REG - Versarien PLC - Corporate Update

VersarienAnnouncement

04/10/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 9030G  Versarien PLC  04 October 2024

4 October 2024

Versarien Plc

("Versarien", the "Company" or the "Group")

Corporate Update

Versarien Plc (AIM: VRS), the advanced materials engineering group, is pleased
to provide the following update on developments at the Company as pipelines
continue to improve following the appointment of Dr Stephen Hodge as CEO just
over a year ago.  As at 1 October 2023 the pipeline of opportunities stood at
£1.6m, compared to £4.7m currently, of which commercial opportunities
represents £1.6 m and grants £3.1 m.

The Company's strategy continues to be the development of advanced materials,
particularly graphene and related materials, using Versarien's
manufacturing-light operations, and the licensing of the Company's technology.

Sector updates

The Company's focus sectors continue to be construction and leisure, however,
it maintains the ability to be agile enough to re-align to other sectors that
form part of Versarien's commercial pipelines.  These include sectors that
can utilise the Company's families of functional 2D inks (Graphinks™) and
graphene-based thermoplastic, thermoset and elastomer compounds and
masterbatches (Polygrene™).

Construction

Following the placing to raise gross proceeds of £550,000, announced on 24
July 2024, the Company placed orders for equipment that will provide an
in-house construction testing capability that will help accelerate Versarien's
developments of graphene-based admixtures (Cementene™) and quality control
of 3D printed products.  Versarien is due to receive this equipment in
November 2024 and has begun preparations to ensure maximum benefit can be
derived from the equipment when it arrives.

In August, Versarien signed its first significant 3D construction printing
("3DCP") contract with Building For Humanity CIC, for their flagship Charter
Street project, in Accrington, UK.  The contract, initially valued at
approximately £200,000, is for the construction of the first of five housing
blocks and a community hub.  Thus far, the Versarien team has delivered
renders based on architectural plans, is involved in bi-weekly design team
meetings with architects, structural engineers, construction consultants and
the client, and is currently building the CAD models for the first block.
On-site 3DCP activities will likely start in 2025.

Versarien has also delivered a feasibility study for a high-profile cultural
project, which is to be built using 3DCP technology.  The next design phase
of the project is expected to commence by the end of the year.

Although it is unlikely that graphene will feature as part of these two
projects, the Company announced on 1 October 2024 that it had entered into a
12 month commercially funded project with Balfour Beatty, one of the UK's
largest construction companies, to develop graphene enhanced 3DCP materials
and products.

This month, Versarien will be exhibiting at two major construction industry
events hosted at the NEC, Birmingham - UK Construction Week 2024 (UKCW2024)
and Highways UK.

At Highways UK, Versarien staff will be attending National Highways' Roads
Research Alliance meetings and Versarien will be exhibiting alongside Keyline
Civils Specialist as a 'Featured Supplier'.  Versarien's Head of 3DCP, Ben
Harries, will also join Keyline at two client innovation days.

Whilst the Company is focused on being a manufacturing-light operation,
developing new talent in-house remains a priority.  Versarien was pleased to
recently become an 'Employee Partner' with AccXel Construction School, local
to Longhope, and has recently taken on its first Site Supervision Apprentice.

Leisure

The Company has recently generated Graphene-Wear™ ink sales to customers in
Europe and South Korea, and Versarien's sales partner GoToGym has made
excellent progress in South America, with several companies undergoing fabric
and wearer trials with Graphene-Wear™ garments.  The Group is now engaged
with 14 companies to supply Graphene-Wear™ inks for use in textile products.

Versarien's Graphene-Wear™ footwear outsole rubber compounds have also been
further improved for Flux Footwear, in the USA, with enhanced curing rates to
enable larger volume production and diversifying the Group's offering to more
applications.

Technology Licencing

In March 2024, Versarien entered into a manufacturing licence agreement and a
know-how licence and technical assistance agreement with Montana Química LTDA
("Montana") in Brazil.  Within two weeks of signing the agreement, Montana
had sent staff to the UK for theoretical and practical training in graphene
manufacture, application development and testing.  Since then, Montana has
been importing Versarien's graphene materials into Brazil and Versarien is
supporting Montana's business development through technical assistance during
virtual meetings with Montana clients in sectors such as construction, leisure
and paints.  In November 2024, Versarien staff will travel to Brazil to meet
Montana's clients in-person, whilst also attending the Graphene Forum 2024
hosted at SENAI CIMATEC.

The Company is currently engaged in discussions with various other parties, in
other geographical locations, who are keen to distribute Versarien's advanced
materials and are interested to localise manufacturing using Versarien's
technologies and know-how.

R&D Updates

The Group's R&D activity continues to progress with UK R&D staff
located within the Cambridge Graphene Centre, University of Cambridge and
Nanotechnology and Integrated Bioengineering Centre, Ulster University and the
Company has renewed its membership of the Graphene Engineering Innovation
Centre at the University of Manchester as a Tier 2 partner for the sixth year.
 

Versarien is keeping abreast of changes to the future European advanced
materials ecosystem driven by The Innovative Advanced Materials Initiative
("IAM-I") by becoming an Industry Member. IAM-I has announced energy,
mobility, construction and electronics as the initial four strategic research
and innovation priority areas.  This month, Dr Hodge will attend Graphene
Week 2024 in Prague and present on a panel as part of the Graphene Flagship's
REACH/ECHA committee.  Being involved in standards, regulation and nanosafety
committees and projects continues to be essential in driving the
commercialisation of graphene and other advanced materials.  Grant
applications remain key to supporting Versarien's R&D.  In addition to
grants that Gnanomat can now apply for, Versarien has submitted a proposal as
part of a large consortia for a Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU) grant and a
further two European Innovation Council Pathfinder applications are underway.

Cambridge Graphene Limited ("CGL")

CGL staff continue to support ongoing work in the Digital Roads of the Future
project at the University of Cambridge.  The main research fellow project
involves developing geopolymers for rigid pavement production, accomplished by
upcycling vast clay waste within the UK with reclaimed asphalt pavement and
crushed concrete.  CGL has recently completed the INNPRESSME project
'Bioguard' that enabled the team to further improve Versarien's Graphinks™
offering by developing hybrid graphene/silver/cellulose ink formulations with
significantly enhanced electrical conductivity with European partners CIDETEC
and CEA.  Near-field communication antennas capable of temperature sensing
were printed on biodegradable paper substrates as a key demonstrator.  The
outputs will be presented by Versarien at the 'Pitch Perfect and Boost the
European Bioeconomy' event in Brussels in December 2024.

2-DTech Limited ("2DT")

2DT is involved in the Horizon Europe project 'ICARE' where it is playing a
key role by developing protocols and supplying graphene materials used in
products like mortars, concretes (including 3D printable materials), and
rubber goods (tyres, footwear) in order to support the understanding of
graphene's life cycle and the potential exposure routes and toxicology to end
users.  This important project aims to create new systems that assess and
predict the impacts of nanomaterials on brain health, preventing
neurotoxicity.

2DT funded PhD student projects also continue at WMG, University of Warwick
supervised by Prof. Tony McNally in the area of 2D material-based rubber
composites and at University of Plymouth supervised by Dr Tina Joshi in the
area of developing DNA-based aptamers for graphene biosensor applications.

Gnanomat ("GNA")

GNA has been making significant progress with the support of the ICEX Trade
and Investment grant, awarded in September 2023.  This includes launching a
new business line in the field of functional printing, offering a powerful
avenue to bring its products to the market.  GNA has established in-house
manufacturing capabilities to supply large volumes of functional inks (in the
range of one metric tonne per year).  Initially, it has focused on developing
new products for printed electronics, while also expanding into other
applications such as electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, sensing,
and security.  During the development of this new business line, new know-how
has led to the filing of a new patent.

GNA is actively seeking strategic collaborations with major international
companies to accelerate the commercialisation of its products across various
sectors.  The GNA team has established co-development contracts with IRPC in
Thailand and CBMM in Brazil, and continues to work towards securing further
collaborations and commercially funded R&D projects.

Korea

Versarien will maintain its CVD graphene activity in Korea through
partnerships and collaborations with MCK Tech Co. Ltd ("MCK Tech") and
existing investor GrapheneLab.  Versarien's CEO, Stephen Hodge will be
visiting Korea later this month and giving an invited talk at "Carbon Korea
2024" in Seoul from 23-25 October, alongside Versarien exhibiting with MCK
Tech.  He will also attend and present at an 'International Standardization
of Advanced Materials Forum' hosted by the Korea Carbon Industry Promotion
Agency.

Commenting, Dr Stephen Hodge, Versarien CEO, stated: "I am delighted to report
that Versarien is continuing to make significant strides in its commercial
endeavours, building on our strong foundation of innovation and collaboration.
 Over the past year, we have seen encouraging growth across all our key
markets, particularly construction.  We are achieving our milestones as laid
out in our turnaround strategy with the disposal of AAC Cyroma and sale of our
CVD graphene assets.  I am also optimistic that we will be able to progress
the sale of Total Carbide.

"Our strategic partnerships with large UK and global players are pushing us to
the forefront of delivering sustainable, high-performance solutions enabled by
our advanced materials and technologies.  We are proud to be working with
companies that share our vision for a cleaner, more efficient future, and we
are seeing the fruits of these collaborations materialise in new development
contracts."

For further information please contact:

 

 Versarien                                                   c/o IFC

 Stephen Hodge, Chief Executive Officer

 Chris Leigh, Chief Financial Officer

 SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser and Broker)   +44 (0)20 3470 0470

 Matthew Johnson, Adam Cowl

 IFC Advisory Limited (Financial PR and Investor Relations)  +44 (0) 20 3934 6630

 Tim Metcalfe, Zach Cohen

 

For further information please see: http://www.versarien.com
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