IMS and Atmel Corporation Announcement

RNS Number : 6846K

Carclo plc

01 August 2013

 

1 August 2013

Carclo plc

("the group")

Interim Management Statement and Atmel Corporation Announcement

We are pleased to report that the new financial year has started positively and that the group is trading in line with the board's expectations.

At Conductive Inkjet Technology ("CIT") the new high speed coating line is performing very well with first volume production quantities now having been shipped. CIT is well positioned to meet the requirements for the expected ramp up in XSense™ volumes. In this respect the group notes the positive comments in respect of XSense™ made by Atmel Corporation ("Atmel") executives during the analysts' Earnings call that accompanied Atmel's Q2 results on 31 July 2013.  Extracts from the transcript of the Earnings call are reproduced below:

"Since our last earnings call I am very pleased to report we have fully qualified our Colorado facility for large scale production of our market leading metal mesh technology.  Customer interest and design activity are strong and we are engaged in numerous new product designs with several tier-one OEMs as well as reference designs with Intel Corporation, a major ecosystem partner. We are now able to demonstrate XSense with excellent optical quality for very high pixel density displays such as Full-HD displays on smartphones and larger screens such as tablets and Ultrabooks.  Additionally, we are on-track to bringing on new capacity in the latter part of this year that will support at least $100 million dollars of XSense revenue in 2014.

The market for touch sensors today is over $5 billion dollars annually and a recent report by NPD Display Search forecasts the market to increase from 12 million square meters shipped in 2012 to 35.9 million square meters in 2015 as a result of the dramatic growth in mobile applications including smartphones, tablet PCs, notebooks and Ultrabooks. This represents a compound annual growth rate of over 44% over the next 3 years.  

As a leader in metal mesh technology, with strong IP and manufacturing know-how, Atmel stands to significantly benefit from the dramatic increase in the overall growth in the touch sensor market as well as the rapid replacement of traditional ITO sensors by our disruptive XSense metal mesh technology in the coming years."

The qualification of Atmel's Colorado facility, the significant design activity and the future capacity commitments are all very encouraging for CIT's Fine Line Technology business which is now starting to see increased revenues from the sale of coated film. Based on Atmel's adjusted XSense revenue guidance for calendar year 2013 and its confirmation of 2014 revenue guidance we anticipate that CIT's revenues will be in the range of £4 - 7 million for the financial year ending 31 March 2014. Growth prospects for subsequent financial years are substantial.

Carclo Diagnostic Solutions has commissioned a detailed market review to prioritise commercial developments whilst, in parallel, optimising the Micropoc platforms.

New business activity has been strong in our operating businesses. In Technical Plastics, we expect this activity to result in good growth, particularly in our US and Czech businesses, over the coming years; our new US facility expansion is on track for completion in the final quarter of this financial year. Our LED Technologies division has traded well and its Wipac business is poised to take on a number of new LED supercar lighting programmes which will support this year's revenue targets and drive significant future growth.  The LED Optics business has performed to plan and has benefitted from promising new business wins. In Precision Engineering our aerospace businesses continue to perform satisfactorily.

As usual, due to working days and seasonality, the group will generate a greater proportion of its operating profits in the second half of the year, and this year we expect this effect to be exaggerated by the second half increase in CIT coated film sales.  The group's financial position remains strong and the outlook for the year as a whole remains very positive.

- ENDS -

Enquiries:
Carclo plc	01924 268040
Chris Malley, Chief Executive
Robert Brooksbank, Finance Director
Weber Shandwick Financial	020 7067 0700
Nick Oborne / Stephanie Badjonat

Notes to editors

Carclo plc is a technology led plastics group. It is a public company whose shares are quoted on the London Stock Exchange.

Approximately three fifths of sales are derived from the supply of fine tolerance, injection moulded plastic components, which are used in medical, optical and electronics products. This business, Carclo Technical Plastics, operates internationally in a fast growing and dynamic market underpinned by rapid technological development.

Approximately two fifths of sales are derived from the supply of specialised precision components to the premium automotive and aerospace industries and LED optics for a wide range of end applications. Carclo is a leader in the development of high power LED lighting for supercars.

Carclo's strategy is to develop new technologies and products to drive future growth. Its investment in Conductive Inkjet Technology is at the heart of the newly emerging market for very low cost printed electronics.

 

END

 

 

MSCUGUMWRUPWUCG