8th Feb 07 ARMSHARE update :Link Back to Page 6 Here


Information Archive Folder : http://www.esnips.com/web/SurfaceTransformsInfo/


Main Web Site : http://www.surface-transforms.com/

March 2008 Presentation : Presentation Link


Commerical Overview

Surface Transform plcs core activity is exploiting proprietary technologies to create innovative, lightweight, high energy dissipating braking system materials, which can be commercialised for high-performance applications.

Surface Transforms plc has worked on technology programmes in collaboration with major companies such as AlliedSignal Inc, BAE Systems/Roxel, Dunlop Aerospace and Faiveley

Today, Surface Transforms is commercialising its products for an increasing range of high-performance applications. These include automotive, motorsport and aircraft brakes, for which the company has developed Ceramic brakes with improved friction properties, enhanced lifetime and lower production costs. Other growth areas include aerospace components (principally rocket motors) and anti-ballistic armour.

Key milestones have included:

-A new aircraft brakes development contract (Jan 2004) with a leading US based aircraft brakes maker
-A licensing contract (September 2003) with Dunlop Aerospace to develop and supply CFRC brakes;
-A contract with the UK Ministry of Defence to supply innovative materials that will increase protection against high-power rifle and cannon fire;
-A contract with the United States Airforce Research Laboratory for the supply of prototype CFRC materials for military applications.
-First commercial sales of carbon-ceramic brake discs for installation on the KOENIGSEGG Swedish supercar
-First commercial sales of Carbon Ceramic road car discs to StopTech the California based brake system upgrade specialists.
-First commercial sales of Carbon Ceramic road car discs to MOVIT one of the leading brake after-market upgrade kit suppliers based in Germany.


Not expecting anything over night here but to me it is now at the stage of becoming a good play with potential rewards in 2010 onwards on success.

Redmayne Bentley note added to the Web Folder :

http://www.esnips.com/web/SurfaceTransformsInfo/


.

Papal Power, it's obvious you are v.keen on this co, but the Market sees some distinct flaws in the SCE business plan - indeed as soon as any good news is released the shares spike up then fall down lower...currently 17p-ish
I wonder how much longer they can survive on one brake kit per week....surely we have to be seeing volume soon?
Only then will there be a chance of profit and further development, which would reduce their exposure to Aero (very much All or Nothing) and prestige Cars which amounts to (nearly) nothing in turnover/profits.
SCE has some Military exposure, but this is low-key and we know the MOD never spends money.
My original holding was in 2002 and I don't think I shall ever see that sp again.

hangon, military is nothing.

Brakes should gradually increase, they need 2000 disks a year to break even on just car brakes........thats 500 cars worth. They are doing trials, and these will continue, it all takes time.

Roxel rocket parts should add greatly to the bottom line in the 2009 financial year and onwards from that.

Aero brakes should again come in more and more as we go through 2009 to 2010.

Therefore, this year should be another large loss, next year has the potential for a small loss or perhaps even break even should they get a deal with a smaller OEM.

2009 should see a profit.

Case of waiting and seeing what happens.

From the small free float, you can be sure that should a large contract come in, or brakes on cars, or rocket parts or the Aero brakes goes forward more, you WILL see that SP and even higher, so keep those fingers crossed and be patient for another 18 to 24 months, if not before.

Nice news, more revenues.....all good stuff.


http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20070625070000PED48



.

Nice to see a placing at FULL offer price :

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20070731070500P881E

31 July 2007

Surface Transforms Plc

("Surface Transforms" or "the Company")

Proposed placing of 5,000,000 new ordinary shares of 1p each at 20p per share

The Company announces that John East & Partners Limited ("John East &
Partners"), on behalf of the Company, has placed 5,000,000 new ordinary shares
("the Placing Shares") at 20p per Placing Shares with institutional and other
investors ("the Placing"). The Placing is conditional, inter alia,........................


******************************************************************

Also, very positive talking results :

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20070731070000P5A64

...............CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

In the 12 months to 31 May 2007, two principal challenges were addressed by the
Company's management and I am pleased to report that significant financial and
operational progress has been made in meeting them. The challenges were:

* to gain at least one other significant automotive brake contract to operate
alongside the supply contract with Koenigsegg Automotive of Sweden; and

* to improve the production efficiency of ceramic brake discs and lower their
unit cost.

The Company starts the 2007/8 financial year with a greater degree of financial
security; a record order bank and three automotive clients who are purchasing
ceramic brake discs on a regular basis. In summary the key achievements in the
period under review were:

* two new aftermarket automotive clients: StopTech Inc and Mov` it Gmbh now
purchase discs regularly alongside Koenigsegg Automotive;

* the factory relocation was completed in April 2007 and as a result
operating efficiency has improved;

* ceramic brake disc costs are now 25 per cent. below the levels of 2006/7
and further reductions will arise when the proprietary carbon densification
process, CVIST, comes on stream, which is expected to be in the third
quarter of 2007;

* the award by the DTI of a three year 1.34 million Collaborative R&D
Project. The award represents a contribution to overheads and an improved
cash flow of 140,000 per annum over three years;

* a paid development agreement with a European aircraft brake system
supplier; and

* paid development work from two new rocket component clients (Rolls-Royce
PLC and MBDA).

Latest update on http://www.armshare.com


......................sales during the first 2 years of the contract, equivalent to approximately 25 cars pa - Movit has already placed orders worth c.31,000, most of which will be delivered over the next 30 days.

The final results to May 2007 showed sales of 268,000 (2006: 155,000) and pre-tax loss of 782,000 (2006: (982,000)). The company reported that automotive brakes accounted for over 50% of sales - improved purchasing of materials has already reduced the direct cost of an automotive brake disc by 25% compared to 2006/7 and the completion of the CVIST plant (due for commissioning in Q3 2007) is expected to reduce costs further, with an overall 50% reduction being targeted compared with 2006/7 - the plant will cost c.225,000, of which c.200,000 is covered by grants; re rocket components, in addition to Roxel, both Rolls-Royce and MBDA Missile Systems have commissioned paid development work; year end cash was 879,000.

In July, 1.0 million was raised via a placing at 20p per share, subject shareholder approval - the purpose is to fund the necessary capital investments to continue and accelerate product development and provide additional working capital.


Research Standing

Whilst scarcely visible financially, the company has made very good commercial progress over the last 3 years - further key data for assisting commercialisation should become available during 2007 (see Company Meeting on 8th February 2007 below). ArmShare is an advocate of constructing portfolios comprising at least 80% invested in established businesses combining growth and value and up to 20% in a portfolio of earlier stage higher risk businesses considered to have the potential to develop into the former - Surface Transforms is an obvious candidate for the '20%' category of such a portfolio.

An updated broker note is being obtained.



COMPANY MEETINGS

i) Meeting with Chairman and CEO on 8th February 2007

On 7th February 2007, there was widespread media coverage of the EU's intention to introduce legislation calling for the reduction of car emissions to 130 gms per kilometre - luxury car/supercar emissions are very significantly in excess of this figure. Reducing unsprung weight is considered to be able to make a meaningful contribution to assisting manufacturers towards achieving this target - System ST makes a meaningful contribution to reducing unsprung weight as well as improved braking. The company has a programme under way which is intended to measure a) the impact of reducing unsprung weight on reducing emissions and b) the impact of using System ST on lifetime costs of vehicle ownership - the results are expected to be available by the end of 2007.

ii) Attendance at AGM on 19th October 2006

A copy of the presentation made at the AGM can be accessed by clicking on Company Website above, Investor & Media Relations and Investor Presentations. Further information emerging from the Q&A was:

a) at the beginning of 2006, product development in the automotive division resulted in significantly improved wear characteristics. This development also applies to aircraft braking systems. It is likely to assist in developing attractive value propositions for both markets - see b).

b) feedback from Koenigsegg customers and the test driver is that SystemST improves the controllability of these very powerful cars. Data is being collected re stopping distances, wear rates and the benefits of reduced unsprung weight in order to develop a quantified value proposition - it seems likely that this will be based on reduced life time cost.

c) for the aircraft market, the development projects are expected to take 3 to 4 years, with revenues to ST being modest to start with and growing significantly in the later stages of the programme. ST is c.18 months into its leading aircraft brake programme.

July 31 Placing at 20p raised nearly 900 grand after expenses....at some dilution to ordinary folk - wow, this has been a long slide.
The money will be used to Accelerate the business - ho! ho!

hangon, what was the offer price ? 20p........so not that bad raising money at full market offer price.

Those investing must have been happy with the business plan, as they took stock at full market offer price, when the bid price was 14p.

So either they are happy to lose 6p a share for "ho ho ho".......or things are about to turn.

My target remains 200p by 2010........lets see.

Well, certainly there must be a buyer in the market, so someone liked the recent news of progress and funding.


On line limits are looking strong, which is most unusual for SCE.

BUY 5K @ 23.25p

SELL 15K @ 22.5p

Good news from todays EGM :


Surface Transforms Plc

("Surface Transforms" or "the Company")
Extraordinary general meeting statement

At the extraordinary general meeting of Surface Transforms to be held at 12 noon today the Chairman will make the following statement:

"I would like to provide the shareholders of the Company with an update of trading during the first two months of the 2007/2008 financial year. Both turnover and operating margins have exceeded budgeted expectations and the Company's order bank as of 22 August 2007, defined as received orders scheduled for delivery prior to 31 May 2008, was 211,000 (31 May 2007: 126,000)."

Never read this one before, but a nice summary of SCE.


http://simindia.org/articles/2007/06


High-tech brakes: this British firm produces materials that are used in aircraft and exotic vehicle applications. But that may be just the start of it

Categories: Aircraft

Posted on Thursday, June 28, 2007 by Simindia Admin

Surface Transforms (www.surface-transforms.com; Ellesmere Port, Cheshire) is one of the UKs leading manufacturers of next-generation carbon fiber reinforced ceramic composite materials (CRFCs). They are designed to replace traditional carbon-carbon products on aircraft by offering an improved product lifetime, thereby increasing the number of landings that can be performed between maintenance schedules. Its products can be found on rocket propulsion systems and as a replacement for conventional technical ceramics for use in body and vehicle armor. They can also be found on high-performance cars. Formed in 1992, Surface Transforms originated out of the Advanced Materials group of ICI when four former employees bought the intellectual property rights to the materials technology. Initially, and for quite a lengthy period of time afterwards, it served as a research and development company. Initial projects were funded programs that looked at various applications including aerospace and railway carriage braking. It even started to become involved in Formula One. However, the timing was unfortunate because the company initiated the project just at the time when the FIA, the sports governing body, was in the process of banning carbon ceramics on Grand Prix cars. Surface Transforms duly refocused its efforts on fitting its brakes to high-performance road cars.

As a result, Surface Transforms System ST brakes can now be found on the Koenigsegg supercar as an option on the CCX, which was launched at last years Geneva Show and on the CCGT that was launched at this years show, the $600,00 Ascari A10, and a new supercar from Weber Sportcars. Altogether, System ST is now fitted to more than 15 different car platforms. Surface Transforms is also working in partnership with StopTech, a California based leader in balanced brake upgrades for production cars and production-based racecars, to promote the adoption of carbon ceramic brakes on high-performance cars in the U.S. market. An annual supply contract has not yet been signed, yet both companies forecast that in the aftermarket between 50 and 100 car sets will be required in the next 12 months. StopTech has placed the first production order and will soon be offering the System ST ceramic brake disc on selected vehicle offerings.

Carbon ceramic brake technology was really brought to the market by three cars that were launched, utilizing the technology at a similar timethe Ferrari Enzo, Porsche Carrera GT and the Mercedes McLaren SLRand Surface Transforms had the appropriate technology, says Antoni Sznerch, Surface Transforms business development director. Unlike carbon-carbon brakes, carbon ceramics do not need to be hot to work, they work optimally from cold while offering significant weight saving over traditional iron rotors. They also have negligible wear in normal use. The fundamental difference between the brake discs that are fitted to these three cars and Surface Transforms technology is that they are manufactured using discontinuous carbon fiber, where our discs are made of continuous carbon fiber. This means that their mechanical integrity should be superior because the strength of carbon lies in the direction and length of the fiber.

Surface Transforms manufactures and supplies 3D multi-directional carbon fiber and oxidized PAN (polyacrylonitrile) preforms to suit a variety of engineering applications. Carbon fiber preforms are mats of interwoven multi-directional carbon fibers and are the basic materials that Surface Transforms converts into ceramic brakes and discs using its patented technology. By developing our discs and pads from our pad partner, we provide a balanced and high-performance complete friction couple, says Sznerch. We use what could be called a traditional nought/90 fiber orientation. However, our raw material is carbon fiber precursor which has 30% elongation in the fiber before it will break whereas carbon fiber only has 2%. This 30% elongation allows us to needle the fibers together so that we not only have the nought/90 orientation but also have the fiber in the Z direction through the material bundle and that is what binds the fibers together. It would be physically impossible to do this with traditional carbon and can only be done at the precursor stage. We convert the precursor to carbon fiber then we crack methane and convert the carbon to carbon-carbon.

The final stage of manufacture is to convert the carbon-carbon to carbon silicon carbide. The carbon that we crack from methane infills around the fiber that is then converted to silicon carbide. In this way we end up with a carbon silicon carbide disc with good mechanical integrity. Because we machine our discs to shape as opposed to shaping them in a mould we have great flexibility in the design and dimensions of the disc.

We are now going through the phase of transforming an R&D company into a more commercial manufacturing one, says Sznerch. We are a materials technology company looking for commercial applications. The company philosophy and strategy is twofold. One is that we dont see ourselves as a large volume manufacturer of automotive brake discs and are looking for licensed manufacturers for the long term. Aircraft brakes, currently, in the main are carbon-carbonmetal brakes are now less common on new aircraftand we are looking to license our technology to carbon-carbon manufacturers. This has a good strategic fit because our siliconization process can be added onto the tail end of their existing process. A licensed automotive manufacturer will be a little bit different because it would need a more complete manufacturing package. However, we have intellectual property rights for the main core of three critical processes, starting with the raw material, how its put together, then the carbonization stage followed by the siliconization process.

Someone in for 22.5K at 22p this morning. Which is strange as there should not be that many spare on the MM books, so they must have sold themselves short and hope to square their books with some weak holders ?


On Line Limits are :

BUY 100 @ 21.5 (yes just 100 shares)

SELL 25K @ 19p



Which tends to confirm that view.

Well thats one of the new institutional holders (and 1.675m of the new shares accounted for).

Not forgetting that the shares were placed at 20p (when the actual price for bid and offer were lower - not often you get placings on AIM that are over the offer price, most struggle to even match the bid price)


28 August 2007

Surface Transforms Plc

("Surface Transforms" or "the Company")

Holdings in Company

The Company has been notified that as at 28 August 2007, following the recent
placing, Gartmore Investment Limited holds 1,675,000 ordinary shares,
equivalent to 8.80 per cent. of the issued voting share capital of the Company.
The shares are registered in the name of Gartmore Growth Opportunities plc.

PP
I can't see any point in trying to spend time looking to buy as the turnover is so dismal and the spread is massive. Liquidity is so trivial that not only can't you buy but you would be stuffed trying to sell(which to me is more to the point)

coeliac1, its an investment, not a trade. For those wishing too, like me, buy a stake and hold for the future, it offers potential.

For those looking to buy and sell in 3m or 6m........then unless major news comes (which it could) then its a bit too illiquid,

The StopTech CCBS is of course System ST from Surface Transforms, under their agreement.


http://www.duemotori.com/news/auto_accessories/16403_StopTech_Carbon_Ceramic_Brake_System_makes_its_supercar_debut_on_Callaway_C16_Speedster.php

StopTech Carbon Ceramic Brake System makes its supercar debut on Callaway C16 Speedster

StopTech has been working in conjunction with Callaway to develop the ultimate brake system for Callaway's most exclusive vehicle.................................................

An interesting article, well it would be if the link to it was working. Can only get the header info, but the article is 1st October 2007. Anyone seen the full article, and also the implications of its content ?

I am wondering if its to do with the "study" on fuel consumption + carbon emissions and the reduction in weight (rolling and total too) associated with utilising carbon ceramics. If it is then this is good news, as a confirmed report will enable SCE to push the "green" side of reducing carbon emissions, alongside the performance improvement aspects :


http://www.koenigsegg.com/news/articles.asp?news=189&type=written

Koenigsegg goes green together with Surface Transforms plc.

Read the interesting article how exotic super cars and Formula 1-cars can help to improve the environment.

RNS today:

Surface Transforms Plc
Trading Statement and Update

The Company announces that trading in the six months ended 30 November 2007 was
in line with management's expectations.

Turnover for the period was significantly higher than the corresponding period
last year and cash balances at the period end were 1.6 million (2006: 1.47
million) equating to 8.4 pence per share. Sales of automotive discs to the high
performance and race car markets represent the majority of the turnover
generated in the period.

The Company has a strong forward order book and expects to report the interim
results for the six months ended 30 November 2007 in early February 2008.

Yep, all seems to be going to plan ok.

Early this year, lets hope for something encouraging, like moving a lot closer to break even.



25 January 2008

Surface Transforms plc

Notice of interim results

The Company announces that it will be releasing its interim results for the six
months ending 30 November 2007 on 31 January 2008.

ENQUIRIES:

Surface Transforms plc Tel: 0151 356 2141
Kevin Johnson Tel: 07802 306956
Kevin D'Silva

John East & Partners Limited (Nomad and Broker) Tel: 020 7628 2200
Simon Clements
David Worlidge

Redmayne Bentley (Private client broker) Tel: 01943 886600
Lucy Clapham
Simon Flather