Ilika PLC's (AIM:IKA, OTCQX:ILIKF) shares rose 7% after the company secured a £1.25 million UK government grant to advance production of its Goliath solid-state batteries for electric vehicles.
The funding is part of the DRIVE35 programme under the Advanced Propulsion Centre’s Demonstrate fund and supports a 12-month project starting in August 2025.
Ilika will collaborate with manufacturing consultancy HSSMI and use the electrode production facilities at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre.
The initiative, called PRIMED, builds on previous government-backed projects and aims to produce and test 50 ampere-hour battery samples as a step towards full-scale industrial production.
HSSMI will develop a production-scale model and business case to help scale manufacturing to gigafactory levels, which are large-scale battery factories critical for electric vehicle supply chains.
"This programme will be of great interest to potential licensees, supporting our view that the next 12 months will be fast-paced and transformational for Goliath and Ilika," said Cavendish in a note to clients.
The broker says 'buy' up to 133p. The shares were up 2.89p at 41.89p.