Carclo raises £3.5m to help fund growth

The Osset-based company, which has a diverse range of products

including lighting for super cars and blood testing equipment, said trading in the second half of its financial year is continuing in line with its expectations.

The group said divisional operating profits should be well ahead of the first half and underlying profits for the full year are expected to be at a broadly similar level to last year. In December Carclo won a landmark deal to develop and launch a new touch screen for use in mobile phones.

The firm said its Conductive Inkjet Technology (CIT) division, which prints 'invisible' metal lines on plastic products such as touch screens and medical sensors, signed a deal worth up to 1.2m with US electronics heavyweight Atmel Corporation.

The binding agreement is based on CIT's patented photolithographic metallisation film.

CIT will install a new production line at its Cambridge facility to produce touch screen sensors with copper lines so fine that they are nearly invisible to the human eye.

The production line will be operational in the second half of the year, with mass production beginning in 2011.

Atmel, a global leader in design and manufacture of touch screens and microcontrollers, has also agreed to minimum annual volume targets for 2011 and 2012 to maintain its preferential access to CIT's production.

Carclo said it expects the deal to help profits for the financial years to March 2012 and 2013.

The group said the technical plastics division continues to perform

well and is winning new business in medical and optical.

In precision products, demand in its aerospace businesses remains subdued, but Wipac is seeing a stronger second half, benefiting from its supercar lighting programmes.

The group has raised 3.5m in cash, net of costs, through a placing of 2,858,000 new Carclo shares. This five per cent placing was achieved at a nil discount to the prevailing mid market price and the funds are being used to accelerate a number of growth opportunities, primarily at CIT.

The fundraising will enable the group to continue to reduce debt levels whilst investing in its growth businesses.

The group said its finances remain strong, its main businesses continue to demonstrate their underlying strengths and CIT is realising its commercial potential.

The board said it is confident of delivering further progress in the next financial year.

Carclo's strategy is to develop new technologies and products to drive future growth.