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RNS Number : 6379S

Directa Plus PLC

18 March 2021

18 March 2021

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS DEEMED BY THE COMPANY TO CONSTITUTE INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED UNDER THE EU MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (596/2014). UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THE ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS INFORMATION IS CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

Directa Plus plc

("Directa" or the "Company", or together with its subsidiaries the "Group")

Trading Update

Directa Plus (AIM: DCTA), a leading producer and supplier of graphene nanoplatelets based products for use in consumer and industrial markets, is pleased to provide an update on trading in the first quarter of 2021 ("Q1 2021") and for the financial year ended 31 December 2020 ("FY2020").

Trading in Q1 2021 has been strong, with revenues expected to be around EUR1.8m, up 20 per cent. from the same period in 2020 (EUR1.5m). The Group expects to announce its audited results for FY2020 in mid-May 2021 and to now report revenues of approximately EUR6.7m, a further improvement from the previously reported expectation of EUR6.5m. The Group's current order book stands at approximately EUR4.3m, which is expected to be delivered over the rest of FY2021 and there is a strong pipeline of opportunities.

There have been further positive developments in the Company's partnership with NexTech, as part of which Directa is contributing to the development of Lithium-Sulphur battery technology. Directa recently presented alongside NexTech on a roadshow to meet important potential industrial customers and universities in Italy, including Leonardo, Italdesign, Artemide, Politecnico Milan and Politecnico Turin.

In addition, Directa and NexTech have now established a Joint Laboratory in Lomazzo, with the objective of developing new specific grades of G+(R) graphene nanoplatelets for a next generation of higher performance Lithium-Sulphur (Li-S) batteries. Scientists from both companies are participating in this development. Lithium-Sulphur batteries have significant advantages versus Lithium-Ion batteries including superior energy density, lower costs per watt-hour, a superior safety profile, and a less complex manufacturing process.

Progress at the Group's environmental subsidiary, Setcar, continues to be very positive. As part of Setcar's contract with OMV Petrom, a total of c.7,700 cubic metres of emulsion have been treated so far in 2021, recovering c.1,800 tonnes of crude oil. With a treatment rate of c.80 cubic metres per day, the Company expects to treat 8,800 cubic metres of emulsion and recover over 2,000 tonnes of crude oil by the end of Q1 2021.

Setcar has a healthy and encouraging pipeline of contract tenders across Europe, including a number of high value tenders, with two in the private oil and gas sector and another in a state infrastructure network. Directa will report progress on sales to the market in due course.

A new version of Directa's face mask filter, compliant to surgical standards, has been successfully developed and validated creating further opportunities for the Group. The surgical filter offers the wearer an increased level of protection from viral and bacterial infection. This follows recent testing that proved that G+ graphene is not absorbed by the wearer during use.

Elsewhere in the textiles vertical the launch of our new Capsule Cosmic Collection is proving successful. The product portfolio will be enriched with two more sportwear items - a golf polo and a soft shell. The Company is receiving and fulfilling customer orders across the product range

This announcement has been approved by Giulio Cesareo, Chief Executive, on behalf of the Company.

ENDS

For further information please visit http://www.directa-plus.com/ or contact:

 
 Directa Plus plc                            +39 02 36714458 
 Giulio Cesareo, CEO 
 Marco Ferrari, CFO 
 Cenkos Securities plc (Nominated Adviser 
  and Joint Broker)                          +44 131 220 6939 
 Neil McDonald / Pete Lynch 
 N+1 Singer (Joint Broker)                   +44 20 7496 3069 
 Rick Thompson / Phil Davies 
 Tavistock (Financial PR and IR)             +44 20 7920 3150 
 Simon Hudson / Edward Lee

About Directa Plus

Our focus is principally on the two sectors in which we have strong commercial advantage through developed and launched products and a technological lead: environmental (based on our Grafysorber(R) product) and textiles (based on our G+ products). In addition, we will continue to pursue opportunities in elastomers and composites (including tyres and asphalt), also using our G+ products. All our products are hypoallergenic, non-toxic and sustainably produced.

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END

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