EXHIBIT 99.1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Fred Pilon, Investor Relations
StockerYale, Inc.
603-870-8229
fpilon@stkr.com
STOCKERYALE RECEIVES CONTRACT FOR THE
DEVELOPMENT OF CUSTOM SPECIALTY OPTICAL FIBER
Company Also Announces Installation of MCVD Equipment,
And Completion of Equity Private Placement
SALEM, N.H., JUNE 4, 2000: StockerYale, Inc. (Nasdaq: STKR), a leading provider
of phase masks, specialty optical fiber, and specialized illumination products,
today announced that it has received its first contract to develop a custom
specialty optical fiber from one of the top-three optical equipment suppliers in
the world.
Dr. Danny Wong, president of iSOFC, a majority owned subsidiary of StockerYale,
will head the research and development team assigned to design this custom
specialty optical fiber. It is expected that the research and engineering
efforts will be completed by the end of September 2001, and that the production
of this specialty optical fiber is projected to begin in the fourth quarter.
"One of the key advantages that StockerYale possesses is its ability to focus a
portion of its R&D resources on custom optical fiber applications," said Alain
Beauregard, StockerYale's president & chief technology officer. "This competence
positions StockerYale as an independent developer and manufacturer of
high-quality custom and specialty optical fiber, differentiating us from many of
our competitors," added Beauregard.
MORE NEWS
SPECIALTY OPTICAL FIBER (SOF) MANUFACTURING FACILITY OPERATIONAL
StockerYale announces that Phase I of the company's SOF facility has been
completed with the installation of state-of-the-art modified chemical vapor
deposition (MCVD) equipment. This facility will be used for both the production
and drawing of specialty fiber optic preforms which in turn, produce specialty
optical fiber. The company expects additional MCVD and drawing equipment to
become fully operational during the second half of 2001.
"With the completion of this facility and Phase I now behind us, we will
immediately begin the task of producing the preforms that will be used to
manufacture our recently announced specialty optical fiber, as well as other
custom-designed specialty optical fibers," said Paul Jortberg, senior vice
president of Optical Components.
"I believe we are right on target with our commitments for specialty optical
fiber and it is likely that first customer shipments will begin by the end of
June 2001," continued Jortberg.
EQUITY PRIVATE PLACEMENT
StockerYale has completed an equity private placement of 1.7 million shares of
common stock at a price of $10.25 per share with net proceeds totaling
approximately $16 million. In connection with the sale, the company has agreed
to provide customary registration rights to the purchasers who were
predominantly institutional investors. William Blair & Company acted as
exclusive placement agent for the offering.
"To secure our place in the fast-moving optical components market, we are
continuing to invest heavily in the development of our optical sub-components
business by expanding our R&D and manufacturing facilities," said Mark W.
Blodgett, StockerYale's chairman & chief executive officer. "More specifically,
these proceeds are being targeted at Phase II of our SOF facility, the
completion of our new preform production and fiber drawing facility, and the
further development of a tunable optical filter prototype which the company
expects to demonstrate at the European Conference on Optical Communications,
(ECOC), in Amsterdam, Netherlands on October 1-3, 2001. Because of our continued
efforts and focus in these areas of development, we can look forward to new
optical component product announcements in the next three to six months,"
Blodgett added.
Blodgett continued, "Looking ahead, we expect our optical sub-components
business to show strong growth throughout the remainder of the year with sales
of our illumination products improving after experiencing some weakness because
of a slowdown in the semiconductor, electronic assembly, and disk drive
markets."
ABOUT STOCKERYALE
StockerYale, Inc., headquartered in Salem, NH, is an independent designer and
manufacturer of optical sub-components used in the building of optical networks
as well as structured light lasers, specialized fiber optic, fluorescent and LED
illumination products for the machine vision and industrial inspection
industries.
StockerYale serves a widely varied, international customer base from its
corporate offices in Salem, NH, and reinvests a significant percentage of its
revenues in R&D to meet the future requirements of its customers. StockerYale
has offices and subsidiaries in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and the Pacific Rim.
For more information about StockerYale and their innovative products, contact
StockerYale, Inc., 32 Hampshire Rd., Salem, NH, 03079. Call 800-843-8011;
Fax 603-893-5604; Or E-mail info@stockeryale.com.
Information is also available on the company's web site at www.stockeryale.com
NOTICE TO INVESTORS:
THIS PRESS RELEASE CONTAINS FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS THAT DO NOT GIVE FULL
WEIGHT TO ALL THE POTENTIAL RISKS, BUT RELATE TO STOCKERYALE'S PLANS,
OBJECTIVES, AND EXPECTATIONS, WHICH ARE DEPENDENT UPON A NUMBER OF FACTORS
OUTSIDE OF STOCKERYALE'S CONTROL INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO: UNANTICIPATED
PRODUCTION DELAYS THAT WILL PREVENT THE COMPANY'S SPECIALTY OPTICAL FIBER AND
NEW CUSTOM SPECIALTY OPTICAL FIBER PRODUCT FROM SHIPPING IN JUNE OF 2001 AND THE
FOURTH QUARTER, RESPECTIVELY; MARKET DEMAND FOR OPTICAL SUB-COMPONENT PRODUCTS
AND SPECIALTY ILLUMINATION PRODUCTS; AND UNFORESEEN DELAYS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
NEW PRODUCTS, INCLUDING THE TUNABLE OPTICAL FILTER PROTOTYPE. THUS, ACTUAL
RESULTS MAY DIFFER MATERIALLY. STOCKERYALE UNDERTAKES NO DUTY TO UPDATE ANY OF
THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS.