BluMetric Environmental Inc. ($BLM)

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to this Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders of BluMetric Environmental, Inc. My name is Scott MacFabe, and I'm the CEO and Chair of BluMetric. We're meeting in person today, but we're also joined by many of our shareholders who are joining by conference call and Teams. We've encouraged shareholders to vote in proxy in advance of the meeting because only those shareholders and proxy holders who are at the meeting in person can vote during the meeting. Shareholders joining us by conference call or by Teams cannot vote during the meeting. I would like now to introduce the past year's other directors of BluMetric who are joining us in person and/or by phone: Ian Mor MacDonald; Ian Murray MacDonald; Stephan May, Mohsen Mortada; and David Rudolph. Also present and/or on the phone is Dan Hilton, BluMetric's Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary. Following the formal meeting, I'll have some brief comments on BluMetric's 2025 fiscal year performance and some goal statements for fiscal year 2026. Those who have registered to participate on the Teams platform can follow along with the presentation. If you're participating by phone, a copy of the presentation will be posted to our website after the meeting. Before the presentation begins, I will ask the Corporate Secretary to read the customary caution with respect to forward-looking statements. Dan?

Thank you, Scott. While the information contained herein is believed to be accurate and reliable, BluMetric Environmental, Inc. and its predecessor companies and their respective agents, advisers, directors, officers, employees and shareholders make no representations or warranties expressed or implied as to the accuracy or completeness of such information and expressly disclaim any and all liability that may be based on such information or errors or emissions thereof. The forward-looking statements contained herein, the future anticipated direction of the industry, plans for future expansion, various business development activities, planned capital expenditures, future funding sources, anticipated sales growth and potential contracts involve important risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect anticipated results in the future. And accordingly, such results may vary materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of BluMetric. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in this presentation. Please refer to the company's management discussion and analysis posted at www.sedarplus.ca for a complete list of the company's risks and uncertainties. BluMetric Environmental undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements as circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, except as required by applicable securities laws. For more information, please refer to the company's documentation posted at www.sedarplus.ca.

Thank you, Dan. I'll now call to order this Annual and Special Meeting of the Shareholders of BluMetric. At today's meeting, holders of common shares are entitled to be present in person or by proxy and to vote. I will be acting as Chair of the meeting, and Dan Hilton will act as Corporate Secretary. Bryce Docherty of Odyssey Trust Company is appointed as scrutineers for the meeting. I now table a statutory declaration of Odyssey Trust Company, our transfer agent, certifying the due mailing of the materials -- meeting materials. I direct that a copy of the statutory declaration and copies of those documents be kept by the Corporate Secretary as part of the records of this meeting. I'm advised by Corporate Secretary that there is quorum present. As notice has been duly provided and a quorum of shareholders is present, I declare the meeting to be regularly called and properly constituted for the transaction of business. The Canadian Business Corporations Act and the bylaws of the corporation entitle any shareholder or proxy holder present in person at the meeting to request a vote by ballot rather than a show of hands. I will ask the Corporate Secretary to read the scrutineers' report on attendance and voting by proxy. Dan?

Thanks, Scott, and thank you to Odyssey. So we have 2 shareholders today in person representing 1,316,847 shares. We have 39 shareholders by proxy representing 16,895,845 shares, for a total of 41 shareholders holding 18,212,692 shares. Our total shares issued and outstanding, 54,584,148. Voting today in total then are 33.37% of the shareholders.

A copy of the financial statements of the corporation for the year ended September 30, 2025, were delivered to those who requested a copy. Copies of the financial statements and MD&A as well as the auditor's report on the financial statements are available on sedarplus.ca. Are there any questions on the financial statements? Hearing none, we'll move on to formal matters. Certain shareholders and proxy holders have volunteered to move and second resolutions where required. While this procedure will facilitate the handing of formal matters, it should also not discourage any shareholder from speaking on any matter before the meeting. Please indicate if you have a question. And once I recognize you, please give your name and state whether you are a shareholder or proxy holder. The first item of business is to proceed with the election of directors for the ensuing year or until their successors are elected or appointed. The management information circular sent to you listed the corporation's directors nominees. Each director listed in the management information circular are to be elected separately. I will now call for a motion to elect Dr. David Rudolph as a Director. I now put the motion to the meeting. Many of you have voted by proxy. For those present in person, all those in favor of the motion, please signify by raising your hand. Sir, yes, sir? May -- I'm sorry, please, your name and?

[ Doug Jones ].

Yes, Doug?

Each candidate will be elected separately?

Yes, sir.

[indiscernible] question will be handled now or do it during the meeting on the [indiscernible]?

I would say now is as good as any time.

[indiscernible] or decided to find, with due respect, the position of CEO and the Chair, that, in general, that would be not a good decision for corporate governance. And I want to just state for the record that I'm dissatisfied with that decision. The next thing is that the MIC, in my view, was deficient. In my view, there should be an independent director [indiscernible] position that combined the Chair and the CEO, that there should be independent director named and identified. And as far as I can see, there is no such person. Why is that?

Well, Doug, if I recall, you sent your questions to us in advance, and for all those questions, we did formally reply.

Yes.

Okay. Please restate your specific question you would like an answer to. And which position. Well, it was our assessment and at the encouragement of many shareholders, that this, at our stage, our size, our scale, was reasonable, customary and common. And so in response to the needs of the Board, I stepped in to take on that role. It won't be forever. It will be temporary. For this position, I take no extra compensation. I take only the responsibility. And yours is frankly the first commentary on this matter to not agree with that decision.

I'm not disagreeing with that decision. I'm disagreeing with the fact there was no lead independent director made [indiscernible] requirement.

Oh, I see. From the rest of the Board, you would like to have a lead independent director of the 3 that we currently have.

Yes.

I see. Okay. We will take note of that, and we will reply to you formally after the meeting.

Okay. But why has it not been done if you had the Board [indiscernible] with governance [indiscernible] independent director being an absolute requirement.

We'll name one for you.

The MIC is also not sufficient in my view in naming the -- in identifying the salaries, the payments made to the Board of Directors. Just states one number. Most of most of the MICs I read break down the numbers into basic retainer. Is there a meeting fee? What is to be paid to committee chairs? And what is the meeting fee paid to the committee members? Would the Board be prepared to provide more information on that?

Well, certainly. Yes.

The other thing is it doesn't have attendance records [indiscernible] how many meetings were attended. This is rather elementary for evaluating the quality of the Board. Would that information be available?

Certainly.

I guess my last concern is the Board will now only have 3 independent members. That's a very limited number. There are 3 committees. And so all 3 members will be spread over all the committees.

Yes.

I believe a larger Board is needed just for the simple idea of a broader opinion, range of opinion and diversity.

I don't disagree with you, and I don't think others would. It's not that we're closed to that. We recently had a Board member decide not to stand, and we respect that decision. And so going forward, we evaluate a matrix of needs for the Board and we fill it as necessary. We're also very cautious about the overall cost for a company our size to have a very large Board. And so on that, we do make sure that our Board members are fairly compensated, but we're also very cautious about adding more overhead costs to company.

Thank you.

You're very welcome. Good to see you again. So no further questions or comments, to complete this, for David, I declare that Dr. David Rudolph to have been elected as a Director of the corporation for the ensuing year or until a successor is elected or appointed. I will now call for a motion to elect Mohsen Mortada as a Director. I now put the motion to the meeting. Many of you voted by proxy. For those present in person, all those in favor of the motion, please signify by raising of your hand. Any contrary? Having none, carried. I declare that Mohsen Mortada to have been elected as a Director of the corporation for the ensuing year or until the successor is elected or appointed. I'll now call for a motion to elect Ian Murray MacDonald as a director. I now put the motion to the meeting. Many of you have voted by proxy. For those present in person, all those in favor of the motion, please signify by raising your hand. Any contrary? Seeing none, carried. I declare that Ian Murray MacDonald to have been elected as a Director of the corporation for the ensuing year or until a successor is elected were appointed. I will now call for a motion to elect Stephan May as a Director. I now put the motion to the meeting. Many of you have voted by proxy. For those present in person, all those in favor of the motion, please signify by raising your hand. Any contrary? None, carried. I declare that Stephan May to have been elected as a Director of the corporation for the ensuing year or until a successor is elected or appointed. We'll now call for a motion to elect Scott MacFabe as a Director. I now put the motion to the meeting. Many of you have voted by proxy. For those present in person, all those in favor of the motion, please signify by raising your hand. Any contrary? None. Carried. I declare that Scott MacFabe to have been elected as a Director of the corporation for the ensuing year or until a successor is elected or appointed. Appointment of the auditors. The second item of business is the appointment of our new auditor. Again, many of you have voted by proxy. Sir. Yes, sir?

[indiscernible] to resign at the request of the company. That sounds pretty harsh, the language used. Could you just clarify the circumstances?

I think that's reasonable and customary language which is commonly used when you change a director -- or auditor, sorry. My apologies. The auditor. We can discuss that further afterwards to the extent we're willing to discuss it further, but it was time to change our director, and we're delighted to have Ernst & Young as our -- or our new auditor. So again, many of you have voted by proxy. For those present in person, all those in favor of the motion, please signify by raising your hand. Any contrary? None. I declare the motion carried. The third item of business is the amendments to the corporation's amended and restated stock option plan for 2026. As more fully described in the management proxy circular, including a full text of -- includes a full text of the plan. A motion has been made and seconded. Is there any discussion? None noted. Again, many of you have voted by proxy. For those present in person, all those in favor of the motion, please signify by raising your hand. Contrary, if any? None noted. I declare the motion carried. This concludes the formal business of the meeting. As there are no further business to be brought before the meeting, I declare the formal meeting to be concluded, and I'll now provide my CEO's report. [Presentation]

We're very fortunate to have a 50-year [indiscernible]. And I think the story of Blumetric will endure well beyond the next 50. But this is a year of celebration for us, so I invite everyone on our call and everybody present to celebrate with us and to help us write that next big chapter of the company. Let's talk about that. Decentralized water and infrastructure is a key part of our future strategy. It fits perfectly with our history and it sets apart our future. You look at how the business is organized right now with our people, we currently have 335 people in the company, 50 years' worth of history. You look at the impact that we have, over 6,000 projects executed, 300-plus water tech systems deployed. 74 million plus U.S. gallons per day total water capacity deployed. We have 16 offices. We have 3 manufacturing facilities and 4 new laboratories for geotechnical and building sciences testing. Our financial, we have a history of driving profitable -- being profitable and growing. Our top line last year finished out at around $2.6 million in revenues, $2.4 million in adjusted EBITDA. And we've closed recently on 2 acquisitions, Gemini Water, and shortly after that, DS Consultants. What makes Blumetric valuable? The presentation [ we just ] gave you is a pretty good capsule. It's mostly about our people. But we are a company that specialized benefits from water scarcity, aging water infrastructure, and military demands are huge tailwinds for us. Our strategy drives long-term and profitable growth. Foundational is our professional services consultancy, complements high-growth water tech work. We have proven and diversified client base, allowing us to be resilient in difficult times. We have a unique approach of focusing on decentralized water treatment technologies and services for our clients as that becomes in higher demand. Full-service consultancy delivers end-to-end solutions and upgrades for aged infrastructure in the built environment. We also have an increasing share of recurring revenues through operation and maintenance business, helping us support a stronger foundation to the business. We currently see -- saw 80% year-over-year revenue growth in 2025. We currently have $0 in long-term interest-bearing debt. And we have 2 main divisions servicing commercial, industrial, government, military and mining markets. An excellent study that is a great capsule of the opportunities in the water business was recently published by the World Economic Forum, that highlights that by 2040, the global water infrastructure gap could reach $10.2 trillion. Closing it could unlock [ over ] $13 trillion in GDP and support 206 million new jobs. Presents a total of $17.7 trillion in cumulative investments needed. It's estimated that for every dollar invested in water results in $2.70 in output. Blumetric currently plays a role in 2 of the 4 cited key pillars being equitable access to water and infrastructure resilience. The water drives positive socioeconomic benefit, high multiplier economic strategy. It's all part of what we are and where we're headed. Blumetric is uniquely positioned to capitalize on water and resilient infrastructure. We're a leader in decentralized water solutions. And our water tech businesses, decentralized systems, they reduce expenditures by over 40% to 45%. Expedites the delivery to market. History of water supply development or municipalities for many of those 50 years in our history. We're diversified and complementary customer base. Four distinct customer markets, target currently of about a 50-50 revenue split between water tech and professional services revenues. Professional services, it provides access to infrastructure revenues in adjacent industries. When you're there, you're the trusted adviser to a client, having access now to the built environment is a great opportunity for us now adding DS Consultants. Recurring services expansion, our goal is to secure multiyear operation and maintenance agreements comprising typically 10% of a customer's CapEx annually. We have our first Caribbean O&M contract that's been secured in December, servicing a 20 to 40-year asset, providing end-to-end solutions. Selective M&A playbook. We look for accretive acquisitions targeted at around the 4 to 8 EBITDA multiplier. The acquisition of Gemini doubled revenues in the first year of integration. The priority on strong leadership and growth ambitions and a cultural fit whoever comes to be part of our team. We drive full life cycle delivery. It drives client value and creates a moat around those opportunities for others. To say to the top right, having access to the opportunity, we assess it, we design the solution, we build it, and constant improvement and repeat. We become a valuable business partner for our clients with that business model. We're one of the few firms who can execute a project end-to-end this way for clients, from the front-end engineering all the way through O&M and long-term delivery. It drives differentiation and better outcomes and creates a moat, locking in clients who want a competency and one-stop turnkey solutions. Few firms can build products and service them. In fact, that is a key competitors concern when they deal with and compete with Blumetric. We design it, build it, execute it, operate it and prove it. We're able to compete mine assessments, environmental feasibilities do the front-end engineering and the design, build the mine-affluent treatment systems, operating and maintain those systems while driving client improvements, a key business asset. Our product and service offerings in the professional services side of the business, we're now in the natural and built environment. Water resources, environmental engineering and compliance services, now geotechnical and building sciences services, site assessment remediation and industrial hygiene, occupational health and safety services. Everything from the assessment of the natural environment to the understanding and execution of the built improvement necessary by our clients' desires. In water tech, desal and wastewater treatment plants, planning and construction, the design and the build, purification. We can do seawater and brackish desal work and wastewater treatment. Huge add with Gemini. In Canada, we're known as -- for mission-ready water and our water tech. Fixed and mobile water purification systems, shipboard water treatment systems. Mine affluent treatment and emergency response. Service and support. A key piece of our future is building our operation and maintenance business. Long-term recurring revenue, always on-site, always accessible by our clients, understand their wants and needs and deliver on solutions. In water assessment -- asset management, consumable parts and chemicals to make sure that we support the execution of those systems and rehab and optimization. Another huge part of our business. So we see a better environment for business at BluMetric. And what does that mean? You heard a little bit about that in the clip that we just showed you. We really try to include collaboration with our Canadian indigenous groups as well, that we can build our national footprint. We have some joint ventures we've put in place in order to be able to execute well in geographies and fill needs in Canada specifically. We have a joint venture with [ Denton Show ] at Giant Mine in Yellowknife. We've been operating the water treatment system -- the mine water treatment system there for the last 4 years. Defense collaboration with [ Desneti ] and Kipnik Nunavut Corporation in Nunavut. All of these joint ventures give us an opportunity to participate and work in the very far north where we have a 20-year history. This is just a small capsule of our book of business. It's a great client list. You take a look at our verticals: commercial, industrial, government, military, mining, the names on these lists are the envy of our competition. We intend to continue to service and grow those relationships now and into the future. If you look at our client portfolio and our footprint across North America and the Caribbean, how we've grown in the last couple of years is really a point of pride for the business. Everything from what we just talked about working up at the Giant Mine treatment -- [ ethylene ] treatment site up in Yellowknife all the way down to the Caribbean and St. Kitts for a brand-new 2 million-gallon per day desalination plant. Some examples of other projects we've worked on from Yellowknife down to St. Kitts. And we continue to evaluate that. There's plenty of opportunity for us to expand smartly by expanding our geography -- our geographic reach. Our key markets provide breadth and diversification. If you take a look at the tailwinds and the exposure to multiple sectors across the company's 2 business segments, it gives us a solid basis on which to weather the storm. If you look at our commercial industrial sector, in water tech, it's growing; in professional services, it's growing, especially with the add of DS Consultants. In government, the water tech side is emerging, but it's always been very stable in professional services. The military, steadily growing in water tech and emerging in professional services. In mining, growing in both. So you can see, as we grow, as we execute, the value of the relationship between the advisory or the consultancy and the design and the execution and support of water technology. Talk a little bit about the tailwinds for the business. We say economic uncertainty creates new opportunity. We don't run from challenges, we run to them. Military demand for decentralized mission-ready water solutions are global need to be filled. Industrial municipal fixed water treatment systems, operation maintenance solutions, a huge underserviced market that we fill a very nice role in. Water scarcity, conservation humanitarian relief efforts, something that's very close to our hearts. We've been part of the [ DRT ] team, the disaster relief team, with the Canadian [ D&D ] for many years. But our systems definitely apply to having resilient backup to produce clean water or treat wastewater. The impact of emerging contaminants is a daily challenge, and our systems are designed to be able to adjust accordingly and treat them as necessary. And on all things, the impact of climate change. It's driving a lot of what we need to deal with on a daily basis in terms of how we consult, design and execute technical solutions. Professional services provides recurring opportunity and diversification. These are long-standing relationships that produce recurring revenue. We're the trusted adviser for these clients. We've known them for a long time. And as a result, we reap the benefit of having the access and opportunity to solve those problems for them. Historically, a profitable, asset-light business with very strong gross margins, really concentrated in Canada, particularly Ontario, Quebec and far north. Professionals include engineers, scientists, occupational hygienists and technologists. And the growth levers for this business is really expansion into new geographies and sectors, small consultancy tuck-ins, larger M&A targets and improved [indiscernible] utilization to make sure that we continue to effectively apply our time to our clients' problems. On the top right, you'll see a chart that shows professional services gross profit and [eBAC ]. It shows a nice contribution of the business, which currently is about equal to the [ eBAC ] for our water tech business. From water tech, it's scalable growth. We integrate, engineer, deploy innovative water solutions for today's complex challenges. Decentralized fixed and mobile wastewater systems targeting a range of around [ $8,000 to $3 million ] U.S. GDP capacity. We specialize in desal, military, municipal and commercial applications. Our O&M business is growing, and it's a key part of the strategy to increase the base of recurring revenue in that business. And it has again been estimated at about 10% of the CapEx of everything that our clients install. And these are 20 to 40-year assets. Growth levers, capitalize on growing markets in mining, military and industrial commercial. Increase our manufacturing footprint in Florida and Ontario. And select technologies or vertical integration through acquisitions. Next slide. So we're positioned for long-term growth and profitability. Today, strong balance sheet, debt-free. [indiscernible] growth mode. We're scalable. We have completed 2 recent acquisitions. We're integrating and growing, launched an O&M division, history of profitability, and we've restructured our professional services division to sharpen and improve those margins. In 2026, our calendar goals are to unlock operating leverage, successfully integrate DS Consultants into the business, large contracts with the military in our pipeline. We've recently just signed 1 with a shipbuilder on the West Coast. You saw our recent press release. We expand in the mining market right now. We were in it, we've been up in Sudbury in Northern Quebec and Yellowknife for over 20 years. Great reputation. Execute next M&A targets. Constantly, there's a gravity that's developed to BluMetric by other organizations or enterprises that are interested in participating in our growth. Capitalize on growing tailwinds as they evolve. So what's the future of BluMetric? We have a strong base of recurring operation and maintenance services, long-term military partnerships. Looking at a 50-50 split of water tech and professional services revenue, 30%-plus gross margin targets and a target of 10% EBITDA margin, at $100 million revenue top line. We're delivering strong financial performance. This slide is intended to capture our history over the last many years. You can see how we have diversified and balanced out our revenue production between water tech and professional services. Currently, again, with the addition of DS Consultants, about 50-50. Really, we've got long-term revenue growth with CAGR between 2022 and 2026 of 27%. Two acquisitions with organic growth drove that CAGR. Gross margin affected by product and service mix. The margins on Water Tech are slightly lower than Professional Services. But the business is growing. DS Consultants had approximately $24 million in revenues and 40% gross margin, $3.7 million in EBITDA in 2025 just before we acquired them. No debt. No issues. A familiar firm that wanted to be part of BluMetric. And now are. So executing new phase of business growth. We talked about a little history. I showed up about 8 years ago almost to the day. We've moved from debt reduction, clean balance sheet through strategic investment and now M&A and growth. Company has just gone through phases, but now we're executing on one of the best M&A integration and organic growth strategies we feel in the business. So what's our capital allocation strategy? In terms of M&A, it's fairly straightforward. There has to be a fit with people and culture first. Unlock potential organic growth. With our help, enables that entity to access our enterprise and grow exponentially. A history of profitability. We want to make sure that they also run a business well. Untapped markets we need to be in, and that drives potential financial improvements. Expansion and internal investment -- or capacity expansion and internal investment. Increasing manufacturing footprint. We have an increasing demand to be able to produce more. Cultivating new business offerings and relationships. Investment in people, equipment and infrastructure. And develop new applications and technologies. So if you look at our past acquisitions and the rationale, if we start with Gemini, really a strong engineering and client service culture. Very entrepreneurial, extremely well-known, highly respected. Technologies fit with our cross-selling opportunities that we've traditionally had within BluMetric up here in Canada. Historic multiyear EBITDA margin of around 10%. And a clear revenue gross margin and EBITDA generation targets to hit. Untapped markets, really establishing a manufacturing presence in Florida helped us tremendously to be able to have access to the Southern states and the Caribbean nations. Drives potential financial improvements, the new potential for long-term O&M contracts, which Gemini hadn't historically done. They were design-and-execute, not operate-and-maintain. Really is an exciting aspect to the new [indiscernible] growth for that business for us. It has always been a part of our military business with field service reps. This is new for Gemini in that market. And as I mentioned earlier, we've just received or secured our first good-size one in [ St. Kitts ] contract. So DS Consultants. Professional Services in the built environment, what does that mean? All of our clients, for one reason or another, have a business ambition to execute on some kind of an improvement, some kind of a build, some kind of a building, some kind of a pipeline. We were always subbing to or subbing in those services that DS Consultants provides. So it is definitely a business we're well acquainted with. It is definitely a business we've constantly partnered with. Now we're delighted to have DS Consultants as part of us. It also answers the issue of us improving access to and growing in our largest geographic market, which we really had a very small footprint in, and that's the GTA. So we've broadened our client portfolio, we've expanded our services to now have technology, the natural environment and the built environment, all key to a total solution for our clients' needs. The history of EBITDA in DS Consultants is typically around at 15%. Yes, 15%. They have an earnout based on annual progressive EBITDA targets of $4 million, $5 million and $6 million. There's no overlap between the clients of BluMetric and DS. It brings a stronger presence to the GTA, and historically, an area for us that really needed access and improvement. They have a disciplined culture of driving stronger profitability, extremely well-run business and enhances our business diversification. This is just a little time line. We talked about the last 50 years. 1976, BluMetric predecessor, WSA, Water Science Associates, Limited has been -- was founded. As noted, Ian Murray MacDonald on our Board is one of the founders of this organization. Provides great value, great history in his contribution to the Board, bringing all that to the fore. In 2012 was the RTO with [ Sepratech ], and that's where we became publicly traded on the TSXV. And started our first award, $11.5 million in Water Tech for the Canadian Navy, for repair and overhaul of their [ Astrad systems ]. I showed up 8 years ago. Shortly after that, we're executing on larger mine water contracts, water treatment contracts up in Yellowknife. Partnership with Rheinmetall, we recently -- we're currently in full production of our smaller, more agile water treatment systems for a more agile smaller mission-capable system for the army. It's taken high praise internationally because it has a diversity of applications to be able to provide for up to 250 to 300 people per unit. You can imagine the ability to have something like that in Europe, any NATO country, as being part of the Rheinmetall network. We are the only water treatment product in their catalog of products for NATO. '23, Dan Hilton joined us. Shortly after, really pushing hard on our mission-ready water contracts with First Nations community. We're in the process of designing our first mission-ready water system for remote indigenous community in British Columbia. It will be installed this spring, for which we expect there will be high demand for that solution. Our systems are designed to be -- they're resilient, they're simple to operate. They use very few consumables. They're very energy-efficient. And they're meant to be run by regular people. and monitored by the experts by telemetry remotely. So we hope to see great promise and growth there. Acquisition of Gemini, talked about that. Water Tech contracts with [ Thales ] for ship upgrades in terms of water treatment on shipboard systems to improve the longevity of their water fixtures and infrastructure and water treatment. Shortly after that, the acquisition of DS, and a concurrent $15 million financing. And most recently, we picked up, after having constructed, now we have the operation and maintenance of the St. Kitts facility, the largest deployment to date for Gemini. So who's at the helm? We are very fortunate to have the team that we have. Our management team, we start with Dan Bedford. Dan is -- or Dean, sorry, is the original owner and partner of Gemini down in Gainesville, Florida. Dan, CFO. Corey Switzer, Corey runs our Water Tech in Canada and military business. Jodi Johnson, she is our VP, Director of Operations. And Blaine Dobson, he is a Director. He is the lead for DS Consultants. On our Board, myself, Mohsen Mortada, our renowned water consultants. Currently stepping down from his position as the lead for managing water programs all the way from the California coast, San Francisco to San Diego. So he's the Chief of Staff. Ian Murray MacDonald, Founder. I've mentioned, has been with the firm 40 years. Stephan May, delighted to have Steph on Board. Great experience in M&A and just a local executive who's already contributing a tremendous amount to the business. And Dr. David Rudolph. David taught both Ian Murray and myself and many others in our industry from the University of Waterloo in the science and engineering of hydrogeology and water sciences and engineering. So David is well known to the industry, well-known internationally, and we're delighted to have him on our Board. But why invest in BluMetric? We create a better environment for business. We lead in providing decentralized water and resilient infrastructure products and services. We're benefiting from strong tailwinds across all of our sectors. And we see people and businesses thrive driving growth and profitability. So we are a better environment for business. With that, let's show you a short clip how our system [indiscernible]. [Presentation]

We're delighted to show you that clip because that's the first time in 20 years that the [indiscernible] of St. Kitts has had 24-hour water, if you can imagine, the things that we take for granted. But to those who much have been given, much is expected. And we expect much of ourselves to execute on these kind of projects with meaningful outcomes. There's a huge demand for these kinds of solutions, not just in the Caribbean and First Nations around the country, around the world. And we intend to participate in those solutions successfully as a business partner.

With that, we'll now open the floor to any questions from shareholders. We apologize that we're unable to take questions over the conference line or via Teams. However, for our shareholders listening in or on the Teams platform, if you have any questions, please e-mail them to [email protected], and we'll do our best to respond to them after the meeting. When you're sending your questions, please identify your name and indicate if you are a shareholder. Are there any questions from the floor?

Happy to yield to anybody else first.

No, sir. I appreciate your questions.

[indiscernible] Gemini?

Gemini is currently what, Dan?

40.

40.

BluMetric then is about [indiscernible].

About that, yes.

Yes. Gemini is smaller than I thought. That's fine. But I'm concerned with DS. It's a major staffing acquisition. It's a major -- so it's doubling, more or less, doubling the size of the company. And how are you addressing, I guess, such a large input of staff, input of culture [indiscernible]?

Well, back to our strategy, we only assess and provide opportunity for organizations like DS to be part of BluMetric if you are a well-run business already, you have a desire to be part of a bigger enterprise that will give you the opportunity to grow your business that you wouldn't have had otherwise. And so we are not looking for troubled companies that need a lot of our expertise to run. In fact, they will teach us a few things. I guarantee it. So it's not -- it's -- we also have -- if you look at how we have built our business, we've kind of built ahead our back office to be able to support companies like DS. That's why you see our margins are a little depressed. Well, you can't bring an enterprise like that from a private company into a public enterprise without being there to support them. So we feel it's important to have those adds, and that will take advantage of what we have already built to be able to integrate, grow their business as well. I've known the CEO of DS Consulting for 40 years. We're very familiar with each other. Their people are phenomenal. They're highly sought-after in the business that they are in and in the market we desire to be in. And so we're delighted to have them as part of the business. But they don't need a lot of handholding. What they need is the support that we're going to give them to grow their business and take advantage of the platform we've already built.

[indiscernible] approach in terms of day-to-day operating?

Well, again, our approach is when you become part of BluMetric, we have invested in a brand, and that brand is not BluMetric. That brand is DS Consultants and Gemini Water. In Florida, yes, we could do what many have done and put a great big BluMetric sign above their business, demoralize everybody, confuse their client base and watch the business dwindle. But instead, we want to respect the value of the brand and what they've built and help them grow it. Same applies to DS. And we evaluate that over a 3-year time horizon as they had their earnout. And we let the clients help us decide. Because the worst decision I've seen in 40 years in this business is some will just tear the -- they say, "Well, tear the band-aid off quickly and just get it over with and now you're us." And then the clients don't like it. And everything that you have recently invested in goes away or everybody looks at their watch and says, "I only have 3 years of this before I go do it somewhere else." So we have to be a good host, a good partner, be respectful of the brand that we've integrated into the business and grow it together.

I believe it's one of the analysts [indiscernible] he was surprised that BluMetric had come to the effect have gone away from normal business by acquiring DS. I assume you would disagree with that.

I would wholeheartedly disagree with that. It's funny, I also stay fairly close to a lot of our external investors, and I really appreciate their input, and there are a few that didn't quite immediately understand the value of what we did. And that's fine. If you have the long view of the business, which I have to have, we have to have, there's an enormous opportunity for us to have access to and leverage the built environment. We don't really -- we always get hired by that. It's always part of something that we do, number one. The Professional Services advisory is what we started with. So it's not that we don't understand that business. But I think there was an impression by that analyst that all we are is Water Tech and a little bit of consulting and military, maybe some mining. So everybody has the right to be able to assess us and come up with their own conclusions on who we are. It's my job to clarify that and to tell you that the add for DS gives us the ability to work with just about any client who wants to develop what they want to develop from a greenfield site to a contaminated brownfield site downtown Toronto to a Caribbean development. We can do all of it from the front-end assessment to the support of the design and the execution and then the production of a system that will handle their water and wastewater. We didn't have that before, now we do.

Last question. The day of that first quarter meeting and the next day [indiscernible] you are in touch, you say, with market things. What is your impression? And has that recovered? Why was the sudden decline right at that meeting and afterwards and had its slow recovery.

Everybody's going to have an opinion. And if I knew exactly what the market does, why it does what it does, I couldn't say that. But some may not necessarily embrace that decision. It's our job to make them realize in the future that that might not have been the best decision. Hereafter, it's our job to run the business and grow it and to demonstrate the value of that decision. Bringing DS into the business is a great add. And it's not uncommon, by the way. If you look at a lot of our competitors, much bigger than us, the Stantecs, the WSPs and so on, they all have this. So for someone to say, it's not what I thought you should be, as opposed to me saying, this is who we think we are. This is who we believe we are. That's all. Welcome. Any other questions from the floor? If none, I'll call this call to an end, and thank you very much for your attention. I appreciate all that have called in to hear our story and our update. And we're looking forward to an exciting 2026. So again, thank you all.