Trading Update

RNS Number : 0194G

Directa Plus PLC

13 March 2020

 

 13 March 2020

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS DEEMED BY THE COMPANY TO CONSTITUTE INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED UNDER THE EU MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (596/2014). UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THE ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS INFORMATION IS CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN .

Directa Plus plc

("Directa Plus", "the Group" or the "Company")

Trading Update

Directa Plus (AIM: DCTA), a leading producer and supplier of graphene nanoplatelets based products for use in consumer and industrial market is pleased to provide an update on trading in the first quarter of 2020 and for the financial year ended 31 December 2019 ("FY2019").

Trading in the first quarter has been robust with revenues now expected to be some €1.52m (up from €0.5m in Q1 2019), of which €1m was received in January and February with orders of €0.52m received in March. This significant improvement has been primarily driven by the strengthening performance of Setcar, our Environmental division. The order book to date is in line with management expectations for 2020 with confirmed orders of €5.85m, with on-going negotiations for other significant contracts.

Following on from the positive results from the real-world testing of our graphene enhanced asphalt (Gipave®) in Italy, the Board is also delighted to report that the first order of Directa G+ ITC1 nanoplatelets for asphalts for production of  Gipave® has now been received from Iterchimica.  Results from the UK trials in November 2019 are expected shortly and we are seeing growing interest from asphalt companies in the UK but also now from the USA.

The Company is continuing to fulfil customer orders and is continuing to work on opportunities in new verticals including in plastics and paints and has received a first small order to test G+ efficacy in enhancing bio plastics.

The Company will be announcing its FY 2019 results in mid-May and expects to report a FY2019 loss before tax not exceeding €3.6m in line with market expectations, from recognised revenue of approximately €3.0m (2018: €2.25m).

Commenting on the trading outlook for Directa Plus, Giulio Cesareo, Founder and CEO, said, "The strategy we are pursuing to gain traction and capture more value in our key vertical markets is succeeding.  We hope that this will help insulate us from the worldwide economic uncertainty caused by the coronavirus."

This announcement has been approved by Giulio Cesareo, Chief Executive, on behalf of the Company.

ENDS

For further information please visit http://www.directa-plus.com/ or contact:

Directa Plus plc	[phone]
Giulio Cesareo, CEO
Marco Ferrari, CFO
Cantor Fitzgerald Europe (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)	[phone]
Rick Thompson, Philip Davies, Will Goode (Corporate Finance)
Caspar Shand Kydd (Sales)
N+1 Singer (Joint Broker)	[phone]
Mark Taylor, Lauren Kettle
Tavistock (Financial PR and IR)	[phone]
Simon Hudson, Edward Lee

About Directa Plus

Our focus is principally on the two sectors in which we have strong commercial advantage through developed and launched products and a technological lead: environmental (based on our Grafysorber® product) and textiles (based on our G+ products).  In addition, we will continue to pursue opportunities in elastomers and composites (including tyres and asphalt), also using our G+ products.  All our products are hypoallergenic, non-toxic and sustainably produced.

About Setcar

Established in 1994, Setcar S.A. has focused since 2000 on providing a complete range of services to solve environmental issues in a safe and efficient way - from chemical analyses for waste identification to the development of tailored solutions for the waste treatment and by developing new technologies for the remediation of contaminated sites.  Setcar's offering includes the decontamination of industrial plants and sites, soils contaminated with petroleum products, PCBs or other contaminants and petroleum and other hazardous waste in lagoons.  The company offers its services both onshore and offshore.

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