Ilika plc (LON:IKA) Chief Executive Officer Graeme Purdy caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss their latest trading update, Stereax solid state batteries, progress of the Cirtec MOU, the Faraday Battery Challenge Goliath project and when to expect audited results.
Q1: Graeme, you’ve issued a trading update this morning regarding the financial year that just finished, at the end of April. Could you just recap the numbers for us please?
A1: First of all, just to say that these are unaudited numbers, actually our auditors are mobilising this week in order to confirm them.
Trading has been in line with management expectations so we expect to announce revenues of about £0.8 million, which is up on last year, last year we came in at about £0.5 million. EBITDA loss – we always exclude our share-based payments from this for clarity – was about £7 million relative to an EBITDA loss last year of £6.4 million. Cash and cash equivalents at the period end were about £15.8 million, and that compares to, at the end of April last year, about £23.4 million.
Q2: Now, it’s been a busy couple of months with your miniature Stereax solid state batteries, they’re starting to ship. Could you just share some detail on that for us?
A2: Well, it’s been a very exciting time for Ilika.
So, just last month of course, we released our first customer shipment of Stereax M50 cells, sent them out to customers in April, and then earlier this month, at the beginning of May, we actually started shipping our M300 batteries.
There were a couple of customers who are actually very good to confirm receipt of those and talk a bit about the applications that those batteries are destined for.
Q3: What’s the status of the Cirtec MOU you announced in January?
A3: The discussions have been ongoing to convert that MOU into a full legal contract.
So, just to recap, Cirtec is actually a strategic outsourcing partner for complex medical devices, and they work typically with large OEM’s and we have signed this MOU for the transfer of Stereax millimetre-scale battery manufacturing to their facility in the US. As part of this, we will licence our Stereax technology to them for implementation.
We’ve got a pretty mature contract in place now, we’re just sorting out the final aspects of that so that’s very much a live discussion and we expect to come to closure on that shortly.
Q4: Now, in January, you also announced a large grant-funded collaboration for your large format Goliath batteries, how’s that going?
A4: Well, actually on Friday, we just had our first quarterly project review. So, we had a technical review with all of the partners involved, as well as a steering committee discussion in which BMW and WAE were involved.
It’s a 24-month, £8.2 million Faraday Battery Challenge supported collaboration, really interesting subject around high silicon content electrodes in our Goliath solid state batteries. Very much on track, had a great first quarter, great kick-off.
Q5: Finally, when will the audited results be issued?
A5: They will be issued, if everything goes to plan, on Thursday 13th July so they’ll go out first thing that morning.
