Nico Steel Holdings Limited announced the Group has registered a trademark for one of its key proprietary aluminium alloy materials ­ NICO AL50 with the National Intellectual Property Administration in the People's Republic of China. This aluminium alloy is of high strength, has good thermal conductivity, and light weight. The trademark is valid for a period of 10 years, effective from November 2018. The registration of the trademark is a step taken by the Group to protect the use of the symbol and design that uniquely distinguishes its Nico. range of products from the products of its competitors. The Group's aluminium alloy NICO AL50 is currently applied to the rear cover of LED display panels, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) management and thermal management solutions (collectively, known as shielding solutions) for smartphones, tablets, drones, hololens, and laptops.

Nico brand alloy materials have been selected to provide shielding solutions to Drone Manufacturer for the next five new models of drones to be launched this year. The Group will continue to be the sole metal alloy materials supplier for the shielding solutions to this customer. In addition to the new models which will be progressively launched throughout the year, the Group will continue to produce the metal alloy materials for the shielding solutions for the five models launched last year. The volume of metal alloy materials produced by the Group is expected to increase with the new models that will run concurrently with the existing models. NICO AL50 will be the base material for the selected metal alloy materials to be used for the shielding solutions in these five new models. The recent ramp up in the Group's electroplating production capacity should cater for the increasing demand for the Group's proprietary metal alloys.