Israeli company Dotz Nano Ltd. (ASX: DTZ) has announced that it raised A$2.5 million (NIS 6.7 million) in a private placement in Australia at A$0.09 per share, a 14.3% discount on the market price before the financing round, but 7.5% higher than the average share price over the past 30 days. The share price dropped 5.7% in today's trading, pushing the company's market cap down to A$16 million (NIS 43 million).
Dotz Nano issued 27.8 million new shares to investors. The company said that it would use the proceeds from the private placement mainly to finance its commercialization activities.
Dotz Nano manufactures and markets graphene quantum dots (GQDs) used in various industrial applications. When Dotz Nano's material is exposed to ultraviolet light, it emits energy in a color that changes according to the size, which makes it useful in detecting forgeries. The material is combined as a marker within a product providing a unique signature indicating that the product is not a fake.
Revenue surged in 2017
Dotz Nano's CEO and executive director is Uzi Breier, former CEO of Optibase, former president of Alvarion's mobile division, and former head of strategy and business development at Cicso Systems. Breier replaced Dotz Nano cofounder Moti Gross two months ago after Gross resigned for what was described as personal reasons. Breier published a letter to the company's investors two weeks ago saying that Dotz Nano had decided to focus on three main areas: the oil and gas industry, preventing fake cigarettes, perfumes, and drugs; and product liability. In the letter, Breier also reported the company's streamlining plans. "Together with marketing commercialization efforts, I have also implemented a plan for substantially reducing costs," he wrote. "We have cut our operating expenses by 20% by reducing outsourcing, cutting executive salaries, closing the activity in Singapore, and improving our procurement procedures."
Dotz Nano's revenue totaled $108,000 in 2017, five times as much as in 2016. The company is not making a profit, but its net loss was cut to $4.4 million, 47% less than in 2016. Dotz Nano became a public company in Australia by merging with a stock exchange shell in late 2016, while at the same time raising $6 million. The company's share has lost 75% of its value since the merger with the stock exchange shell.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 23, 2018
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