Sale of Marken Business

RNS Number : 7616E

Xeros Technology Group plc

03 March 2020

 

3rd March 2020

Xeros Technology Group plc

Sale of Marken business

Xeros Technology Group plc (AIM: XSG, "the Company", "the Group" or "Xeros"), the developer and provider of water saving and filtration technologies with multiple commercial applications, announces today that it has agreed to sell its four US Marken specialist cleaning sites. Subject to closing conditions, completion is expected to take place by the end of March ("Completion").

The sale of these sites completes the Company's planned transition to a licensing model whereby its intellectual property is commercialised by licensees with royalties paid to the Company. Following Completion the Company will cease to have any physical operations in the US and will have an organisation of close to 50 full time personnel dedicated to licensing. This is in line with previous guidance of less than 60 staff.

The evidence, accreditations and manufacturer endorsement achieved by Xeros during its ownership of Marken has fully verified Xeros' ability to remove harmful substances and extend the life of expensive, life protecting garments. The Company intends to continue to transfer this learning and evidence to its licensees in order that they can access this valuable segment of the commercial laundry market.

In 2018, the Marken US sites generated combined revenue of £858,000 and an operating loss of £1,933,000. The Marken business reported net assets of £1,897,000 at the end of 2018. Proceeds of £265,000 will be received in cash by Xeros upon Completion.  These proceeds will be used to fund the Group's ongoing working capital requirements.

Mark Nichols , Chief Executive of Xeros, said:

"We are very pleased to have reached our objective of becoming an asset light and IP rich licensing organisation. We are now working hard to execute the contracts with our license partners in India and China with evidence and learnings from these being the platform for further geographic and segmental coverage and we look forward to updating the market on our progress in the near future."

Enquiries : 

Xeros Technology Group plc Mark Nichols, Chief Executive Officer Paul Denney, Chief Financial Officer	Tel: [phone]
finnCap Limited (Nominated Adviser, Broker) Julian Blunt / Teddy Whiley, Corporate Finance Andrew Burdis, ECM	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors

Xeros Technology Group plc is a platform technology Group that is transforming water intensive industrial and commercial processes.

Xeros' patented XOrb ^TM  technologies significantly reduce the amount of water used in the washing or dyeing of soft substrates such as garments and fabrics. They enable the remaining water to become far more efficient and effective in either affixing or removing molecules, the result being improvements in economic, operational, product and sustainability outcomes. The Group is applying its technology in the fields of garment and fabric cleaning, leather tanning and apparel manufacturing.

Xeros' XDrum ^TM  technology is a patented, simple, low cost machine drum design which enables XOrbs to be introduced into and subsequently removed from process cycles in Xeros' chosen markets. The design provides Original Equipment Manufacturers ("OEMs") with the ability to easily incorporate the Company's XOrb ^TM  technology into their products.

The Group has signed multiple agreements with license partners in major commercial and domestic markets for both its XOrb and XDrum technologies.

XFiltra ^TM  is a patented in-machine filtration technology which is designed to prevent harmful micro-plastics generated by washing cycles from being released into the aquacycle. Plastics released from synthetic clothing during washing cycles is one of the single largest sources of primary micro-plastic pollution.

For more information, please visit -  http://www.xerostech.com/

 

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