Supply chain

Timestrip, the developer of smart label technology, has closed a £1.5m ($3m), three-year rolling deal with an unnamed US supplier of consumer products.

The Hitchin-based firm, which develops labels that monitor how long food packaging has been open or in use, said the contract involved the integration of Timestrip into a "market-leading product" used in "millions of homes" worldwide.

Timestrip brand manager Sandra Mallia said the firm could not reveal either the name of the customer or the product to which the Timestrip would be added.

"I'm afraid our hands are tied on this one, but further details will be revealed by October/November," she said.

Although the new contract will initially generate sales for Timestrip in North America, the firm said the opportunity existed for "significant" additional sales if the customer used the technology on identical products that it sold worldwide.

This contract is the first of several "significant" deals that Timestrip expects to conclude during 2007. However, the firm said they were unlikely to contribute much to annual sales due to the lengthy sales cycles.

Timestrip's turnover almost quadrupled to £378,975 in the year to 31 December 2006 as it completed product testing and started trials. Pre-tax losses for the year were almost £1.5m.

The firm said it had recently received "unprecedented" levels of interest in its technology from the food and pharmaceutical sectors.

Its share price rose by 3.5% to 7.38p today following the announcement of the deal.