Altair CEO promises bright future, but mum on details

Investors in Reno-based Altair Nanotechnologies Inc.

pushed its management team last week to provide details about the company's prospects.

Alan Gotcher, Altair's president and chief executive, said the company won't talk about potential revenues or provide guidance about its earnings.

But, he assured investors in a conference call,"We expect expect that Altair Nano is going to be a high-tech, high-growth company." Gotcher said the company recently added 11 battery specialists to its effort to develop lithium battery technologies for automotive and other applications.

The additional staff will boost the company's costs by $200,000 to $250,000 a month, and the company will invest another $1 million in a new battery research facility at Anderson, Ind.

Gotcher said he's confident that the investment in staff and facilities will begin generating returns for the company "almost immediately." The company has some cushion.

It had $29 million in cash on its books at the end of June although it posted a loss of $4.3 million during the first half of this year.

Gotcher said the company has received an order for a metric ton of its battery electrode material and expects to ship the material within the month.He didn't provide financial details.

He said, too, that Altair plans to introduce a water-treatment at a trade show in early 2006 and has contracted with Chinese manufacturers to make the feedstock for the product.

Animal testing of yet another product, which might be used in the treatment of kidney disease,was completed in September, Gotcher said.He said results of the testing undertaken by Spectrum Pharmaceuticals aren't yet available.

When Altair announced a licensing deal with Spectrum in January, it said payments worth about $1.3 million depended on the results of the animal trials.