Haydale Graphene lowers revenue expectations

20th May 2024 11:21

(Sharecast News) - Haydale Graphene lowered its forecast for full-year revenue to £4.7m in a trading update on Monday, down from current market expectations of £5.8m, but still an increase from the prior year's revenue of £4.3m.

The AIM-traded firm said that, despite the shortfall in turnover, its adjusted EBITDA loss was expected to be only slightly wider than market expectations at £3.15m, compared to the currently-anticipated £3m loss.

It said its efforts to elevate its US silicon carbide (SiC) business up the value chain into tooling manufacturing and sales were nearing completion, although volume orders had taken longer to materialise.

Additionally, a short-term supply chain issue in the US impacted fourth-quarter sales, reducing SiC whisker production in June.

Haydale said it was seeing progress with late-stage pipeline and client accounts, although the testing cycle for its high-value specialist commodity products had been longer than anticipated.

The company said it was currently testing with several major potential tooling customers, which it expected would significantly boost performance in the near future.

Discussions with a potential Asia-based manufacturing and distribution partner had meanwhile progressed positively, with an anticipated closure in the first half of the 2025 financial year.

Those opportunities were expected to drive major growth in 2025, despite the lower starting position.

Conversely, Haydale's UK-based nanomaterial operations had strengthened, with increasing demand for its functionalisation processes as the industry matured.

The firm said it had seen a steady stream of projects from its existing customer base, and was adding major new customers.

Those paid development projects were expected to generate long-term repeat revenue.

"The directors expect the general commercial momentum from this year to continue and accelerate next financial year reflecting building confidence in the medium and long-term prospects and the overall significant potential for the group," the board said in its statement.

At 1046 BST, shares in Haydale Graphene Industries were down 10.11% at 0.4p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.