On May 22, I-Tech AB was named as the winner of the SvD Börsplus IPO-guide IPO of the Year 2018 Award in the Share Price Development category for the small company class. I-Tech also took fourth place, out of a total of twenty companies, in the IPO of the Year Award in the Quality category for the small company class.

SvD Börsplus IPO guide, a service available for all investors with an instant overview of all relevant facts regarding upcoming IPOs, conduct a review of all Swedish IPOs during the year and award prizes for the best IPOs in different classes and categories.

Each year, winners of the SvD Börsplus IPO-guide Awards are announced for companies and financial advisors in the Share Price Development and Quality categories. These two categories are divided into three classes of companies in the Billion-SEK companies, Small companies and Micro companies segments.

Share price development is measured from the date of the IPO and 12 months ahead or at the latest April 30, 2018. In the Quality class, companies are ranked firstly after the lowest number of ‘warning flags’ and secondly after share price development.

“We are very happy that the market has showed great confidence in us and that the share price has had such positive development. We are also proud of the high ranking in the Quality class,” says Magnus Henell, CFO, I-Tech.

Erik Penser Bank acted as the financial advisor during I-Tech’s IPO process. They received the SvD Börsplus IPO-guide Best Financial Advisor award in the Quality category for the small company class for work, amongst others, conducted during I-Tech’s IPO.

About Selektope®

Selektope® introduces, for the first time, a pharmacological mode of action to combat barnacle settlement. By temporarily stimulating the octopamine receptor, the barnacle larvae’s swimming behavior is activated and the organisms are deterred from the hull. These ground-breaking discoveries enable unrivalled power at very low concentrations, yet within the limits of rigorous risk assessments. Selektope® is an organic, non-metal compound with efficacy proven at 0.1%. www.selektope.com.

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I-Tech AB, the bio-technology company responsible for the unique marine anti-fouling active agent Selektope®, has appointed Dr. Markus Hoffmann to the role of Technical Director.

In the newly-created senior position, Dr. Hoffmann will play a pivotal role in I-Tech’s commercial and development processes with the aim of accelerating and expanding current business within the global marine coatings industry. He will also be a key player in generating new revenue streams from the use of Selektope® in other application areas and sectors.

Dr. Hoffmann has joined I-Tech following great successes achieved over an eight-year period in the role of Subject Matter Expert Antifouling Coatings Research and Development at Hempel A/S. Previously, he served as R&D Department Manager of Hempel’s Antifouling Global Center of Excellence in Barcelona. Earlier in his career, Dr. Hoffmann held the post of Team Manager Central R&D at BASF. His academic qualifications include a PhD in organic chemistry from JMU of Würzburg, Germany and a post-doc position at Kyoto University, Japan.

With a proven track record of innovation in the management of processes from the creation of new antifouling technology ideas to the selection of fundamental and applied research and successful conversion to product development and launch, Dr. Hoffmann brings significant knowledge to his role at I-Tech from numerous areas of expertise. In addition, his well-established network throughout large parts of the value chain will expand I-Tech’s reach even further.

“I am very pleased that a key industry player such as Markus has joined I-Tech in the position of Technical Director,” says Philip Chaabane, CEO, I-Tech AB. “Markus’ experience in product management and antifouling coating development, coupled with his academic background in organic chemistry and well-anchored position in the industry, make him the perfect addition to our growing team of talent and entrepreneurship.”

For additional information, please contact:

Philip Chaabane, CEO
M: +46 073-910 37 08
E: philip.chaabane@i-tech.se

About Selektope®

Selektope® introduces, for the first time, a pharmacological mode of action to combat barnacle settlement. By temporarily stimulating the octopamine receptor, the barnacle larvae’s swimming behavior is activated and the organisms are deterred from the hull. These ground-breaking discoveries enable unrivalled power at very low concentrations, yet within the limits of rigorous risk assessments. Selektope® is an organic, non-metal compound with efficacy proven at 0.1% w/w. www.selektope.com.

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Mölndal, May 10, 2019 - I-Tech AB (publ) (ticker ITECH) publish the interim report for the first quarter 2019.

Summary of the period - Q1 2019

”Continued healthy growth and increased activity with potential new customers”

Net turnover for the period amounted to kSEK 6 170 (3 813), which corresponds to an increase in turnover of 62% (2 663%). Operating profit/loss amounted to kSEK -4 435 (-3 295).

January to March 2019

• No important events during the period.

Important events after the period

• The Swedbank Robur Teknik and Microcap funds have increased their shareholdings in I-Tech after buying the main part of the 850 000 shares that I-Tech’s second largest owner, Almi Invest, sold during April.
• After a 40-month trial, Team Tankers International signed up more ships to use Selektope®-powered hull coatings.

Financial summary

All amounts in TSEK	2019      jan-mar	2018      jan-mar	2018      jan-dec	2017      jan-dec
Net sales	6 170	3 813	28 947	17 849
Operating result	-4 435	-3 295	-13 625	-7 448
Net result	-4 469	-3 357	-13 737	-8 418
Operating cash flow	-573	-6 895	-11 945	-6 238
Equity at end of period	98 512	73 601	102 981	36 955
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period	45 802	13 417	46 538	20 535

CEO comments

During the first quarter, turnover amounted to SEK 6.2 million (SEK 3.8 million) which corresponds to continued growth in line with that of 2018. The gross margin for the period amounted to 44% (30%) which is in line with the company’s plans. Furthermore, we are seeing increased activity among a couple of leading potential customers through a relatively larger order intake than normal during the development/validation phase.

The first quarter shows that the growth curve has not slowed down, even considering that the first quarter is usually somewhat weaker. It is also positive that the gross margin lands at a level that shows continuity in the efficiency program implemented during the latter part of 2018.

The sales volume comes mainly from Chugoku Marine Paints (CMP), which is ramping up its profiling efforts in the premium segment. The Selektope® brand is gaining more awareness across the industry, which is helping to attract new customers to CMP and Hempel. I-Tech continues its work to put the technology first and to educate and engage end users. In several cases, this has contributed to direct orders between shipowners and coating companies.

At the same time, the challenges from last year remain in the industry with a price-sensitive customer group and concern in the shipping industry about how fuel costs will develop with the introduction of new sulphur requirements. Poor margins and major uncertainties are hampering the pace of investment and this is probably the reason why order books for new construction continue to be at low levels.

Our production rate during the first quarter was significantly higher than demand. The purpose of this has been primarily to validate the capacity levels and the efficiency of the process, as well as to ensure delivery capacity on future orders. The supplier has taken ownership of this investment, but it will be adjusted during the second quarter as I-Tech will contribute to the joint investment in building inventories.

Despite the challenging market outlook being worse than expected, especially on the new construction side, we are keeping our goal to have a third global customer launch Selektope-based products during 2019. We see signs that there is a clear intensification of the development phase in several other places. In the latter part of the first quarter and at the beginning of the second quarter, I-Tech has received relatively large development orders from two global coating companies. This indicates they are now taking the step to test the Selektope-based coating on a broader fleet than we previously expected. Although several aspects remain in the customers’ development work, we see opportunities that this work can result in new product launches in the coming years.

Philip Chaabane, CEO

For more information, please contact

Philip Chaabane, CEO
M: +46 73 910 37 08
E: philip.chaabane@i-tech.se

This information is information that I-Tech AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 08:00 CET on May 10, 2019

Documents & Links Interim report Q1 2019
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Bermudan tanker owner and operator Team Tankers International has committed four additional ships to using the protection of the anti-barnacle active agent Selektope® following distinguished fouling prevention performance during a 40-month trial of an antifouling coating containing the technology on an MR tanker in their fleet.

The vertical sides of the 46,067DWT chemical and products carrier Team Calypso were coated with Chugoku Marine Paints’ SEAFLO NEO CF-Premium antifouling coating that contains Selektope® during its five-year drydocking at the Sembcorp shipyard, Singapore in 2015.

During the last 40 months the MR tanker has been in active operation across a wide range of trade routes globally, often sailing in global biofouling hotspots with > 25oC (up to 32oC) water temperatures where the risk of biofouling is very high. The vessel has also spent several extended periods idling in these zones.

However, during the trial, barnacles failed to anchor themselves to the tanker’s hull thanks to the protection from Selektope® which activates the barnacle larvae’s octopamine receptor, keeping them in swimming mode and preventing them from attaching to the hull with non-fatal effect.

A hull inspection conducted at month 35 in the tanker’s in-water-survey schedule established that Team Calypso’s hull was virtually barnacle free with no soft fouling coverage.

Independent third-party data analysis has also verified the fouling prevention performance of the Selektope®-powered hull coating. At month 40, total added resistance on Team Calypso’s hull and propeller due to fouling is exceptionally low, at 16%, compared to up to 30% expected for a reference ship of similar age, size and trading patterns. Of that 16% total, added resistance on the hull accounted for 10% whereas added resistance on the propeller accounted for the remaining 7%. The development of added resistance was calculated at a rate equivalent to 0.4% per month, compared to the expected rate of between 0.5% and 1.5%.

I-Tech AB CEO Philip Chaabane comments: “This tanker owner is reaping the fuel saving benefits associated with a Selektope®-powered antifouling coating. The independent data analysis coupled with the underwater hull inspection prove that Selektope® delivers strong protection from hard fouling, whatever the vessel’s activity or trading pattern.”

Team Tankers Performance & Environmental Manager Capt. Pär Brandholm comments: “Team Calypso has operated for over three years since last dry dock, and we can conclude that the fouling of the hull remains at a very low level and we hope the trend will continue being flat. We anticipate similar performance for our vessels Team Tapatio, Team Toccata, Team Tosca and Team Leader using the same hull coating containing Selektope®.”

Chugoku Marine Paints Sales Manager Northern Europe Peter Douma comments: “Chugoku Marine Paints is proud to offer an antifouling system containing Selektope® that delivers outstanding performance for a multitude of vessel types, docking intervals, trading patterns and activity. The effectiveness of our SEAFLO NEO CF-PREMIUM has been demonstrated by the results achieved on Team Calypso.”

With multiple major coatings suppliers now turning to this antifouling active agent to enhance the hard fouling prevention offered by their antifouling products, I-Tech AB is urging ship owners to check whether Selektope® is present in the antifouling systems being considered during their coating selection process.

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