From ADVFN Board about future of CAP-XX13 Jan 2020 13:39
1) CAP-XX Chairman said in the November 2019 Annual Report:-
"The new 3 Volt prismatic supercapacitor product is attracting significant interest especially for products using 3V coin cell batteries and new Internet of Things (IoT) products and is expected to be a significant source of revenue going forward. The development of the 3V product has been targeted to meet demand for small, inexpensive, energy efficient power solutions for thin wearables, key FOBs and other IoT devices, especially those using 3 Volt coin cell lithium ion batteries such as the CR2032 battery.”
The global coin cell battery market was worth around US$4bn last year. Murata has just launched its own new series of 3V coin cell batteries that have huge performance improvements compared to previous products - https://www.murata.com/en-eu/products/batteries/micro/cr/high-drain .
Is CAP-XX technology being used here by Murata given their licence agreement with CAP-XX was extended in April 2016 to include lithium-ion batteries. If so perhaps Murata's royalties to CAP-XX will not fall as much as expected in years to come. Moreover CAP-XX Chairman went on to say:-
"In the future, there is an opportunity to migrate this same 3V technology into larger prismatic supercapacitors, automotive modules and other products for high-energy, high-power applications.”
2) A new "I" series of CAP-XX supercapacitors is due to be introduced from Q1 2020 , and so we'll know much more about these products shortly. Does the "I" stand for the IOT or the Internet or neither? Here again is what CAP-XX Chairman said in November 2019:-
"Given the increasing levels of market interest in CAP-XX's technology and its high-performance supercapacitors, the Company believes that the IoT market, in particular, offers significant opportunities for growth and to reach the immediate strategic objective of CAP-XX operating on a cash break-even basis."
3) Murata's DMF, DMT, and DMH family of supercapacitors form part of the recent transformational deal which CAP-XX concluded in December 2019 and raised £3.4m at 3p per share. The associated machinery to manufacture these products is being dismantled in Japan during Q1 2020, then transported and recommissioned in Sydney, Australia during Q2 2020 with full scale production scheduled from Q3 2020. These products have a current annual turnover of A$14m, and CAP-XX is hopeful of not only retaining Murata's customers but enhancing its own business through rationalising their higher cost manufacturing capacity in Malaysia.
It is no great surprise that Allenby Capital, have pencilled in turnover of A$16.5m, and EBITDA of A$5.4m for their year to June 2022. If as they expect, CAP-XX manage to retain ALL of Murata's turnover, and their new products, particularly the 3V supercapacitor, start taking off then these look very conservative numbers indeed. Last year turnover was A$4.8m and an EBITDA loss of A$1.2m.