KEY POINTS:
Ross Green is excited. The managing director of Auckland-based electronic motor maker Wellington Drive Technologies says the NZX-listed company is ready to reach a new level this year.
"If we're writing the history of the company in 18 months ... we'll probably be saying to everybody the beginning of 2008 - that was the time when we saw the company really begin business of truly commercial scale," Green said.
"I think it's clear that we're on the verge of beginning to deliver the appropriate return and that's enormously exciting of course."'
Last week Wellington Drive agreed to a share placement with UBS Global Asset Management raising more than $12.8 million in return for a 9.2 per cent stake.
UBS's SRI Global Innovator Fund will get 31 million shares at 41.5c each. Shares closed yesterday 43c.
The new capital will be used to invest more heavily and as a consequence the forecast break even point has been pushed back to about the second half of the 2009 calendar year.
"The mission for us has never been small profitability," Green said.
"The investors are supporting for the target of large profitability and to do that we need large revenues and to achieve large revenues we need to operate on a world scale," he said.
The company's electronic motors and software can enable power to be mapped and controlled, weight reduced by up to three-quarters and annual electricity bills cut by about 40 per cent.
Last year the company signed a memorandum of understanding with Panasonic Refrigeration Devices Singapore - which makes about 18 million compressors a year - to develop its high efficiency motor, electronics and software for Panasonic compressors used in home appliances.
This month a development, manufacturing and distribution agreement was signed with a major international company. The identity of the company was confidential but the contracted value of development and production engineering was more than $1.5 million, with products to be launched by the customer this year and early 2009 and revenue from manufacturing expected to grow from 2009 onwards.
The company hoped to reach more agreements this year, Green said.
The introduction of a large new investor at a time when the company was visibility accelerating would help focus the attention of customers, he said. "Our customers are worldwide and one of the things that our customers really want to see is a bit of spread in the investor base and I think the entrance of UBS fills that perfectly for us."
Wellington Drive's investors were committed to targeting the largest possible market share for the company, Green said.
The new funds would strengthen sales, marketing and support, reduce the time between prototype and full production, bring forward research and improve the ability to deliver in volume - including a manufacturing facility in Singapore.
