(ZYT) Zytronic

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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5398b718-20f0-11e1-8a43-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1fvIqkGhb

December 8, 2011 2:34 am
Zytronic explores south-east Asia expansion
By Chris Tighe

Zytronic, the Tyneside-based touch sensor specialist, said it was exploring the potential of expansion into Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia as it reported rising demand for its products.
Zytronic full-year results to 30 September 2011
Sales Pre-tax profit Earnings per share Dividend
£20.5m £3.6m 18.3p 5.6p
↑ 11% ↑ 22% ↑ 23% ↑ 12%
The company, which exports 92 per cent of its output, has also strengthened its research and development team to step up work on its sensors’ electronics and software.

As well as long-established use in rugged outdoor applications such as ATMs, where it supplies two of the three biggest manufacturers, Zytronic’s products are being increasingly used in sectors such as self-service, vending and industrial automation.
Among the applications which drove growth in the year to September 30 were sales to Coca-Cola for its Freestyle drinks fountain and to Gaggenau for a new induction cooktop.
Touch sensor sales in the 12 months rose by 38 per cent to £14.2m ($22.3m) and accounted for 70 per cent of total group revenue, up from 56 per cent the previous year. But orders for non-touch products fell and the company is simplifying the design so that it can continue to make these products profitably while meeting customers’ needs.
Pre-tax profit rose 22 per cent to £3.6m, while earnings per share rose 23 per cent to 18.3p on sales up 11 per cent to £20.5m.
The proposed final dividend is 5.6p, giving a 10 per cent increase for the year to 7.7p.
Brewin Dolphin, house broker, raised its current year pre-tax profit forecast to £3.8m from £3.7m. The shares closed down 1.5p at 223.5p.

Zytronic – touch the futureLONG-TERM BUY
15/06/2011 Ben Jaglom
http://www.growthcompany.co.uk/recommendations/1630468/zytronic-touch-the-future.thtml

With a wide variety of applications in everything from gambling to the vending machines of the future, touch sensor manufacturer Zytronic holds some exciting growth prospects, reports Ben Jaglom

Though the country is currently experiencing a number of challenges that range in nature from cutbacks in the public sector to relatively high inflation, there are a number of British companies bucking the trend. Prominent among these is Zytronic, a Blaydon-on-Tyne-based firm that specialises in the production of touch sensors and optical filters for electronic displays currently benefiting from an increasing demand for its products from a range of big-name customers and leading the way into the future with its innovative technology.

Its wares are used in everything from cash points to gaming machines, in industries that include the military, telecommunications and medicine. In addition, while a number of British businesses are outsourcing their work to China and the Far East, Zytronic carries out most of its work at its factories in the UK, where its range of drilling, heating, cutting and polishing equipment is able to manufacture a variety of its devices.

An AIM veteran, Zytronic has been on the junior market since 2000, while the company has been in the optical glass laminating industry for over 30 years, having made a number of filters and electronic displays with uses including the facial visors used by the police, glass panels and the optical displays used in cash points. Since 2000 the company has manufactured a range of touch sensor products, providing what it calls a ‘blend of high durability and environmental stability’ together with the ability to ‘customise the product for shape and size thickness.’

Today the company is focused on selling to a range of customers, and is perhaps best known for its work in developing much of the technology behind Coca-Cola’s new range of interactive vending machines, named ‘Freestyle’.



Strategy
For several years now, Zytronic has focused on the touch sensor side of its business, which boasts that it offers a unique form of technology, which it calls ‘projected capacitive technology’, or PCT. The company argues that this technology enables it to produce touch sensors that have higher levels of toughness and clarity beyond what was previously attainable.

Its range of touch sensors have a set of similar-sounding names and include ZYTOUCH, ZYBRID, ZYPOS, ZYBRIDFILM, ZYPROFILM and ZYSWITCH. While it boasts that all of its products are both ‘dependable’ and ‘low maintenance’, they are used in a variety of different functions and applications. ZYFILM is a transparent touch panel for use in front of an LCD, while ZYPROFILM does not require an LCD and can be used in systems up to 82 inches across. The two products are typically used in applications such as retail, advertising and exhibitions for signage and information systems.

Meanwhile, its ZYPOS and ZYBRID sensors both boast of providing protection against ‘physical, mechanical and chemical abuse’, with both the sensors used in the gaming, point-of-sale (POS) and in-car equipment sectors. ZYTOUCH is its most resilient sensor, providing ‘unrivalled protection against a wide range of physical threats’.

The company has focused on the touch sensor side of its business due to the variety of industries in which touch sensors can be used: medical devices, gaming and banking, among others. As Mark Cambridge enthuses, ‘The strategy for some time has been to focus on continual growth in the touch screen sector and, as a result, in our latest results 66 per cent of turnover came from this division.’

One area in which the company has attracted the attention of investors is in its work for Coca-Cola’s ‘Freestyle’ vending machines. The machines, which Coca-Cola plans to roll ou