Acta S.p.A. Trading and business update (6300Y)

TIDMACTA

RNS Number : 6300Y

Acta S.p.A.

28 January 2014

 
 Press release   28 January 2014 
 

Acta S.p.A.

("Acta" or "the Company")

Trading and business update

Acta S.p.A. (AIM: ACTA), the clean energy products company, announces a trading and business update ahead of the publication of its results for the year ended 31 December 2013.

Current Trading

-- Rapid development in customer trials for the Acta Power system with strong levels of commercial interest

-- Five Acta Power units sold: two tested, approved and installed on live sites for final evaluation, two tested and approved with live site evaluation due to commence shortly and one being used for demonstration purposes

-- CE Certification for the Acta Power secured ahead of year-end, in readiness for commercial roll-out

-- Larger "network evaluations" of the Acta Power system are currently under negotiation. Initial network installations are expected to be typically of 50 to 150 units per customer network with up to 50 units in the first call-down

-- Based on the timing indications received from Acta's partners, it is anticipated that the first telco approved product certifications for the Acta Power will be granted early in the second quarter of 2014, with network evaluation contracts to follow shortly thereafter

-- Further expansion of Acta's production facility underway targeting capacity of 40 Acta Power units per month for H2 2014

-- 2013 revenue is expected to be in excess of EUR400,000, well ahead of comparable revenues from products and research services in 2012 (EUR233,000), despite slower than forecast sales conversions

-- Expected operating loss in the region of EUR1.2 million (including share option cost reversal of EUR2.4 million as previously announced)

   --    Year end cash of EUR2.1 million 

Summary and Outlook

Paolo Bert, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"The launch of the Acta Power system in 2013 has been a significant milestone for the Company and has enhanced Acta's brand profile in the marketplace and greatly increased its commercial opportunities. The system performs well and is gaining recognition for the unique benefits that it offers. Customer evaluations and system trials are proceeding with considerable success, notwithstanding delays due to customer installation procedures and logistical requirements.

The Company's key activities now range across the back-up power and renewable energy storage sectors together with electrolyser sales into a number of different applications. We continue to focus on high volume applications with strong economic drivers, and believe that the coming year will see substantial progress in the adoption of our products through our growing network of customers and commercial partners."

The Preliminary Results announcement is expected to be made on or around 26 March 2014.

-ENDS-

For further information please contact:

 
 Acta S.p.A.                      Tel: [phone] 
 Paolo Bert, Chief Executive      www.actaspa.com 
  Officer 
  Paul Barritt, Chief Financial 
  Officer 
 
 
 Altium Capital (Nominated    Tel: [phone] 
  Advisor) 
 Adrian Reed / Dom Orsini 
 
   Cantor Fitzgerald Europe     Tel: [phone] 
   (Broker) 
 Mark Percy / David Banks 
  / Paul Jewell 
 

Media enquiries:

 
 Kreab Gavin Anderson (Financial   Tel: [phone] 
  PR) 
 Robert Speed / Christina          www.kreabgavinanderson.com 
  Clark / Ross Gillam 
 

About Acta S.p.A.

Acta S.p.A. is a developer and manufacturer of a range of clean energy products. Based on its world-leading expertise in alkaline membrane technology, the Company has developed a unique range of low-cost, compact hydrogen generators (electrolysers) which produce pure, dry compressed hydrogen at high efficiency from renewable or grid power.

In April 2013 Acta launched the Acta Power, an integrated electrolyser and fuel cell system for use in back-up power and renewable energy storage applications. Best understood as a "Hydrogen Battery", the system converts energy from renewable or grid power when it is available and stores it in the form of hydrogen, and then converts the hydrogen back to electrical power when needed due to grid black-out or lack of solar / wind power.

This system has extensive application as a back-up power unit for telecommunications base stations, where it competes on cost against traditional battery and diesel solutions, while offering a cleaner solution and better service. In particular, the use of rainwater and the generation of hydrogen on-site removes the cost and logistical barriers of fuel delivery, while also avoiding the theft risk associated with diesel, methanol and battery systems.

The supply of fuel cell back-up power systems for telecommunications base stations represents a large and fast-growing market, especially in extensively bad-grid and off-grid locations such as in Asia and Africa. Battery sales to the Chinese telecoms industry are currently valued at $4.7 bn to $7.8 bn per annum (Fuel Cell Today, China).

Acta holds a portfolio of patents and patent applications on its key technologies, manufactures its products through a combination of production, component subcontracting, and final product assembly and quality control, and has established distribution channels through partnerships in China, India, SE Asia, Australia, Africa, Middle East, Germany, UK, USA and South America.

Acta S.p.A. is based near Pisa, Italy, and was admitted to trading on AIM in October 2005.

www.actaspa.com

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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