Ilika LON:IKA the Southampton-based, AIM-listed, solid state battery technology company published its half-year report for the six-months ended 31 October 2024 today (21st January).
The battery manufacturer opened trading at 21p today and over one-year has fallen about 43% over the last year. The share price has disappointed and it is a bit of déjà vu given a similar trajectory from around this time last year, when we wrote about the company after its six-months report up to end-October 2023, but unlike last year is down around 50% over five-years.
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As previously reported, Ilika manufactures two ranges of solid-state batteries, its micro-batteries, the Stereax range, which are designed for use in medical technology and industrial internet-of-things applications, and its ruggedised Goliath battery pack range used in transportation as the power unit for electric cars, vans and trucks.
Ilika’s batteries have advantages over the better-known, widely-distributed lithium ion battery – namely they are better at dealing with overheating and flammability, have a smaller footprint, boast higher energy density and faster charging, are customisable, and when they come to the end of their working lives, solid-state batteries are easier to dispose of, given they are manufactured with non-toxic materials.
Goliath starts making sales
Revenue fell year-on-year, from £1.3m to £1m, as did grant funding which in the six-months covered in 2024 was £900,000, opposed to £1m the year before. On the bright side, however, Ilika’s Goliath range contributed £100,000 from commercial sales – in the corresponding six-month period of 2023, Goliath had not made any sales.
EBITDA loss was £1.9m, the same as it was last year, but cash was down £3.1m year-on-year to £10.1m. However, the company did secure £2.3m in a fund-raise to help move Goliath and Stereax into commercialisation.
Graeme Purdy, Ilika’s chief executive, said: “Ilika made significant progress with both our Stereax and Goliath product lines, during the period. On Stereax, we have been working closely with Cirtec, our manufacturing partner, to implement production equipment at their US facility […] We have also made rapid progress with Goliath, successfully delivering against our ambitious technology roadmap and achieving two key milestones in the past six months. Furthermore, we have increased the energy capacity 5x since releasing our first prototypes to customers in the summer of 2024.”
The company has split manufacturing of Stereax, with cathode manufacturing in England, and cells manufactured at Ilika partner, Cirtec Medical, in an expanded clean-room in Massachusetts. The two companies started a joint programme to commission equipment to run trial batches of the micro-battery to prove the manufacturing process.
Tier One trials for Goliath
Goliath is still in prototype stage, though Ilika did sell and ship a consignment of P1 prototype battery packs to a Tier One customer in order for the customer to validate the battery’s performance characteristics in real-life applications.
In the last couple of months Ilika confirmed completion of the Goliath D6 milestone which produced a 10Ah Goliath battery, a 5x increase in capacity relative to its P1 prototypes which were released to customers in summer 2024.
Commercial revenues in 2025
Purdy said that the company is hoping to secure its first solid commercial revenues this year. John-Marc Bunce, director of research for broker, Cavendish, which has Ilika under coverage believes the company is quietly taking the lead in a global solid-state battery race.
Bunce said: “[…] we believe there is broad consensus that solid-state-batteries (SSBs) are the future of batteries, with SSBs being forecast to surpass 4% global market share by 2030. Within this, ceramic-oxide SSBs look to have a particularly promising future as, amongst typical SSB attributes such as high energy density, these have the best safety profile, making them well suited for EVs, which is the biggest and fastest-growing battery segment.”
Ilika quietly winning the SSB race
He continued: “Ilika is one of a very small handful of companies to have overcome the challenges of hard ceramic-oxide electrolytes with its approach commercially proven though the licensing of its Stereax micro batteries for medical devices. Ilika’s large format Goliath SSB has already reached energy density parity with current lithium-ion cells and is set to reach a Minimum Viable Product within a year, which we believe will help close licensing discussions, for which EU and US premium automotive brands are undoubtedly circling.”
Cavendish has set a target price for Ilika of 83p.
While Ilika faces challenges, including a dip in revenue and a continued loss, the company has made notable strides in advancing both its Stereax and Goliath battery technologies. With early commercial sales and key milestones achieved, Ilika remains on track to commercialise its solid-state battery products, with hopes for significant revenue growth in the near future. This should see the share price start moving in the right direction.
As the demand for safer, more efficient battery technologies grows, Ilika’s position in the solid-state battery market, particularly in the electric vehicle sector, could ultimately unlock substantial opportunities for the company moving forward.