Ilika narrows loss and expect H2 revenue charge

Ilika on Thursday reported a narrowed interim loss and commented that it expects to achieve strong revenue across the second half of the year.

The battery manufacturer said that for the six-month period ended 31 October its loss before tax came in at £1.5m, down from £1.7m over the same period of the year before, as the company benefited from lower administrative expenses and share-based payments.

Meanwhile, revenue remained flat at £1.0m but the AIM traded company expects it to grow in the second half of the year, as the Goliath development programmes and the recently announced autonomous sensor deployment project kick in.

The Goliath project is intended to develop processes for the company's manufacture of its large format product line and is being conducted in collaboration with a number of high-profile firms from the automotive industry.

Graeme Purdy, chief executive of Ilika, said: "Since adding our "Goliath" large format solid-state batteries to the Stereax roadmap, we have secured £4.1m of non-dilutive grant funding from Innovate UK through our development partnerships with high profile businesses from the automotive industry. We are confident in the value being generated by our technology teams and look forward to further growth in 2019."

Ilika’s shares were unchanged at 17.50p at 1300 GMT.