Wellington Drive gets $2 mln funding line from major shareholder SuperLife

Friday 23rd September 2016

Wellington Drive Technologies, the maker of energy efficient motors for commercial refrigerators, has taken a $2 million facility from major shareholder SuperLife, the investment fund owned by NZX.

The loan will give the company "additional working capital to support the company's growth initiatives", with a one-year term and a 14.75 percent interest rate calculated on a quarterly basis in arrears, it said in a statement.

Last month, Wellington Drive posted a half-year operating profit of $279,000 and said it expected revenue for the full-year to be up to 30 percent higher than 2015's $24.6 million, and with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation either a small loss or a modest profit.

At the time, it said the revenue growth was "putting some pressure on short-term working capital" and that it was negotiating a debt facility. Wellington Drive has also previously warned it expects an ebitda-loss in the third quarter of the year, with "some larger customers deferring some Q3 demand into Q4 and Q1 in 2017."

SuperLife holds 23.9 percent of the company. In 2015, Wellington Drive raised $3 million from investors in a capital raise underwritten by SuperLife. In 2014, it raised $5 million, underwritten by SuperLife; a year earlier, it raised $4.5 million through an institutional placement and share purchase plan underwritten by SuperLife.

The shares dropped 9.7 percent, or 1.55 cents, to 14 cents, having gained 94 percent this year.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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