Biome Technologies plc (LON:BIOM) Chief Executive Officer Paul Mines caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss the 48% revenue increase in the bioplastics division, what will drive growth going forward, their Stanelco RF division, the recent fundraise and the appointment of a new CFO.
Q1: Biome Technologies’ quarter three trading update showed a 48% increase in revenues in your bioplastics division, that’s on the previous quarter and more than doubling on the previous year. Paul, what’s driven all this growth?
A1: It’s been a very exciting quarter and we’ve got revenues of £1.6 million in our bioplastics business.
The strength really has come from two areas, one materials for packaging that have been in the market for some time and have been growing strongly and then, on top of that, there’s been a rapid growth of materials that we’ve launched recently, particularly for coffee pod applications.
Q2: Paul, what are the trends for the bioplastics business? What projects or markets do you expect to drive growth going forward?
A2: I think the really encouraging thing is, despite the worldwide pandemic, the desire for environmental solutions such as compostable plastics remains really strong and feels to be growing.
We’re delighted to see not just our existing products doing well but there’s a pipeline of enquiries and development projects coming in from both the US and Europe. In particular, we’re seeing enquiries to work with both existing and a few new customers on our coffee filtration materials for filtering coffee and coffee pod and in flasks etc.
Right now, we’re deploying with one such customer in the USA and we expect revenues from that customer later this quarter.
Q3: Now your Stanelco RF division is still reporting modest revenues, are there any signs of pickups there?
A3: The rate at which telecoms companies can get fibre into the ground is very much being constrained by COVID-19 at the moment and this impacts the investments of our customers so I think, although in the long-term we can see this being a very vibrant market because of the very medium that we’re using to talk together now, but for now it remains tightly constrained.
We are picking up a few small orders from the more general UK industrial market but we believe business for this division will be subdued for some time to come.
Q4: Now, the recent £1.1 million fundraising has now been completed successfully. How are you deploying the funds?
A4: You’re right, that the money is now in the bank.
The fundraise is really about accelerating the growth of bioplastics over the next couple of years and this money gives us fuel in the tank to really tackle some of the larger enquiries and development opportunities I spoke of earlier. They’re coming in and, particularly from the US market and with this cash, it will give us the fuel for the resources, people, technical effort to really try and reel those opportunities in.
Q5: So, you also announced the appointment of Rob Smith as Biome Technologies’ new CFO, can you tell us a little bit more about Rob?
A5: Rob has got a broad depth of experience as a CFO of AIM-listed technology businesses so he comes with a good experience base. More than anything, through the me getting to know him over the last few months, he’s really got the drive and enthusiasm required to help us really grow the bioplastics business in the coming years. Myself, the rest of the team and the Board are really looking forward to working with him.
