Surface Transforms wins cash boost to expand plant

Surface Transforms has secured funds to help it move into larger site, receiving a cash injection from a Liverpudlian investment fund and signing heads of terms for a lease on large new manufacturing premises.

The AIM-traded producer of carbon-fibre reinforced ceramic materials said the offer, from the Merseyside Special Investment Fund, was for a combined package of £500,000 financial support via the Regional Growth Fund.

That comprised a £200,000 grant and a zero-interest loan of £300,000. The loan was repayable in accelerating amounts from May 2019 to May 2022.

Additionally, Knowsley Council had offered financial support to establish a new factory.

"These announcements are a significant milestone in the development of the company. The recent half year statement included details of one aerospace and five automotive 'game changing' contracts which, if all were successfully concluded, would in total, build up to £15m per annum of sales in the period 2018 to 2020," said chief executive Kevin Johnson.

"Our current site is insufficient for a company of that size and we have therefore been searching for a new site which can both cope with this 'pilot plant' demand level as well as providing further space for target sales beyond £15m p.a. in subsequent years. It is pleasing that we can provide this update to both prospective customers and shareholders," he added.

A condition of the grant was that the planned factory expansion was in the Liverpool City region, and as such the company had signed heads of terms with the owners of an existing building on the Knowsley Business Park.

The agreement covered a site of 2.1 acres, with a total building footprint of 55,000 square fet, which the company would occupy in two phases - 30,000 square feet from September this year, and 25,000 square feet from September 2019.

Surface Transforms' current site at Ellesmere Port, of 12,000 square feet, would be vacated when its lease expired in early 2017.