Happy shareholders who, in the summer of 2019, participated in the IPO of Groupe Tera, made at a price of 4.35 euros per share (+56% since then, despite a slump following the health crisis) . The 6 million euros raised by the young company specializing in the measurement of air quality in real time were then allocated to R&D efforts. Wisely, in all likelihood, given the strong demand, especially from abroad, for this Made In France technology.
Groupe Tera, a player in the Smart City, these smart cities of the future, in which innovation is put to the service of the quality of life of the inhabitants, is growing strongly. The company located in Crolles, in Isère, less than 20 kilometers from Grenoble, one of the most polluted cities in France, has not yet published its financial results for the 2021 financial year – more than a few hours of patience , Groupe Tera will in turn comply with this exercise this evening, after the close of trading. But, already, the figures published for the first half showed all the great momentum underway.
At the end of June, turnover amounted to 5 million euros, up 86% over one year, supported by acquisitions in the laboratory division and the boom in the sale of sensors, with a major effect leverage on gross operating surplus (Ebitda): this fell from 6,000 euros in the first half of 2020 to 375,000 euros. Very soon, the company created in 2001 will be profitable on the last line of its income statement. The net loss, at the end of June 2021, had been reduced to 68,000 euros against half a million a year earlier, even though, in the meantime, the company has increased its workforce. Employees numbered 125 at the last tally, compared to 38 two years earlier.
The sensors of Groupe Tera equip in particular parking meters – a very French product, the first was installed in Paris in 1972 – manufactured by Flowbird in Besançon. The air quality measurement specialist also has a partnership with another Frenchman: the automotive supplier Valeo, at the forefront of smart vehicles (in particular, its cameras equipped, in 2018, the first autonomous car to drive in Paris). This partnership reflects, according to the management of Groupe Tera, the desire of industrial “to strengthen their innovative air quality measurement system in order to protect the health of consumers. » The sensors notably make it possible to measure the quantity of fine particles in the passenger compartment.
The White House Clean Air Challenge
More recently, the fine particle sensors of the Isère were chosen to equip public schools in the city of Boston, in the United States, announced in mid-March Groupe Tera, which explains that the data is made available available in real time on a web platform and accessible 24/7 to the public. Two weeks later, the company made another announcement attesting to the enthusiasm for its NextPM sensors: they will be installed this year “in all buildings of one of the leaders in office real estate in the United States”, which represents an area of 5 million m2. The name of the American client has not been revealed, but Groupe Tera, in its press release, welcomes this new contract which ” confirms the success of its development on the East Coast of the United States suggesting it could be Boston Properties, which builds and manages Class A office buildings in the Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington areas.
President Biden in March presented a roadmap, dubbed the Clean Air in Buildings Challenge, which calls on all owners and operators of buildings, schools, colleges and universities to equip their buildings in order to improve indoor air quality, in particular with the aim of putting an end to Covid-19 once and for all.
Virology is a new area of development for Groupe Tera. It is in this sense that the company has just taken a “significant” stake in the very young Lyon-based company VirexpR, born this year from the spin-off of the academic research laboratory VirPath and its technological research platform VirNext (Université Claude Bernard Lyons 1). “VirexpR will bring [à Groupe Tera] additional expertise in virology and microbiology, explains the company, which will notably allow the group to work on a specialized biological sensor” in the detection of viruses in confined spaces. A new string to his bow that appeals to the stock market, since the shares of Groupe Tera gain nearly 10% this Thursday, to 6.80 euros. They are moving to historic highs this year (6.9 euros on March 30).