North Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 22, 2023) - Aurora Solar Technologies Inc. (TSXV: ACU) ("Aurora") is pleased to provide an update regarding the integration of the acquisition of BT Imaging Pty Ltd. ("BTI"), the strategic direction for the combined business ("Company") and to remind shareholders of the upcoming AGM.
Aurora has been focused on the integration of BTI resulting in efficiencies and business focus together with a comprehensive market survey to better position the Company for growth.
Integration efforts included the closing of the Aurora Chinese office and maximizing synergies among sales, technical and administration teams. Aurora's personnel are now fully integrated within the BTI teams performing important roles critical to the progression of the BTI business. In addition, the Company has been able to recruit experienced employees and industry experts as consultants to improve the execution capability of the combined business. The Company is now in the process of establishing a strategic advisory board and hiring a Managing Director to run the BTI business which is expected to be completed shortly. The Company is well positioned to leverage its core competencies of photoluminescence ("PL") imaging products, machine learning and smart factory solutions.
As part of the integration, the fiscal year end of the BTI business has been changed to March 31st and the Company is currently undergoing its audit that is expected to be completed next month. BTI's existing products remain in demand and the Company's sales are progressing well and within management expectations consistent with its forecasting at the time of acquisition. Working capital has been used to meet the demand for sales and for the above referenced integration and acquisition costs and is expected to normalize within the second half of the calendar year. The BTI business remains self-funding.
Recently, the Company has been focused on a detailed market survey to better position the combined business for growth. This initiative has initially focused on top tier suppliers and customers in solar cell and module manufacturing. The purpose of this work is to accelerate short term growth through a well-defined product and market strategy that can be reinforced with an active capital markets presence. The Company has entered into a number of confidentiality agreements focused on opportunities to gain a larger percentage of the factory floor of its customer base through increased supply. Collaboration is focused on leveraging the Company's PL products, machine learning and smart factory capabilities while operational performance is being addressed by reducing production lead times and product manufacturing costs. The Company's core products remain in demand for off line production applications and through collaboration it is confident it will be able to expand into inline PL systems within the solar cell and module production lines.
The Company's booth at the SNEC 16th (2023) Photovoltaic Power Generation and Smart Energy Conference held in Shanghai, China on May 24-26, 2023 was well received by our customers and industry participants. BTI made a soft market launch of its R-Multi Junction ("RMJ") product at SNEC Conference which is the first new product it has launched since 2020. Interest in the RMJ was strong and it is a strategically positioned product for the characterization of next generation tandem solar cells. The Company recently presented at the 50th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference on June 11-16, 2023, held in San Juan, Puerto Rico. At this conference the Company made a presentation regarding its Insight platform that harnesses big data analytics to deliver smart factory solutions, such as, automatic location of underperforming process tools as well as fault detection and diagnosis.
Third party feedback from the market survey and the above conferences have validated the Company's competitive advantages and opportunities associated with machine learning and smart factory solutions that leverage the Company's PL imaging platforms. Since the acquisition of BTI, the Company has been able to realize synergies and pivot towards product and market opportunities in order to grow the combined business. The Company has built itself into a machine vision solutions provider for material inspection and process control systems to the solar industry and emerging industrial processes focused on automation, inspection of critical materials and smart factory concepts.
Finally, Aurora would like to remind its shareholders that its Annual General & Special Meeting will be held at 10:30 AM PT on June 30, 2023 at Suite 111, 409 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC.
The Board is unanimous in recommending that shareholders vote in favour of all resolutions put to them at the shareholder meeting.
About Aurora Solar Technologies and BT Imaging:
BT Imaging Pty Ltd. is a globally recognized technology leader in proprietary photoluminescence (PL) measurement products for material inspection and quality control throughout the solar wafer, cell and module value chain. Aurora Solar Technologies Inc. ("Aurora"), a related metrology and software company, acquired BTI with the aim to leverage its strong metrology platforms and computer vision capabilities to support its smart factory solutions that embrace emerging trends in automation and process control.
Aurora's and BTI's products are used by some of the world's most advanced and respected solar cell manufacturers. With headquarters near Vancouver, Canada, Aurora has operations in Sydney, Australia, Shanghai, China, and partners in all major solar manufacturing markets. Aurora is a public company, traded on the TSX Venture Exchange (ACU) and is a two-time TSX-V Top 50 winner. Aurora's website is located at www.aurorasolartech.com. BT Imaging's website is located at www.btimaging.com.
For further information contact:
Jake Bouma
Corporate Development
Phone: +1 (604) 317-3936
corpcomm@aurorasolartech.com
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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