High performance brake specialist confident of future

Specialist brake manufacturer Surface Transforms improved revenues, and reduced losses in the year to May 31, it revealed today.

Th AIM-listed company relocated its headquarters from Ellesmere Port, on the Wirral, to Knowsley, on Merseyside during the course of the latest financial year.

Surface Transforms makes carbon fibre reinforced ceramic materials used in a range of high performance vehicles, including racing cars, as well as aircraft.

Turnover increased from £702,000 to £1.36m, while the pre-tax loss of £2.299m compared with a loss of £2.528m the previous year.

Cash at the end of the financial year stood at £923,000, down from £1,532m in 2017.

The results statement said today: “The company expects sales to grow further in the financial year 2018-19 as sales begin on the Aston Martin Valkyrie contract and near OEM (original equipment manufacturer) sales continue to grow.

“We expect retrofit sales to be maintained at the level seen in financial year 2017-18, although this actually represents underlying growth as the sales in this 2017-18 financial year included some catch-up from the factory move problems of the previous 2016-17 financial year.

“Depreciation is expected to increase as the capital equipment is brought into production.

“Development costs will continue at the current level, as will other, non depreciation, administration costs.

“The overheads for the 2017-18 year reflect a full year’s cost of occupancy of the Knowsley factory.”

It adddd: “The board remains confident of winning the ‘game changer’ contracts and accelerating sales.

“Whilst our revenue expectations of these contracts, over the contract lives, is broadly unchanged, the drift on SOP dates will similarly delay the increase in our forecast revenues.

“The current capacity expansion programme will provide capacity capable of generating sales of approximately £16m.

“If we won all the opportunities being pursued this would result in the company exceeding its installed capacity.

“Given the size of our Knowsley site, with the requisite capital expenditure, capacity could be increased to the equivalent of approximately £50m of sales per annum.”