Frontier IP Group Plc (LON:FIPP) Chief Executive Officer Neil Crabb caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss their 24% stake in Cambridge Materials Testing Solutions.
Q1: You’ve announced that you’ve taken a 24% stake in a new spin-out, Cambridge Material Testing Solutions. Can you tell us what the company does?
A1: So centrally, it’s focussed on the problem in a range of industries, companies need to understand the materials they’re using because that’s a critical point of successful failure. So, if you think about nuclear, oil and gas, the aerospace sectors, all of them are dependent on the performance of the materials that they use.
Cambridge Materials Testing Solutions, which is the new company, is developing technology to help them to do this in a more rapid, cost-effective and accurate manner than other systems. It does that through a fleet of software called SEMPID which essentially takes the data it generates from test equipment and converts that into information that engineers can use to assess the strength and remaining working life of metal components.
The company is also developing new hardware to allow essentially in-situ testing by creating an indent and seeing how the material responds to that so that potentially the component doesn’t have to be removed from where it’s being used in order to predict whether it’s going to fail or not. That’s very attractive from an operating point of view for the company that’s using the critical component.
Q2: So, who’s behind the technology in Cambridge Materials Testing?
A2: The principal academic is Dr James Dean, he’s obviously an expert in both the mechanics and deformation of materials, University of Cambridge PhD. Interestingly, he has previously worked in industries as well for a group called Frazer Nash Consultancy who are leading consultants in this area and then also set up his own consultancy Double Precision Consultancy which again is servicing the needs of industry players. So, whilst he’s got a very strong academic background, he’s also got a good understanding of the industrial requirements and indeed has worked in both the nuclear and aerospace industries supporting clients in that area.
Q3: Where does this fit into your wider IP picture?
A3: So, materials testing and particles are all important parts, I would say, across our portfolio, it’s an area of particular focus and expertise. So, if you looked at Frontier IP Group’s portfolio, Tarsis Technology, Nandi Proteins, Alusid, Porexpert are all actively involved in some element of materials or particle formation and all are currently engaged with industrial or commercial partners as well which we see as really important.
In terms of the target sectors, Cambridge Materials Testing itself probably fits closest with Porexpert which provides software and consultancy services to help customers understand how porous materials behave and how gases and liquids flow through them so they’re most notable customer would be EDF for example.
What we’re now looking for is, by gaining early industry validation, we know that we’re technically involved in meeting real world needs and demands and can be scaled up and obviously that makes them much more attractive to investors as well.
Q4: What else is happening with Frontier IP Group’s portfolio?
A4: We recently announced that Palintest which is a subsidiary of the FTSE100 company Halma has commercially launched a test kit for bathing water and that’s come out of a company called Molendotech in our portfolio.
Alusid, which recycles waste porcelain and glass to create really high quality building materials, has won a number of industry awards and is gaining strong traction with a range of industry customers, people like Nando’s and such like. We’ve said already that that’s currently raising money and that’s going well.
Otherwise, watch this space. There’s an awful lot going on, so we would expect to be updating the market on further progress within the portfolio.
