Apex wants to put bite on investors

Hugh Price developed the insect repellent which is now being sold in Australia, Africa and the Middle East. Picture / Martin Sykes

Mozzie repellent inventor Hugh Price feels like he's sitting on a goldmine but needs some serious cash to give his business some wings.

After 30 years, the Repel insect repellent he developed is starting to draw serious interest overseas driven by the rise in malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases.

But with only four staff and the setback of an internal fraud in the early 1980s, his company, Apex Global Health Care New Zealand, is struggling to keep up.

Price, 72, is being run off his feet and would love to get a decent investor. "If we had $1 million or two, the chances are the world would open up to us," he said.

Price invented Repel in 1975 at the request of the New Zealand military.

Working in his Nelson pharmacy, he came up with a formula using DEET (N.n-diethyl-m-tolumide) to protect against insects such as mosquitoes, sandflies, leeches, ticks, sand hoppers and horseflies.

It was then launched for sale through pharmacies nationally and in its range were sprays, roll-ons and sticks.

Some even had a lower percentage of DEET to suit babies.

Price then went on to develop more preventative medicine products for the military including sunscreen lotions, lip balm and face paint camouflage which are sold under licence to military forces in Japan and Jordan.

A small royalty is paid to the Army to use its branding overseas.

Apex Global Healthcare, formed with the money from the sale of his pharmacy, has a distribution arm in the UK.

Four staff are employed at the Wiri office and Price's son, Paul, takes care of sales and marketing in New Zealand and the Pacific.

Production is outsourced to three Auckland companies. Repel sales made up 50 per cent of its turnover of $1 million last year.

The Army's custom is worth close to $400,000 annually and export volumes for Repel total $25,000.

With the new Shoo brand of repellent launched in supermarkets this year, Price hopes to increase the local customer base and take on Australian brands. However, he knows the biggest potential for his products is offshore and with military customers.

The rise in mosquito-borne diseases because of increasing travel and global warming is also helping to drive demand.

So far, Repel only sells to small pockets of Australia, Africa and the Middle East.

But it is also registered with government medical safety authorities for use in Australasia, United Kingdom, Thailand and Japan with the US due to follow.

Although Price hopes to keep making as much of the product as possible locally, the company needs offshore production. Asia is the preferred location as demand is strong and the company would benefit from reduced tariffs and freight costs.

However, investment is crucial and Price is in negotiations with a private investor to help set up a factory in Singapore or Malaysia.

Other areas of the business, such as packaging and marketing, are also being held back by the lack of funding.

But although short of capital, there is no shortage of interest.

The antiseptic in the repellent, which prevents bites from getting infected, has been praised by tropical medical doctors.

The alcohol-free formula has also made it popular with Muslim communities and travellers.

"It's not a problem to get the customers, it's getting the finance to service them."

The business has been valued at $5 million but Price believes that amount undervalues its potential - particularly overseas.

Although Price now spends most of his time fielding inquiries, he still gets into the lab for product development.

"I'm proud of the New Zealand Army's foresight in getting me to develop the product now selling around the world," he said.