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FOR SHARE PRICE INFORMATION & LATEST NEWS ON MILLBROOK SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS PLC PLEASE VISIT THE WEBSITE OF THE LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE. ENTER THE CODE "MBK" IN THE PRICE SEARCH FACILITY ON THE HOMEPAGE OR CLICK HERE. AQUILA INSTRUMENTS MOVES TO BLACKBURN Operations at the Aquila Cambridge site ceased in September and the business has now been integrated into Millbrook’s operations in Blackburn. Dr Mark Beal has been appointed Product Manager for the Aquila Division. Mark recently completed a PhD in Physics at York University. His research was focused on the properties of thin films used by the magnetic storage industry. FIRST DELIVERIES OF NEW MINISIMS PRODUCT LINES The first MiniSIMS HDA automatic testing system, ordered by a large Japanese electronics company, is due to be shipped on 15 November. The second instrument, a MiniSIMS ToF ordered by a large international jewellery manufacturer, is due to be shipped in December. Each of these instruments is the first of its kind to be shipped and the time required to optimise performance has been greater than anticipated. Nevertheless, the difficult development phase is over and these more advanced product lines have received an overwhelmingly positive response from potential customers following in-house demonstrations. EXPORT EXPANSION CONTINUES TO DOMINATE MILLBROOK SALES The Millbrook Group has continued to increase its global reach. New markets penetrated for the first time last financial year included Australia and Greece. A MiniSIMS sold to a semiconductor company near Beijing was our tenth instrument sale to China. Two further MiniSIMS were sold to South Korea making a total of five now operating in that country. Performance in Asia has been impressive with overall sales increasing by 92% in that region. General market projections show Asia as the region where disproportionately high growth in scientific instruments is expected in the next few years. In North America a joint selling venture has been set between Micro Materials Limited and MVA Scientific Consultants of Atlanta. This should ensure that the NanoTest gets far greater exposure to potential purchasers in the USA, and the venture has already generated a number of valuable leads. HRH DUKE OF KENT VISITS MILLBROOK Millbrook Scientific Instruments PLC of Blackburn received a visit from HRH The Duke of Kent on Tuesday 14 March. Millbrook Instruments Limited was a winner of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise last year for growing sales by 250% in three years. The Duke, accompanied by the Vice Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, was welcomed by Dr Peter Stefanini, Millbrook’s Executive Chairman, who began by giving a brief overview of the company outlining its range of innovative scientific instruments. The Duke was then introduced to Dr John Eccles, Director and joint founder of Millbrook, who showed the Duke how to operate the MiniSIMS, the unique instrument which has been chiefly responsible for the Company’s global sales growth. In a practical demonstration of the instrument’s effectiveness in surface quality control, the Duke carried out an examination of hypodermic needles to check whether they had been correctly coated with a surfactant layer only nanometres thick. Peter Vohralik, Technical Director, explained how the instruments are manufactured and outlined the Company’s development programme, which in 2006 has already created several new models for sale. Sales Director, Dr Nick Long, explained how demand for the Company’s products was driven by industry’s increasing requirement to move away from monolithic materials to materials which incorporate performance-enhancing coatings, to reduce costs, make products lighter as well to achieve completely new properties. Citing car headlamps, which over a number of years have changed from solid metal to multi-layer plastic, as an example, it was shown how important it was to ensure that nanoscale coatings had been correctly applied at the right thickness. Millbrook’s instruments provide the means for analysing and measuring such coatings both for quality control in existing products and development of new products. The Duke met other staff at Millbrook including Richard Greenslade, Software Manager, who demonstrated the company’s latest software for three dimensional analysis of surfaces. There was also a brief reception attended by the Mayor, Mayoress and Deputy Chief Executive of Blackburn with Darwen. Before leaving, His Royal Highness unveiled a plaque to commemorate his visit to Millbrook. To see photographs of the visit, please click here. MILLBROOK EXTENDS VERSATILITY OF MINISIMS INSTRUMENT Millbrook Scientific Instruments plc (AIM: MBK), the designer and manufacturer of innovative scientific instruments used for nanoscale investigations of surfaces, coatings and thin films, has launched a new Time-of-Flight (‘TOF’) version of its desktop MiniSIMS analytical device. The MiniSIMS is based on a technology known as Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS). It is an automated, self-contained, mobile instrument, which provides a comprehensive and low cost route to surface chemical characterisation in three dimensions. The existing MiniSIMS instrument scans for each element in turn, whereas the new TOF version measures all elements simultaneously – enabling faster analysis and over 100 times more efficient use of the sample in a typical analysis. This is especially important when the quantity of sample is limited or in cases where there is only one opportunity for analysis – when examining a small isolated defect, for instance. By detecting all available information at once, the new TOF MiniSIMS is more effective in identifying unexpected contaminants, allowing failure analysis as well as quality monitoring in a production environment. The TOF version is also much more powerful for the analysis of organic materials (including polymer additives and biomolecules) and analysis of small areas (such as the features on electronic devices). The TOF MiniSIMS was launched at the SIMS XV Conference in Manchester, UK in September. This four day international conference is held every two years and attracts over 350 academic and industrial delegates from all corners of the globe. Dr. John Eccles, Commercial Director and co-founder of Millbrook Instruments Limited said: “The SIMS conference series is a truly international discussion forum for the community, and is held in a different part of the world each time. It is fitting that we chose SIMS XV in Manchester to launch the TOF MiniSIMS when this major event was being held less than 30 miles from our Blackburn facility where the MiniSIMS was first developed.” Interest in the TOF MiniSIMS has been strong, with Millbrook progressing numerous conference enquiries from as far as Japan, Singapore and the US West Coast. Dr. Eccles explains: “The ever-increasing demand for nanoscale analytical instruments such as the MiniSIMS is fuelled by a fundamental shift from homogeneous bulk materials to multi-layered composites – with surfaces engineered to perform specialist functions. These modern materials have become part of everyday life: from coloured architectural steel to self-cleaning windows; replacement hip joints to spectacle lenses; and mobile phones to widescreen TVs.” For further details, please visit the MiniSIMS website NEW APPOINTMENTS Millbrook Scientific Instruments plc (AIM: MBK) has made three senior appointments at its subsidiaries in Blackburn and Cambridge. At Millbrook Instruments in Blackburn, Clive Jones and Richard Greenslade have joined as Business Development Manager and Software Manager respectively. In Cambridge, Andrew Turner has joined Aquila Instruments as International Sales Manager. Clive Jones, Business Development Manager, has many years of experience in SIMS analysis, particularly in relation to semiconductors and electronic materials, which he will draw upon to develop new applications for the MiniSIMS in these industries. Clive is working in collaboration with potential clients in Europe, USA and Asia on product developments to meet their needs. He has previously worked for Advanced Micro Devices, Philips Semiconductors and Charles Evans & Associates, and conducted his postdoctoral research in mass spectrometry. Richard Greenslade, Software Manager, has joined Millbrook Instruments from the scientific instrument giant, Thermo Electron Corporation and has extensive experience of software for data acquisition and for control of high precision instrumentation. His key responsibility at Millbrook Instruments is the development of new software systems for Millbrook’s suite of instruments, with a view to increasing both speed of analysis and user friendliness. Andrew Turner, International Sales Manager, has joined Aquila Instruments from BFI Optilas, a leading UK distributor of laser instruments and opto-mechanical equipment. Andrew has previously worked for Melles Griot and KLA-Tencor and has a broad range of experience in the semiconductor and photonics industries. In addition to being the main point of contact for customers, Andrew will manage technical sales and provide distributor training and support. Commenting on the appointments, Dr Peter Stefanini, Executive Chairman of Millbrook Scientific Instruments plc said: “We are delighted to welcome Clive, Richard and Andrew to the team. Each is a consummate professional in his field and will make a major contribution to our growth. We have ambitious targets, which can most readily be achieved through meeting customer needs with elegant and effective technical solutions presented in a straightforward way. The identification of new applications, the development of software and technical selling are essential elements of this strategy.” MILLBROOK WELCOMES THE FOREIGN SECRETARY AND THE CHINESE AMBASSADOR The Foreign Secretary, The Right Hon Jack Straw, and the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in the UK, Zha Peixin, visited Millbrook Scientific Instruments (AIM: MBK) on Friday 22 July at the Blackburn Technology Centre in Lancashire. The Ambassador was accompanied by his wife and the First Secretary from the Chinese Embassy. Dr Peter Stefanini, Executive Chairman of Millbrook, welcomed the guests and made a presentation of Millbrook’s business, highlighting the company’s impressive sales growth in export markets, which led to a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Millbrook Instruments Ltd earlier this year. Millbrook’s 150 customers include international blue-chip companies and some of the world’s leading universities, where the instruments are used for both development and quality control in such diverse applications as electronics, medical technology, magnetic storage, and coated glass, metals and other materials. A strong global movement towards surface-engineered products – materials with ultra thin coatings – and therefore the need for instrumentation to characterise these coatings, has been identified as the main driver for the growth of the business. Dr Nick Long, Sales Director, illustrated this by reference to a new type of headlamp reflector in which metal had been replaced by an aluminised polymer system. Dr Stefanini drew attention to the importance of the Chinese market to Millbrook’s export growth. To date ten instruments have been sold both to industry and to universities across China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Nanchang, Wuhan, Lanzhou, and Chongquin. The guests were given a tour of the production unit by Technical Director, Peter Vohralik, where they received a demonstration of the unique Millbrook MiniSIMS. The party were also introduced to engineers from a Chinese semiconductor manufacturing plant, which recently purchased a MiniSIMS from Millbrook. By coincidence, the engineers were on site in Blackburn to receive training for the instrument. Afterwards a discussion took place over lunch. Mr Straw was particularly interested in the reasons why the Company had chosen Blackburn to locate its business. Dr John Eccles, Commercial Director and one of the founders of Millbrook, explained that the Blackburn Technology Centre had been an ideal place to site a start-up. The availability of small units at reasonable rents with back –up office facilities and the helpful attitude of the Council had been the key factors in Millbrook’s decision to become one of the centre’s first three tenants, shortly after the company was established in 1995. Ambassador Zha was curious to know what Millbrook considered to be the greatest barriers to setting up a business from scratch. He was told that the two aspects Millbrook had found the most challenging were sourcing development funds to build the business and establishing credibility with potential customers. Commenting on the visit, Dr Peter Stefanini, said: “We were honoured to welcome such distinguished guests to Millbrook and to be able to highlight the success of our company. The Chinese market offers a huge export opportunity for Millbrook and our discussions during this visit have resulted in a number of useful new contacts.” MILLBROOK INSTRUMENTS LIMITED RECEIVES QUEEN’S AWARD FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE Millbrook Instruments Limited today announces that it has received the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category. Millbrook Instruments Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Millbrook Scientific Instruments plc (AIM:MBK). The International Trade category of the Queen’s Award recognises that, during the last three years, Millbrook has demonstrated substantial growth in overseas earnings and commercial success, to levels that are outstanding for the goods, services or size of business concerned. This achievement has already received praise from UK Trade & Investment, who presented Millbrook with an award for ‘outstanding achievement in international trade’ less than a month ago. Up to the year 2001, Millbrook (then comprising just 3 people)
focused its marketing activity on the UK. In 2001, however,
the company turned its attention to the global market in order
to widen the MiniSIMS user base and establish a dominant position
in this emerging niche market. To cope with the increasing demand,
the Millbrook team has now grown to 11 people, who are responsible
for technical sales, production, testing, installation and after-sales
service of the equipment. This approach has proved highly successful
– sales have risen by 265% over the last three years and
over 80% of sales revenue is now generated from exports. |
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