27 September 2023

Directa Plus plc

("Directa Plus" or the "Company" or, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group")

Half year Report for the Period Ended 30 June 2023

Improving margins with significant new contracts secured across key verticals

Directa Plus (AIM: DCTA), a leading producer and supplier of graphene-based products for use in consumer and industrial markets, announces its half year results for the six months ended 30 June 2023, a period in which the Group has executed well against its growth strategy, securing significant contracts and further developing its strong pipeline of opportunities.

During the period, the Group has delivered improved margins with selling price increases and a material reduction in production costs alongside a further optimisation of overheads. Gross margins improved by 4% to 46% resulting in a reduced EBITDA loss in the first half, notwithstanding a reduction in revenue due to the timing of the commencement of new contracts. Accordingly, the Board remains confident in delivering a record second half performance and expects full year revenue to be at least €12m with an EBITDA loss of c€2.5m, representing significant progress year-on-year (FY22: EBITDA loss of €3.6 million).

Financial highlights

* EBITDA loss represents results from operating activities before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation.

Target markets progress

Environmental remediation: 71% of period revenue (H1 2022: 76%)

Textiles: 29% of period revenue (H1 2022: 22%)

Other

Giulio Cesareo, Founder & CEO of Directa Plus, said: "Directa Plus has entered the second half in a strong position, with improved margins and a growing business pipeline, providing confidence in our future growth. We secured several meaningful wins in the first half and, notably, our largest single contract win to date with LIBERTY Galati post-period end, demonstrating the increasing value of our technology.

"We are seeing increasing traction in graphene technology and its applications, and as the market grows globally, we are confident in our ability to capitalise on this growth with Directa Plus well positioned to scale its activities. We are relentless in our attention to delivering the best quality graphene at the best possible price, and in the first half we achieved a further significant reduction in our production costs. 

"Our principal focus remains on developing sales in the Group's core vertical markets, Environmental Remediation and Textiles, and I am pleased with the initial progress we are making under our new collaboration with The SPECTRUM Group to introduce our cutting-edge G+ graphene-based products to the US defence sector. We remain highly selective in addressing other opportunities in new markets and in new geographical locations where prospects are encouraging, that enable the business to build commercial momentum and broader opportunities for growth."

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About Directa Plus

Directa Plus (www.directa-plus.com) is one of the largest producers and suppliers of graphene-based products for use in consumer and industrial markets. The Company's graphene manufacturing capability uses proprietary patented technology based on a plasma super expansion process. Starting from natural graphite, each step of Directa Plus' production process - expansion, exfoliation and drying - creates graphene-based materials and hybrid graphene materials ready for a variety of uses and available in various forms such as powder, liquid and paste.

This proprietary production process uses a physical process, rather than a chemical process, to process graphite into pristine graphene nanoplatelets, which enables Directa Plus to offer a sustainable, non-toxic product, without unwanted by-products. Directa Plus' products are made of hybrid graphene materials and graphene nano-platelets. The products (marketed as G+®) have multiple applications due to its properties. These G+® products can be categorised into various families, with different products being suitable for specific practical applications.

Directa Plus was established in 2005 and is based in Lomazzo (Como, Italy) and has been listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange since May 2016. The Company holds the Green Economy Mark from London Stock Exchange which recognises companies that contribute to the global green economy.

Chief Executive Officer's statement

Directa Plus made solid progress in the first half of the year, successfully improving its margins and securing new contract wins in our core verticals, Environmental Remediation and Textiles, whilst also investing in technology and customer and partner networks to advance the Group on its path to profitability.  

We continue to deliver across all four pillars of our strategy - Process, Product, Time to Market and Partnerships - in all key verticals, with highlights including the Group's largest single contract to date, post-period end, for a total of €5.5m with LIBERTY Galati, with the potential for further expansion, underpinning the Group's confidence to deliver in line with market expectations for the full year. The success of our strategy is also evident in our growing contract pipeline, setting the Group on a growth trajectory.

Whilst revenue in the period is €4.59m vs €5.51m for the prior comparable period, EBITDA loss has improved to €1.25m (vs €1.40m in H1 2022). We have continued to improve the Group's margins and the success of these efforts is reflected in the EBITDA increase and reduced net loss. This has been achieved through constructive contract renegotiations and price readjustments, and various cost mitigation actions taken since FY22, in particular to allay the impact of rising costs to help improve margins in response to higher energy and raw material costs. The cost reduction plan initiated in FY22 also included investment in new milling equipment to reduce direct production costs for the pre-exfoliation phase of production, and in certain cases we have seen direct costs fall by up to 70%. We continue to assess pricing for both products and long-term contracts to position the business to withstand future headwinds by taking full advantage of the technology platform we have developed.

Our mission remains to deliver the best quality graphene at the best possible price in the most sustainable way, whilst supporting the industrialisation of existing and new vertical applications. Alongside this, we continuously monitor potential markets where we believe that for a relatively small investment, we can develop products that can generate high commercial traction, and which have a fast time to market such as with paints and filtration. The Group made good progress in these areas, securing new wins, grants and expanding our partner network. 

The new wins in the period highlight the increasing interest in graphene technology and its applications from our partners to support a more sustainable future. As the market grows globally, we are confident in our ability to capitalise on this growth, through our unique technology that supplies G+ graphene material into several applications and products, created in close collaboration with our partners and customers. Whilst our focus remains on developing the Group's core verticals, Environmental remediation and Textiles, the opportunities to expand into new markets in new geographic locations are encouraging, enabling the business to build strong commercial momentum.

Among others, the strategic partnership with The SPECTRUM Group, a US strategic advisory and government relations firm, will be key to exploring the potential of G+® technologies in the US defence sector. Spectrum will leverage its expertise and extensive network to support Directa Plus in driving its business expansion into the military technology sector in the US.

The progress we made in the first half has laid the foundations for a strong H2, where we expect to deliver even higher margins, to build a highly scalable and profitable business.

Financials

These results show a solid performance, adeptly navigating the cost pressures experienced in 2022. Amidst this backdrop, the Group concentrated its attention on regaining and increasing its margins, the success of which is showing through in H1 2023. Notwithstanding the lower revenue in the period compared to H1 2022, as a result of timings of contracts commencing, the Group successfully reduced its EBITDA loss by 11% (€1.25m) and its Net Loss by 14% (€1.90m), improving the financial sustainability of the Company with adequate cash position of €4.24m in line with management expectations.

Our improved margins have been achieved via three main channels: strong commercial activity supporting contract renegotiations and price adjustments; specific investments in our production line in order to reduce production costs, which has seen our costs fall by 70% in the last 12 months; and a general expenses mitigation plan, formulated without detriment to the Group's specific investment strategy.

We are pleased to report that the Group has a significant and growing pipeline expected to commence in the second half of the year. The €5.5m contract signed with LIBERTY Galati, the Group's largest single contract to date, will commence in October. This important milestone for the Group enriches our order portfolio and signals our growth trajectory. Furthermore, the contract is testament to the value placed in Directa Plus' technology.

Review of Operations

Environmental (71% of annual revenue)

Environmental remediation activities are principally carried out through Setcar, a subsidiary company based in Romania, which delivered promising results in the period, in line with management's expectations.

Grafysorber® technology is a hybrid graphene-based solution for treating water sludges and emulsions containing hydrocarbons. It is at least five times more effective than current technologies - absorbing more than 100 times its own weight of oil-based pollutants. Grafysorber® technology is rapidly gaining commercial traction for water and soil decontamination, evidenced by the new business wins and repeat business from existing customers secured, both locally and internationally.  

Significantly, post-period end, Setcar secured Directa Plus' largest contract to date. A €5.5m, three-year contract, with the potential for further expansion up to a total value of €8.0m, with LIBERTY Galati, the largest integrated steel producer in Romania, to provide a solution for the treatment of oily mills sludge produced in the manufacturing of steel. I am incredibly proud of the team on this achievement which not only demonstrates the increasing demand for Directa Plus' products and solutions, but also our ability to support some of the largest businesses in the world.

The Group also launched a pilot for a new concept for produced water treatment using Grafysorber®, through Setcar, which was showcased at the Setcar Environmental division and is in line with the Group's strategy to adopt new technologies that can decontaminate and limit the waste of precious elements such as water. Directa Plus is now working with an existing major customer in Romania to utilise this new solution for treating produced water in one of their oil production areas, with operations commencing as soon as possible, before rolling out the solution to customers globally.

Post period, the Group announced a strategic partnership with The SPECTRUM Group, a US strategic advisory and government relations firm, to explore the potential of G+® technologies in the US defence sector. Spectrum will leverage its expertise and extensive network to support Directa Plus in driving its business expansion into the military technology sector. The collaboration involves joint efforts in the development of cutting-edge products, including G+® textile technologies (i.e thermal management, antistatic, antimicrobial and thermal camouflage solutions), and Grafysorber technology, with the aim to minimise the time to market for the Group's G+ technologies in the US defence sector.

Textiles (29% of annual revenue)

The Group delivered good growth within the Textiles vertical in H1, as it expands its range of applications. Our growing customer base spans a variety of markets benefitting from the advantages of G+® technology which is now incorporated into fabrics through four different technologies:

Workwear

In May 2023, the Group signed an exclusive agreement with longstanding customer, Grassi SpA ('Grassi'), to expand the use of its Graphene Plus Thermal Planar Circuit® (PTC®) technology in the workwear and military markets. Grassi is a leading Italian workwear and outerwear manufacturer with a strong focus on innovation and sustainability and was the first manufacturer in the textiles vertical to integrate Directa Plus' G+® technologies into its product line. Directa Plus has been working in partnership with Grassi since 2017 to provide the workwear industry with sustainable clothing and has already supplied over 250,000 linear meters of graphene-treated lining to Italian public organisations. This new contract will add to the Company's recurring revenue stream on its Graphene Plus PTC® technology and demonstrates the continuing appetite from end users across the textile industry for garments which have no biological or environmental impact. Grassi, following the allotment of a new public contract, will supply an Italian institution with PTC® technology.

Luxury

Directa Plus has been involved in the luxury market since near inception and continues to see interest from brands in the development of innovative, technical new products to add to their collections. A key highlight in the Period includes the launch of GRAPHITO, in collaboration with Candiani Denim (Candiani), an international textile producer based in Italy, focused on innovation and sustainability. GRAPHITO is an eco-denim textile and represents a significant advancement in the sustainable fashion industry by addressing denim's environmental impact and extending the lifespan of denim garments.

There is growing interest from well-known brands across the luxury industry for future collaborations with Directa Plus which continues to provide the Group with confidence in the exciting opportunities ahead.

Air filters

Post-period end, the Group was awarded a new tender by the Italian Region of Lombardy as part of its 'Ricerca & Innova' programme to further develop Graphene Plus (G+) air filtration applications. The project is for an 18-month period and has a total value of c.€400,000 which includes a non-repayable grant of €142,500 and a zero-interest loan €264,642 which will be repaid over seven years. This award enables the Group to continue investing in and developing our air filter applications, leveraging the antiviral and antimicrobial properties of its G+ technologies.

Further textile applications

The Group secured its first exclusive supply agreement for printed graphene textile Planar Thermal Circuit® (PTC®) in Latin America with a Columbian based manufacturer of ballistic protection clothing, CIA Miguel Caballero SAS in October 2022, which continues to progress well. Within the military sector, the Board is assessing the opportunities for Directa Plus with potential new customers worldwide, with a particular focus on the US market.

Directa Plus continues to collaborate with the soft goods division of a major international developer and manufacturer of consumer electronics and related services. The agreement covers the potential application of G+® as a protective covering for consumer devices, exploiting its antiviral-antibacterial properties as well as its thermal and electrical conductivity. The partnership has delivered exceptional results to date. This collaboration continues to demonstrate the potential for significant volumes in the coming years.

Additional industrial verticals

Composites

The asphalt applications of Directa Plus's G+ graphene technology have great potential and the product developed with Iterchimica, GiPave® provides exceptional results in terms of increased durability and a reduced carbon footprint. Directa Plus is now seeing growing market interest internationally for the product, with current discussions in Italy, Brazil, US and Romania, and it is gaining commercial traction. The product uses waste plastics that would not normally be recycled and the asphalt containing GiPave® can itself be entirely recycled - promoting the 'circular economy,' which reduces waste and the need for new materials.

Paints

Directa Plus' graphene-based paint solution provides enhanced anti-flame and anti-corrosion properties compared to normal paints which we have identified as another area with high-return potential. We have hired a team of experienced people in the field and initiated positive discussions with major international players in Europe and Asia to accelerate commercialisation.

In H1 2023 the Group has been working with Pigmentsolution GmbH, a European distributor of speciality chemicals and ingredients, to support the development and distribution of Directa Plus's new patented Graphene Plus (G+) product, Grafyshield G+, initially in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Poland, with the potential for further expansion in Europe.

Intellectual Property

As at September 2023, the Group's patent portfolio comprises 85 patents granted and 37 patents pending.  The patents are grouped into 22 families, 4 covering G+® production and 18 covering G+® products and applications.

We are focused on creating value from our wide IP portfolio. Discussions on potential licensing contracts are ongoing with potential for further patent applications and awards in H2 2023.

Outlook

I am proud of what the team has achieved in the first half of the year to position the business for scale. We secured several high-level wins in H1, bolstered in August with the award of our largest single contract to date with LIBERTY, demonstrating that our technology is not only valid, but valued by our customers. We continue to grow our new business pipeline across Europe, with expanding potential opportunities in the US and Asia, and the investments we have made to date in our technology and partner and customer networks, confirm we have the right strategy in place to capture this growing opportunity as we progress on a path towards profitability.

The Company has entered H2 in a strong position, where we will continue to focus on growing the business and improving margins over time.

Giulio Cesareo
Chief Executive Officer

26 September 2023

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

For the six months ended 30 June 20223

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION

As at 30 June 2023