Directa Plus sees €2m in orders deferred into 2023

Graphene nanoplatelets-based products group Directa Plus warned on Friday that the recognition of roughly €2.0m worth of orders will now be deferred into the new financial year.

Directa Plus stated that it had recently seen the fulfilment of a number of signed orders and contract award decisions be postponed until 2023 - owing to "various supply chain issues" across Europe and the impact of general macro and geopolitical factors.

Specifically, in its textiles division, Directa said it had experienced delays in receiving customer-supplied materials for treatment with its G+ product, while in its environmental division, environmental permissions had been delayed by local authorities and impacted the timing of expected tender awards.

As a result, the AIM-listed company now expects revenues in the year ending 31 December to be at least €10.0m, a 16% increase year-on-year, with "continued, strong growth" underpinned by "a significant and growing proportion" of repeat customer business.

Chief executive Giulio Cesareo said: "The macro background remains challenging and, whilst it is frustrating that we have seen the fulfilment of a number of orders fall back into 2023, the company remains strongly positioned with building momentum in each of its verticals and will enter the new financial year with a record order book.

"We have made significant progress during FY22 - in particular with exciting projects in development in paints, filters, batteries and G+ embedded asphalts - and the board continues to be confident about the strength of Directa Plus' prospects in 2023 and beyond."

As of 1100 GMT, Directa Plus shares slumped 11.69% to 74.0p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com