Vertical Aerospace reported a net operating loss of £19 million for the three months ended September 30, 2022, compared to a net operating loss of £8 million for the three months ended September 30, 2021.
As of September 30, 2022, Vertical had cash at bank and short-term deposits totalling £145 million, which will be invested in the development of the company’s test and certification activities and in the people, systems and processes that support the company.
In August 2022, to support ongoing capital requirements, Vertical established an equity subscription line with Nomura, which will allow Vertical to issue up to $100 million in new ordinary shares. This facility is intended to provide flexibility around the timing of issuing new stock to minimise dilution.
As of September 30, 2022, Vertical had issued 1,103,863 ordinary shares using the equity subscription line for an aggregate gross purchase price of $8.9 million, and up to $91.1 million in aggregate gross purchase price of ordinary shares remained available for sale under the equity subscription line.
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Vertical Founder and CEO, said: “We recently celebrated ‘wheels up’ with our VX4 aircraft a few weeks ago which was an incredibly proud moment for the whole team. As we ramp up our flight test programme, with a close eye on capital spend, we are moving onwards and upwards. I look forward to sharing more news about our flight test programme in the coming months.”
On September 22, 2022, the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) issued a Permit to Fly for the VX4, and on September 24, 2022, the full-scale VX4 Prototype successfully lifted from the ground under tethered conditions with pilot Justin ‘Jif’ Paines on board.
To date, under its CAA Permit to Fly, Vertical has undertaken 14 piloted flight tests and 5.5 hours of continuous propeller turning test operations.
Vertical welcomed Amy Round as Chief People Officer, who joined on October 17, 2022, from OVO Energy where she was Director of Talent, having previously spent nine years at Google running its EMEA people division.
“We have continued to progress our joint working group with American Airlines,” said Fitzpatrick. “A joint Vertical and American team has been regularly engaging during the third quarter, collaborating on a framework for exploration of the future of advanced air mobility and potential markets for eVTOL operations in the United States. As a result of this workstream, and the increased depth of our joint operational planning, we have agreed with American to extend the timeline for entering into a master purchase agreement that will contain the final terms for the purchase of our aircraft for up to one year from the date of this release, to ensure it reflects the final corporate framework and outputs of the detailed operational planning.”
Vertical stated that its 2022 capital plan continues to “remain on track”, with net cash outflows to be used in operating activities in the fourth quarter of the year expected to be between £20 million and £25 million.