An email from Rob Philips. Posted for current non-investors that would not have recived the email.
Good morning,
I’m pleased to provide you with an end of financial year update for 2018.
FY 2018 has been one of investing in fundamentals; advancing products to market, consolidating capital, expanding manufacturing, and developing new distribution and operations, particularly in China. Overall, we have been executing on our growth strategy, and achieving our milestones as we said we would.
Over the course of a year it’s easy to overlook the many incremental steps that we have taken as we focus forward on our next immediate milestones.
What did we achieve in 2018?
Most importantly in FY 2018 we prepared for the launch of seven products across four continents. This is no mean feat, and we are in the approval cycles for all our products in all our major markets as we planned. We received CE certification for BP+, and our SpiroReporter and BP+ Reporter are near release and are ready for market. The remaining BP+ and SpiroSonic devices are in regulatory approval pathways at various stages. Predicting the timing of regulatory outcomes is impossible, as we have to meet independent standards required by Australian, European, US and Chinese regulators for all products, and adjust to regulations which are continually changing. Regardless of the challenge, we have progressed all our applications and the conclusion of our current regulatory cycles are within sight.
In parallel with advancing our regulatory approvals we have invested much of the year in expanding our manufacturing and operational capabilities across Australia, China, Europe and the US.
- China operations – We have initiated a hands-on approach to China, founding Uscom China in Beijing, and appointing an exceptional Director of China Operations, Ms Teresa Guo, an ex-Bayer China and Sihuan Pharma manager. We opened our Beijing office, are expanding our China distribution, and accelerated China IP and CFDA regulatory applications, as we prepare for impending changes in trade regulations.
- China investment - This year also saw the investment into Uscom Australia of a high level Chinese bio-science investor with an outstanding China medical distribution background. He is now the largest shareholder in the company (18%) and provides reliable access to capital, connections and experience in the China market.
- US Sales expansion - New USA sales and distribution organisation established.
- Relocation - Uscom moved our global headquarters in Sydney to a larger location with increased manufacturing capacity.
This expansion now means we have operations in Australia, Beijing, Budapest, and the USA, and are growing out our distribution and manufacturing capabilities in preparation for meeting new demand across four continents as our devices are launched.
While this growth focused activity was continuing, we also maintained our current global USCOM 1A sales, marketing and distribution activities to ensure secure revenues despite the changing international economic climate and associated lumpy sales. In hand with our achievements for the year, we also maintained a focus on careful management of costs as our business transitions from science to sales.
This year we also sold a number of Uscom BP+ devices to a US global tech giant doing home care/telemetric heart failure research. Since then the company has listed Uscom as a preferred vendor and made a second order of devices. This is an exciting development for our US digital eHealth prospects. The BP+ also remains on the International Space Station providing vital signs monitoring for astronauts. The CFDA (China) and FDA (US) applications for BP+ are in progress.
There were many scientific publications throughout the year demonstrating the strength of our technologies and we continued receiving outstanding key opinion leader support confirming that our devices are saving lives daily – something investors can be proud of. While change is slow in medicine, there is an inevitability that our innovative, non-invasive, high accuracy, practice changing devices will increasingly receive support as our scientific evidence gets more widely accessed.
Thank you to our shareholders and supporters over the FY 2018 year, none of this happens without the support of investors. The acquisition and integration of two global companies and the development and launch of seven new products across four continents has been an ambitious project. This has taken longer and cost more than expected, but the opportunities it has created are much greater than was ever predicted. This future value is yet to be recognised by the broader market.
What are our strategies for 2019?
For FY 2019 we will continue to invest in fundamentals, progress the launch of our new products globally, expand our international operations and grow our sales and marketing organisation and drive global revenues. Much of our spend and activities for the year were non recurring and not directly revenue generating, and we look forward to smooth operations and strong growth in sales from our healthy pipelines in the year ahead as global markets settle. China will remain our single most important focus as we develop the opportunities created by our new China investment and organisation. We intend to position Uscom China as a reliable growth conduit into the fastest growing medical device market in the world and drive our revenue growth.
FY 2019 will be an exciting year for Uscom as we will build upon our growing foundations and progress towards our goal of making Uscom a billion dollar company.
Thanks for a great year and looking forward to an even better 2019.
Rob
Uscom, CEO
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