Altair Nanotechnologies continues to look for ways to slow the pace at which it's burning through its cash, and its chief executive officer says the best strategy is boosting Altair's revenues.
In the third quarter, the Reno-based company burned through $4.4 million of its cash. Its burn rate for the first half of the year was $22 million, and the company launched a cost-cutting effort last spring.
As of Sept. 30, publicly held Altair still had $23.7 million in cash and cash equivalents on its books, and its executives said they're relieved that Altair probably won't have to raise money in the midst of the credit market turmoil.
In fact, the company added $10 million in cash last month when it settled claims from a major investor.
Al Yousuf LLC claimed that Altair had misrepresented itself before the Dubai firm invested $40 million in Altair in 2007.
As part of the settlement, Al Yousuf LLC invested another $10 million in the company, and Altair gave the investor $3.6 million worth of shares in itself. Al Yousuf also got two seats on Altair's board.
In the third quarter, Altair posted a loss of $9.11 million on revenues of $1.8 million for the third quarter compared with a loss of $6.13 million on revenues of $3.37 million a year earlier.
Along the way, Altair lost a contract with the animal health unit of Eli Lilly Co. to develop products that used Altair's nanotechnology.
That contract had generated about $1.4 million in revenues for the Reno company, and Altair CEO Terry Copeland said his company hasn't found a new partner to pick up the work.
He said Eli Lilly terminated the contract as part of its own cost-cutting program.
As Altair looks to trim costs, Copeland said it's reduced its workforce to 105 from a peak employment of 117. Along with its Reno headquarters and manufacturing operation, the company operates a smaller manufacturing plant at Anderson, Ind.
Copeland said the company these days is focusing much of its efforts on development of large-scale batteries to be used by utilities to meet sudden changes in demand.
One potential use, he said, might be at photovoltaic plants. Electric production from those plants can plummet when a cloud moves across the sky, and Altair hopes to develop batteries to even out the flow of power to distribution grids.
The company has sold prototype battery systems to AES Corp. and now is figuring how to ramp up full manufacturing.
Altair also is developing battery systems for the U.S. and British navies, and last month received a $540,000
order for batteries for hybrid buses under development by DesignLine International of Charlotte, N.C.
