18th Oct 2018 11:46
LONDON (Alliance News) - Applied Graphene Materials PLC on Thursday reported a widened annual loss due to increased exceptional costs.
For the year ended July, the graphene manufacturer's pretax loss widened to GBP4.5 million from GBP4.3 million the year before.
The company's revenue decreased 21% to GBP77,000 from GBP97,000.
Applied Graphene Materials recognised exceptional costs of GBP307,000 in the year, from zero the year before.
These costs included GBP185,000 in fees paid in relation to the issue of new shares in the period and the GBP122,000 cost of disposing licence fees and patents costs in relation to a technology no longer being developed.
"The business has continued to make considerable progress during the year, particularly in the coatings sector where we are starting to see some real commercial momentum," said Adrian Potts, chief executive.
The company did not propose a dividend for the year, the same as the year before.
"Having invested significantly in developing our understanding as to how best to exploit the benefits that graphene has to offer, we are now beginning to see this investment come to fruition, with the focus very much on converting the 120 plus commercial engagements into long term supply agreements, many of which we are unable to disclose due to confidentiality agreements."
Applied Graphene Materials believes it is "well positioned" for "significant" growth.
The company did note, however, the completion of testing required to meet customer expectations for a couple of orders took longer than Applied Graphene originally expected, meaning the "ramp-up" in sales is likely to be later than previously anticipated.
Applied Graphene said it is "absolutely focused" on continuing to commercialise its offering and increasing the "rate of market adoption" in the coming year.
Potts added: "Our joint composites development programme with Magna is beginning to produce some very encouraging results in a number of potential applications and I remain confident that over the coming twelve months we will be able to report an ever increasing number of customers, who having completed their testing programme are looking to enter into commercial supply agreements."
Shares in Applied Graphene Materials were up 1.9% Thursday at 43.80 pence each.
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