Milestone Payment

RNS Number : 1422J

Nanoco Group PLC

25 March 2010

 



For immediate release

25 March 2010

 

NANOCO GROUP PLC

("Nanoco" or "the Company")

Performance Milestone Triggers US$2 million Payment

Nanoco Group plc (AIM: NANO), a world leader in the development and manufacture of commercial quantities of quantum dots, announces that it has achieved a key milestone in its supply and licence agreement with a major Japanese corporation triggering a US$2 million milestone payment. The milestone was achieved after Nanoco quantum dots met performance criteria specified by the corporation, which is developing next-generation LEDs for solid state lighting.

The achievement of this milestone underlines the commercial potential of Nanoco's quantum dots for use as the backlight for LCD TVs and in other solid state lighting applications.

Red and green Nanoco quantum dots combined with blue LEDs produce light ideally suited for use in backlight units of LCD TVs.  By producing a selective spectrum corresponding exactly to the red, green and blue filters used in current LCD TVs, they will enable manufacturers to produce TVs that offer dramatic improvements in energy efficiency with superior colour performance.

TV power use is an increasingly important environmental issue, highlighted by California's recent introduction of legislation demanding that TV makers reduce the power consumption of TVs by 49% by 2013 and the recent recommendation by the US Federal Trade Commission that TVs sold in the USA should display an EnergyGuide label.

Nanoco quantum dots are heavy metal free and therefore comply with environmental legislation that restricts the use of hazardous heavy metals in electrical and electronic goods.

The US$2 million milestone payment is part of a supply and licence agreement signed in November 2008.

Michael Edelman, Nanoco's Chief Executive Officer, said: "The achievement of this milestone payment represents another important step for Nanoco and underlines the commercial potential of our quantum dots in solid state lighting.  We look forward to achieving the next technical milestone under this agreement and working towards the delivery of 1kg each of red and green quantum dots as the scale-up process progresses."

For further information please contact:

Nanoco	+ 44 (0) 161 603 7900
Michael Edelman, Chief Executive Officer
Michael Bretherton, Chief Financial Officer
Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Corporate Broker	+ 44 (0) 20 7996 2490
Will Smith
Zeus Capital - Nominated Adviser	+ 44 (0) 161 831 1512
Alex Clarkson
Nick Cowles
Buchanan Communications	+ 44 (0) 20 7466 5000
Mark Court /Jennie Spivey /Miranda Higham

Notes for editors:

About Nanoco Group plc

Nanoco is a world leader in the development and manufacture of commercial quantities of quantum dots for use in multiple applications including solid-state lighting, solar cells and biological imaging. Nanoco's quantum dots, which are free of heavy metals and comply with RoHS legislation, can be combined into a wide range of materials including liquids, polymers and glass.

Nanoco forms strategic partnerships with major end users across a range of applications.

Nanoco was founded in 2001 and is based in Manchester, UK. Nanoco began trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in May 2009 under the ticker symbol NANO.

About quantum dots

Quantum dots are fluorescent nano-sized particles of semiconductor material which have the ability to emit light in a specific colour dependent on the size of the particle.

 

END

 

 

AGRSEIFWLFSSEFD