Company Information for Acta

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AIM; ACTA

Company Statement

Acta was formed to exploit a breakthrough in catalyst technology, made by scientists in Tuscany, Italy. Our first products for the green energy market have unique performance advantages.

Acta has developed a range of catalyst technologies which allow the use of a range of base metals organized into well dispersed nano-particles that exceed the catalyst performance of expensive platinum.

These catalysts are currently being developed to:

Store intermittent energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar for release to the grid when needed, by the use of platinum free water electrolyser and fuel cell systems
Introduce high performance, low cost catalysts in fuel cells
Allow new low cost hydrogen generation for fuel cells and other uses, including uniquely by the electrolysis of ammonia
Clean ammonia from waste streams to save money for industrial users
Convert captured CO2 to liquid fuels such as ethanol

Our vision
Our vision is to catalyse the hydrogen economy by introducing breakthrough products and to additionally exploit opportunities for these products in other markets which will:

Allow the effective storage of intermittent renewable energy so that it can supply a larger portion of the grid
Clean waste ammonia from industrial and agricultural processes
Provide practical and affordable new fuel sources for carbon free motoring
Lower the cost of fuel cells and allow the use of practical fuels in fuel cells
Deliver cost effective and practical hydrogen supply
explore other applications for our catalyst in selected high growth or high margin markets such as, Battery technologies and Conversion of captured CO2 to fuel.

Our strategy
1. Manufacture catalysts for sale into multiple markets: We aim to make and sell HYPERMEC catalysts to at least early launch stage in order to maximise early revenues and profitability. The manufacturing processes of the catalysts are our core intellectual property and we continue to put in place the operational organisation required to serve large electronics and automotive OEMs.
2. Serve the global market: Acta has a global customer base served by a direct sales team for the US and Europe and Sumitomo Corporation as our partner for the critical Asian market.

3. Actively explore opportunities in markets beyond fuel cells: We are making excellent progress in developing opportunities to sell HYPERMEC into other markets, such as hydrogen generation, battery applications and the conversion of CO2 to fuel.

4. Recruit high quality people: A business is only as good as the talent it employs. We are recruiting high calibre people from around the world to help grow the business.

5. Control of costs in a focused business plan: We are delivering our strategy within a context of carefully controlled cost and we keep our focus so that the funds we have raised are well spent on carefully targeted activity. We believe that we can scale up to meet foreseeable demand without significant additional capital investment.

Operations and Technology

TECHNOLOGY:

- HYPERMEC chemistry
Acta has a number of patented technologies to produce its catalysts.

Templating technology produces small well dispersed particles
Acta’s original technology involves the use of a templating polymer during the manufacturing process to arrange the metal particles prior to deposition on the catalyst support material. During the subsequent reduction process the metals alloy together to produce a stable lattice of well dispersed particles of small size.

Use of binary and ternary metal combinations
Many of Acta’s processes use a range of metals which are well dispersed together. For example Acta may use iron-cobalt-nickel or iron-cobalt combinations. Other metals can also be used, such as zinc, tin, gold or palladium. The ammonia electrolyser uses a small amount of platinum.

Development supported by external institutes
Acta’s catalyst discoveries have been made internally, but Acta makes extensive use of its partnerships with Universities to analyse, characterize and optimize the catalysts. For example Milan CNR provides HR-TEM analysis and we also have access to a particle accelerator (synchrotron) for EXAFS analysis.

Multi fuel capability
HYPERMEC catalysts have demonstrated excellent power performance with a very wide range of fuels. Acta is fuel agnostic: we will supply catalysts for whatever application and with whichever fuel the customer requires.

These fuels include:
Ethanol: safe, non toxic, practical and environmentally friendly
Hydrogen: high power, clean conversion and ideal in stationary applications such as renewable energy storage

Glycerol: a by-product of bio-diesel manufacture which is coming into over supply and which is also safe, non toxic, environmentally friendly and ideal for use in fuel cells because it does not freeze or evaporate in normal conditions

Methanol: toxic but already widely used in fuel cell development programmes

Sodium borohydride: exceptionally high performance at room temperature

Butanol: another bio-fuel

Ammonia: high hydrogen content and no CO2 emissions

Cost advantages
HYPERMEC catalysts (with the exception of the ammonia electrolyser) are platinum free, offering immense cost advantages against the current platinum technology.

PRODUCTS
- Fuel Cells
Acta is the leading supplier of components for Alkaline Membrane Fuel Cells.

These include:
HYPERMEC 3-series anode catalyst powder
HYPERMEC 4-series cathode catalyst powder
HYPERMEC electrodes containing 3 and 4 series catalysts
Anion Exchange Membrane from Tokuyama
Anion Exchange Ionomer from Tokuyama

Hydrogen Generation
Acta is the leading supplier of catalysts and components for platinum free hydrogen generation.

These include:
7-series electrodes for ammonia electrolysis
8-series electrodes for water electrolysis
9-series catalyst powder and pellets for ethanol reforming
10-series catalyst for ammonia reforming
Anion Exchange Membrane from Tokuyama

Test kits & Components
Acta is has developed a range of demo kits and test cells to show its catalysts in action and to optimise the performance of initial data gathering in this new environment.

These include:
Demonstration kits with fans to show multi-fuel capability
Test cells for repeated data generation and for optimum surface contact for maximum power at room temperature
Ammonia electrolyser demonstration kit
Other components for test cells and development activities

Special project work
Acta is prepared to undertake further bespoke development work for customers using its HYPERMEC technologies and application expertise. This may include further data generation and analysis, specific catalyst development projects or the application of HYPERMEC catalysts onto different supports and electrodes.

Geographical Spread

Our team is headquartered in Lavoria, near Pisa, Italy, with an applied research base in Florence. Our scientific and commercial teams work closely to ensure the optimum commercial value of our products.

Alongside a planned commercial office in the UK, we currently have development programmes with the following research universities:

University of Trieste
University of Edinburgh
University of Pisa
University of Pavia
University of Rome
CNR, Milan

Board of Directors and Key Management

Robert Drummond	(Chairman)
Paolo Bert	(Chief Executive)
Paul Barritt	(Chief Financial Officer)
Fabio Mastrangelo	(Non Executive Director)
Geoff Bicknell	(Non Executive Director)
Marco Chiarion Casoni	(Non Executive Director)
Alessandro Tampucci	(Origination Director)
Dr Hubert Gasteiger	(Catalyst Development Director)
Dr Xiaoming Ren	(Vice President, Fuel Cell Technologies)
Jason Davies	(Sales Director)
Dr Damian Thomas	(Product Management Director)

Company Address

Compass House
Vision Park
Chivers Way
Histon
Cambridge
Cambridge, CB4 9AD


Telephone:	+44 1223 257760
Facsimile:	+39 050 642251
Email:	info[at]acta-nanotech.com
Website:	http://www.acta-nanotech.com

Additional Address/Key Contact

Acta headquarters, manufacturing and development facility
Acta SpA
Via di Lavoria, loc 56g
506040 Crespina, Pisa
Italy

Tel: +39 050 644281
Fax: +39 050 642251

Nominated Brokers

Numis Securities Ltd
The London Stock Exchange
Building 10
Paternoster Square
London EC4M 7LT
Switchboard: 020 7260 1000

Nominated Advisors

Charles Stanley Securities
25 Luke Street
London
EC2A 4AR
Switchboard: 020 7149 6000

Broker/Analyst Reports

20/03/07 - Numis Securities Morning Note

Most Recent Statement

28/01/09 - Directorate Change
26/01/09 - Grant Approval
22/01/09 - Trading Statement
21/01/09 - Director Declaration
19/01/09 - Change of Adviser
13/10/08 - Director/PDMR Shareholding

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