Visioneering Technologies, Inc. (VTI) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to this Special Meeting of Stockholders of Visioneering Technologies, Inc. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Dr. David Mazzo, Dr. Mazzo, the floor is yours.

Good morning, good evening to all of you. My name is Dr. David Mazzo, and I am the Chairman of Visioneering Technologies, Inc. It is my distinct pleasure to welcome you to this special meeting of stockholders. This meeting is being held via the Computershare virtual meeting services platform, which allows stockholders, proxies and guests to attend virtually while encouraging greater participation and engagement. The platform is designed to allow the meeting to be interactive to be assured that you will be able to vote, ask questions and/or make comments during this meeting. Stockholders can submit a question at any time. [Operator Instructions] Please note that while you can submit questions at any time during the meeting, I will not address them until the relevant time in the meeting. Please also note that your questions may be moderated or if we receive multiple questions on one topic, consolidated. It is now just past 8:00 a.m. in Sydney, Australia, the nominated time for the meeting, and I have been informed that a quorum is present. I note that the meeting has been validly constituted and I am pleased to declare the meeting in session. There may be a slight time delay experienced between the slides you are viewing and the audio. So again, I encourage stockholders who may have questions to please submit them as soon as possible to avoid any undue delay. Before getting to the formal business of the meeting, I will take this opportunity to introduce company management and my fellow directors who are present online today. Our Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Dr. Juan Carlos Aragon; our Chief Operating and Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Brian Lane; Dr. Ashley Tuan, our Chief Medical Officer; Mr. Andrew Silverberg, a Non-Executive Director; Dr. Dwight Akerman, an Independent Non-Executive Director; Dr. Allan Rubenstein, an Independent Non-Executive Director; and Ms. Kathy Miller, an Independent Non-Executive Director. We also have several other parties online, including Ms. Leanne Ralph, our Company Secretary; and representatives from Computershare, the company's share register and representatives from Johnson Winter & Slattery, the company's Australian legal counsel. There are 2 components to today's meeting. We will start with a business update from our Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Juan Carlos Aragon, known by his friends and colleagues as JC. We will allow time for general questions on the business at the conclusion of his presentation. Following the general business questions, we will then progress to the formal business of the meeting, where the resolutions provided in the notice of meeting will be put to shareholders. We will allow time for questions and answers regarding the resolutions before proceeding to the vote on them. But without further ado, allow me to introduce our CEO. JC?

Sorry, it looks like I was muted. I'll start over again. Apologies for that. So thanks, Dave. Good morning and good evening to everyone. I'll remind you that we will be making forward-looking statements during the call today. And we ask that you keep this in mind if you use this information to make investment decisions. Unless otherwise noted, all dollar amounts quoted today will be in U.S. dollars. VTI is in the business of providing better vision care to our customers by using innovative products to serve high-need patients. Our flagship product is a daily disposable, soft contact lens called NaturalVue Multifocal, a revolutionary and patented compact lens targeting 2 patient populations. The first group is children with nearsightedness that becomes worse over time, a condition called pediatric myopia progression. This condition has become much more prevalent over the past 40 years, accelerating during the COVID-19 pandemic. And now it is estimated to affect between 80% and 90% of all children in parts of Asia and up to 40% of all children in the United States. The other patient population includes people over the approximate age of 45, who have difficulty seeing things within arm's length, a condition called presbyopia, which affects almost all older adults. We also serve -- sell NaturalVue Sphere contact lens for the simple correction of blurry vision. VTI has regulatory clearances or registration to sell its products in the United States, U.K., Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada and also in Malaysia. In addition to the items being voted on this morning, we also have a 5 for 9 nonrenounceable pro rata rights offering in process. It opened on October 19, and we extended the closing date to November 6. The rights offering is being made to all security holders who are registered as holders of VTI's CDIs as of 7:00 p.m. Sydney time on Monday, October 16 with a registered address in Australia or New Zealand. Security holders with a registered address outside of Australia or New Zealand are considered ineligible security holders and cannot participate in the rights offering. In connection to this rights offering, we filed the presentation with the ASX in which we summarized our investment highlights. VTI has driven a 5-year compound annual revenue growth of 18% while carefully managing and control costs despite supply chain and other challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the inflationary financial environment in the U.S. over the past 2 years. We recently announced positive 1-year results of our PROTECT clinical trial about 2 weeks ago. PROTECT is a multicenter, randomized, double mass clinical trial with 8 sites covering 4 countries. I will discuss our results in just a moment. VTI has growth opportunities in several geographies, including China and Europe and opportunities to strengthen some of our current partnerships. Interest in myopia management has increased dramatically over the past several years, and I strongly believe that VTI is very well positioned to address this large and growing need in the marketplace. Now allow me to cover a little bit more the PROTECT clinical trial. There are 2 measures of effectiveness used to determine myopia management. Refractive error measures that change in how well a person's eye performs refraction measured in diopters. Refraction is the bending of light as they pass through one object to another. Axial length is the length of the eyeball and its measured in millimeters. Children's eyes naturally grow with their bodies, but too much asymmetric eye growth can lead to vision issues later in life. Once tabulated and verified, we compared the PROTECT interim 1-year results to those of other myopia management products based on their published 1-year results from similar clinical studies. NaturalVue Multifocal had the greatest reduction compared to the control group for all of the products for both the change in the refractive error and the change in the axial length. CooperVision's MiSight is the only treatment currently approved by the FDA for myopia progression control and the NaturalVue Multifocal product outperformed MiSight in this comparison. We are very pleased with these results, which reflect 93% of the study subjects completing their first year of the clinical trial. We plan to report the full 1-year results in January of 2024 after all study subjects have completed their first year. With that, I'll turn the meeting back to Dave.

Thank you, JC. I will now open the meeting to general questions on the business. We'll have an opportunity to ask questions pertaining to each resolution when we get to the formal business of the meeting. A reminder that this is a stockholder meeting, and therefore, only stockholders of record are eligible to ask questions at this meeting. Brian, have we received any general business questions?

We don't have any questions at this time, Dave.

Thank you. We will now progress to the formal business of the meeting. The Notice of Meeting was sent to all registered stockholders within the notice period required, and I will take the notice convening this meeting as read. As set out in the notice of meeting, voting on all resolutions will be decided on a poll. To provide everyone with an opportunity to vote, and in case anyone cannot stay for the whole meeting, I will now formally declare the polls open. Stockholders can now cast their vote using the electronic voting system. Select the vote icon at the top of your screen to bring up a list of resolutions and present you with voting options. To cast your vote, simply select for, against or abstain. There is no need to hit a submit or enter button as the vote is automatically recorded. You do, however, have the ability to change your vote up until the time I declare voting closed. The results of the polls will be released to the ASX shortly after the close of the meeting. I have been advised that all proxies received for the meeting have been checked, and I declare them valid for voting. I will disclose proxy votes on your screen prior to the vote being taken for each item. These figures are the closing time for receipt of proxies, which was 6 a.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time, Thursday 2 November 2023. Each resolution has a voting exclusion as outlined in the Notice of Meeting. As Chair of the meeting and as detailed in the notice of meeting, I will vote where authorized all undirected proxies in favor of each resolution. The first item of notified business concerns the approval of a variation of the convertible notes. I put this resolution to the meeting as displayed on your screen. I now open this item for discussion. I will check to see if there are any questions online. Brian, are there any questions?

No, Dave. No questions.

Details of the votes received for this item are on the screen. If you have not already done so, please now select either for, against or abstain for Resolution 1 on your electronic voting card. [Voting]

Thank you. I will now hand the meeting back to Dave. That's crazy. Okay. Excuse me. A misstep in the script here. Thank you, Brian. I think we can move on now to Resolution 2. The second item of notified business concerns the issue of shares to a director, Dr. David J. Mazzo, myself. As this resolution concerns me, I will pass the meeting over to JC to act as Chairman for this resolution.

Well, can you hear me? I seem to be having some audio problems.

We can hear you now, JC. Yes, please proceed.

Okay. Thank you, Dave. I put this resolution to the meeting as displayed on your screen. I now open this item for discussion. I will check to see if there are any questions online. Brian?

No, JC. No questions.

Thank you. Thank you. I will now hand the meeting back to -- something -- there's another details of votes received for this item are now on the screen. Make sure I'm following this. If you have not already done so, please now select either for, against or abstain for Resolution 2 on your electronic voting card. Let me make sure I got Resolution 2 correct. [Voting]

I think you're good, JC.

Yes. Okay. Thank you.

Great. And I will take the meeting back now, and thank you, JC, for that help. Moving on now to Resolution 3. The next resolution concerns the issue of shares to Ms. Kathleen Miller, a Non-Executive Director. I put the resolution to the meeting as displayed on your screen. And I now open this item for discussion. Brian, are there any questions online?

No questions there.

Details of the votes received for this item are on the screen. If you have not already done so, please now select either for, against or abstain for Resolution 3 on your voting card. [Voting]

The next resolution concerns the issue of shares to Mr. Andrew Silverberg, Non-Executive Director. I put the resolution to the meeting as displayed on your screen for Resolution 4. And I now open this item for discussion. Are there any questions online?

No questions, Dave.

Details of votes received for this item are on the screen. Once again, if you have not already done so, please now select either for, against or abstain for Resolution 4 on your electronic voting card. [Voting]

We will proceed now to Resolution 5. The next resolution concerns the issue of shares to Dr. Dwight Akerman, Non-Executive Director. I put the resolution to the meeting as displayed on your screen for Resolution 5, and I open this item for discussion. Are there any questions online, Brian?

No questions, Dave.

Details of votes received for this item are on the screen. Once again, please vote for, against or abstain for Resolution 5 on your electronic voting card. [Voting]

The next resolution, Resolution 6 concerns the issue of shares to Dr. Allan Rubenstein, also a Non-Executive Director. I put the resolution to the meeting as displayed on your screen. And I now open this item, Resolution 6, for discussion. Are there any questions online?

No, Dave. No questions.

Details of votes received for this item are on the screen. And once again, please vote for, against or abstain for Resolution 6, if you have not already done so. [Voting]

Resolution 7. The second item of notified business concerns the grant of options to a Director, myself, Dr. David Mazzo. As this resolution concerns myself, once again, I will pass the meeting over to JC, our Chief Executive Officer, to act as Chairman for this resolution. JC?

Thank you, Dave. I put this resolution to the meeting as displayed on your screen. I now open this item for discussion. Brian, are there any questions online?

No questions, JC.

Thank you. Details of votes received for this item are on the screen. I have not -- if you haven't done so already, please allow -- please now select either for, against or abstain for Resolution 7 on your electronic voting cards. [Voting]

Thank you, JC. Let's proceed now to Resolution 8. The next resolution concerns the grant of options to Ms. Kathleen Miller, a Non-Executive Director. I put Resolution 8 to the meeting as displayed on your screen. And I now open this item for discussion. Brian, please let me know if there are any questions online.

We don't have any, Dave.

Thank you. Details of votes received for this item are on the screen. If you've not already done so, please now select either for, against or abstain for Resolution 8 on your electronic voting card. [Voting]

Now we move to Resolution 9, which concerns the grant of options to Mr. Andrew Silverberg, a Non-Executive Director. Resolution 9 is put to the meeting as displayed on your screen and is now open for a discussion. Brian, are there any questions?

No questions, Dave.

Okay. Details of votes received for this item are on the screen. If you have not already done so, please now select either for, against or abstain for Resolution 9 on your electronic voting card. [Voting]

The next resolution, Resolution 10 concerns the grant of options to Dr. Dwight Akerman, Non-Executive Director. Resolution 10 is put to the meeting as displayed on your screen and is now open for a discussion. Are there any questions, Brian?

No questions, Dave.

Details of votes received for this item are also on the screen. Please now select either for, against or abstain to vote for Resolution 10, if you have not already done so. [Voting]

Moving on to Resolution 11, which concerns the grant of options to Dr. Allan Rubenstein, a Non-Executive Director. I put Resolution 11 to the meeting as displayed on your screen. And I now open this item for discussion. Are there any questions, Brian?

No, sir.

Okay. Details of votes received for Resolution 11 are on the screen. If you've not already done so, please now select either for, against or abstain for Resolution 11 on your electronic voting card. [Voting]

And now we move to Resolution 12, which concerns the grant of restricted stock units to the company's new Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Juan Carlos Aragon. I put Resolution 12 to the meeting as displayed on your screen. And I open this item for discussion. Are there any questions, Brian?

No questions, Dave.

Thank you. Details of the votes received for Resolution 12 are on the screen. If you have not already done so, please now select either for, against or abstain for Resolution 12 on your electronic voting card. [Voting]

And finally, we get to Resolution 13, which concerns an increase in shares reserved under the 2017 equity incentive plan. I put Resolution 13 to the meeting as displayed on your screen and open this item for discussion. Brian, are there any questions?

No questions, Dave.

Thank you. Details of votes received for this item are on your screen. If you've not already done so, please now select either for, against or abstain for Resolution 13 on your electronic voting card. [Voting]

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the formalities of the meeting. If you haven't done so already, please complete your electronic votes as I will be closing the poll within the next minute. As I mentioned earlier, the results of this meeting will be announced to the ASX as soon as they have been counted and verified. I now declare the poll for this meeting closed, and I also now declare the meeting officially closed. On behalf of the Board of Directors and executive management of VTI, I thank you for your attendance and participation today. I look forward to meeting with you at our Annual Meeting of Stockholders planned for May of 2024.

This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.