Thurso battery cell innovator raises millions in stock market flotation

A Scottish battery cell maker that works with the likes of Jaguar Land Rover has raised almost twice its initial target in its stock market flotation.

AMTE Power's purpose-built facility at Thurso boasts the second largest battery cell manufacturing capacity in the UK.

AMTE Power secured £13.7 million from existing and new investors for its float on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim), compared to the £7m it was originally seeking.

Based on a placing price of 175p a share, the initial market capitalisation of the Thurso-based business is approximately £61m.

The placing of new shares raised gross proceeds of approximately £12.9m for AMTE and around £740,000 for selling shareholders.

Its senior management will own approximately 17 per cent of the company, which also works with leading motoring industry names such as Cosworth and Williams. It intends to use the proceeds of the float to finance its working capital requirements, ahead of revenue from the commercialisation of its battery cell portfolio.

Chief executive Kevin Brundish said the firm was “naturally delighted by the investor response from both new and existing shareholders”.

“The high demand has enabled us to raise additional funds which will further enhance the commercial prospects of our portfolio of battery cells. The switch to electrification is clearly happening and not just in the automotive sector but across multiple markets. These are trends we anticipated happening eight years ago when we created AMTE and today's listing has significantly strengthened our ability to make the most of this switch to battery power.”

AMTE was co-founded in 2013 by Brundish, together with several others, including former colleagues from defence technology heavyweight QinetiQ.

Brundish said: “Early on we chose to focus on the requirements of specialist customers whose power, performance and endurance needs are, we believe, outside the scope of the international manufacturers and also to not simply be a developer but have the manufacturing capability to deliver our products. The combination of which, we believe, differentiates AMTE and places us in a highly advantageous position.”

It has been working in collaboration with nine automotive companies including Jaguar Land Rover, Cosworth and Williams.

“We have also been working with the UK government on our plans for building a British gigafactory which is part of the company’s medium-term outlook. However, today’s announcement is about funding the final development and production of the company’s three advanced battery cells where we see significant commercial opportunities,” added Brundish.

The company said it was well placed as one of only five UK commercial battery cell manufacturers with its purpose-built facility at Thurso, which boasts the second largest cell manufacturing capacity in the UK.

In addition to its Thurso facility, the firm has entered into a framework agreement governing access to the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre cell manufacturing facility and, in 2022, intends to commit to building a new UK manufacturing facility with a capacity of approximately 2GWh (gigawatt hours) per annum.

The firm also has products aimed at the oil and gas and energy storage markets.

Among the company’s directors is Lord Thurso, who joined the board at the beginning of June.

The company becomes the second Scottish business to float on AIM in the past six months, following last year’s admission of Linlithgow telecoms firm Calnex Solutions.

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