Nanoco renegotiates Dow deal
MANCHESTER-based nanotechnology firm Nanoco has renegotiated the terms of a licensing deal it agreed with US conglomerate, The Dow Chemical Company.
In a stock market statement it said it will not now commit capital to a plant Dow is building in Asia and will receive a lower royalty rate from the licence as a consequence.
The deal was described as “transformational” by the group when it was signed in January and led to a sharp rise in its share price.
Nanoco makes quantum dots – tiny fluorescent particles of semiconductor material which have the ability to emit light. They are in demand by the makers of electronic goods because they consume less power than existing systems.
It is also accelerating the pace of developments with Dow and hopes to see its quantum dots used in the display market earlier than originally expected. Full production should start in the first half of next year.
Nanoco also said it had completed an expansion of the production capacity of its factory in Runcorn at a cost of £1.25m. The business said it was continuing to make progress in its other core target markets of general lighting and solar energy. It said its photovoltaic ink is “now achieving an energy conversion efficiency of between 12%-13%.
Michael Edelman, Nanoco’s chief executive, said: “We have been delighted by the progress made by Dow. The amendments to the agreement with Dow better capitalise on our respective strengths and reinforce our collective commitment to commercialise this technology as quickly as possible to meet future market demand.
“We have also continued to make encouraging progress across our business, including a doubling of capacity at Runcorn to meet increasing demand for pre-production samples from display and other customers.”
