christmas. Question from Harvey.

30:27 Where do you see gross margins in the medium term? Steve, maybe on that one. Yeah. So we're still continuing to have, you know, strong gross margins. It was 92% last year, but, yeah, the way that students design the technology and for future products, etcetera, we expect this to be about 90% still. Yeah. Really high. Question from Philip. Ian, did you manage to visit The USA on a trip you'd expected to? No. I haven't. And and I think we've been confounded by by events related to COVID and event events that happened since. I am going well, we are going as a team to NAB in April, so next month, and I will I will add on to that trips to to various other US cities. It's been a combination of whether people would actually physically want to see you because it's a little bit different state by state over there. But there is a major show, you know, now in in The US, and people are already coming out of their homes and into their offices. So I think now is the right time. But, yeah, a little bit later than I thought it was.

31:28 Question from Johnny. Impressive impressive revenue growth last year. Thank you, Johnny. But most was not in new most was not new recurring revenue. Please, can you expand on how that revenue growth is made up, Steven? Yeah. Well, we we I gave an indication when we're going through the presentation. So our monthly recurring revenue was just under 160,000 in December 2021. There will be one off items this year, such as development fee for the tech licensing deal. And, also, we've just done, you know, a deployment at the major games that are in the Far East. Yeah. Okay. Related question there from William. So I'll go to Pat's question. Are directors currently allowed to purchase shares?

32:15 That is a question I don't think I can even answer. So I'm I'm I'm forbidden from answering your question, but I'm I'm you know, that's that's a that's a a tricky one, Pat. No. But, you know, if we're if you're in the LTIP period, then then directors are not being are are not going to be buying shares. Question from Mark Kaye. Are you able to provide an update on on public cloud? Yes. Well, we we we were approved by Amazon just in in January for our FTR, our foundational technical review. Working with public cloud is an absolute focus, not only for our editor, but also for anything that we do in the distribution space. And so that is a key program of work for for for 2022.

33:03 Thanks, Mark, for the questions. Question. Right. OJ, your annual report states that the first prototype powered by Blackbird product devised around the Blackbird player will be launched in h two twenty twenty two. That is a prototype that we will be launching, yeah, in in in the second half of of twenty twenty two. At at this stage at this stage, it's too early to give an indication of the size of that market. What I would say is that content creation versus content distribution is is much more heavily weighted towards content distribution, but it's too early to give you any any any exact market sizings when the product is still being formed and normed internally. So but we will when we when we get that, OJ. Thanks for the question. Question from Howard. What is BLACKBIRD's penetration of the major streaming companies like Netflix, Amazon, Disney?

33:54 This is where there's been explosive growth in production. What we do see, there's been a huge amount of production amount of growth in the OTT sector, and we have a number of OTT customers and and and growing growing rapidly. We don't have Netflix and Disney directly, although we do service Amazon Prime versus one of through one of our OEMs. So there is there is potential to grow in those in those accounts. Sure. So I hope that answers the question. From Mark, we're the new product development. One, do you have a time scale for release? Two, who do you see as its main competition? Well, with the only note the only date we're giving at the moment, Mark, is that we will have a prototype in the market by the middle of around the middle of this year.

34:44 My my well, we're holding the developer's feet to the fire, obviously, but I'm making sure that that is that is coming out, but also, you know, supplementing Steven's team as well with that. Who do you see as his main com competition? I go back to the earlier question. It's a little bit early to say who the main competition will be because the product is all being formed and normed internally. I'm working hard on that. But as soon as we know, we'll we'll let you know. Question from Harvey. You mentioned your competition is quite entrenched. What nonfinancial KPIs could you share as a lead indicator of future revenue? I think we share them all with you, Harvey, on ones that we've got. Yeah. The annual report explains them a little more. The other the other KPI that we do have in there, which is, you know, is really important, is our retention level of our existing customers.

35:35 So of our twenty twenty two customers, we retained revenue from over 97%. So, yeah, very, very high. And, yeah, those people we tend to lost, you know, tend to be where, you know, they've gone out of business. So, you know, factors beyond our control. Good. Question from Nick P. How is recruiting of new talent going to service new product developments? Well, new talent for us is is really divided into two areas, product and and and development. There will be there will be heads coming on board in in both areas. The question earlier about about AWS was also quite quite key is that, you know, we want to make sure that we have expertise in in that area.

36:20 So it's know, we've we've got a lot of talent internally. It's this is not about having a new department that does a whole new thing, but that we we do recognize that we've gotta bring some expertise in in certain areas that that we don't currently have. So I don't wanna kind of muddy that one too much, Nick. It's you know, we we will be bringing it across product product and and and development. Question from Colin. With around five full time salespeople, BLACKBIRD is still making worryingly few new sales. Why do you think that is? Well, Colin, we we we disagree with you. We think that the product that that the sales are performing well. Of course, we'd like it to go faster. As I mentioned, you know, you're you're you're winning hearts and minds at failure and and trying to count sometimes with with some large competition.

37:08 But I think product the the sales are going well and they're very high profile. The powered by BLACKBIRD model will will will add an extra boost to that to that level of sales. And and I say you the middle of this year, you'll see some you'll see some quite interesting news around around rolling that out as well. Right. Sean, sorry to badger again. No problem, Sean. I don't mind this at all. That's good. Talk of a new product. Is it it's very interesting. Can you explain your details? So this will be a very a very short one. I think the details I will I will I will share, Sean, is we think it will be around distribution. You know, you've seen our player before. The player has some really interesting facets to it around around speed, around efficiency, and around how much data can be can be collected through the the various shares.

38:02 So it's it's it's gonna be in in in and around that area, Sean. Steven, I don't know whether you want to add that. I feel like I've hovered the limelight here completely on all these questions. You know, I think it's possible. So Well, we haven't announced the details, but the thing to bear in mind is that our player is actually a program. So that looks like it's playing back video. It's actually can do anything, anything we choose. And when you share the video, you actually share the program too. Share the whole experience. So anything that we add in goes with the with the video. So that opens up a huge range of of possible assist innovation, and you'll see some of those at the half year. Thanks, Steven. Question from Mark. You've mentioned when the licensing deal will commence midyear, but when will the partner be announced? Could this be an early date? Well, this is really in the partner's hands, and they are launching a product. And so when the product is is is is launched, I think they want as much surprise and as much fanfare as they can get, as much marketing buzz and and push as they can get. I think it's probably gonna be in and around the same time. I I I don't think it will be much earlier, but it's really in the hands.

39:17 A question from Pat. In the December presentation following the placing, Steven described the player as a program in that. Oh, actually, Steven, maybe take this question because I think it sounds like it's gonna be Yes. The whole thing is much more flexible than a a traditional solution. So because it runs in a browser, for example, we already have 4,000,000,000 people who can use it. And if we decide to upgrade it today, then today, those 4,000,000,000 people can get the upgrade. And that is different. And it's not just the way the technology works. There's a whole culture behind big companies versus small companies, for example. We can just be much more nimble, and we can push things through much faster. And I think you'll see that after launch, that it's not a one one stop shop.

40:03 It's gonna be progression of innovation that people have never really experienced in players. I mean, players themselves are very old now. The idea that you play back a video and you can chuckle a bit around, it's just it's just so out of date compared with what we can do in the future. And so I think you'll see people will find it a refreshing change to have much more what can I say? Much more interesting things in their player. Let's put it like that. Good. Great. And a question for Mark. Quite a cheeky question, Mark. Thank you very much for that. Could you expand on the role the firm played in the Olympics? And I I cannot confirm or deny that that Blackbird was included or involved in the Olympics, but should there have been major games, then Blackbird would have been remote editor of choice for teams based in other countries outside of the country where the games took place, namely much closer to where we are now.

41:11 I don't really want to go to a seat on that because this it's it's not because I'm I'm being coy or evasive. There are major there are major reasons why I can't do that. So I hope you understand, and I hope you're smiling when I'm just giving this answer. But I'd like to give you more information, but I can't. Okay. Great. I think that's the end of the questions we've got currently. If anyone's got any more clarifications. Ian, Steve, Steven, thank you very much for addressing all of those questions that have come through from investors this morning. Perhaps before redirecting investors to provide you with their feedback, which I know is particularly important to the company, if I could please ask you for a few closing comments. We have just had a few questions come in just now as I've been speaking, but we can make these questions available to you after the presentation unless you want to take them now.

42:00 Yes. We'll take them now. That's fine. Thank you, Sean. I just saw Sean's note saying, bravo, a lot more confident after this presentation. Good. I'm glad about that. Thank you. Okay. We we we are we are also. Thank you very much for that. Steve and Ian Steve, if I could please ask you for your for your closing comments, and after which, I'll redirect investors to give you their feedback. Thank you. Fantastic. Yes. So just a just a few closing comments from me. The company is in in in great financial shape, has an excellent reputation, has a world beating technology, is is financed to enter markets outside of our our our core and has a has a happy talented team behind it with with with, I hope, some some very happy shareholders. So let's let's let's let's deal with these latest setbacks from the share price and just move on and and achieve the potential this company is is able to do. Thank you very much.

42:58 Ian, Steve, Steven, thank you very much for taking time to update investors. Could I please ask investors not to close this session as you'll now be automatically redirected for the opportunity to provide your feedback in order the management team can better understand your views and expectations. This will only take a few moments to complete, but I'm sure it'll be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team of BLACKBIRD PLC, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation. That now concludes today's session, and good morning to you all.