BWX w/ CEO David Fenlon (ASX: BWX) | Summer Series

Bryce: [00:00:15] Welcome to the Equity Mates summer series, proudly brought to you by Superhero. Over 12 episodes we're deep diving into some of the most exciting, interesting and well-known companies from both here in Australia and over in the US, in some instances we'll be hearing directly from the CEOs to give you firsthand insight into their companies. My name is Bryce and as always, I'm joined by my equity buddy Ren. How are you going? 

Alec: [00:00:38] I'm very good. Bryce. Great to be back for our third summer series. 

Bryce: [00:00:43] Yes, for good. Third, third or fourth man. Time flies, time flies. 

Alec: [00:00:48] But this is one of our favourite times of the year because we will. We take a recording break, but we get the opportunity to deep dive into 12 companies, one episode per company. As we've grown, we've been able to get some CEOs to join us, so we get to spend some of the CEOs as well. But it's just a really good opportunity to, I guess, remind ourselves of why we love investing so much, which is you get to go down these rabbit holes of really interesting companies trying to work on big problems or trying to create new categories. And this year we've got, I think, six US companies, six Australian companies. So broad range of industries, broad range of, I guess, business stages, broad range of sizes, so keen to get stuck in.

Bryce: [00:01:35] Yeah, I love this series. We've got an epic line up of companies and the summer series is brought to you by Superhero. Superhero allows you to buy Aussie and US shares and ETFs with no monthly fees, and you can now earn Candace points with superhero. So visit Superhero Accommodate. I use Qantas to learn more. Eligibility criteria, terms and conditions and fees and charges apply. So first cab off the rank today Ren is a Deep Dive on BWX, and we're fortunate enough to be joined by the CEO of BWX to talk through all things that are going on there and one of the acquisition deals that have certainly got some attention over the last few months, which we'll get to in a second. But there is one more thing that we need to let the audience know. You guys have a chance to win $1000 for every summer series episode that we do. That's $12000 over summer, all thanks to Superhero, who are giving a lucky listener $1000 into a superhero wallet to start trading. It's pretty simple. All you need to do is listen to this episode. Head across to our Equity Mates Instagram page at Equity Mates and then on the corresponding post for this specific episode. Just let us know in the comments what your favourite fact is about BWX. That's all you need to do. Let us know what really interested you about BWX and then each week will choose one lucky listener from those comments to win a thousand bucks. 

Alec: [00:03:03] Yeah, so thanks to Superhero for supporting that competition for supporting this episode. Let's get into it. Let's do it. Yes, let's start on the top BW x no company ever heard of before the recent deal, which we'll get into. Is it one that you're

Bryce: [00:03:20] that you knew about? I was familiar with the brands of BWX within it, but definitely hadn't heard of the parent company.

Alec: [00:03:27] Yeah, so I think a lot of the Equity Mates community will be similar. I think the name probably doesn't ring a bell, but as we get into it, you probably are familiar with some of the brands that are under them. So let's start at the very beginning. Founded in 2013 in Victoria, they develop, manufacture and distribute natural body hair, skin products in the US, the Australia internationally, their natural beauty and skin care business. They've got five brands, some of which people may be familiar with skin. So can you? Yeah, no. One Natural Skincare Brand in Australian Pharmacy. 

Bryce: [00:04:07] Yes, I like Serkin. You do. I use a bit of skin. Okay?

Alec: [00:04:10] Yes and allow. Not national. Yeah, No. One Facial skincare brand in the US natural channel. Yeah, one that you're familiar with. No, I haven't use pay or use spa. 

Bryce: [00:04:24] I haven't heard of that one, but that's probably because I'm not in the spa industry 

Alec: [00:04:28] as a supplier to the spa industry. Mineral fusion number one cosmetics brand in the US natural channel. 

Bryce: [00:04:36] Have you heard of that one? No, I haven't. Not over in the US, the name

Alec: [00:04:39] rings a bell, but obviously I'm not a big skincare and beauty user. And then finally, go to yeah. 

Bryce: [00:04:46] Zoe Foster Blake's skin Care Brand.

Alec: [00:04:49] Yeah, that one. 

Bryce: [00:04:50] I have heard of that one. It's a bit hard not to have heard of that one. I think 

Alec: [00:04:53] so. Go to is really the exciting, well, the recent excitement around this company. Zoe Foster Blake, she started go to her and it just has taken off over the last however many years and lot this year this year. Oh. Announced a deal they now own fifty point one percent of CO two, yeah, so just got that ownership stake.

Bryce: [00:05:19] Big deal. Well, what I've what I can see from this, though, is all the brands that they have there. So five, five K brands, but they're all like leaders within that channel. Yeah, so pretty strong. Make up of brands for BW. And of course, adding go to IS is likely to, you know, a lot of those of us natural channel but go to is massive here in Australia, obviously with international expansion plans as well. So pretty strong suite of product of brands there.

Alec: [00:05:49] So that's if that's the brand's probably where I think like a really interesting part of this business model is is when it comes to their distribution strategy because we're sort of entering an era where suppliers are e-commerce direct to consumer or they're you're, you know, you're more traditional channels, but very few businesses are really strong on both. Yeah. You know, like the Nike's of the world, that can go strong direct to consumer and also go strong through traditional retailers are really the exception more than the rule. And there are some there are some great retail businesses that do both, but a lot of them play in their line. BW X is trying to do both. So on one hand, they have they've been really pushing hard into traditional distribution channels. They've got a big Woollies deal. They signed a strategic partnership with Chemist Warehouse over in Canada. They signed a big deal with Walmart. So they're really pushing hard into big box retail. But on the other hand, they are also going hard into e-commerce and they actually on to e-commerce platforms. Tell me, if you've used either of these Norrish to life, 

Bryce: [00:07:02] haven't used it, but definitely know about. 

Alec: [00:07:04] Oh, really? And flora and fauna. 

Bryce: [00:07:07] Howard, not sure about that one. 

Alec: [00:07:08] So they are two e-commerce platforms, two websites that sell both BW products, but then also other natural, ethical, vegan, sustainable beauty products as well.

Bryce: [00:07:22] Fun fact Nourish Life was founded by Irene Falcon, who does Sands Drinks the non-alcoholic. 

Alec: [00:07:28] Yeah, there you go. She does, she says. She does. 

Bryce: [00:07:31] Yeah, well, I think she still is part of it in. Or maybe she's fully sold out. Yeah, but is she? She was definitely the founder. There you go. And then now in 

Alec: [00:07:40] should got her on to talk 

Bryce: [00:07:41] about it. Non-alcoholic drinks? 

Alec: [00:07:43] Yeah, wow. Anyway, that's I guess the business in a nutshell. Five brands, two platforms and then obviously established retail channels. 

Bryce: [00:07:53] Yeah, but let's have a look at the industry because that's the exciting part. I think when you think about this company, it's the it's in a channel that is growing, I think. 

Alec: [00:08:03] Yeah, they say the most exciting industries are industries that are declining at three percent. 

Bryce: [00:08:09] Is it declining? At three percent a 

Alec: [00:08:10] year, the industry declined three percent. 

Bryce: [00:08:12] Oh, there's a difference. I think, though, between beauty, though, and natural beauty. I would imagine if you stripped it back, I would imagine the lines that they're in are probably probably growing a little bit. And I think we'll hear from the CEO about that in in at the end of this episode. But the beauty and personal care industry in 2020, $487 billion, the entire industry declining three percent in 2020. But Euromonitor expects it to pick up a bit with compound average growth of three percent between now and end of 2025. 

Alec: [00:08:49] I mean, it's not surprising that the beauty industry declined in the middle of the pandemic. People aren't going out as much personal care you would have thought maybe would have made up for that with people having more time. But but yeah, I feel like you know this, this whole industry would be pretty tied to GDP. You know, as people get more disposable income, there's probably a portion of it that goes to more and more of these beauty and personal care items. But but I think one thing that is worth paying attention to is the disruption within the industry, because traditionally, you know, the beauty and personal care industry was dominated by the big conglomerates. That hasn't really changed, but they are getting disrupted a little bit by smaller brands, influence a brands, disruptive brands. So the top five beauty and personal care players globally saw their combined market share drop two percent between 2015 and 2020. So not massively. But when you when you think about an industry that's almost half a trillion dollars, two percent is a lot of money. Yeah. And we can think about the brands that are driving this disruption. You know, you look at what Kylie Jenner did over in the US. You look at what Zoe Foster Blake has done in Australia. It's these personality led influencer led. Brands that are really disrupting some of the the bigger players and taking some market share from them, yeah. 

Bryce: [00:10:20] So I've just had a quick squeeze at the natural and organic personal care industry specifically in the US, given that the BW X has a number of its key brands over there and we know that the plan is to take go to over there as well. And it is within the broader industry actually growing at about five and a half percent year on year. 

Alec: [00:10:43] It's still not that fast. Yeah, I would have thought it would have been off. 

Bryce: [00:10:48] Yeah, maybe it's just because it's so, so fractured on an arm. I don't know if that'd make a difference, but yeah, anyway, it is. It is growing. 

Alec: [00:10:56] So speaking of growing, let's talk about BW axis numbers because they're pretty impressive. So about a 700 $35 million market cap as a company, the share price has traded flat for about five years. Photos 25 November 2016 about four point fifty two days So

Bryce: [00:11:14] at time of recording, 

Alec: [00:11:15] yeah, a timer for recording. I think they must have issued a bunch of shares in that time, though, because the looking at the revenue and profit numbers, there's no way the market cap has stayed steady in that time. Yeah, right. So I think the only way that the share price stays steady is if they have issued more shares. Yeah. And the reason I say that in the last five years, revenue has grown from $54 million to 194 million. Pretty good growth, pretty good growth, almost 30 percent compound annual growth rate. Profit hasn't grown quite as quickly, from 12 million to twenty three and a half million still not bad for a 10 percent compound annual growth rate. So the numbers are heading in the right direction. And I think for me, the big thing is it's not just one of the brands that's driving that growth. 

Bryce: [00:12:05] Yeah, there's not like brand risk. Yeah, it's one brand was to somehow flop. Then the entire business goes down with it. Yeah, yeah. So what? Sirkin is the biggest contributor of revenue, 38 percent. And then what have we got? Second is the Andolan Naturals 19 percent mineral fusion. 11 percent go to is what projected to be about 15 percent, I imagine. Yeah. And then the e-commerce platforms that we spoke about nourish life and flora and fauna, contributing about 17 percent. So pretty nice spread there. So obviously the biggest. But yeah, you're right, it's important to have that diversification. 

Alec: [00:12:44] Yeah. Now one thing that I did think about when I saw that they had two platforms was, are they well, first of all, the distribution strategy of retail and then website and let your own e-commerce platforms shoulders a bit of cannibalisation there. So we'll ask Dave, the CEO, about that when we interview him. But I was also thinking about two platforms. Surely there's a bit of cannibalisation between Irish life and flora and fauna, but the company is obviously aware that people have asked them that. And so they've published some numbers. There's a minimal overlap of customers. 13 percent of customers overlap between the two sides, but also skews less than 20 percent of the SKUs overlap. And together for the two websites, 80 percent of the SKUs available on those two websites aren't available in mainstream retail. All right. So it's like it's in some ways it's very, very complementary to each other, but also complementary to like General Retail. Hmm. 

Bryce: [00:13:43] Yeah, that's interesting. 

Alec: [00:13:44] Yeah, it is interesting because you don't see many companies you don't say Amazon have like Amazon.com and then, you know, the Nial dot com. 

Bryce: [00:13:51] So 80 percent of SKUs on the websites are not available in mainstream retail meaning in stores or just. You can't find them anywhere else on your on your classic Chemist Warehouse website and those sorts of places. 

Alec: [00:14:02] Well, I think mainstream retail both online and in-store in-store, like, yeah, because the one of them is all about ethical. The other is like vegan, ethical, sustainable. I think one is more millennial focussed. One is more Gen Z focussed for a category that I know nothing about, like skin care, personal care, beauty and definitely not my cup of tea. But it's an interesting business and let the numbers in some ways speak for themselves like they are growing quickly. They're acquiring good brands, they're succeeding overseas. If you want to see some cool images of a new warehouse that they're building, it looks pretty like a new production facility. It looks pretty slick. Obviously it's CGI, so we'll see how it looks in real life. But you know they're investing in automating the production, which will bring costs down. I assume so in terms of like a cool Australian success story. Full credit? 

Bryce: [00:14:56] Yeah, absolutely. So we know it's in the the natural, the natural space, organic space. And so you would imagine they've got some pretty lofty sustainability targets, which they do targeting 100 per cent recyclable and. Carbon neutral brands and operations by 2030, and this is something that we speak to Dave Fenlon, CEO, about later in this episode, but good to say, they've got some strong targets there as well. And yeah, he's very bullish on the fact that they're going to hit them. No worries. So, yeah, 

Alec: [00:15:28] let's just quickly touch on what their future plans are. But then let's get to this interview because I think we'll be able to get a lot more detail when we speak to Dave. But looking at what the company is talking about, about their future plans, I feel like it's a pretty simple strategy at this point. There's nothing too complicated. They're not trying to reinvent the wheel here. They've obviously got this portfolio of brands approach. And so it's keep growing brands that they have. Keep an eye out for more strategic acquisitions to add to the portfolio. But it feels like the real focus right now is go to realising the potential in gold. So we pulled out some of the numbers for Goto's growth because it's a pretty phenomenal story. So founded in 2014 by Zoe Foster Blake and then it just has sort of exploded. So if twenty one delivered thirty seven million in revenue, twelve million in a bidder and over the last three years, it's compound annual growth rate for revenue was 50 percent, 50 percent a year. And then for ape, it was thirty nine percent a year. 

Bryce: [00:16:36] Lovely numbers, I've said. I'm very impressed. Yeah. And as we'll hear in a moment, but the focus is really on taking go to from the success story. It is here in Australia and taking that internationally. They feedbacks have the the network and the skills to do so and the scale to really leverage that and push Goto to huge heights, I would imagine around the world. Yeah. 

Alec: [00:17:03] So if you want to check out some more information on BWX, you can head over to Superhero and say a bit there. Let's take a quick break and then jump into the interview with CEO Dave Fenlon. 

Alec: [00:17:19] So we're now joined by Dave Fenlon. Dave is the group's CEO and managing director of BWX. Dave, thanks for joining us. 

Dave Fenlon: [00:17:26] Thanks. Thanks for having me. 

Alec: [00:17:27] So, Dave, we always like to start these interviews with the CEO describing their company in their own words. So to kick us off today? What is BWX? 

Dave Fenlon: [00:17:36] Well, put it simply, we're all in on natural. BWX is a purpose driven Australian company, and we exist to create natural beauty and wellness for the world. We're spread across the globe. We have our headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. We have offices in Sydney, Shanghai, and I'm currently joining you here from Petaluma, which is just north of San Francisco. We got a collection of what we think are industry leading brands seeking and Naturals Mineral Fusion Co two and a couple of very, very strong direct to consumer platforms in flora and fauna and nourish life. So ultimately, we're trying to capture consumers as they move from what has been historically quite a synthetic driven or artificial ingredients led skincare and beauty regime to really unlock the usage of natural ingredients and natural components so that consumers can still get that great performance in their beauty and skincare regime to do it naturally. Great products, really great experiences for consumers, but all done naturally 

Alec: [00:18:41] now, Dave, I must admit. Skincare is not something that I'm particularly strong on. Maybe I'll be convinced, but I'm I'm very much a novice when it comes to this space where I 

Bryce: [00:18:52] was actually going to say, I'm a big user of Sirkin, so I 

Alec: [00:18:54] think they 

Bryce: [00:18:56] love it. So BW X is carving out a nation in this space. You know, the growing natural and ethical beauty space. Why are consumers gravitating to this nation? I guess the follow on from that is why should then investors follow them? Yeah. 

Dave Fenlon: [00:19:11] Look, I think importantly, let's think about what the size of the category is half a trillion US dollars a year as a category right for beauty and personal care. The is growing around about five and a half percent Hagar for the last three years, and it looks as if that growth is going to continue. Covid is also accelerating that from a natural perspective. So what we're trying to do is make sure that the natural part of that becomes mainstream. Personal beauty has always been a big category, but we're trying to unlock that from a natural perspective. We've owned seeking one. Have you just said, you know, you're a complete user since 2007, so it's not disappointing, brand. It's somebody it's a brand that really is bringing people from that synthetic environment, given the opportunity to try and test at the natural ingredients that we have and we think BW is really well positioned with that house of brands to really bring that to consumers. Why? Because natural is no longer just niche. It's mainstream. In fact, it's a revolution that's really, really accelerating with democratising the opportunity to go natural. And what we do is make it affordable. We're not $200. We're entry, we're affordable, we're great value. And what we're also doing is working with consumers and customers as everybody tries to improve their impact and their footprint on the planet. So we're bringing what is a really good growing category and a great consumer tailwind together, and we're doing it with brands that we really do believe started this revolution, not someone that's coming late to the party. 

Alec: [00:20:43] Now, Dave, speaking of great brands, I think one of the more exciting announcements from BW X recently is around the go to acquisition. A lot of people listening will be familiar with Go to Zoe Foster, Blake and her team's skincare brand. So can you sort of take us, I guess, into the room? What was the conversations like with Zoe and her team putting this deal together? And then what's the plans going forward as having go to as part of your range?

Dave Fenlon: [00:21:11] So who started to act two and a half years ago when I first joined the business? And what we did is what we created is a watch list companies that we really thought were great worthy rivals, people that were really, you know, changing out the space and pioneering and and going to was on that list and we tracked them and we followed them. And very fortunately, Zoe decided it was time for her to look at a partner to take the brand internationally and very early on, if you talk to her, there was a very strong mutual attraction. Why? Because we've got the same ethos, right? She could have chosen many, many people. She could have chosen private equity. She had chosen to do, you know, different partners. The reality is we've got a very similar purpose. We've got very similar culture and we both want to really democratise natural ingredients and natural products across the globe. So it really shows that, you know, from a cultural perspective, that's where Zoe started. And she's an amazing entrepreneur. She's a brilliant beauty editor from the past, and she's created with a team, some really high quality and complementary products that are simple to use. They trusted they've got a great audience. And we can bring international growth opportunities to that brand, and that will take what they've done exceptionally well in Australia and will continue to work on that, grow on that, bring new products to market and then work together. We're going to take the brand internationally. We've had some great conversations with retailers across the globe, and one of the interesting factors is we announced the the partnership. And within the hour, while we were still on investor calls with 17, retailers come inbound because it's got such a strong brand following wow. You may or may not be able to get into the closed Facebook group because you've got to be very special to get in there. But there's 25000 Facebook followers to the brand, and they are just passionate about sharing the education, sharing their knowledge and sharing their love for the products. And ultimately, it's a brand that is super super in its growth trajectory by new products, but also bringing new users, new and consumers to the brand. So great. Great financial performance, great values, great cultural fit and we're excited about how we're going to work together in the partnership and take this brand to a more global consumers. 

Bryce: [00:23:25] Yeah, it's it was an exciting story and we were reading through the deck and the growth of BW and also go to has just been pretty phenomenal. So you can understand why that was on your hit list. Aren't talking about acquisition opportunities. You know, as investors, we look at managers and try to assess how good they are as capital allocators and how they think through acquisitions to, you know, bolt on and continue growth. How do you think about identifying the next opportunity? Is is there sort of like a point where you say, Alright, we've got enough brands? What's the process and your your strategy for acquisitions?

Dave Fenlon: [00:24:03] Look, I think importantly, that again starts by, well, what I said, this is this watch list, right? It may not be that these businesses are businesses that we bring into the portfolio, but we can learn from them. So we can't have about 38 companies on our watch list. Not, as I said, just a straight acquisition, but to learn worthy rivals. What are they doing? How can we improve them from, you know, stealing with pride, with what they're doing? But if we do look at it as an acquisition, we want it to be against our core. Is it natural? Is it a brand that can ultimately sit happily alongside what we already have in the family? Is it driving growth? Has it got a very strong consumer proposition? Where does it differentiate? What's his real purpose and where does it differentiate against his competitors? And importantly, what proportion of its revenues direct to consumer and what proportion of its revenue is with retail? Important part because as we know, consumers now really do have an omni channel approach to where they're shopping. Plus, what can they bring to that partnership? Can we bring manufacturing benefits? Can we bring experience of going internationally? What can we do from a procurement benefit to also bring cost synergies that we can use to unlock and increase our marketing spend? So there's a whole bunch of factors that take into that we take into consideration. Bottom line they got to be EPS accretive, go to be a business is growing, got to be a business that we can unlock synergies because ultimately they are a public company and we have a responsibility to return to our shareholders. 

Alec: [00:25:33] I love that idea of a watch list, Dave. I think I might get Bryce and I to sit down and make a watch list for Equity Mates after this. Both Bryce and I are former retailers, and as we were looking at your company and researching for this interview, we were struck by, I guess, the two track distribution strategy that you're following. On one hand, you're deepening relationships with traditional retailers Wal-Mart in Canada, Woolworths in Australia, Chemist Warehouse, wherever they're located globally. And then also you're going down the e-commerce direct to consumer route. You've got two e-commerce platforms and your brands. Some also have, you know, direct websites where they're selling. It's a it's an interesting strategy. You know, a lot of suppliers will focus on one as a wholesaler or one on direct to customer, but you're you're really pursuing both hard. How do you think about? Well, I guess, first of all, why? Why that decision to choose both and pursue both? And then how do you balance those strategies? Do you worry that they may end up cannibalising each other or anything like that? 

Dave Fenlon: [00:26:45] It's really actually quite simple. The consumers will shop where they want to shop, and nobody is held ransom to shop bricks and mortar or DTC. In fact, if you look at your own shopping habits, I mean, I look at mine, I shop across all of the platforms. I also when I shop bricks and mortar shopping, different retailers, whether they be grocery, mass, speciality or pharmacy. And also when I'm shopping online, sometimes I buy direct from the brand or I'll go to someone like Amazon or someone like flora and fauna or nourish life. Importantly, it's where. The shopper and consumer wants to purchase, so that's the most important thing because they are somewhat like the control of your destiny, because they are the people old fashioned saying the ultimately pay your wages. So traditional retail partners are really, really important for the category, even after all of the changes of Covid. We're still under 15 percent in Australia as a group of consumers purchasing from online America slightly bigger 20 22 percent. And I think that will continue to grow and I think it will continue to change. But traditional retailers also provide education. They provide shelf space, they provide an experience for consumers, and that's also vitally important. Just look at what's going to happen in Melbourne at six o'clock tonight, when the doors of retail are thrown back open, there's going to be queues. People still love that interaction. So what we do is we think both of those are equally important because that's what consumers have taught us. We have a great relationship with our retail partners and they're very clear about how we want to interact with them. And we're very strong in providing them great promotional offers, great new product development, great opportunities to also hear about our insights about what's happening in the total skincare and natural category. But importantly, we also want to be able to talk directly to our consumers, educate them and inform them. And we also want to know what else they're buying. So it's quite a simple strategy. It's really, really led by the consumer 

Bryce: [00:28:46] Dave Sustainability ESG very important for the Equity Mates community and B2B Rex is targeting 100 per cent recyclable and carbon neutral brands and operations by 2030. Can you talk us through this commitment, how you're tracking what you're doing to, to actually hit these targets? 

Dave Fenlon: [00:29:06] Look, I think importantly, in twenty one years, it's just going to be were far more transparent hour against our ambitions. You know, we benchmarked against specific organisations as well as looking at the global reporting initiatives. Why? Because consumers are really, really focussed on it. Now we've historically been a leader in sustainability and we need to continue to be that leader. Consumers are demanding it, our shareholders expect it and most of people in our organisation also its core to their principles as well. Now we've done a lot. There's a lot more to do for the new manufacturing facility that we're building. That we go live on at the turn of the year will enable us to reduce our waste by over 50 percent. We've also set ourselves targets have no landfill by 2025. Zukin is already a carbon neutral brand. We'll have all of our brands carbon neutral by F 20 through Y because that's the trend that consumers are following. And as leaders, we have to lead by example and set these goals because we've only got one world. And let's be honest, it's all of our responsibility to do something better about it. And in addition to that, diversity is important diversity of thought, diversity of employees, diversity around bringing down unacceptable levels of pay inequality between males and females. So we're really focussed on all of those attributes and all of those activities because they make a good business. 

Alec: [00:30:31] Dave, you mentioned the new manufacturing facility. Just then I've seen some photos in your investor presentations. It looks pretty. It looks pretty slick. It looks pretty big as well. You must be pretty excited to open the doors there. 

Dave Fenlon: [00:30:45] We are. I have to say it's been a journey. Covid is certainly in Texas, but the team has done a wonderful job in adapting to that. We go in there December-January time is 18 and a half thousand square metres, but it really dries out some efficiencies for the organisation. We could have stayed where we were, but we would have been, you know, leaving opportunity for efficiency on the table. We're automating a lot of our factory. We're automating our pick and pack operation. And importantly, we're bringing all of our workforce in Australia into one location, excluding the Sydney team, and I expected them to come down every day. But what we are going to do then is find ways of having better collaboration, which will drive out more new product development. But importantly, that efficiency gain 300 basis points from when the facility's operating capacity will throw back into the business and invest in behind our brands. To continue with our vision of being the global player for natural and really important, we continue to put effort and Dollars behind our brands as we educate consumers about the benefits of Metropol. 

Alec: [00:31:51] Here at Equity Mates, we love to see companies investing in Australian manufacturing. It's always good to say, especially when you're exporting that around the world. So excited to say that up and running. Dave, we want to thank you for taking the time today. We always like to finish with a final, the same final question. You know, we're long term investors here at Equity Mates and we love, you know, CEOs and company leaders that are thinking long term as well. So to close us. Out today, if you think about BW six in ten or 20 years, what does success look like? 

Dave Fenlon: [00:32:24] Great question. It's a really simple answer. It's the same thing that we talk about every day in our business, in the decisions we make. We're going to be the global leader in natural wellness and beauty. 

Alec: [00:32:33] Simple, done, don. That was easy. Now you just got to go and do it. What a sell. 

Dave Fenlon: [00:32:39] Absolutely. We do every day, guys, every day. 

Bryce: [00:32:43] I love that. Dave, it's been an absolute pleasure hearing from you. We love. We love speaking with company leaders and giving our community the opportunity to hear directly from them, particularly obviously with companies that they can invest in. So it's been really enjoyable. We appreciate your time because we know all of you, company leaders are incredibly busy, so thank you very much. 

Dave Fenlon: [00:33:04] Thank you, guys. Thanks, Bryce and thanks, Alec. And I really do appreciate your time and the thought you've put into this. And guys, just one last thing. If you're not using an SPF for the amount of time you spend on the screen, get one blue light SPF guys doesn't even have to be mine, but please look after yourself. 

Alec: [00:33:23] Okay, nice. 

Bryce: [00:33:24] I have heard I have heard the SPF thing. Need to get on it, but yeah, 

Alec: [00:33:28] I'll commit to you, Dave. I'll do some research and figure out my skincare routine after this conversation, 

Dave Fenlon: [00:33:36] and I'm sure you want it to be a brand new product. So of course, don't miss out on hooking up up the brand to range as well. 

Bryce: [00:33:43] We're always open for a few samples, 

Alec: [00:33:45] so I was going to say if Zoe agrees to come on the show, then I will. I'll buy years supply of protein 

Dave Fenlon: [00:33:53] and consider it due to some holes, and then I'll talk to Zoe on Tuesday. 

Alec: [00:33:58] So that's great. Well, Dave, really appreciate you taking the time and all the best with everything that BW X. Thanks, guys. The company sells 

Bryce: [00:34:07] with. They go Ren pretty interesting company, as we've discussed, and always great to hear it from the CEO themselves. I'm looking forward to seeing how Goto grows internationally over the next few years. It's been love seeing a good Australian story. 

Alec: [00:34:23] Yeah, yeah, very fascinating story. I need to, I guess, invest some time in my skincare routine. Dave will now hold me accountable for that. But yeah, I think a really interesting company that I don't I definitely hadn't heard of, and I assume a lot of people haven't hadn't heard of. So good way to kick off the summer series, I think by discovering a company that may be new to a lot of people.

Bryce: [00:34:50] Absolutely. So thank you to Superhero who have sponsored this episode, and the summer series superhero now allow you to buy us and Aussie shares and ETFs with no monthly account fees. And you can earn Qantas points with superheroes. So visit Super Hero Dot Com Daddy. Use Qantas to learn more eligibility criteria, terms and conditions and fees and charges apply, but also just a reminder that you can win a thousand bucks into your superhero wallet if you just head over to the Equity Mates Instagram page and leave a fun fact from this episode on the corresponding post will then choose a lucky winner from the comment section, and we'll announce it later this week on our Instagram Stories. So your chance to win not only a thousand dollars on this episode, but if you listen to all 12. You could be walking at home with Twelve Grand in Superhero Next episode, we continue the summer series with another Deep Dive on Match Group, so it's home to some of the world's most popular dating sites. Can't wait to get stuck in. Can't wait. Hey, thanks for listening to this episode of Equity Mates. We love hearing from you, so drop us a line at contact@equitymates.com or even better, go to your podcast player and leave a five star review. Also, a reminder that the Equity Mates content train doesn't stop when you've run out of episodes to binge. We've got a brand new website, a Facebook discussion group where on Instagram, YouTube and slowly making our way as an influencer on Tik-tok. That's Ren. So come and say hello and join the community. We'd love to welcome you. Until next time.