Genomic life science company EZZ Life Science (ASX: EZZ) posted a strong financial performance for the three months to December 2022, with $8.6 million in customer cash receipts representing an increase of 43% on the previous quarter and 132% on the same period last year.
The company attributed part of the result to the peak October to December season, when big shopping festivals drove sales particularly through e-commerce channels in China and the Australia-New Zealand region.
The annual 11.11 Global Shopping Festival was a highlight for EZZ, with sales increasing eight times on the previous year and reaching a new company record of $2.56 million.
It ranked at the top of the leader boards of major Chinese online marketplaces, Tmall Global and Douyin, with over 41,600 items sold across both platforms over the festival period.
EZZ’s L-Lysine Growth Capsule outsold products from competitors including supplement brand Swisse Australia to become the top-selling product on Tmall in its category based on monthly data calculations of sales figures, customer satisfaction rates and repurchases.
The company’s own e-commerce platform EZZ Shopify also showed strong growth, with sales increasing by five times on the previous quarter and the number of customer orders increasing 11 times due to a significantly stronger customer conversion rate.
Operating cash
EZZ generated an operating cash inflow for the period of $608,000, compared to the previous quarter’s operating cash outflow of $1.2 million.
The company invested $1.3 million in advertising and marketing to cover promotional needs during the big shopping festivals.
Five new EZZ-branded products were launched during the quarter, namely Incontinence Relief, Joint Energy Boost, Brain Focus Superblend, High Strength DHA and Luminescent Beauty Tablets.
EZZ Incontinence Relief logged early success, producing over $500,000 in sales within a month of its release in December.
By year end, EZZ had a cash balance of $9.6 million.
Positioned for growth
With the world’s economic climate adjusting after the global pandemic, EZZ said it is positioned for growth during 2023.
“With the reopening of borders, we expect to see an increase in Chinese tourism in our key markets of Australia and New Zealand, providing a significant boost to our tourism retail trade,” the company said.
“We are focused on developing new products to appeal to existing and new customers we have a number of product launches scheduled for this year, with the growth of our Shopify store providing us with valuable insights into consumer behaviour.”
The company said it also plans to expand its customer base into new markets during the 2023 calendar year including southeast Asia.
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