Ilika plc (LON:IKA), an independent global expert solid-state battery technology, has announced its results for the year ended 30 April 2024.
During the Period, Ilika continued to develop and commercialise its thin-film Stereax® miniature solid state batteries for powering implantable medical devices and industrial wireless sensors in specialist environments, and significantly progressed the transfer of manufacturing to US-headquartered Cirtec Medical LLC. During the financial year, Ilika also achieved significant milestones in the development roadmap of its large-format Goliath cells for electric vehicles and cordless appliances.
Operational highlights:
Stereax
· First customer shipments of M300 batteries from UK pilot manufacturing facility.
· Entered ten-year licensing agreement and technology transfer with Cirtec.
· Despatched key equipment and substantially completed installation in the Cirtec facility to enable manufacture of the Stereax cells.
· Continued collaboration with Cirtec to support the development plans and launch schedules of 21 Stereax customers.
Goliath
· Reached significant development milestones
o Achieved D4 design freeze and Li-ion energy density parity, making strong progress on the technology roadmap and meeting development milestones on time.
· Strong scale-up progress
o Faraday Battery Challenge: 24-month, £8.2m grant-funded HISTORY project, with input from BMW and Fortescue WAE.
o Automotive Transformation Fund 16-month, £2.7m grant-supported SiSTEM project, collaborating with Mpac plc and UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (“UKBIC”).
o Welcomed Agratas (Tata Group’s global battery business) as a full partner to the SiSTEM project.
· Production-intent equipment trialled at vendor sites and installed at pilot facility to provide larger volumes of evaluation cells to customers.
· Bi-lateral 12-month technology collaboration agreement with Agratas, and agreement outlining potential longer-term collaboration through to gigafactory implementation.
· Continued interaction with automotive and consumer OEMs globally – pipeline of evaluation agreements with 17 companies
· Portfolio of 62 granted patents, with 10 new grants in the reporting period; four additional international filings submitted.
Financial highlights:
· Turnover £2.1m (2023: £0.7m) with other income of £0.5m (2023: £0.1m) giving a Total Income of £2.6m (2023: £0.8m)
· EBITDA Loss adjusted for share-based payments for the year £4.1m (2023: £7m)
· Loss per share 3.03p (2023: 4.61p)
· Cash, cash equivalents and longer term bank deposits of £11.9m (2023: £15.9m)
Post-period end highlights:
· Commenced testing of initial batch of P1 Goliath prototype batteries in a customer-sponsored programme following the successful completion of production and in-house testing.
· Successful £2.3 million (gross) fundraising to support the Goliath roadmap and Stereax commercialisation.
· Completed the delivery of its first batch of P1 Goliath batteries for customer testing by a tier 1 automotive company.
Outlook:
· Cirtec contract represents most immediate commercialisation opportunity, allowing fulfilment of order book and creation of further commercial opportunities.
· Stereax to focus, post US installation, on commissioning activities and engineering lots to fully qualify the process in readiness for production of commercial samples, expected in late CY2024.
· Plans to increase commercial collaboration alongside Cirtec in the year ahead.
· Clear Goliath roadmap: aim to reach the D8 development milestone by the end of the HISTORY programme grant in Q1 2025, underpinning licencing opportunities.
· Pre-pilot production facility targets capacity increase to 1.5 MWh/a.
· Commercial interest and government grant support expected to intensify as the Goliath product continues to mature.
Commenting on the results Ilika’s Chief Executive Officer, Graeme Purdy, said, “We are proud of the further success we have made whilst developing our solid state battery technology. Both of our product lines, Stereax and Goliath, have seen significant operational progress as we continue to work towards commercialisation.
“Our contract with Cirtec is an enormous achievement and represents a significant opportunity to scale Stereax at pace through a partner that boasts a strong track record in the commercialisation of miniature medical devices. We are confident that the partnership positions Ilika well to deliver high quality, reliable and scalable supplies of Stereax batteries to our customers.
“Meanwhile, the global prospects for EVs, and Goliath, remain promising. Following the team’s achievements we expect to be in the position to manufacture and deliver fully characterised P1 test pouch cells to customers in H2 2024. Based on our D4 design freeze, these cells have the potential to offer significant benefits not attainable with current EV battery technology. The Board expects both commercial interest and government grant support to intensify as the Goliath product continues to mature. Discussions with commercial and grant partners are in progress and the development programmes are being aligned to the timelines planned for market roll-out by the OEMs involved. Current estimates are that the UK EV battery market will be worth ca. £9bn by 2030 and Ilika is positioning its technology to be ready for that opportunity.”
Analyst Briefing
The management team will be hosting a hybrid analyst briefing today at 9.30am. Analysts who wish to attend should contact Nick Rome at Walbrook PR on +44(0)20 7933 8780 or email ilika@walbrookpr.com to register.
