Year End Trading Update and Notice of Results

RNS Number : 1037J

Nanoco Group PLC

15 August 2019

 

15 August 2019

NANOCO GROUP PLC

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

Year End Trading Update and Notice of Results

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, today provides the following year end trading update ahead of the announcement of its final results for the year to 31 July 2019, which will be released on 15 October 2019.

Financial highlights of the year include:

·    Unaudited revenues of £7.3m for the year ended 31 July 2019 were more than double FY18 and slightly ahead of market consensus expectations due to the early delivery of some revenue under the major services contract.

·    Billings in the year amounted to £9.6m, which included £2.4m as the final sums payable to complete the new Runcorn production facility.

·    The Company's unaudited cash position at 31 July 2019 was £7.0m, an increase of £0.8m since 31 January 2019 (31 July 2018: £10.7m). The Group still expects to have around £6.0m of cash in hand at 31 December 2019.

·    The cost base continues to be closely managed with a 20% reduction in headcount delivered in the fourth quarter without diminishing core R&D and production capabilities.

·    The exceptional credit from the contract liability waiver will be largely offset by the exceptional charges for various contract specific assets and provisions (as detailed in the Company's 31 July announcement).

Michael Edelman, Chief Executive of Nanoco, said:

"Over the last year we provided exceptional customer service in meeting all technical milestones and delivering a new Runcorn production facility that now gives us the capability to manufacture nano materials on a large scale for use in diverse electronics applications. This strong operational performance contributed to the best financial results in the Company's history. We have also made major enhancements in the performance of our CFQD^® Quantum dots, and continued to develop our IP portfolio, with over 100 new patents granted or applied for during the year.

"Clearly the news that the current major work programme will not be extended after it expires on 31 December 2019, for reasons unconnected to the performance of our materials or the new production facility, was extremely disappointing for the whole Nanoco team and our stakeholders. However, we remain focused on completion of the current contract deliverables whilst broadening our efforts to seek out other potential new customers in the electronics and display sectors.

"The completion of the new Runcorn facility and the waiver of the contract liability leaves the Group with a significantly expanded asset base and production capability across a wider range of market sectors. We are working hard to take advantage of this new capability, alongside our display opportunities, in the new financial year."

- Ends -

For further information, please contact:

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

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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