AGM Statement

RNS Number : 7299V

Nanoco Group PLC

05 December 2019

 

5 December 2019

NANOCO GROUP PLC

("Nanoco", the "Group", or the "Company")

AGM Statement

Nanoco Group plc (LSE: NANO), a world leader in the development and manufacture of cadmium-free quantum dots and other specific nanomaterials emanating from our technology platform, will hold its Annual General Meeting ("AGM") later this morning at its headquarters in Manchester.

Dr Christopher Richards, Nanoco's Chairman, will make the following statement in respect of the Formal Sale Process ('FSP') and the Group's trading performance in the first four months of the financial year ending 31 July 2020 ('the Period').

Formal Sale Process as part of the Strategic Review

On 5 November 2019, the Group announced that it was undertaking a review of all the strategic options for the Company, including, but not limited to, a potential sale of the Company through an FSP, as referred to in Note 2 on Rule 6 of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers.

The Group is currently in discussions with certain interested parties who have been invited to submit indicative proposals in mid-December for an acquisition of the Group.  At this stage, there can be no certainty that an offer will be made, nor as to the terms on which any offer will be made.  Further announcements about the FSP will be made as appropriate.

Operational and trading performance

We continue to supply material and other services to the US Customer and other companies in its supply chain in line with the current contract that expires at the end of December 2019. We expect to earn all associated contract revenues in full.  The Runcorn plant is now fully commissioned and able to operate at its designed capacity.

We have also received confirmation of the demand by a key participant in the US Customer's supply chain for further test volumes of our IRQD materials throughout H1 of calendar year 2020 as they seek to identify other application opportunities while completing their own production facilities.  The Group and its sensor customers are working hard to identify and secure further infrared sensor opportunities for our technology.

We have also continued to enhance the performance characteristics of our display materials, in particular, their efficiency in absorbing blue light for use in second generation QD-OLED displays.  We are in discussion with several potential customers who have shown interest in these materials.

Financial performance in the Period has been in line with expectations for revenue, adjusted EBITDA loss and cash. We started FY20 with approximately £3.5m of contracted orders for delivery in FY20.  The majority of this contracted revenue will be delivered in H1 of FY20.  We remain in active discussions with existing and other potential new customers. However, progress on new commercial opportunities in Sensing and Display has been slower than expected as a result of the ongoing FSP, with only modest increases in new orders in the Period.

The Company's expectations for cash on hand in December 2019 are in line with prior communications. The Board continues to review possible sources of additional funding for the Company as part of the Group's strategic review, with contingency plans in place if needed.

- Ends -

For further information, please contact:

Nanoco	Tel: [phone]
Brian Tenner, Chief Financial Officer
Caroline Watson, Investor Relations Manager	Tel: + 44 (0) 7799 897357
[e-mail]
MHP Communications Reg Hoare / Giles Robinson / Pete Lambie [e-mail]	Tel: [phone]

Notes for editors:

About Nanoco Group plc

Nanoco (LSE: NANO) harnesses the power of nano-materials. Nano-materials are materials with dimensions typically in the range 1 - 100 nm. Nano-materials have a range of useful properties, including optical and electronic. Quantum dots are a subclass of nano-material that have size-dependent optical and electronic properties. The Group produces quantum dots. Within the sphere of quantum dots, the Group exploits different characteristics of the quantum dots to target different performance criteria that are attractive to specific markets or end-user applications such as the Display and Electronics markets. One of the interesting properties of quantum dots is photoluminescence: the emission of longer wavelength light upon excitation by light of a shorter wavelength. The colour of light emitted depends on the particle size. Nanoco's CFQD^® quantum dots are free of cadmium and other toxic heavy metals, and can be tuned to emit light at different wavelengths across the visible and infrared spectrum, rendering them useful for a wide range of applications including displays, lighting and biological imaging.

Nanoco has non-exclusive manufacturing and marketing licensing agreements in display with The Dow Chemical Company, Merck KGaA of Germany and Wah Hong Industrial Corporation of Taiwan.
Nanoco was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Manchester, UK, with a US subsidiary, Nanoco Inc., in Concord, MA. Nanoco continues to build out a world-class, patent-protected IP portfolio generated both by its own innovation engine, as well as through acquisition.

Nanoco is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and trades under the ticker symbol NANO. For further information please visit: www.nanocogroup.com.

 

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