Itaconix plc

("Itaconix" or the "Company")

Half year results for the period ended 30 June 2023

Itaconix (LSE: ITX) (OTCQB: ITXXF), a leading innovator in sustainable plant-based polymers used to decarbonize everyday consumer products, is pleased to announce its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2023.

A copy of the Interim Report & Accounts is available for download on Itaconix's website at www.itaconix.com.

John R. Shaw, CEO of Itaconix, commented:  

"Recurring and new orders from our expanding customer base generated our fifth consecutive year of record first-half revenues. With this commercial progress, we are leveraging our proprietary technology platform to achieve key milestones towards our goal of becoming a large, profitable specialty ingredient company.  

With higher revenues, higher gross profits, and continued control over operating expenses, our Adjusted EBITDA¹ improved to the lowest loss in the last five six-month periods.  

With our proprietary technology platform, established production capabilities, and successful fundraise in February 2023, we have entered a new era of development with immediate and long-term prospects for expansive growth.  Our current products and customer project pipeline are expected to allow us to pursue much larger revenues. The Company is on course to deliver full year 2023 results in line with expectations. Importantly, our plant-based solutions for sustainable consumer needs are also continuing to make a notable contribution to the development and success of the Low-Carbon Economy."

• First half revenues of $4.0 million were 32% higher than the first half of 2022, 59% higher than the second half of 2022.  
• Gross profits were $1.1 million, representing an increase of 49% over the first half of 2022 and an increase of 56% over the second half of 2022.  
• Gross profit margin was 28% compared to 25% for the first half of 2022.  Gross profit margin on Performance Ingredients was 34% compared to 29% for the first half of 2022. This improvement in gross profit margin was due to selective price increases, stable raw material costs, lower transportation costs, more favorable USD exchange rates, a more favorable blend of product and account revenues, and higher volumes.  
• Adjusted EBITDA1 was a loss of $0.4 million, compared to a loss of $0.6 million for the first half of 2022 and a loss of $0.8 million for the second half of 2022, including continued investment spending on major new revenue opportunities.
• In February 2023, the Company completed an equity raise with net proceeds of $11.5 million for working capital, select capital spending, and continued investment in new revenue opportunities for the Company’s next chapter of growth.  
• Cash and Cash Equivalents as at 30 June 2023 was $10.9 million, compared to $0.6 million as at 31 December 2022.  

Company Milestones: 

• Cleaning revenues were $3.7 million for the first half of 2023 compared to $2.7 million in the first half of 2022, reflecting market gains for non-phosphate detergents using Itaconix® TSI™ 322. Continued growth is expected in North America and Europe as current customers gain market share, new customers go into full production with new formulations, and additional customers emerge in the second half of 2023 from the current pipeline of new cleaning projects.  
• Combined hygiene and beauty revenues were unchanged at $0.4 million for the first half of 2023.  Initial successes with new direct accounts are expected to generate higher revenue growth in the second half of 2023 and into 2024.
• Polymer research and process development on the Company’s plant-based superabsorbents have succeeded in achieving absorption performance that is closer to the incumbent acrylate superabsorbent polymers. These breakthroughs are milestones towards the Company’s goal of introducing a more competitive product with broader market appeal in late 2024 or 2025.   
• The Company completed its first capital expenditure investment from the most recent fundraise with the purchase and installation of a new laboratory reactor for small scale-up production of its BIO*Asterix plant based intermediates. Continued development through 2023 is expected to allow the marketing and sale of research quantities in the first half of 2024.
• Dr. Peter Nieuwenhuizen, who joined as an Independent Non-Executive Director and Interim Chair in July 2022, was appointed as Non-Executive Chair in January 2023.
• Paul LeBlanc was appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee in January 2023.  He brings decades of financial and operating experience as CFO of Bemis Associates, Inc., a global manufacturer of specialty films and adhesives for the industrial and apparel markets.
• Itaconix received the Frost & Sullivan 2022 North American Enabling Technology Leadership Award in the bio-based polymer industry, announced in March 2023.  
• The Company appointed Canaccord Genuity Limited as Joint Broker in April 2023.

The Company also announces that its Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker, finnCap Ltd, has now changed its name to Cavendish Capital Markets Ltd following completion of its own corporate merger.

¹Adjusted EBITDA is defined and reconciled to Operating loss in Note 4 of the Interim Report. 

For full release, please download the full news release.