Nanoco signs key lighting deal as losses hit £10m

MANCHESTER-based high-tech manufacturer Nanoco has signed a follow-on agreement with Osram, one of the world’s largest lighting companies, over the use of its cadmium-free quantum dot technology to improve the efficiency of LED lights.

The announcement of the deal with Osram – with whom Nanoco has been working under joint development agreements since 2011 – comes at the same time as its preliminary results for the year ended July 31, which showed revenues climbing to £2.03m from £1.43m in 2014.

Its loss before tax was £10.88m (2014: £9.06m), reflecting increased research and development activity plus additional staff costs and a one-off cost of £0.9m incurred by its move to the main market.

Cash and deposits at the year end were £24.31m (2014: £12.18m) with the increase reflecting the proceeds of the placing on the main market on May 1.

In its report, and in addition to the Osram deal, the company highlighted substantial progress in the commercialisation of the its technology in the display industry in partnership with worldwide licensing partner The Dow Chemical Company.

There was also the mechanical completion of Dow’s large-scale cadmium-free quantum dot manufacturing plant in South Korea during the year with customer sampling expected to begin soon.

In addition there is a robust display pipeline with Nanoco and Dow currently working with 11 display OEMs globally from countries including Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan and the USA.

Other progress in lighting included the development of niche lighting products with Marl International Ltd and the formation of a lighting business unit.

Nanoco said its staff numbers had increased during the year from 98 to 113. Key appointments include David Blain as chief financial officer, Keith Wiggins as chief operating officer, Brendan Cummins as a non-executive director and Caroline Watson as investor relations manager.

Nanoco chairman Anthony Clinch said:  “The past year has been one of rapid development at Nanoco and we continue to configure the organisation to meet the needs of an emerging, global licensing and manufacturing business.
 
“Mechanical completion of Dow’s mass production plant in South Korea at the year end marked a major milestone in the commercialisation of our cadmium-free quantum dots in the display industry.
 
“The commissioning of the plant is ongoing and proceeding well. Customer sampling from the plant, which was initially expected to start in Q3 CY 2015, is now expected to begin in the very near term.

“As a result we expect recurring income in the second half of our current financial year rather than in Q4 CY 2015.

“The commercialisation of our technology in lighting is also well advanced and, as we develop our other market opportunities in life sciences and solar, we become ever more enthusiastic about the potential for our technology across all four of our target markets. We look forward to the year ahead with confidence.”