AUSSIE MOZZIE TRAP GETS GLOBAL MARKETS ABUZZ

MOSQUITO trap manufacturer Bantix Worldwide Limited is undertaking a $5 million capital raising venture to consolidate a deal in the US worth up to $108 million in its first year.

While negotiating the large distribution contract in the US for a smaller version of its innovative mosquito trap, the Burleigh Heads product developer is also heeding hot demand from China and India for its
full-sized devices.

When Norway and Hungary confirm orders for sample shipments as expected, Bantix subsidiary M-Tech International will have exported the Mosquito Slayer Series 4 and Mosquito SlayerPRO into 80 countries.

CEO Andrew Coventry (pictured) says the device is ‘a revolutionary trap never seen before in the world’ and the commercialisation of the smaller, cheaper Mosquito Space Trap that has the US buzzing.

“The Space Trap still uses the same (carbon dioxide-based) technology that was developed and proven in the two larger traps, but in a different way,” he says.

“Those (larger) traps aren’t cheap, ranging from $505 to $940. There was a market for a smaller, less expensive version and now the development process is complete we’re raising the capital needed to finalise a major US deal.

“We’re working with a major US marketing, advertising and infomercial group that have told us it could produce $108 million in the first year. We’re being conservative however and are budgeting to around $8 million in the first year of sales.”

Like the two larger models, the Space Trap will have some components built in China, and then completion and assembly undertaken in Australia for export. Almost 40 per cent of sales remain in the domestic Australian market, with customers including mining giants BHP Billiton and Santos.

While demand for the compact version is solely driven by the US, M-Tech International is also in negotiations with a large Chinese company that intends to manufacture and distribute the Mosquito Slayer products into its extensive global network.

Coventry is reluctant to speculate on what the China deal could be worth, but says it’s an exciting time for the nine-year-old company.

“India has also become a major export destination for us and we expect would be similar in sales volume to China,” he says.

“We’ve brought on an approved agent there and our products have been certified by the National Institute of Malaria Research in Delhi. That’s a huge feather in our cap as they rarely approve anything foreign there.”

New export customers typically order a $25,000 pallet of products to gauge market viability. When a company signs as an M-Tech new distribution agent, it must then place a minimum yearly order of $250,000 to $2 million depending on the region’s population.

Most of the 80 export markets are in the early stages of the viability process, but as they rapidly convert to full customers, Bantix Worldwide’s current sales revenue of $3 million per year isn’t expected to remain in the single digits for long.