Ilika losses widen as it presses on with development

Solid-state battery technology developer Ilika updated the market on its trading performance on Monday, as well as ‘Stereax’ manufacturing progress and ‘Goliath’ product development.

The AIM-traded firm said its trading results for the year ended 30 April aligned with management's expectations, with revenue of £0.8m, up from £0.5m in 2022.

However, there was an expected increase in its EBITDA loss, excluding share-based payments, which was projected to be £7m, compared to £6.4m a year earlier.

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the financial year totalled £15.8m, down from £23.4m on 30 April 2022.

Ilika said it had made “significant” progress in the manufacturing of its Stereax batteries.

Following the initial process qualification at its Stereax manufacturing facility in the UK, the firm had focussed on improving process yield and qualifying initial product batches.

As a result, Ilika successfully shipped its first customer order of Stereax M50 cells in April, which would serve as the building blocks for the M300 batteries, composed of six M50 cells connected in parallel.

The company said it had already delivered its first batch of M300 batteries to customers earlier in May.

Ilika added that it had secured 23 commercial orders from 20 customers, with the majority of demand coming from miniature medical devices.

The applications included 11 active implantable medical devices, three smart dental devices, two smart lenses, one aerospace device, and three others.

In line with its January announcement, Ilika said it was finalising its partnership terms with Cirtec Medical - a strategic outsourcing partner for complex medical devices.

Both companies signed a memorandum of understanding outlining the transfer of Stereax millimetre-scale battery manufacturing to Cirtec's facility in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Once the transfer was complete, Ilika said it would shift its focus towards advanced technology development and intellectual property licensing in support of Cirtec's manufacturing and commercialization activities.

Elsewhere, the board said the development of Goliath - the firm’s large-format battery designed for electric vehicles and consumer appliances - was progressing on schedule.

Building on the significant improvement achieved in energy density during the first half of the year, the company said it had now shifted its focus towards increasing the cycle life of the battery.

Ilika said it had been collaborating with partners to conduct scale-up studies, ensuring that the manufacturing process was compatible with existing gigafactory assets.

Notably, it completed an equipment design study with Comau and an economic feasibility study with the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC).

Additionally, Ilika said it was executing a series of trials on production-ready equipment.

“Ilika continues to explore opportunities for closer collaboration with strategic partners interested in aligning their product roadmaps with Goliath,” the board said in its statement.

“In February, Ilika commenced leading a 24-month £8.2m Faraday Battery Challenge collaboration programme to integrate high silicon content electrodes into its Goliath solid-state batteries to enable automotive level performance.

“The programme is supported by BMW and Williams Advanced Engineering.”

Ilika said it would announce its audited full-year results for the year ended 30 April on 13 July.

At 1033 BST, shares in Ilika were down 0.05% at 43.48p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.