Light Science Technologies appoints external consultant

Controlled environmental agriculture (CEA) specialist Light Science Technologies announced the appointment of Richard Mills on Thursday as an external consultant through his agency, Arkif.

The AIM-traded firm said the alliance’s primary objective was to scope and establish global partnerships dedicated to marketing and selling the group’s product line, including NurturGROW lights, SensorGROW sensors, and Tomtech control systems.

LSTH said it saw global partnerships as a cost-effective gateway to extend its comprehensive turnkey solutions.

Preliminary assessment spotlighted North America, Australasia, and specific locales in the Middle East as potential regions for developing synergistic business partnerships.

LSTH said it was tapping into a robustly expanding market, particularly in the realm of grow lights, predicted to surpass a value of $6.5bn globally by 2026.

Arkif, with its diverse client portfolio across sectors such as solar, greenhouses, sustainable waste management, and investment entities, stood in a position to target opportunities that could envelop participation in an expansive turnkey project aimed at sustainable farming.

LSTH said Mills would bring a rich reservoir of experience and understanding in global CEA expansion, garnered from his tenure as managing director of Haygrove’s growing systems division.

With a track record of successfully pioneering the international expansion of Haygrove’s polytunnel and growing systems business into new territories through a conglomerate of eight companies, Mills accomplished an 80% surge in revenues and a 300% enhancement in profitability during his leadership.

“We are delighted to bring Richard’s extensive experience of CEA into the team,” said chief executive officer Simon Deacon.

“Whilst the UK and European CEA markets are struggling due to high input costs, there are Global regions with challenging climatic conditions that are not as heavily impacted by these high input costs, where CEA is currently flourishing.

“We believe that our products will provide value in these markets and look forward to working with Richard to develop and monetise these opportunities.”

At 1043 BST, Light Science Technologies Holdings shares were up 10% at 2.64p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.