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.

What must really be a downer for Dunlop and SCE is that had the idiots at Airbus not tried to win "political points" and announced the speeding up of the project (which killed the Dunlop braking deal due to reduced time), then they could have launched as planned originally and Dunlop/SCE could have finished that project, which is now near enough the new "speeded up and now delayed back" time.

Never mind at least SCE is now working with 3 other "unknown" companies on the task of developing and qualifying their braking systems for planes in future.



Airbus replaces head of A380 program

Move is CEO Christian Streiff's first major appointment since he joined the troubled plane maker in July.

September 4 2006: 8:45 AM EDT


PARIS (Reuters) -- Plane maker Airbus replaced the head of its A380 superjumbo program Monday, two months after a crisis over production delays led to the resignation of the company's chief executive and the co-head of parent EADS.

Airbus said Frenchman Charles Champion had been replaced by Mario Heinen, 50, who until now has been in charge of the plane maker's chief cash engine, its single-aisle range.

The A380, the world's largest airliner, is due to be delivered to its first customer Singapore Airlines by the end of the year.

The move is CEO Christian Streiff's first major appointment since he was drafted in from outside the aviation industry to replace Gustav Humbert as the head of Airbus in July.

Airbus announced the move on the day of its first long-distance A380 test flight with hundreds of passengers on board, drawn from Airbus staff and cabin design specialists.

The A380, the world's largest airliner, is due to be delivered to its first customer Singapore Airlines by the end of the year after two sets of delays totaling a year.

Interesting little snippet below and it appears all CCX so far have had SCE ceramic brake systems fitted :


http://www.koenigsegg.com/thecars/ccx.asp?ccx=2

"Wheels / Brakes

The optional ceramic 382 mm front discs are coupled to 8 piston callipers and in the rear the 362 mm size is retained with 6 piston callipers. The optional industry first carbon fibre wheels save another 3 kg per wheel compared to the already lightweight magnesium wheels that come as standard. The ceramic discs save another 2 kg per wheel, giving the Koenigsegg CCX lower unsprung weight than any other super car.

Koenigsegg now also offers the ceramic discs and carbon wheel upgrade to all previous Koenigsegg models. "

I'd say thats good news today, and might be leading somewhere soon in the future, obviously something is a sparkle in someones eye now........

5 September 2006
Surface Transforms plc
(the "Company")
Directorate Change

The Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Ken Baker, OBE, M.Sc,
C. Eng, aged 71, as a non-executive director with immediate effect.

Mr Baker is currently the Chairman of Avingtrans plc, an AIM listed precision
engineering technology group serving the aerospace, medical and machinery
industries. Prior to this appointment he was chairman of Ferraris Group plc
("Ferraris") between 1993-2002 during which time the market capitalisation of
Ferraris increased significantly.

Mr Baker has enjoyed a long and successful industrial career during which he
has been chief executive officer of a number of industrial groups both in the
public and private sector including a number of European subsidiaries of Lear
Siegler Inc, Durr Limited and Silvermines plc.

He is also currently a director of Falcon Investment Trust plc, part of the
Unicorn Group, the East German Investment Trust plc, the German British Chamber
of Industry and Commerce, K.M. Baker Associates Limited, Dalehouse Farm
Limited, Dalehouse Properties Limited and K&S Computers Limited.

He received his OBE in 1988 in recognition of the services provided to UK
industry whilst serving as Chairman of The Advanced Manufacturing and
technology Research Association and a member of the Advanced Manufacturing and
Technology Committee of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Mr Baker has confirmed that there is no further information required to be
disclosed under paragraph 17 of the AIM Rules.

For enquiries, please contact:

Surface Transforms plc
Kevin Johnson 0151 472 3733
Kevin D'Silva 07802 306956

John East & Partners Limited (Nominated Adviser)
David Worlidge 020 7628 2200

Teather & Greenwood Limited (Broker)
Mark Dickenson 020 7426 9000
Sindre Ottesen 020 7426 9000

Really good news, this is a major advance :)


http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20060915070000P60E6


14 September 2006

Surface Transforms plc

(the "Company")

Aircraft Brake Development Contract

The Company is pleased to announce a development agreement with a major global
supplier of carbon-carbon aircraft brake systems. Surface Transforms is now in
active collaboration with three out of a total of six such major global
suppliers. The objective of the development contract is to produce a low wear
longer-life silicon carbide carbon-ceramic brake based specifically on the
client's incumbent carbon-carbon precursor.

Successful tests at the client's site on sub-scale aircraft disc brakes were
completed in May 2006 and the agreement will now extend that work programme to
include full-scale aircraft discs which will be developed by Surface Transforms
for testing by the client.

Under the terms of the agreement the global brake supplier will fund all costs
relating to the work programme. Development work on the programme is scheduled
for completion and review in the fourth quarter of the Company's current
financial year. If the development work is successful the Board expects to
enter into discussions regarding a more extensive programme of work.

For enquiries, please contact:

Surface Transforms plc
Dr Kevin Johnson 0151 472 3733
Dr Geoff Gould 0151 472 3733

John East & Partners Limited (Nominated Adviser)
Simon Clements 020 7628 2200
David Worlidge 020 7628 2200

Teather & Greenwood Limited (Broker)
Mark Dickenson 020 7426 9000
Sindre Ottesen 020 7426 9000

Development work complete in early 2007, if it moves forward then it would have a very major impact on 2007 financial year in terms of revenues.

Should also trim this years loss down a little bit.

Before this contract I was expecting the loss to be around 450K for this 2006 financial year, maybe that can be trimmed a little.

If we get another car braking agreement in place in the coming 6 months, then things will seriously be looking up.

All of these things are good in themselves, but it doesn't add up to much to excite the Market....Surface needs a volume pproduct - something that will help keep the overheads from becomming a burden.......maybe they should turn their minds to solving some other local problem?

Car brakes are unlikely to become mainstram until they slash the cost - for the likes of a Ford Mondeo even at a tenth of the current price it will be rarely purchased by the 1st owner who is unlikely to want to race their street car too close to the limit.
Having yellow wheel-gear might be good for Surface, but only a v.few techno-petrolheads will understand the benefit. The majority of folk wouldn't notice.

I'd like to see a small parallel business in "materials" perhaps, which could start to cover the overheads, salaries etc. The aircraft brakes may be little futuristic, although useful for aircraft returning to an aircraft carrier.

Hangon, "The aircraft brakes may be little futuristic, although useful for aircraft returning to an aircraft carrier."

Haven't you seen "Top Gun" ??!!

Aircraft landing on carriers don't use brakes - if they did then carriers would have to be a mile and a half long. They use hooks and arrestor wires to stop them within a few metres.

I believe that the argument for using the brakes on airframes is to save weight and increase braking efficiency - but it won't be so efficient that it means they can do away with arrestor hooks on carriers.

I know this is a 60-year-old photo of an early Seafire executing a carrier landing, but trust me, they use exactly the same gear today on F-14's.

Aircraft brakes would be a god send for airlines.

1/ Lower weight, much lower due to no need for the cooling blocks of carbon/carbon systems, saving a lot of fuel

2/ Much reduced maintenance (brake maintenance is high cost and a headache)

3/ Faster turnaround due to no requirement to wait for brake cooling.

The list goes on and on, and it would have a very quick ROI for any airlines using it.

Car brakes, your missing the point, the more they do, the cheaper they get, once you get to high volume, the SCE patents and patented manufacturing process will make them at least 50% cheaper than whats on the market today, maybe more.

The thing is this development contract will help them cover overheads this year, so the loss for the year should now be below 400K for 2006 financial year.

If this airplane development goes past this phase, and we will know in 6 months, it could turn SCE into profit in 2007 financial year, and then on to the billion dollar potential market to exploit.

Any deal that goes past phase 2 is a company maker, this is now phase 2 :)

PP, I'm inclined to believe that the aircraft application would be more likely than the car brakes to generate the volume sales needed to turn out a decent profit - I could see a faster take-up, especially with the large number of orders pending at Boeing/Airbus, etc., not to mention upgrading existing airframes.

Exactly ST, this contract is for existing as a retrofit, and new :)

Massive market. Roll on phase 2 completion and good news.

Have stuck this back on my watchlist pending the results of trials. Could be very good for the SP if the major mfrs get on board.

I notice SCE are very cleverly working with the mfrs to develop their product for existing braking systems. Seems obvious in a certain light, but what it means is that SCE won't have an uphill struggle trying to inflict their product on an unwilling market.

Exactly ST, they will not even make the discs, the plan has always been in the aircraft market that their technology would be developed for the majors, and then the majors can license the technology and manufacturing process and make the discs themselves.

The only manufacturing of discs SCE will do is for car systems, and that being for non-major OEM's.

Major OEM's, if interested, could if they so desire, adopt a system similar to that planned by the aircraft systems.

Of course, the expectation is once proven then SCE would be snapped up for mega bucks by one of the major braking systems people, to then exploit the technology.

Getting past this next phase is the key, for if they go there then its very significant, as is the fact that they can get good overhead recovery now from this latest contract, if nothing else short term :)

Recovering overheads cuts cash burn.

Comment from uk-analyst.com :

"Success has been difficult to come by for AIM traded Surface Transforms. The company, which once attracted a premium rating, has seen its status among investors seriously damaged in recent years as a result of minimal revenues and an absence of significant contract wins. However, it was a different story in the final session of the week, as Surface announced news of a development agreement with a major global supplier of carbon-carbon aircraft brake systems, sending its shares 2p better to 14.5p. The company is now in active collaboration with three out of a total of six such major global suppliers. The objective of this latest development contract is to produce a low wear longer-life silicon carbide carbon-ceramic brake based specifically on the client's incumbent carbon-carbon precursor. Development work is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of the current year and will be entirely funded by the brake systems supplier. Could th is finally be the turning point for Surface? Only time will tell."

New update at http://www.armshare.com (Free to register and use) - Extract below based on the AGM statement today :


.................In September, a funded development agreement was entered into with a major global supplier of carbon-carbon aircraft brake systems - this means that ST is now collaborating with 3 of the 6 major global suppliers of such systems. The objective is to produce a low wear longer-life silicon carbide carbon-ceramic brake - successful tests on sub-scale aircraft disc brakes were completed in May 2006 and the agreement will now extend that work programme to include full-scale aircraft discs for testing. Development work on the programme is scheduled for completion and review in Q4 2006/7 - if it is successful, the board expects to enter into discussions regarding a more extensive programme of work.

The October AGM update reported that installation of the carbon densification process has begun, with completion scheduled for Q4 2006/7 - the cost net of a 95,000 grant will be c.155,000 - the expected benefits are faster process times and lower manufacturing costs; since May 2006, deliveries to Koenigsegg (see March 2006) have been running at c. 2 car sets per month; a small order has recently been taken from a US automotive brake system supplier which will have a system on display at the SEMA convention in Las Vegas later in October.

Research Standing

The market invariably canes a company's share price where there is a setback such as occurred in Autumn 2004 on the aircraft brake project with Dunlop. This provides opportunities for the more dispassionate and longer term investor. 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.

Whilst the financial results to May 2006 scarcely hit the radar screen, they mask the fact that the company has made very significant progress in strengthening its position for negotiating with channel partners, particularly in automotive. Until it started both to fully understand and also take control of the entire process for delivering merchantable brakes, it was very difficult to hold serious discussions with automotive OEMs because the company could not deliver a turnkey solution - automotive OEMs are different from aicraft brake OEMs because the latter already use the processes which accompany ST's core process and therefore do not require a turnkey solution - this negotiating position will be enhanced by the significant cost reduction which ST expects to derive from the new plant scheduled to be completed in the course of 2006/7.

The March 2006 supply agreement with specialist automotive OEM Koenigsegg is a seminal event because an answer can now be given to the all important question when negotiating with other OEMs "who else is using the system?".

With cash at bank at May 2006 equivalent to 12.4p per share, a share price of 14.5p at 15th September, a team which has strengthened considerably over the last two years and much greater knowledge/control re the delivery of merchantable solutions, ST is an attractively valued concept stock.

COMPANY MEETING

On 19th October 2006, ArmShare attended the AGM - a copy of the presentation made at the AGM can be accessed by clicking on Company Website above (on the http://www.armshare.com website) , Investor & Media Relations and Results. 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 aicraft brake programme.

For immediate release 24 October 2006

SURFACE TRANSFORMS PLC

("the Company")

Director Shareholding

The Company has today been notified that Ken Baker, Non-Executive Director,
purchased 40,000 ordinary shares on 20 October 2006 at 14.5 pence, equivalent
to 0.29 per cent. of the issued share capital of the Company. This is Mr
Baker's entire holding.

Showing some confidence, happy to acquire the shares at 27.5p !!!!


To be embargoed until
Monday 30 October 2006

SURFACE TRANSFORMS PLC
("the Company")
Director Shareholding

The Company has been notified that Julio Faria, Executive Director, has today
acquired 100,000 ordinary shares of 1p each at 27.5p per share, equivalent to
0.7 per cent. of the entire issued share capital of the Company, from a former
director of the Company.

Mr Faria has also notified the Company that these shares have been transferred
to Mr Faria's adult son and, consequently, Mr Faria's beneficial holding of
2,326,845 Ordinary Shares, equivalent to 16.58 per cent. of the entire issued
share capital of the Company, remains unchanged.

That is quite a premium!