Last checked at 15 Nov 2023 07:00
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 15 November 2023
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (596/2014/EU) AS THE SAME HAS BEEN RETAINED IN UK LAW AS AMENDED BY THE MARKET ABUSE (AMENDMENT) (EU EXIT) REGULATIONS (SI 2019/310) ("UK MAR").
Nanoco Group PLC
("Nanoco", the "Group", or the "Company")
Commercial Production for two Infra-red Sensing Materials
Nanoco evolves from an R&D first mover to an electronics materials production company
Nanoco Group plc (LSE: NANO), a world leader in the development and manufacture of cadmium-free quantum dots and other specific nanomaterials emanating from its technology platform, is pleased to announce it has now fulfilled its first ever commercial production order, having completed shipments of two different first generation materials for use in infra-red sensing applications in electronic devices.
As previously announced, the Board's expectations were for a first commercial production order prior to the end of 2023 and that the first use of the Group's materials would be for low volume applications during FY24 and FY25. Today's announcement is in line with these expectations and supports the FY24 revenue guidance given in the Group's Preliminary Results published on 17 October 2023.
At that time, the Group also set out its intention to continue developing new infra-red sensing materials. On 7 November 2023 Nanoco announced a two year development agreement with a key customer on one of those new materials. The second generation materials will achieve even higher levels of performance and secure Nanoco's pipeline of product development for a number of years to come. The planned retained funds from the Samsung litigation have allowed Nanoco to enter global electronics supply chains as a robust partner whilst also enabling the accelerated development of new leading edge materials.
Demand is expected to grow gradually, enabling Nanoco to deliver the goal of being self-financing during CY25. Earlier adoption in more applications, or by more end users, has the potential to accelerate that expectation. If the infra-red sensing technology is adopted in high volume, mass market products, demand for Nanoco materials has the potential to grow very rapidly beyond CY25.
Brian Tenner, Nanoco's CEO, commented:
"Today's announcement records a critical milestone in Nanoco's evolution from an R&D first mover to an electronics materials production company. With our customers' global reach and ambitions for this technology, we expect initial low volume demand to increase gradually due to more end users and a more diverse range of applications.
"We have now delivered all of the goals set for CY23, winning the IP litigation and entering commercial production. Through careful use of the retained funds from the IP litigation, we will continue our leading edge R&D, our efforts to deliver further value from our validated IP portfolio, and continued commercial production of high quality nanomaterials from our Runcorn facility.
"Following the intended return of capital in 2024, the Board is confident that growing interest and opportunities for sensing materials and the potential for leveraging the Group's IP portfolio will deliver increases in shareholder value in the medium term."
- Ends -
The person responsible for arranging for the release of this announcement on behalf of Nanoco is Liam Gray, Chief Financial Officer.
MAR
The information contained within this announcement is considered by the Company to contain inside information for the purposes of UK MAR. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information will be considered to be in the public domain.
For further information, please contact:
Nanoco Group PLC: +44 (0) 1928 761 422
Brian Tenner, CEO
Liam Gray, CFO & Company Secretary
Peel Hunt (Joint Corporate Broker): +44 (0) 20 7418 8900
Paul Gillam
Richard Chambers
James Smith
Turner Pope Investments (Joint Corporate Broker): +44 (0) 20 3657 0050
Andrew Thacker
James Pope
MHP: +44 (0) 7931988328
Reg Hoare/Matthew Taylor/Christian Harte
nanoco@mhpgroup.com
Notes for editors:
About Nanoco Group plc
Nanoco (LSE: NANO) harnesses the power of nano-materials. Nano-materials are materials with dimensions typically in the range 1 - 100 nm. Nano-materials have a range of useful properties, including optical and electronic. Quantum dots are a subclass of nano-material that have size-dependent optical and electronic properties. The Group produces quantum dots and other nano-materials. Within the sphere of quantum dots, the Group exploits different characteristics of the quantum dots to target different performance criteria that are attractive to specific markets or end-user applications such as the Display, Sensor and Electronics markets. An interesting property of quantum dots is their absorption spectrum. Nanoco's HEATWAVE? quantum dots can be tuned to absorb light at different wavelengths across the near-infrared spectrum, rendering them useful for applications including image sensors. Another interesting property of quantum dots is photoluminescence: the emission of longer wavelength light upon excitation by light of a shorter wavelength. The colour of light emitted depends on the particle size. Nanoco's CFQD® quantum dots are free of cadmium and other toxic heavy metals, and can be tuned to emit light at different wavelengths across the visible and infrared spectrum, rendering them useful for a wide range of applications including displays, lighting and biological imaging.
Nanoco was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Manchester, UK, with a US subsidiary, Nanoco Inc., in Concord, MA. Nanoco continues to build out a world-class, patent-protected IP portfolio generated both by its own innovation engine, as well as through acquisition.
Nanoco is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and trades under the ticker symbol NANO. For further information please visit: www.nanocotechnologies.com.