Trading Update

RNS Number : 3671H

Directa Plus PLC

03 December 2020

 

3 December 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" 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 markets, is pleased to provide a trading update.

Revenue expectations

The Company has made continued good progress during the second half of 2020, with orders and agreements signed for the Company's products and services across all verticals. Accordingly, the Board is confident of achieving total revenues for the year ending 31 December 2020 of approximately €6.0 million, exceeding current consensus market expectations.

This improvement in trading performance has been primarily driven by the sales of G+ enhanced face masks, including Co-Masks, which have proven very popular with both individual and corporate customers and have generated strong demand. The strengthening performance of Setcar, the Environmental division, has also contributed to the improved revenue expectations for the current year.

Intellectual Property

Directa Plus was recently granted a second patent on the equipment used for the super-expansion of intercalated natural graphite in the Company's core plasma technology. The new machinery has a production capacity at least five times higher, and is much more durable, than the Company's existing technology, resulting in an increase in manufacturing capability and lower maintenance costs. The grant of the new patent protects the Company's core production process for an additional 20 years.

Directa Plus seeks to build, maintain and expand its valuable portfolio of patents to protect key innovations and processes for the benefit of its shareholders. The Company's patent portfolio is currently composed of 38 patents and 24 pending patents, grouped together in some 15 patent families - four covering the Company's unique production process and 11 covering products and applications for G+® graphene.

New Markets

Directa Plus has signed a development agreement with the Soft Goods Division of a major international developer and manufacturer of consumer electronics, personal computers and related services. The agreement covers the potential application of G+® graphene on covering materials of consumer devices, exploiting the antiviral-antibacterial properties of G+® graphene as well as its thermal and electrical conductivity.

The Company is continuing to work on additional opportunities in new high potential verticals including energy storage and paints.

Commenting on the trading outlook for Directa Plus, Giulio Cesareo, Founder and CEO, said:

"Directa Plus is gaining momentum in each of our four key verticals. Our strategy of building industrial partnerships in existing markets continues to succeed; we are gaining traction and capturing more value in each market.

"We have worked hard with all of our partners to be able to combine our different technologies and expertise to generate mutual advantages in product development. Indeed, the advances we have seen recently in our work with Lithium Sulphur batteries means that this business line has the potential to be our fifth key vertical very quickly.

"This has been an unusual and challenging year, but we are pleased with the growth that we have achieved and the commercial progress we have made despite the worldwide economic uncertainty caused by the coronavirus.

"The backbone of all our activities is to seek to operate a model of holistic sustainability, that is "doing well by doing good", which we define as environmental protection; people development; and economic development. We look forward with great anticipation to 2021 and to further future success."

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

ENDS

For further information please visit http://www.nextechbatteries.com  :

Directa Plus plc	[phone]
Giulio Cesareo, CEO
Marco Ferrari, CFO
Cenkos Securities plc (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)	[phone]
Neil McDonald Pete Lynch
N+1 Singer (Joint Broker)	[phone]
Rick Thompson Phil Davies
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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