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Insider UK
Business
Peter A Walker

AMTE Power reports losses rising to £3.7 million

AMTE Power has reported a loss before tax of £3.72m, rising from a £2.65m loss at the same stage last year.

The developer and manufacturer of lithium-ion and sodium-ion battery cells also updated the stock exchange that turnover for the half year ended 31 December 2022 was £550,000 - falling from £820,000 year-on-year.

Cash and cash equivalents stood at £1.21m, although this was also down from £6.26m at the same stage in 2022. A £2m convertible bond facility remains undrawn.

The half-year update also contained the results of a recent strategic review, which revealed a renewed focus on turning the company from technology research to full commercialisation of products in order to capitalise on 'unique market opportunities'.

AMTE's existing products are aligned to the growing high performance and fuel cell electric vehicles sectors, battery energy storage systems and other specialist markets.

Dundee also remains the preferred site for the company's new facility, with the long-term objective of creating a 'Gigafactory' scale site.

The investment strategy is to accelerate time-to-market by scaling up production capabilities at the existing Thurso facility, with a scaling-up of production there planned to commence this year.

As for the battery cells it produces, AMTE stated that its Ultra High Power is fully functional and operationally tested, with plans to provide supply samples to customers in the second quarter this year. Larger scale production is planned at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre.

An initial order has been received for the Ultra Safe cells, with the focus now on strengthening this 'opportunity pipeline' after samples were shipped to customers during the first quarter.

And an initial batch of the Ultra Prime cells, produced in the Thurso factory, have been shipped to a customer. These are non-rechargeable cells designed for use in some of the most difficult environments, with very high energy density and high-temperature performance. They have low self-discharge, suiting them for applications where temperature high pressure and accessibility are key considerations.

The trading update noted that the focus is on converting opportunities to orders with in excess of 100% of planned capacity already covered by existing Memorandums of Understanding and Joint Development Agreements.

During the period, AMTE's senior leadership team has bolstered by the appointment of Anita Breslin as chief finance officer, Wes Simons as corporate development director, and John Valentine as supply chain director.

AMTE's chief executive Alan Hollis commented: "Since my arrival at AMTE Power I have been undertaking a strategic review of the people, markets, products, operational capability, functional capability and processes, with a clear focus on positioning the business for success through commercialisation of its products and scaling-up of the organisation to support our ambitious plans to accelerate routes to market.

"AMTE Power has rich technical capabilities and a highly differentiated product range across multiple markets.

"We have identified where the business needs to be positioned as a market leading cell provider for specialist applications, with planned scale up at our existing manufacturing facility in Thurso, and the UKBIC, ahead of Gigafactory scales of production in due course in our proposed new facility.

"AMTE Power is one of the few manufacturers of battery cells in the UK today and has three products in development that are close to commercialisation with samples already in the hands of customers for testing from whom we are receiving positive feedback.

"This strong foundation underpins our growth plans and, combined with the renewed vision and the team's energy, means we look forward with confidence and focus to the year ahead."

AMTE Power was founded in 2013 and in 2021 was admitted to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

Its manufacturing facility in Thurso has the second largest cell manufacturing capacity in the UK and the company also has a product development team based in Oxford.

The proposed Gigafactory in Dundee is expected to be capable of producing over eight million battery cells per annum.

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