A “game changer”. That’s what Terry Ball, President and CEO of Burlington’s Innovative Composites (TSXV:IC) called today’s announcement that his company had secured a contract with Barclays Gedi Group to supply approximately (US) $68 million of its EcoScape Housing for projects in Ghana and Haiti.
Today’s news comes after last September’s agreement with Barclays Gedi to license Innovative’s patent protected housing design in five African countries. Barclays Gedi pegs annual housing sales at $50-million per country, which would mean (US) $6-million for each license granted to Innovative Composites bottom line.
Innovative Composites was formed in 2007 and has attracted some high level talent in the form of Ball, who spent eighteen years at Magma, and Jerry Olszewski from Chrysler. The company has steadily built an intellectual property portfolio based around improving the materials used in everyday products. The company’s Structure Lite product provides a molecular bond between structural fibres and can be used in anything from horse trailers to marine docks to pedestrian bridges. Its Hero 451 product line includes BlanketHero, an antimicrobial fire blanket that will not ignite.
But it’s clearly EcoScape, the company’s building offering, that is driving up shares of Innovative Composites today. The company touts the product, which uses thermoplastic composite panels, as a safer greener and more affordable solution than is currently available. And there is clearly a need. The international non-profit organization Habitat for Humanity estimates that, worldwide, more than two billion people are in need of general housing.
Wayne Gerl, President of BGG said Ecoscape is a perfect fit for these housing projeects because they are “quickly and easily assembled by local labour”
As part of the project, Innovative Composites will open a second plant in South Carolina. BGG has the right of first refusal to purchase up to 75 per cent of the product output of the South Carolina facility for a period of five years. Innovative says it expects Ecoscape to ship in the first quarter of 2012.
At press time shares of Innovative Composites were up 11% to $1 a share.
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About The Author /
Cantech Letter founder and editor Nick Waddell has lived in five Canadian provinces and is proud of his country's often overlooked contributions to the world of science and technology. Waddell takes a regular shift on the Canadian media circuit, making appearances on CTV, CBC and BNN, and contributing to publications such as Canadian Business and Business Insider.
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