Cleantech Building Materials: Annual Results to 31 December 2020

31 March 2021

CLEANTECH BUILDING MATERIALS PLC, NASDAQ FIRST NORTH GROWTH MARKET COPENHAGEN

TICKER: CBM

Cleantech Building Materials plc

Annual Results to 31 December 2020

Cleantech Building Materials plc (“CBM” or the “Company” or the “Group”), presents its results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2020. The audited financial statements are appended to this announcement.

Chairman’s Statement

Despite the Covid-19 challenges in 2020, CBM is now in a stronger position for transformative growth in the coming years. Shortly before Covid 19 restrictions were imposed in both China and Europe, the Executive Team had held successful discussions and negotiations with our Joint Venture Partners Nantong Acetic Acid Company (“NTACC”) and a road map was agreed to conclude the negotiations on the Joint Venture Agreement and proceed with all of the steps necessary to commence construction of the factory to produce Accoya^® wood. This road map involved meetings both in China and at Accsys Technologies PLC’s Accoya^® wood factory in Arnhem, Netherlands. Once Covid 19 restrictions came into force these meetings and visits could no longer take place and both ourselves and NTACC have had to find alternative ways to move our joint venture forward. This has taken much more time and the on-going travel restrictions continue to present significant challenges.

However, I am pleased to report that this has been successfully achieved and today we signed the Joint Venture Agreement with NTAAC.

NTAAC is one of China’s leading speciality chemical companies, serving global multinational food and beverage producers in the US and Europe. NTAAC is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of €395 million.

Following consultations with local government officials in Jiangsu province, CBM and NTAAC have established the timing and key milestones of the construction of the Accoya^® Wood factory.  A schedule for the construction of the Accoya^® factory and the corresponding financing has been agreed. The factory will be built in the Jiangsu Rudong Yangkou Port Economic Development Zone.

Under the terms of the Joint Venture Agreement CBM’s subsidiary, Diamond Wood China (“DW”), will be the majority shareholder in the joint venture company. Additionally, DW will receive royalties based on profits from the joint venture company. CBM’s equity investments into the joint venture will be financed through its subscription agreement for €15m euros with a private family office (“Investor”).

For its part, NTAAC has significant cash reserves from which it will make its equity investments into the joint venture. Debt funding will be provided by the Bank of Jiangsu who have agreed to provide a facility of €26m euros to fund the construction of the Accoya^® Wood factory.

The Board continues to remain of the view that there is sufficient demand in China and the ASEAN territories to warrant the construction of an Accoya^® Wood factory in China.

The Group has generally maintained revenues at €857,000 despite the Covid-19 impact, and the Group has reduced its loss for the 12 months ended 31 December 2020 to €4,116,000 versus €4,490,000 in 2019.

I would like to take this opportunity to again express my sincere gratitude to my fellow Directors and staff for their hard work and commitment over the past year.

I look forward to providing you with further updates at our next Annual General Meeting in June 2021.

Strategy and Objectives

The Group’s primary strategic objectives for 2021 are to:

1. To engage a leading engineering, procurement and construction firm to lead the construction of an Accoya^® wood manufacturing facility in China.
2. Together with the Group’s chemical industry joint venture partner, NTAAC, to ensure that the Accoya^® wood manufacturing facility is constructed on time and on budget, and operated efficiently.
3. To build relationships with large-volume wood product manufacturers through testing and trials in anticipation of Accoya^® wood being produced in the Group’s own factory.
4. To develop the Group’s marketing and sales initiatives to further expand market channels and offtake agreements in the Chinese and ASEAN markets.

Financial Overview

The Group’s revenues for the 12 months ended 31 December 2020 reduced to €857,000 (2019: €927,000) and consisted mainly of Accoya^® wood sales to customers in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.

The Group realised a net loss of €4,116,000 for the year to 31 December 2020 (2019: €4,490,000). As at 31 December 2020, the Group had cash and cash equivalents of €25,000 (2019: €283,000) as well as an available facility of approximately €3.2m (“Loan Facility”), and an equity commitment to finance the Joint Venture of an additional €15m. The Company has net current liabilities of €797,000 (2019: €588,000).

During the course of 2020 DW continued to invest in the development of its marketing and sales operations in China and the ASEAN countries, which resulted in more new offtake agreements being added to the growing list of manufacturers and wholesalers in the region committing to purchase significant volumes of Accoya^® wood. These agreements, and the ongoing business with our existing base of distribution partners, attest to a strong and increasing demand for Accoya^® wood in the region.

Once the Group is producing its own Accoya^Ò wood, the Board believes the financial performance of the Group will be radically transformed.

Going Concern

The Directors have considered the future liquidity of the Group in light of the net loss of €4,116,000 (2019: loss of €4,490,000) during the current year and the net current liabilities as at 31 December 2020 of €797,000 (2019: €588,000) and the material uncertainty regarding the Group’s ability to execute the Group’s business plan.

The Directors have reviewed the Group’s cash flow projections prepared by management covering a period of twelve months from the date of the approval of the consolidated financial statements. Management’s projections make key assumptions with regard to (i) the anticipated cash flows from the Group’s operations, (ii) the availability of future funding from the Loan Facility, and (iii) the financing from the Investor, NTAAC and Bank of Jiangsu. Covid-19 contributed to the delay in finalising the joint venture agreement with NTAAC due to travel restrictions. Fortunately, within the Nantong region there have been no reported cases of Covid-19 in the past half year, and it is the belief of management that engineering and construction may proceed along a revised schedule. If there is another outbreak in the Nantong region, it could result in delays, although the joint venture management will work to keep such delays to a minimum. In December 2020, the Group obtained an additional loan facility of €1m to March 2022 to support the Group’s operations.

Based on these cash flow projections, the Group will have sufficient financial resources in the twelve months period from the date of approval of the consolidated financial statements to meet its financial obligations as and when they fall due.

Accordingly, the Directors consider that it is appropriate to prepare the consolidated financial statements on a going concern basis.

Should the Group be unable to continue as a going concern, adjustments would have to be made to restate the value of assets to their recoverable amounts, to provide for further liabilities that might arise and to reclassify non-current assets and non-current liabilities as current assets and current liabilities. The effect of these potential adjustments has not been reflected in the consolidated financial statements.

Future Developments

The Group continues to advance its discussions with potential partners to significantly grow its business and to construct and operate its own Accoya^Ò Wood manufacturing facility. The Group expects to commence construction of its own Accoya^® Wood manufacturing facility during late 2021 or early 2022.

THE DIRECTORS OF CLEANTECH BUILDING MATERIALS PLC ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONTENTS OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT

Further information may be found at the Company's website at www.cbm-plc.com

Further Enquiries:

Cleantech Building Materials plc Adrian Wyn-Griffiths	info@cbm-plc.com +44 20 3934 6630
Keswick Global AG (Certified Adviser)	info@keswickglobal.com +43 1 740 408045
IFC Advisory Limited (Financial PR) Tim Metcalfe Zach Cohen	+44 20 3934 6630

The information communicated in this announcement is “inside information” for the purposes of article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014.

Attachment

• FINAL CBM - FY accounts to Dec 2020 DOCUMENT 310321

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