Doing business in China is hard, indeed investing in China is hard as we have seen recently, but here we are talking about direct business in China,

RooLife are facilitators, which is essential in this market. They have recently announced initial revenue from Merino & Co wool garments into China using its e-commerce and digital marketing technology. This provided of over $310k in sales of the Merino & Co products during February. The company expects sales of the Merino & Co wool products will contribute to strong growth in the March 2022 quarter.

Revenue from ordinary activities was up over 300% to ~$8M compared to $2M in H1/21. Cash receipts also were up from ~$1.7M in H1/21 to $5.7M in H1/22.

The higher revenue resulted in a significantly lower loss at approx. 800k getting the business back to break ever.

The company has pointed to the high Merino & Co cash receipts to its partnership with sales channel and strategic investor China Cross Border Trading Group (CCTG), announced in December 2021.

Back in December, shareholders approved a $1 million capital raising via a share placement with CTTG who will “facilitate” RooLife’s portfolio of products to Chinese retailers

During H1/22, RooLife fresh food store was launched on Pinduoduo (a marketplace apparently larder than Alibaba) and put itself in a top 10 position for sales on the platform within three months. Pinduoduo has over 850 million active users.

Bryan Carr, RooLife CEO was recently on Smallcaps if you want to hear more: https://webplayer.whooshkaa.com/show/10156?episode=970544

First straw since joining so not sure the best way to approach this (open to feedback)... but noted RLG share price continues to slide on the back of promising revenue increases. Held IRL, new to premium so adding holding at historically low price to portfolio (wish IRL this would be the case, but alas entered higher in the mid 2's) further research required but share price at current level warranting further review of an averaging down in holdings. Momentum in last two quarters appear to have spooked investors somewhat, alongside strategic partnerships/placements. Combined with the "China" discount effect, increasing sales revenue seems divergent to the share price. Will note thoughts in further straws.

Today's announcement key takeaways:

-First sales receipted on Aus wool garment producer Merino & Co - $310,000 received Feb 22. This arises from the more recently announced strategic investor, China Cross Border Trading Group ("CCTG").

-Expecting further contribution to sales growth for overall RLG product sales for the March 22 Quarter.

-Management notes initial cash receipts may be considered immaterial, but sales growth for the March 22 Qtr (inclusive of these sales) looking promising. 1H2021 sales of $8.1m, a 304% increase on corresponding 2021 reporting period. This also represents 89% of the total revenue for all of FY2021.

-Sales for March 22 Qtr expected to be circa 25%-30% increase from Dec 2021 quarter.

-This new partnership and sales channel has been achieved and implemented in co-operation with Chinafocussed sales channel and RLG strategic investor, China Cross Border Trading Group (“CCTG”) and affirms the value of this strategic partnership announced in late 2021.

Cash Flow Positive

After a monster Q3 this year, Roolife managed to beat the last quarter again, with 15% up in Q4 (preliminary).

I’ve listed the highlights from their announcements prior to the 4C we expect at the end of the month.

To me the biggest news from this is the cash flow positive news, which is a major turning point, and one they’ve achieved relatively early days.

This makes the numbers very healthy for the company. They now have north of $5M cash in the bank with their recent placement of $1.7M, they will likely end the year just shy of $10M in revenue, all with a market cap below $20M.

Healthy numbers like this combined with their recent growth rates, and consistent announcements of winning over contracts with great brands (most recent was Remedy: Australia's #1 Kombucha Brand), has been proving the thesis very nicely for now.

Disc - I hold.

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Highlights

• Accelerating product sales during the June quarter deliver a new Quarter record revenue of $3.9m (preliminary) for the 30 June 2021 Quarter – up 15% from Q3FY21

• Strong collection of cash receipts from customers of $5m+ for Q4FY21

• Company $1m+ cashflow positive for the Quarter

• Cash at bank at 30 June 2021 of $3.8m further strengthened with placement funds of $1.7m received in the first week of July 2021

Tiny ecommerce experts that offer Australian (and global) businesses a path to reach and sell to Chinese consumers.

It’s easy to understand why brands would want to do it, the shear size of the Chinese markets means companies are eager for a piece of the pie. They mention in their latest presentation that China’s online shopping market is AUD$2.2 trillion with 925 million online shoppers. Mostly, their clients are B2C brands.

• Clean balance sheet and well cashed up: $5M in Cash, no debt.
• Steady revenue growth in past 3 years. The small size of the business means this growth is impressive in the, revenue went 3x from FY19 to FY20.
• Interesting to note they’ve secured $22M in contracts, which is more than their market cap. Of course, this isn’t guaranteed revenue given they will have to reach sales targets developed with clients, but gives us a good indication of the growth they could achieve with a few more years of good execution.

They’ve been building their stores mostly on platforms like Alibaba. They should not be valued like a pure software company, but the simplicity of their business model, and how well they appear to execute means I’ve taken a small position.