While all the recent talk has been about the rising price of soft commodities, notably wheat, an even greater problem surely surrounds the worldwide shortage of potable water. Although the world isn't short of water per se (annual human and animal consumption is much less than 1% of the world's total water supply) the world does appear to be running short of clean affordable drinking water. AIM quoted Modern Water Plc (LON:MWG) owns and develops a portfolio of water technologies that helps address the global problems of fresh water availability and the treatment and disposal of wastewater.
The Group was admitted to AIM in June 2007 raising £30m at a price of 119p per share. Having fallen as low as 28.5p at the beginning of February 2009, the share price currently stands at 67p.The Group’s web site (http://www.modernwater.com) hammers home the point, stating that annual water consumption around the world has risen sixfold during the past century, twice the rate of population growth. By 2025 it is estimated that two-thirds of the world’s population, will live in countries that are water stressed. The Group currently has 3 sector focuses encompassing desalination, industrial applications and waste water. This includes proven technology using a manipulated osmosis process to convert seawater to drinking water, borne out of original research conducted by the Centre for Osmosis Research and Applications (CORA) at the University of Surrey. This process offers a significant reduction in capital and operating costs with a positive impact on the environment as it reduces energy use by desalination plants and lowers the consumption and disposal of hazardous chemicals.Modern Water is targeting water-stressed regions such as the Middle East, Australasia, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. Two plants showcasing Modern Water’s MO desalination technology are already in production, the first in Gibraltar and the second at Al-Khaluf in Oman.
The Full-Year Results for the year ending 31st December 2009 highlighted the significant progress made over the past 12 months including the receipt of first revenues from sales of their Cymtox CTM™ toxicity monitoring unit in China and the successful start-up of a new plant in Oman.Importantly they have also retained significant cash of £23.1m (equivalent to c39p per share) to support future growth; the cash outflow for the year was £3.7m. On 14th July 2010 newly appointed non- exec Director Robert Clarke, also indicated his confidence in…
