Light Science Technologies Share Discussion Threads

[sunshine today] 25/10/2021 09:47

For a lighting stock see HDT.

A £4M market cap that has just short of 2/3 in cash.

In profit

Pays a divi.

Research CASAMBI lighting

Just done the BBC.

LED pays for itself in just 15 months, or under a year with today’s sky high electric prices worldwide.

[yump] 25/10/2021 09:40

Well good luck with your investments. I was initially attracted, but there appear to be quite a few established control systems already on the market and I’ve invested in enough startups.

Also given the financial history, the low profitability of the existing business and the pre-float cash position, I reckon they’ve seen the mini wall of money that’s been going into vertical farming and decide to develop something - hence the big spend last year.

An opportunistic float perhaps - there’s been a few !

That money flow and the story may well propel the share price upwards.

[rivaldo] 24/10/2021 23:28

Cheers hastings, reads very well - here's a direct link:



Extract:

"Deacon is working on contracts that should deliver turnover of more than £40million in the next few years and interested parties include Ocado-backed Jones Food Company, which recently started building Europe's largest vertical farm, just outside Bristol.

Huge glasshouses and polytunnels are far less appealing to the eye than rolling fields but, with Light Science's innovative kit, they can have a dramatic effect on how much fresh produce we can grow throughout the year, from salad leaves and strawberries to cucumbers and unusual varieties of carrot.

Vertical farms add to the mix and they can be erected on industrial estates, retail parks and even in city centres."

[cheshire man] 24/10/2021 09:17

Happy to have got in early doors :-)

[hastings] 23/10/2021 22:48

Nice mention in the Mail.https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/investing/article-10123131/amp/MIDAS-SHARE-TIPS-Harvest-rewards-Light-Science.html?__twitter_impression=true

[rivaldo] 22/10/2021 11:22

Fertiliser production is falling sharply due to the energy crisis, and fertiliser prices are rising to record levels as a result.

Vertical farms of course require much less fertiliser (depending on the type of farm/crop):

[rivaldo] 21/10/2021 10:45

FYI I've added a link in the thread header post to the web site for the Electronics Manufacturing division:



There's also quite an active Twitter page which might be worth monitoring:

[yump] 19/10/2021 16:23

LST would be very interesting if it had something relatively unique that solved a monitoring problem.

Can’t figure it out yet.

O/t I think I had shares in Lightwave in the past when they had a different name - might be imagining it though.

[hedgehog 100] 19/10/2021 16:04

Light Science Technologies (LST) looks interesting, and could do well, though quite risky.

It doesn't seem to have much in the way of i.p., so could it face commoditisation?

It reminds me of LightwaveRF (LWRF) which in 2016 looked like a decent investment, and indeed moved up in 2017.

Though it then disappointed, and delisted last year.


11/03/2016 07:00 UK Regulatory (RNS & others) LightwaveRF PLC Final Results LSE:LWRF Lightwaverf Plc

"… Preliminary Results for the Year Ended 30 September 2015

LightwaveRF plc ("LightwaveRF" or the "Company"), the creator of the LightwaveRF Smart Home Platform and products for the Internet of Things enabling households and businesses to remotely operate and control lighting, power, heating and security using smartphones, tablets, PC and MAC applications, is pleased to present its final results for the year ended 30 September 2015.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

-- Revenue for the year of GBP2.10 million (2014: GBP3.04 million)
-- Gross profit GBP0.67 million (2014: GBP1.03 million)
-- Gross margin 31.9% (2014: 33.9%)
-- Pre-tax losses at GBP0.42 million (2014: GBP0.30 million)
-- Post-tax losses at GBP0.23 million (2014: GBP0.14 million)
-- Current order book approaching GBP1 million at current exchange rates
-- Total loans and borrowings reduced by GBP0.19 million (2014: GBP0.46 million)
-- Successful fundraisings totalled GBP1.55 million (2014: GBP0.39 million)

OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

Sales and distribution

-- Onward sales of LightwaveRF product by distribution partner were up 24% on the previous year

-- Cumulative global installations up 40% to 35,000 (2014: 25,000) users now connected to the LightwaveRF platform

-- Total internet addressable devices on LightwaveRF cloud platform over 200,000 and increasing by around 8,000 devices per month

-- The group is now recording over 56,000,000 temperature and energy data points each month

-- Entry to the new home build sector with the appointment of Deta Electrical as the first UK OEM distributor

-- Appointment of Havells as distributor for India and Power Diverter in Australia

Technical

-- Addition of a thermostatically controlled electric panel switch to the heating solutions range

-- Patent applications lodged for Boiler Energy Monitoring, Super Smart TRV and Smart Windows

-- Launch of the LightwaveRF Building Management Solutions software for single and multisite operations

-- Continued progress with the Warwick University Innovate UK energy management project confirming significant energy savings …"




LightwaveRF (LWRF):

[yump] 19/10/2021 10:25

Anyone got comments on the financials ? They mention strong profit generation, but I can't see it.

Most recent six months £130k cash left and more owed than receivable. Also there seems to be at least £100K of finance costs each year. Haven't found an explanation yet.

I do wonder if part of the float is to strengthen the balance sheet - or whether the base electronics business is actually not really doing it, in terms of generating cash to fund anything else.

Attractive as a startup though as their new market is forecast to grow fast and there is apparently a lot of money flow towards it. Plus they've got the base to build the electronics and software required for the new market, rather than starting from scratch.

[yump] 19/10/2021 09:19

From what I’ve read vertical farming isn’t profitable in a lot of cases. Whether thats a tech problem or not isn’t really clear.

Had a look through the admission financials. They mention ebitda (I wish companies wouldn’t do that without explaining what is tgen taken off and whether its a one/off) but its not clear why even in 2019, net profits are so low - there were gov grants as well. If the electronic business is profitable then presumably they’ve been investing in the new tech.

[hastings] 19/10/2021 06:54

Decent read here on vertical farming in the UK from farmers weekly.https://www.fwi.co.uk/arable/crop-management/why-vertical-farming-is-growing-in-the-uk

[yump] 18/10/2021 23:49

Interesting info on vertical farming:

[rivaldo] 18/10/2021 22:58

Great info hastings - I'd wondered what David Evans meant in IIG's RNS when he said:

"for applications in the fast-growing controlled environment agriculture division which addresses vertical farming, glasshouse and polytunnels, but also in other applications in digital health."

Now we know. Exciting stuff.

[yump] 18/10/2021 20:45

Just having a look around recent floats.

Anyone know what the massive jump in admin. costs was in six months to May 21. Looks like the cumulative retained earnings figure then went minus about 700K. ie. relative to other years, a massive cash outflow.

Answered my own question:

"Approximate total costs of £1.15 million associated with the further development of Light Science
Technologies (c.£780,000) and the Admission process (c.£367,000), impacted upon HY21 profit."

[hastings] 18/10/2021 19:56

Appreciate the positive comments on the write-up, thanks for those and good to see some familiar names here.
Worth just adding that the company is also looking at targeting the healthcare market which could prove very interesting going forward, particularly with David Evans involvement here.

It may sound somewhat removed from what appears to be the big opportunity around agriculture, but one of the sensors LST uses for collecting DNA data in plants is also being looked at for use in other applications such as healthcare.
This would take in diabetes as well as other end applications and sitting on the skin would provide readings and monitoring of health issues and potential problems.

The sensor is apparently already operational with tests being carried out on plants in LST's lab. The plan is that once those have been completed the company will move on to testing it for healthcare applications.

[saurish] 18/10/2021 17:59

Ticker LST still not showing up on IG or HL!

[yasrub] 18/10/2021 16:29

I bought some this morning - great write up by Hastings and thank you for setting the thread up Rivaldo

[rivaldo] 18/10/2021 15:52

RNS just out confirming Herald Investment Management have bought 10m shares at the IPO here, or 5.74%:



Good to see you in here CM, that makes three of us :o))

[cheshire man] 18/10/2021 13:07

Great write up as usual hastings,,,,,had to wait until this morning to buy as II did not recognise the ticker on Friday, I expect better from them really.

[rivaldo] 18/10/2021 08:36

Cheers hastings, excellent article as always, which appears to have attracted some interest here.

Particularly interesting that a lot of manufacturing is coming back to the UK and benefiting the CEM arm to combat supply chain issues, and that "he anticipates great growth continuing ahead".

"News soon regarding an approved grant of £500k" re the Zenith Nurseries contract is new to me and good to hear. Plus the likely entry into the medicinal cannabis sector.

[hastings] 17/10/2021 17:44

Write up for further interest.https://martinflitton1.wixsite.com/privatepunter/post/shining-a-light-on-lst-17-10-21

[rivaldo] 17/10/2021 07:52

Great to see you here too Hastings - looking forward to your article.

IIG, who own 7.6% of LST, issued an RNS on Friday about the flotation FYI:



"David Evans, Executive Chairman of IIG, commented:

"Congratulations to Simon Deacon and the LSTH team. We are particularly excited by LSTH's deep knowledge of the light spectrum, particularly for applications in the fast-growing controlled environment agriculture division which addresses vertical farming, glasshouse and polytunnels, but also in other applications in digital health. We look forward to LSTH's continued success in the next stage of its development as an AIM company."

[hastings] 16/10/2021 08:02

Also caught my eye and managed to speak with the CEO yesterday. I’ll post my write up early next week for additional interest

[rivaldo] 16/10/2021 07:45

Quite a lot of coverage of yesterday's IPO around - here's a couple of the more informative articles:



And here: