Sabien raises £475,000 to fund energy efficiency pilot projects

Sabien, a manufacturer and supplier of energy efficiency technology, has raised £475,000 from an equity placing to fund pilot trials of its products.

The company issued 47.5m shares of 0.5p and sold them at 1p each. The placing is dependent on ratification of shareholders at a meeting on 18 April and if approved, the new shares are expected to be admitted to trade on AIM the following day.

After admission, the company will have an issued share capital of 110.25m shares with voting rights.

The funds raised will be used to finance continuing pilots of its energy efficiency technology called M2G, its boiler load optimisation control and pilots of EndoTherm, an energy reduction commercial heating additive, for the company’ target client base in 2017.

The company's sales quotation pipeline currently stands at £9.7m, compared to the £12m at the publication of its annual results in October 2016, and it has received orders worth £475,000 since last July.

Sabien is targeting a return to profitability by the year to June 2018 and has set itself five-year targets of a sales pipeline of £25m, converting into annual turnover of £8m with a 25% earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin.

Chief executive Alan O'Brien said: "Public procurement delays in the receipt of orders have had a major impact on our business' cashflow and we are grateful to our investors who continue to have confidence in the strategy that we have been following for the past two years.

“We are confident that the strategy is the correct course to follow and that material orders should be received over the next few months."

Shares in Sabien Technology were down 60.83% to 1.18p at 0912 BST.