REG - Surface Transforms - OEM 10 Contract Award and Trading Update

Surface TransformsAnnouncement

24/11/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 4265H  Surface Transforms PLC  24 November 2022

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to
constitute inside information stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation
(EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of
the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.  Upon the publication of this
announcement via the Regulatory Information Service, this inside information
is now considered to be in the public domain.

 

 

24 November 2022

 

Surface Transforms plc

("Surface Transforms" or the "Company")

 

OEM 10 contract award and trading update

 

Surface Transforms (AIM:SCE) manufacturers of carbon fibre reinforced ceramic
automotive brake discs, is pleased to announce that the Company has been
awarded a contract with a lifetime value in excess of £100m as a tier one
supplier of a carbon ceramic brake disc to an automotive company - previously
described by Surface Transforms as "OEM 10" - which is the single largest
contract awarded to date, but crucially sees Surface Transform discs replacing
those historically provided by its main competitor. The Company also provides
a trading update for the year ending 31 December 2022 ("FY 22") and outlook
for 2023.

 

Contract award

 

OEM 10, based in the United States, is one of the world's largest automotive
companies. This new contract is the second contract with this customer and
Surface Transforms will be the standard fit, sole supplier of the carbon
ceramic brake disc on two model variants covering front and rear axles.

 

The lifetime revenue on this contract is estimated to be in excess of £100m
over 6 years. The customer is currently estimating a start of production
("SOP") date in 2024. For prudence, the Company anticipates series production
revenues will commence in the first half of 2025. Sales from this contract
award are expected to be approximately £20m p.a., tailing off in the later
years. The contract is priced in GBP.

 

The current variant of this contracted model is already fitted with carbon
ceramic discs provided by a competitor. The customer's decision to replace the
incumbent with Surface Transform's discs followed a searching technical
evaluation.

 

The contract award raises the Company's lifetime contract value to £290m,
across 11 contracted models, with an average contract life of 5 yrs.

 

Trading update

 

The Company further announces that sales for FY 22 will be lower than
previously forecast at approximately £6.5m. This has primarily been caused by
technical issues at OEM 8 unrelated to our discs, which delayed the production
ramp following the customer's SOP and was more prolonged than the Company
originally anticipated. This is clearly disappointing, but it should be noted
that the total OEM 8 contract value remains unchanged at £100 million, and
the impact is that the timing of the lifetime programme has started a few
months later than originally planned and, unless caught up in the meantime,
will eventually finish, a few months later than originally planned.

 

The Company has also had its own production challenges, now materially
rectified, and whilst they were neither the reason for the ramp up delay, nor
the bulk of the sales shortfall, have limited the Company's ability to build a
finished stock buffer. Given capacity constraints, it has meant that the
Company could not offer OEM 8 more than our previous commitments until the new
£50m p.a. plant comes on stream in Q2 2023.

 

Nevertheless, the Company has been able to partly mitigate OEM 8's ramp delays
through both a change in revenue mix which resulted in a higher than forecast
gross margin and tight control of non-essential overheads. As a result the
Company expects that profit and cash will be around £3m less than previously
guided. As OEM 8 volumes have now resumed, the Board anticipates that the
Company will be profitable in November and December 2022.

 

Furthermore, this delay is fundamentally a few months timing difference, and,
additionally, the Company now has forecast additional income from the OEM 10
contract. Therefore, the Company does not anticipate any working capital
shortfall to deliver its new factory and short term growth, in line with the
statements given in its announcement on 28 September 2022 regarding its
"Proposed Placing, Subscription and Open Offer".

 

Progress on capacity installation

 

Deliveries of the Phase 2 equipment that will raise capacity to £50m have
continued. There are some project delays associated with supplier supply chain
problems (notably electronic components and graphite). However, these are
broadly covered by project timing contingencies, and we still expect the
planned Phase 2 doubling in capacity to be operational in Q2 2023.

 

Planning and supplier discussions on the Phase 3.1 capacity increase to £75m
p.a. by mid-2024 and £150m p.a. by end 2026 continues apace. The increase in
capacity as a result of Phase 2 and Phase 3.1, ahead of order requirements,
will be a major contributor to building spare capacity and increasing the
Company's resilience against any future SOP delays.

 

Outlook for 2023

 

Whilst the customer and all its suppliers want to swiftly catch up the current
delay, each supplier (including Surface Transforms) has their own supply
constraints, and it is therefore premature to forecast increases beyond the
previously agreed ramp. The new agreed schedules are consistent with previous
plans and therefore the Company is not changing its guidance for 2023. The
Company will be profitable in that period.

 

The Company will provide the final FY22 sales number in early January and will
report Q1 sales in early April and Q2 sales in early July.

 

Kevin Johnson CEO said "The OEM 10 contract is an extremely significant
strategic win, achieved against vigorous technical competition. Moreover, it
underpins the key message of our recent fund raise on the need to be
installing capacity in advance of contract wins, thereby giving confidence to
our customers of our ability to supply. We greatly enjoy working with OEM 10
and look forward to a developing relationship.

 

However, the separate combination of customer SOP delays and our own
challenges is frustrating. The general issue of delays in both SOP and the
subsequent production ramp has been previously reported and was the reason for
the substantial increase in timing contingencies included in the recent
fundraising guidance. Our spare capacity will be an even greater requirement
as our order book grows and, therefore, reaching £50m capacity in Q2 2023 and
£75m capacity in 2024 will be major contributors to building and ensuring
customer and shareholder satisfaction."

For enquiries, please contact:

 Surface Transforms plc                                            +44 151 356 2141

 David Bundred, Chairman

 Kevin Johnson, CEO

 Michael Cunningham, CFO

 Zeus (Nominated Advisor and Joint Broker)                         +44 203 829 5000

 David Foreman / Dan Bate / James Edis (Investment Banking)

 Dominic King (Corporate Broking)

 finnCap Ltd (Joint-Broker)                                        +44 20 7220 0500

 Ed Frisby / Abigail Kelly (Corporate Finance)

Andrew Burdis / Barney Hayward (ECM)

 About Surface Transforms

Surface Transforms plc. (AIM:SCE) develop and produce carbon‐ceramic
material automotive brake discs. The Company is the UK's only manufacturer
of carbon‐ceramic brake discs, and only one of two mainstream carbon
ceramic brake disc companies in the world, serving customers that include
major OEMs in the global automotive markets.

The Company utilises its proprietary next generation Carbon Ceramic
Technology to create lightweight brake discs for high‐performance road and
track applications for both internal combustion engine and electric vehicles.
While competitor carbon‐ceramic brake discs use discontinuous
chopped carbon fibre, Surface Transforms interweaves
continuous carbon fibre to form a 3D matrix, producing a stronger and more
durable product with improved heat conductivity compared to competitor
products; this reduces the brake system operating temperature, resulting in
lighter and longer life components with superior brake performance. These
benefits are in addition to the benefits of all carbon‐ceramic brake discs
vs. iron brake discs: weight savings of up to 70%, longer product life,
consistent performance, reduced brake pad dust and corrosion free.

For additional information please visit www.surfacetransforms.com
(http://www.surfacetransforms.com)

 

 

 

 

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