Ilika Plc Regulatory News (IKA)

29 September, 2011

Ilika plc

("Ilika" or the "Company")

First US electronics contract

Expansion of customer base in Asia

Ilika plc (AIM:IKA), the advanced cleantech materials discovery company, is pleased to announce that it has secured two new contracts, one in the United States and the other in Asia, each with world leading electronics manufacturers. The US contract is the first electronics contract for the Company in this territory.

The contracts are to synthesise and optimise next generation electronic materials in return for stage payments. In aggregate, these contracts represent in excess of £0.3 million in revenue all of which will be recognised within the financial year ending 30 April 2012.

Commenting on these new contracts, Graeme Purdy, Chief Executive of Ilika, said:

"These new contracts have been secured as a result of the expansion of our business development activities in Asia and the US last year. We continue to seek to expand our broad pipeline of commercial opportunities and are in the process of appointing a new business development director for Europe who will be based in Germany. This should add further momentum to our growth whilst continuing to diversify the portfolio of materials that we are discovering for the energy and electronics industries."

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ABOUT ILIKA 

Ilika is an advanced materials company which accelerates the discovery of new and patentable materials using its unique high throughput technologies (''HTT'') process for identified end uses in the energy, electronics and biomedical sectors. This process enables hundreds of scalable materials to be made in a single, automated operation and subsequently tested for key properties.

Traditionally, materials development has been a slow and arduous task, with manual, sequential methods used to make samples of material that are then tested for suitability. On average, it takes between 7 and 10 years to move from an initial discovery through to the first commercial prototype. Experiments carried out by the Company can be executed 10 to 100 times faster than using traditional techniques.

The Company focuses on three principal sectors and has a number of active development programmes addressing markets within each sector:

Energy - developing innovative new materials for Lithium-ion batteries for vehicles for Toyota; developing high capacity hydrogen storage materials with Shell Hydrogen and Johnson Matthey through joint development programmes; developing cheaper alternatives to Platinum electrodes for use in fuel cells through a grant-funded project with the Carbon Trust; developing new materials for use in fuel cells for the transport sector for a major vehicle manufacturer; and carrying out in-house research on film photovoltaic solar cells.

Electronics - developing lead-free piezoelectric materials through a joint development programme with CeramTec; developing phase change memory materials for high capacity memory chips and high-performing electronic materials for a multi-national manufacturer.

Biomedical - developing polymers to enable the filtering of somatic stem cells from blood with a major global supplier of filters; it has been selling its Cryoskin and Myskin products for the treatment of burns and wounds in the UK through a specialist distributor and intends to commence clinical trials of its corneal bandage candidate.

The Group's commercialisation strategy is to enter into joint development or licensing agreements with large multinational companies which are seeking to commercialise products developed using the intellectual property created through jointly-funded programmes. Current commercialisation partners include large multinational companies such as Toyota, Shell, Johnson Matthey and CeramTec. The Company generates revenues from three sources: licensing and milestone payments from joint development programmes; fee for service from contract research projects; and from sales of Cryoskin and Myskin.