Commercial momentum

Commercial activity accelerated sharply in the second half of last year. Revenues from the sale of electrodes and catalysts were significantly higher than in the first half of the year.

Acta is delighted that, in addition to consumer electronics, it is now selling products into the automotive market. Acta's catalysts have great potential for automotive use because current fuel cell cars contain prohibitive levels of platinum and because Acta's catalysts permit alternative fuels to hydrogen. Acta's catalysts uniquely work with bio-ethanol, which is already in widespread use as an automotive fuel.

In response to the US Department of Energy's report in February 2006, that ammonia would be an ideal carrier for hydrogen if only the hydrogen could be efficiently extracted, Acta has developed a highly effective catalyst for the low temperature production of hydrogen by ammonia electrolysis. Acta will be demonstrating this technology for the first time alongside key partner Sumitomo Corporation at Fuel Cell Expo, the world's largest fuel cell and hydrogen exhibition, in Tokyo next month.

Further engagement and revenues in the near term are likely.

Technical acceptance

Acta's core patent was granted in the EU in December and the Company filed two further patent applications in the second half of 2006. Awareness of Acta's breakthrough catalysts has led to a sharp increase in global interest in the use of anion exchange membrane fuel cells. In December, Los Alamos National Laboratories and the US Department of Defense hosted a high profile industry conference to promote additional research into this technology, citing the commercial potential of Acta's catalysts as one of the motivations for this new initiative.

Operational scale-up

In December, Acta created an Operations team to meet rising customer shipments and to manage the process of production scale-up during 2007. Acta already has sufficient installed capacity to reach profitability and to meet the current needs of the global fuel cell industry.

Financial control

Acta's tight control on expenditure means that cash utilisation in 2006 was within plan and expectations, despite the increase in commercial and production activity.

Acta plans to announce its preliminary results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2006 on Tuesday 20 March 2007.

About Acta:
Acta, which was admitted to AIM in October 2005, is a manufacturer of platinum-free catalysts for the portable electronics and renewables markets. Acta uses a patented manufacturing process to make uniquely active catalysts, branded HYPERMEC, which are able to perform as effectively as expensive platinum catalysts. Acta's catalysts offer customers technical usage benefits, significant cost savings and allow for the first time the use of ethanol, which is a safe and environmentally friendly fuel. Products in the target portable electronics market include laptop computers and mobile phones, and in the
renewables market include electricity supply, automotive power and hydrogen generation.

Acta's new ammonia electrolyser catalyst is based on the same HYPERMEC technology as its other catalysts. The ammonia electrolyser may represent a breakthrough in the search for a solution to the intractable problem of providing hydrogen fuel supply for fuel cells in a practical, safe and economical manner. Opinion leaders in the fuel cell industry have identified hydrogen generation, transport and storage as the key barriers to the widespread introduction of hydrogen fuel cells to the market. Acta's new electrolyser breaks ammonia (NH3) into nitrogen (which already makes up 79% or our air) and hydrogen with no harmful by-products. This is achieved at room temperature using a fraction of the electricity input required to remove the hydrogen from water (water electrolysis). Ammonia is one of the most widely used and  transportedchemicals on the planet: 140 million tons were produced last year, mainly for use in fertilizers, and it is widely manufactured, transported and stored without environmental harm.

Los Alamos National Laboratories is one of the leading technical institutes in the US and has been a pioneer in the development of Direct Methanol Fuel Cells over the past decade. Its interest in promoting awareness of Acta's technology is therefore of great importance.