ATOME Energy PLC (AIM:ATOM) chief executive Oliver Muscat said the initial public offering in December and subsequent events have shown it to be “the right company at the right time for the green energy market”.
In a statement alongside the inaugural results from the AIM-listed developer of green hydrogen and ammonia projects, Muscat said it has exceeded the original expectations at the time of the IPO both in scale and timing.
When it was spun out of President Energy and onto London’s junior market, it had two core projects in Paraguay and Iceland and since floating has added a further site in Paraguay, in Villeta, and created a new Mobility division to supply green energy for transport.
ATOME has had “extensive” customer interest and government support as the Mobility arm expects to sell and deliver its first hydrogen for transport use in the South American country in the first half of next year, while the Villeta project adds to the original 250-300 MW project in Paraguay that is in the planning process, with the aim of having both producing hydrogen and ammonia within three years.
The results, presented as if the group had been operating for the full calendar year, showed a loss for the period of US$2.2mln, including US$0.7mln of listing-related expenses and US$1.2mln of expenditure under agreements with founding shareholders, the majority of which was incurred prior to the spin out, with loans to President since settled using the IPO funds.
Net proceeds of US$7mln were received from the IPO fundraising issue of new shares on admission to AIM on 30 December 2021. ATOME said the late timing of the event meant US$1.8mln was received in the year and another US$6.1mln presented on the balance sheet as a receivable in current assets for settlement in due course.
As chairman Peter Levine said, this first published annual report and accounts for the company are “somewhat of an anomaly” as a full admission document was published in late December 2021, only shortly before the year-end under report.
But as he added, "we have within those few short months, placed ourselves at the forefront in our field both in scale and with proven ability to move fast and exploit opportunities as they arise", which means next year "we expect to be generating our first revenues ahead of expectation at the time of the IPO".