The Advance Nanotek Ltd (ASX: ANO) share price was amongst the best performers on the Australian share market on Monday.
The shares of the developer, manufacturer, and marketer of innovative products based on a range of proprietary advanced material technologies and manufacturing processes rose as much as 10% at one stage.
They eventually finished the day almost 8% higher at $6.10. This latest gain means Advance Nanotek's shares are now up a massive 405% since this time last year.
Why did the Advance Nanotek share price rocket higher?
Investors were fighting to get hold of the company's shares on Monday following the release of a sales and profit update after the market close on Friday.
According to the release, Advance Nanotek has recorded unaudited sales revenue of $11.306 million for the six months ending December 31. This was an increase of 134% on the prior corresponding period.
The company's profits grew at an even quicker rate. The release advises that the company recorded a profit before tax of $4.831 million during the first half. This is 2.75 times greater than the corresponding period in FY 2018.
This was achieved despite an unexpected delay in TGA approval for its Brisbane manufacturing facility until September, which had a negative impact on shipments.
Brisbane lab update.
The audit of its Brisbane laboratory has also been completed and its licence is due to be issued in the next few weeks. The delay in this particular TGA audit and approval reduced its first half profit result by an estimated ~$500,000.
Positively, management anticipates that once the laboratory licence is received, there will be an annualised saving in excess of $1 million in external testing costs.
Another positive is the company's production capacity upgrade. During the half Advance Nanotek successfully commissioned more equipment to increase its production capacity. Based on improvements to its production process, it is now capable of producing in excess of 3,000 tons of product per annum.
This gives the company a long runway for growth. In October it estimated that its full year sales orders would be approximately 1,000 tons.
