Applied Graphene Materials revenue rises after 'substantial progress'

AIM-listed graphene producer Applied Graphene Materials’ revenue increased as it made “substantial progress” during the year with its products, and revealed its US patent has been granted and a new development programme is underway with Airbus.

For the year ended 31 July, revenue rose 20% to £300,000 compared to last year, although losses from earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation widened 7.6% to £4.2m, while the loss for profit before tax and amortisation increased 10.2% to £4.3m.

Cash at bank rose about 64% to £7.7m, helped by a placing in January.

During the year the first production order was received from Century Composites for the company’s graphene products and accelerated the product development programme with James Briggs, a consumer chemicals manufacturer, for an expected product launch in early 2017, while a collaboration with paint supplier Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings has “potential to increase to volumes”.

Over 120kg of graphene dispersions were supplied to customers during the year in over 170 evaluation samples.

The company, which was spun-out from Durham University, said it was progressing on production capacity expansion on a modular basis with the first phase commissioned and operational.

Significant news in the results was that the company has gained approval for the manufacturing process patent from US Patent Office.

Chief executive Jon Mabbitt said the company made “substantial” progress during the year towards commercial adoption of its graphene in target markets.

“Our first production order, announced last week, was an important step for the group and confirmation of the significant opportunities we anticipate as we continue to invest in collaborative partnerships to accelerate adoption in our target markets. Additionally, and to support this, we have made progress on scaling up our proprietary production capacity to meet further demand."

Broker N+1Singer said 2017 promises to be an exciting year as commercial production commences, with revenue forecasts reduced for FY17 but the loss before tax forecast improves on lower opex assumptions, with net cash forecast to increase significantly on the basis of a more measured capacity expansion.

Shares in Applied Graphene Materials were up 2.98% to 172.49p at 0928 BST.