Ann: ECS loan increase by NAB and VESIsorb launch, page-2

Thoughts:

NAB Loan Facility Increase ECS has secured an increase to its corporate loan facility with NAB from $2.0 million to $3.2. = Good thing better than dilutive raising. Just a side note, I find it convenient timing with the cancellation of consolidation (which was obviously going to be used for cap raise) and then this granted.

To strengthen its B2C business, ECS has established a Medical Advisory Board (MAB) = Is this really necessary, seems like the last thing we need now is more staff to pay. I have a lot of questions on this, are these full time positions ? Would like to know how much they all getting paid (Dr Rupert Backhouse, Dr Phil Burrell, Dr Natasha Feingold, Dr Charlotte Middleton, Dr Christopher Schneider, Dr Justin Welsh and Dr Jane Chapman. ) 7 Doctors on this board, cant imagine this being pro bono, so ECS is giving out more and more money, is the NAB loan just going to go to pay these doctors? wonder who choose the Dr for these positions (more friends of the fam?)and exactly what they are doing on a daily basis to help ECS grow? Im a little more skeptical of all this staff now, especially when we arent seeing improvements to the bottom line along with the staff increase.

ECS will launch its first product utilising the advanced delivery system, VESIsorb® this month = Great, good to see this product getting out finally, B2c product as well, will get a new line of customers, those that want more traditional looking medicine, not wanting to smoke or gummy, but the traditional capsules.

Overall, solid announcement, but looks like they sandwhiched the concerning aspect (more staff coming on) inbetween the good ones. NAB raising the loan is a win, it’s encouraging to see the potential for further increases in the loan facility as the business scales. If we keep growing and this trend continues, it might save us from needing a capital raise, which would be ideal.
That said, I’d really like to see a closer watch on the staff headcount. How many full-time employees do we have right now? We have seen so many full time positions being added, and duplicate roles, It feels like spending on staff is getting out of hand. Last quarter, we hit a record $2.3 million on staff and admin, that's already around $10 million annually now add these 7 Doctors. Compare that to a company valuation of $23 million, and you start to wonder if we're punching above our weight here. Sure we are in the growth stage, but if these doctors are full time positions, then that woul dbe pushing us over the 50% of market cap is being spent on staff per year.
The advisory board... how much is that going to cost us? Honestly, it feels like overkill at this stage. Let’s keep growing, but let’s also be smart with where the dollars go.