Ila Group (LON:ILA), the distributor of women’s personal safety and security accessories, announced this morning that it had received significant orders, totalling more than US$800,000, from a major new, multinational client.
The firm said that further orders are expected during the next three months from the same customer.
Meanwhile, Ila has also raised £1.55 million via a placing of just short of 130 million shares at a price of 1.2 pence per share.
The proceeds of the fundraising will be used to provide working capital, which the firm said would enable it to fulfil current orders and future growth.
Ila said the latest order is of particular significance because it is for products manufacture by its recently-acquired subsidiary, Premium Factory and reflects the rapid turnaround and integration of the business since its acquisition.
The firm added that it now has a strong pipeline of sales, including recently-announced deals worth US$365,000 to Austria and Germany and US$445,000 to Norway, that will underpin its growth.
“This major order, our largest from a single customer, is from a household name with global reach,” said Simon McGivern, Ila’s chief executive officer.
“We hope this will be first of many such orders, the fulfilment of which will be helped by the recently secured working capital. It is a testament to Ila’s progress that we received such strong support from shareholders, both existing and new, for this fundraising, despite the current adverse stock market conditions.”
McGivern added that the firm expects growth for the following 12 months to be significantly stronger than previously forecast, which should lead to it breaking even earlier than previously predicted.