CEO COMMENT - October 2021
More than two months have now passed since I joined Brighter as acting CEO.
I believe one of the most important things for an incoming CEO to do is to listen to one’s new colleagues. They are the people with first-hand knowledge of the company’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as with ideas on what could be done differently. I am very impressed with the overall level of knowledge, professionalism and commitment.
Based on what I have learned, I decided to make two key organizational changes that I expect to have far-reaching positive impacts: the appointment of Jonas Johansson as Head of Operations, and the appointment of Johan Möller as Head of Sales & Marketing. Both Jonas and Johan have been working with Brighter for some time and know the company and our industry well. I have a lot of confidence in each of them and I believe that increasing the scope of their responsibilities will yield positive results both at the product level and out in the market. I have also, together with the Leadership Team, taken a deep dive in the company's strategy and challenged some of the goals and directions in order to make sure we are moving in the right direction, at the right time, with the right offering.
On the financial side, the board has, as communicated in the press release on 8 October, come to the conclusion that, in the case of the subsidiaries Camanio and Nectarine, a sale of all shares is preferable over partial sales or finding third party investment. The board has therefore decided in principle to sell all shares in the wholly owned subsidiaries and the 9% stake in Accumbo. We have already initiated discussions with interested parties and in the event of transactions, the net proceeds from such sales will be used for Brighter's working capital and to support the ongoing commercialization of our Actiste solution. Furthermore, the Board and Group Leadership are continuously working on and evaluating financing options to secure the funds and resources needed to pursue the necessary strategy work. We will provide more information through our regular channels as soon as we have something concrete to communicate.
As we communicated at our Capital Markets Day event in September, we are continuing to focus our Actiste efforts on several key markets in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. Right now we have a special sales focus in Qatar where we are getting close to launch. As communicated earlier, we also have ongoing discussions with distributors in the African market who have shown an interest in the Actiste Service and we are continuously working with our partners in the United Arab Emirates. In Sweden, Chronos Care has received their first shipment of Actiste Mini devices and is ready to start the proof-of-concept trials and we are also evaluating the user trials on the west coast. Depending on the country, we are at different stages in our market entry as we go through the required approval processes for medical devices, telecom agreements and technicalities, data storage and trade licensing. We are doing everything we can to provide the authorities with the information they need in order to grant these approvals swiftly, but the timing for such processes is often largely out of our hands.
Meanwhile, we also collaborate with local medical professionals to understand their specific needs. In Indonesia, for example, we are now working with Padjadjaran University on a research project where 100 patients with diabetes will use Actiste Mini for six months to monitor their blood glucose. Studies like this are incredibly important, not only for the data they bring but also in terms of relationship building with academics, medical practitioners, business administrators and future leaders. They are a key part of our commercialization efforts.
When it comes to our subsidiaries, we’ve seen some excellent developments in recent months too. Nectarine Health has now signed trial agreements with three in-home senior-care providers in the United States. This follows the news that the Nectarine Health consumer app has received approval from both Apple and Google, and that the remote care system Nectarine Health™ at Home has been registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Camanio has also been doing some great work over the summer, winning allocation decisions for stationary care alarms with no fewer than three Swedish municipalities. This progress shows how both companies are now ready and attractive for acquisitions.
All these developments together with the ongoing financing work give me great confidence in Brighter’s ability to execute according to our strategy. Having left some tough times behind us, there is an intense focus in the organization as we have headed into Q4.
You will hear from me again at the Q3 conference call and through a live presentation at Stora Aktiedagen in November and in the next CEO Letter in December.
Erik Lissner
Acting CEO, Brighter AB