LONDON (Alliance News) - Applied Graphene Materials PLC Wednesday said its loss widened significantly in its last financial year, as its raised investment to drive future growth and development and booked the costs of its recent initial public offering.
In its maiden full year results as a UK-listed company, the graphene materials producer reported a pretax loss of GBP2.7 million for the year ended July 31, compared with a loss of only GBP0.8 million the prior year, after booking GBP393,631 in costs associated with its IPO back in November last year.
Even excluding those costs, the company said it increased its losses due to investment in overheads, infrastructure and development, as part of its plans to help grow the business.
The company reported revenue of GBP4.0 million for the year, which it said came from the supply of trial quantities of graphene to commercial partners. This compares with last year's GBP11.4 million in revenue.
However, this year it booked 'other income', which comprises grant income, of GBP13.8 million. It said that grants received generally relate to funding received for the creation of new jobs, the purchase of assets or the development of new graphene applications.
At year end, the company said it held cash of GBP8.5 million, compared with GBP0.5 million last year.
"We have made solid progress in developing our manufacturing and dispersion processes, establishing customer relationships in our core target market sectors and providing samples, and these three activities remain our most important priorities for the new financial year," said Chief Executive Jon Mabbitt in a statement.
Graphene is pure carbon in the form of a very thin, nearly transparent sheet. The material is very strong, yet flexible and transparent, making it an ideal candidate for use in touch screens on smartphones and wearables. Technology giants like Apple, Samsung and Google have all begun to use graphene in their products.
"The significant investment that has been made in our workforce, and across other areas of the business, strengthens our resources and will support the long term growth of the group. We remain confident that Applied Graphene Materials is well placed to play a leading role in meeting the growing global appetite for graphene," the company said in its statement.
The company's shares were trading 1.5% lower Wednesday morning at 278.40 pence.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; rowenaharrisdoughty@alliancenews.com; @rharrisdoughty
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