We have a meeting with BLG (Investor Relations person Stefanie Winwood) on Wednesday. I’ve owned BLG since March 23, which was before I started paying lots more attention to what I was buying. So yes, I’m well underwater, but whenever I’ve looked again at the company, intending to sell, I’ve come away feeling that’s it’s worth holding just to see what comes. I.e. they have been progressing in what, I judge, for their niche, is a reasonable way.

For those unfamiliar with the company, in their own words, “BLG is the world’s first pure-play gallium nitride (GaN) laser company supplying to the global photonics industry. GaN lasers are advanced semiconductor devices essential to the function of a wide variety of applications, including advanced manufacturing, defense, aerospace, navigation, automotive, AR/VR displays 3-D printing, bio-medical devices, quantum sensing and computing, and more.”

They currently supply to the global photonics industry - industrial, defense, biomedical and scientific. Current estimate of the global GaN laser serviceable market is $2B.

Products - cutting-edge custom laser diode development and manufacturing, from small batch custom lasers to medium and high-volume off the shelf products.

The company produces GaN lasers using patented technology at two foundries they operate - one in Silverwater, Sydney, and the other in Silicon Valley. 

Their “proprietary low-temperature, low-hydrogen, remote plasma chemical vapor deposition (RPCVD) manufacturing technology and novel device architecture are internationally recognized and provides the potential to create brighter, better-performing lasers to power the devices of tomorrow.”

They partner with companies to design and supply lasers for those companies’ specific needs.

Current partners:

- CLAWS hub at North Carolina State University- US Defense Dept Microelectronics Commons project

- Applied Energetics - MoU developing advanced laser systems for military and communications

- Uviquity (US-Venture Cap backed startup) - joint development agreement for novel photonic chips

- UC Santa Barbara Solid State Lighting and Energy Electronics Consortium

- Macquarie University & Aurizn (Defense Co) - Ocean temp mapping LiDAR

- Uni Central Florida College of Optics and Photonics

- Indian Govt DoD Solid State Physics Lab

I’ve looked through all their announcements back to 4Qtr FY24 to get the above, and the best summation is the presentation they put out in May 25 for their CR.

https://bluglass.com/app/uploads/FOR-RELEASE-BluGlass-BLG-Capital-Raising-Presentation-April-2025-vF-1.pdf

Most of what you need to know about the company as it is today is there, reasonably clearly communicated.

Financially: over the past 3+ years

Revenues (from customer receipts) have been steadily increasing

EPS loss has been steadily decreasing (but still in loss)

LT debt steadily decreasing

Shareholder Equity steadily increasing.

End of FY24 equity was 86%

Over the last year, their expansion in staff costs appears to have flattened. I.e. staff costs are reasonably stable and not increasing dramatically.

What I am not clear on:

1) Ga supply - 31/12/24 Dec Qtr update noted they were not affected by China blocking Ga exports. No short term impact. They say they source from Japan and US. My suspicion is both those sources are stockpiles. US has no domestic Ga supply, and I don’t think Japan has either.

[Without Ga, BLG have no business, so do they have contingency plan(s) for supply?]

2. Page 23 of the CR presentation mentions 26 project opportunities (USD 90 - 100M in value) at various stages of engagement, negotiations that might take months or years to mature and not all will result in revenue-generating contracts. Have any of these firmed to contracts?

3. Can current staff and facilities meet the hoped-for escalation in demand? Or does BLG expect they will need to add capacity to meet the projects in the pipeline for FY26 - FY29?

In my view, Pt1 above is the biggest risk (existential) to the business. Pt2 and Pt3 will signal how far away the point of turning profitable lies.

I’ll put the questions into the meeting SLIDO and see what we learn!