This month the ShareSoc Seminar moved to a new location at Capita Asset Services, now that the compliance department of Finncap has put the kibosh on use of their meeting room, and very nice it was too. With three companies lined up, and only Bioventix being familiar to me, I was once again looking forward to being informed and amused. Next month I believe that the seminar will take place in Holborn just to keep us on our toes.
Haydale Graphene Industries
As Haydale's full name suggests this is a company formed to exploit the properties of wonder material graphene and deliver on its commercial benefits. It turns out that this is a tall order, and Haydale are not alone in this goal, but they have a decent R&D background stretching back to 2003 and a patent protected process. As a result the company floated exactly three years ago, in April 2014, in the belief that they were ready to add value for customers, drive growth and benefit from the enhanced corporate profile of a listed company.
Since then Haydale seems to have spent time refining their processes, collaborating with clients and looking for new applications but without notable success. This is why they're transitioning from being a technical business to a more sales-focused organisation that delivers other nanomaterials, such as silicon carbide, in addition to graphene. The key differentiator here appears to be their knowledge of how to reliably mix and disperse these materials within various mediums, such as epoxy resin and other polymers, to boost their strength and stiffness whilst also reducing weight.
To this end they are partnering with Huntsman to improve their industrial Araldite product and this appears to be a key contract - although it's hard to be sure as CEO Ray Gibbs raced through a large number of possible applications and markets in his presentation! On another front they're collaborating with, and receiving a £3.3m investment from, Everpower with a view to breaking into the huge Chinese market. This isn't the investment fund's only graphene investment but it's surely a vote of confidence in the company - although I am concerned that the company may be spread too thin with only 60 employees to handle numerous global opportunities. Still if just one comes off I reckon…
