DirectorsTalk Sustainability Section contains exclusive content on some of the fastest growing London-listed and Green Economy Mark companies and industry sectors that are contributing to a more sustainable world. Here’s a roundup of our most popular Sustainability-related news and interviews in August 2021.
AMTE Power plc (LON:AMTE), a developer and manufacturer of lithium-ion and sodium-ion battery cells for specialist markets, announced on 18 August 2021 that the Company is shortly expected to be confirmed as a partner in a new UK Government funded project called CELERITAS to develop ultra-fast charging systems for electric and fuel cell vehicles (this announcement is aligned to a press release being distributed today by another partner involved in the project).
Kevin Brundish, Chief Executive Officer of AMTE Power, said: “We are looking forward to being confirmed as a partner in this project and to collaborating closely alongside these market leading companies in our sector. AMTE is focussed on bringing high power cells to the market which are different and complementary to traditional energy cells, and provide an opportunity to optimise fast charging, fast discharge (acceleration) and ultimately vehicle range. This is a prestigious project to be involved with and would contribute to ensuring we meet our targets for grant income.”
Tirupati Graphite plc (LON:TGR) announced their unaudited trading results of its operations during the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021. In this period, Group revenues and Gross Profit increased 42% and 66% respectively. The 3,000 tpa Sahamamy facility which had declared commercial operations from January 2020, was in production while its first 9,000 tpa facility at Vatomina was under construction. View the full results here.
Tirupati Graphite announced on 17 August that it has entered into a binding acquisition agreement for the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Suni Resources SA. Suni Resources holds the Mozambique portfolio of graphite assets of ASX listed Battery Minerals Limited, which includes the construction initiated Montepuez Graphite Project and the advanced feasibility study stage Balama Central Graphite Project.
Shishir Poddar, CEO of Tirupati Graphite, said: “With fast evolving opportunities as the electrification of mobility has taken off, and the world is starting its scramble for supplies of critical raw materials of which graphite is one, this is nothing short of a game-changing acquisition for us to build our arsenal and seize every opportunity coming our way to becoming a global leader in flake graphite. Strategically, the Montepuez and Balama Central deposits are world class and will add 152 million metric tonnes at 8.5% TGC of resources to our existing c.25 million tonnes of resources in Madagascar, a c.6X addition on in ground resource tonnage with a c.12X addition on the contained graphite.”
Listen to Shishir discuss the acquisition here.
Quadrise Fuels International plc (LON:QFI) is the global innovator and licensor of disruptive heavy oil technology that produces MSAR® fuel. It recently announced the successful testing of bioMSAR™ on a medium speed 4-stroke Wärtsilä diesel engine at the VTT facility in Finland. Darren Turgel MD at DirectorsTalk caught up with Tom Fraine an Equity Research Analyst at Shore Capital to discuss this significant development.
Dekel Agri-Vision Plc (LON:DKL), the West African agriculture company focused on building a portfolio of sustainable and diversified projects, has provided a July production update for its 100%-owned Ayenouan palm oil project in Côte d’Ivoire and an update on the timing of the commissioning of our large scale cashew processing plant at Tiebissou, Côte d’Ivoire.
Symphony Environmental Technologies plc (LON:SYM), is a world leader in the development of additives to improve plastic by making it protective against viruses, bacteria, fungi, fire and insects, and reducing its negative impact on the environment by making it biodegradable.
On 2 August 2021, the company announced that it has entered into a significant collaboration with Meditech Global Co Limited through the conclusion on 2nd August 2021 of four separate agreements on distribution, manufacturing, marketing and corporate investment. This collaboration is intended to accelerate and expand sales of d2w and d2p technologies and finished products in China and globally, through Meditech’s established network of manufacturers and commercial end-users. Meditech is the holding company of a group of established glove manufacturers with factories in Malaysia and China, specialising in medical grade nitrile disposable gloves.
Michael Laurier, CEO of Symphony Environmental Technologies, said “These agreements will provide Symphony with a much stronger presence in the Far East and will give us a secure supply of gloves made with our antimicrobial and/or biodegradable technology for our growing international trade in gloves. In addition, we welcome Meditech’s agreement to invest in Symphony so that our commercial and corporate interests are more closely aligned.”
Ilika plc (LON:IKA), a pioneer in solid-state battery technology, has provided an update on progress towards implementing Ilika’s Stereax manufacturing plans. Ilika’s prime contractor has successfully completed the construction of Ilika’s 340 m2 cleanroom at its 1600m2 Stereax manufacturing facility and has now handed over site control to Ilika’s operational team. The key deposition tools, previously referred to as “Tool 1” and “Tool 2”, as well as the principal etching equipment, have completed their factory acceptance tests and have been delivered to site for facilitisation prior to the start of site acceptance testing and the commencement of process qualification.
Process qualification will continue through Q4 2021, with product qualification expected to take place in Q1 2022, supporting the commencement of product sales from Q2 2022.
Ilika’s CEO Graeme Purdy, stated: “Progress on site has been very gratifying to see over the summer and, despite significant global disruption to supply chains, the Ilika team, our vendors and suppliers have worked very hard to deliver our planned project implementation schedule.”
Zotefoams plc (LON:ZTF) CEO David Stirling joins DirectorsTalk to discuss a strong set of interim results for the six months ended 30th June 2021. David talks us through the highlights, explains the why HPP footwear market now contributes to 34% of Group revenue, provides an update on the ReZorce® recyclable packaging technology, order books and the outlook. Listen to the interview here.
