19 May 2010
Manufacturing company performs strongly in higher-value sector
Manufacturing and engineering company Ilika plc has recently
been floated on AIM, the London Stock Exchange's international
market for smaller growing companies. The listing comes just days
after Lord Sainsbury's address at the annual SMF (Sainsbury
Management Fellows' Society) dinner, whereby he stressed the
importance to continue to move the UK's manufacturing and service
industries into higher-value areas to help them to compete in
global markets.
Ilika is an advanced materials company which accelerates the
discovery of new and patentable
materials that are used by the energy, electronics and
biomedical sectors. Experiments carried out by the Ilika can be
executed 10 to 100 times faster than using traditional
techniques.
IIika's chief executive Graeme Purdy is a Sainsbury Management
Fellow. . As such he received a scholarship to study for an MBA .
SMF was established in 1987 by Lord Sainsbury to position engineers
as UK business leaders. Each year up to 14 scholarships are awarded
to top class engineers.
"Ilika is the prefect example of how a UK manufacturing company
is performing strongly in a higher value sector. The SMF Society
strongly believes that to increase the competitiveness of the UK
economy more directors are needed in UK boardrooms that have the
knowledge of how products are imagined, designed, made and work,
combined with complementary business and management skills set
within a global mindset. Graeme Purdy's has proven this with the
success of Ilika," said SMF president David Falzani.
"We are delighted by the strong support new and existing
shareholders have shown for developing the business through an AIM
listing. Ilika is already generating revenues from its own two
successful biomedical products and has a pipeline of materials
partnered with large multinational companies. This listing marks
the beginning of a new phase in the Company's development, where
its technology will help meet the need for advanced new materials,
particularly in the energy and electronic industries," said Ilika
chief executive, Graeme Purdy.
The income generated through the floating of Ilika will be used
to fund the further development of identified materials for the
energy, electronics and biomedical sectors.
