TIDMNANO
RNS Number : 0430I
Nanoco Group PLC
30 March 2020
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR
INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION
WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF
SUCH JURISDICTION.
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 30 March 2020
Nanoco Group PLC
( " Nanoco, the " Group " , or the " Company ")
Covid-19 Update
Nanoco Group plc (LSE: NANO), a world leader in the development
and manufacture of cadmium-free quantum dots and other
nanomaterials emanating from its technology platform, today
provides the following update on the impact of Covid-19, and the
actions the Group is taking to preserve liquidity.
Key points:
-- The Company is experiencing significant business disruption due to Covid-19.
-- The Board is taking steps to reduce substantially the cost
base of the business, including pay cuts for all Directors.
-- The Company intends to seek access to Government funding to
protect the employment of staff who are furloughed due to
Covid-19.
-- The Board continues to evaluate all strategic options,
including a potential sale of the Company, which has also been
impacted by Covid-19.
-- With these measures, the Board is confident that Nanoco's
core capabilities will be protected and the cash reserves of the
Company will now extend beyond the end of December 2020.
Like a great many businesses, the Group is experiencing
significant business interruption as a result of the Covid-19
pandemic, including absence of key workers, disruption to supply
chains, and customer measures leading to shipping delays and delays
on raising new purchase orders. However, paid for customer work and
critical activities are continuing where possible.
The safety and wider wellbeing of Nanoco's employees is a key
priority for the Board. Employees are working from home where
possible and the Company is still meeting customer requirements
through its facilities in Manchester and Runcorn.
Cost reductions including Directors' contracts and salaries
The Board is taking the lead on cost savings with an immediate
reduction in salary for all Directors. Salaries will be reduced by
35% for Non-Executive Directors and by 20% for Executive Directors
with effect from 1 April 2020, until further notice.
As a precautionary medium-term measure, notice is being served
with immediate effect under the employment contracts of Dr Michael
Edelman (CEO) and Dr Nigel Pickett (CTO). Dr Edelman and Dr Pickett
are expected to be fully committed to the business of the Group
during the 12 months of their respective notice periods. Given that
Brian Tenner's service contract is terminable at any time on only
six months' notice, notice will be served on him at the appropriate
time.
In addition, the Company has started a consultation process with
its staff to provide certain necessary changes to employment
contracts to enable the Group to apply for the UK Government's
recently announced employment support package for furloughed
employees, and to instigate salary reductions for non-furloughed
employees. The Group does not intend to apply the salary reduction
to anyone earning less than GBP2,500 per month.
The consultation process is aimed at avoiding redundancies at
this very challenging time for the economy and jobs market.
Formal Sale Process
The Company is continuing to review its strategic options
including, but not limited to, a potential sale of the Company
through the ongoing formal sale process as announced on 5 November
and will make a further announcement in due course.
Business impact and cash runway
The proposed changes above and the availability of government
employment support will potentially avoid the need for any
redundancies while the support remains available and in the absence
of other committed medium term funding. The proposed changes will
also extend the Group's cash runway at a critical time when the
formal sale process is ongoing and other commercial and strategic
options are being pursued .
The Group had previously announced that, if no actions were
taken to significantly reduce costs and in the absence of other
material sources of cash, its cash resources would be exhausted by
July 2020. The proposed measures above will potentially extend that
cash runway beyond December 2020 as it is estimated that these
actions, alongside other cost saving measures, will improve the
Company's cash cost base for the year to 31 July 2020 by
approximately 20%.
Our staff are working in line with government guidance to ensure
that where possible all customer obligations are fulfilled. This
includes preparing for some potential short term commercial orders
currently under discussion.
Dr Christopher Richards, Nanoco's Chairman, commented:
"The safety and wellbeing of our employees is of the utmost
importance to Nanoco. We have taken the lead on implementing
changes to Board salaries with immediate effect whilst we firmly
believe that the proposed changes to employment contracts are in
the best interests of all our staff. We will keep all of these
measures under review and make further changes as and when trading
conditions and cash resources permit.
"We are working hard to deliver short term revenues and cash to
support the business. These efforts are designed to safeguard value
for all stakeholders by protecting our manufacturing, our R&D
capabilities, and our core IP assets. We also continue to actively
pursue the recently announced IP infringement lawsuit against
Samsung.
"The extension to our cash runway buys the Group time to
continue progress on the formal sale process, the lawsuit against
Samsung, a number of short term commercial opportunities, and
evaluation of other strategic options. By retaining our highly
skilled workforce with the changes above, the probability of a
successful outcome to these activities is significantly
enhanced."
- Ends -
Enquiries:
Nanoco Group PLC
Michael Edelman, Chief Executive
Officer
Brian Tenner, Chief Financial Officer
Caroline Watson, Investor Relations
Manager +44 (0)161 603 7900
Peel Hunt (Corporate Broker to Nanoco) +44 (0)20 7418 8900
Edward Knight
Nick Prowting
MHP Communications +44 (0)20 3128 8100
Reg Hoare nanoco@mhpc.com
Giles Robinson
Pete Lambie
In accordance with Rule 26.1 of the City Code on Takeovers and
Mergers, a copy of this announcement will, subject to certain
restrictions relating to persons resident in restricted
jurisdictions, be available at
www.nanocotechnologies.com/investor-relations/. The person
responsible for arranging for the release of this announcement on
behalf of Nanoco is Brian Tenner, Chief Financial Officer. For the
avoidance of doubt, the content of the website referred to above is
not incorporated into and does not form part of this
announcement.
This announcement is not an announcement of a firm intention to
make an offer under Rule 2.7 of the Code and there can be no
certainty that an offer will be made, nor as to the terms on which
any offer might be made. Any offer (if made) will be made solely by
certain offer documentation, which will contain the full terms and
conditions of any offer (if made), including details of how such
offer may be accepted. This announcement has been prepared in
accordance with English law and the Code, and information disclosed
may not be the same as that which would have been prepared in
accordance with laws outside of the United Kingdom. The release,
distribution or publication of this announcement in jurisdictions
outside of the United Kingdom may be restricted by laws of the
relevant jurisdictions, and therefore persons into whose possession
this announcement comes should inform themselves about, and
observe, any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with the
restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities law of
any such jurisdiction.
MAR
The information contained within this announcement is considered
by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under
the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication
of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this
inside information will be considered to be in the public
domain.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This announcement (including information incorporated by
reference in this announcement), oral statements made regarding the
formal sale process, and other information published by Nanoco may
contain statements about Nanoco that are or may be deemed to be
forward looking statements. Such statements are prospective in
nature. All statements other than historical statements of facts
may be forward looking statements. Without limitation, statements
containing the words "targets", "plans", "believes", "expects",
"aims", "intends", "will", "may", "anticipates", "estimates",
"projects" or "considers" or other similar words may be forward
looking statements.
Forward looking statements inherently contain risks and
uncertainties as they relate to events or circumstances in the
future. Important factors such as business or economic cycles, the
terms and conditions of Nanoco's financing arrangements, tax rates,
or increased competition may cause Nanoco's actual financial
results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any
forward looking statements. Due to such uncertainties and risks,
readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward
looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Nanoco
disclaims any obligation to update any forward looking or other
statements contained herein, except as required by applicable
law.
Notes for editors:
About Nanoco Group plc
Nanoco (LSE: NANO) harnesses the power of nano-materials.
Nano-materials are materials with dimensions typically in the range
1 - 100 nm. Nano-materials have a range of useful properties,
including optical and electronic. Quantum dots are a subclass of
nano-material that have size-dependent optical and electronic
properties. The Group produces quantum dots. Within the sphere of
quantum dots, the Group exploits different characteristics of the
quantum dots to target different performance criteria that are
attractive to specific markets or end-user applications such as the
Display and Electronics markets. One of the interesting properties
of quantum dots is photoluminescence: the emission of longer
wavelength light upon excitation by light of a shorter wavelength.
The colour of light emitted depends on the particle size. Nanoco's
CFQD(R) quantum dots are free of cadmium and other toxic heavy
metals, and can be tuned to emit light at different wavelengths
across the visible and infrared spectrum, rendering them useful for
a wide range of applications including displays, lighting and
biological imaging.
Nanoco has non-exclusive manufacturing and marketing licensing
agreements in display with The Dow Chemical Company, Merck KGaA of
Germany and Wah Hong Industrial Corporation of Taiwan. Nanoco was
founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Manchester, UK, with a US
subsidiary, Nanoco Inc., in Concord, MA. Nanoco continues to build
out a world-class, patent-protected IP portfolio generated both by
its own innovation engine, as well as through acquisition.
Nanoco is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange
and trades under the ticker symbol NANO. For further information
please visit: www.nanocogroup.com.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
UPDKKKBKKBKDCNN
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 30, 2020 08:05 ET (12:05 GMT)
Nanoco (AQSE:NANO.GB)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Nanoco (AQSE:NANO.GB)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024