Haydale Graphene Industr... Share Discussion Threads

[timbo003] 26/6/2016 22:55

This year's annual Haydale Investor Open day took place on Wednesday 22nd June at Haydale Composite Solutions, Unit 10, Charnwood Business Park, Loughborough. There were around 50 – 60 invited attendees (mainly shareholders). The facilities are housed in a medium sized industrial unit which does not have suitable hospitality facilities to host a meeting with 50 plus attendees, so there was a marque erected in the adjoining car park which served as the main reception room and hospitality room.

After the Chairman (John Knowles) had made his introductory remarks, attendees split into around 6 small groups with each group headed by one of the directors. The groups were then rotated around several different stands displaying posters showcasing Haydale’s nano particle technologies and their consultancy services.


Poster Session:

There was one poster on Reinforced thermoplastic high pressure pipes for the oil and gas industries, the industry mainly uses steel pipes for gas and oil transport, although they are looking to transition to thermoplastic pipes which offer certain advantages, the pipes are spoolable which leads to reduced installation costs and transport costs. Pipes have to comply with a series of exacting tests (API 15S) which can be performed at the Loughborough facility. Haydale are involved with the design and testing of these thermoplastic pipes (on a consultancy basis) and they are also working towards adding functionalized nano materials to enhance flow charecteristics and improve gas and liquid permeation resistance of the pipes.

There were two applications which I had not come across before which caught my attention: Bruisable composites and Composite pressure Vessels, see brief details below:


PLAFCAP: PLAsma Functionalisation of microCAPsules - (Bruisable Composites)
This is a grant assisted research project (not specific to graphene) but it does utilise Haydale’s HDplas technology (low temperature plasma) to chemically modify microcapsules (containing dye) to improve the micromapsule bonding to resins. The modified microcapsules contain a visible dye or a dye which is only visible to UV light. If a composite component (for example a panel) containing these microcapsules suffers impact damage, dye is released at the site of the impact and the damage can be visualised under either visible or UV light.

Without addition of the dye microcapsules, barely visible impact damage (BVID) is difficult to detect. If damage remains undetected it could lead to failure of the damaged component. This technology has been trialed in Racing yachts and it could have applications in the motor vehicle and aerospace industries.


HOST: Hydrogen Optimisation of Storage and Transfer - (Pressure Vessels)
Type IV high pressure thermoplastic composite pressure vessels offer a number of advantages over other types of pressure storage vessels for example Steel pressure storage vessels.


Conventional thermoplastic composite vessels are not suitable for storage of Hydrogen due to the high permeability of Hydrogen through composites. A composite pressure vessel comprises of an internal moulded polymer lining and a composite outer layer which is formed through a winding process whereby composite tape is wrapped around the polymer lining using a robotic winding arm. Graphene is impermeable to hydrogen so by incorporating functionalized graphene into the winding tape, it should be possible to produce type IV pressure vessels that are suitable for hydrogen storage.

There were several other poster stands that concerned a number of other Haydale activities, these included:
• Nanoparticles to enhance the thermal or electrical conductivity of polymers
• Use of Haydale’s graphene inks for use as biosensors and pressure sensors.
• Arago Technology (electricity Pylon struts made from composites)
• Gas transition piece (composite sleeve for gas transmission pipes)
• Graphene enhanced 3D printing

We were informed that summaries of the posters were available to take away in a goody bag (which they were) and they will also be made available on the web site, I have had a quick look over on the web site and it’s not immediately obvious where they are, so I will make enquiries about that next week.


Lunch:

Following the tour around the poster stands, it was time for lunch which comprised a light buffet and a selection of wine and soft drinks. During lunch I spoke to a number of employees, directors and guests, including a couple of attendees from the brokers Cenkos Securities, I was naturally curious to know what they were doing there, given that the company’s broker is Cantors. They suggested that Haydale might want further funds later this year (for expansion?) and in passing they mentioned that Cenkos generally only get involved in fund raisings of £10M (plus). Alas, despite my best efforts that is all I could get out of them.

I also spent some time with Chris Spacie (R&D director), we pontificated on a number of material science topics including the relative merits of derivatization and impurity inclusion on the properties graphene and other 2D materials and how different morphic forms of graphene nano particles may have different miscibility properties (see my recent posts on Directa Plus for potential significance).



Q&As

After lunch there was a brief Q&A session, I asked about future funding requirements, understandably the Chairman was a bit reticent in his reply, there were no immediate plans, but should opportunities arise (similar to the acquisition of EPL composites, now renamed Haydale Composite Solutions) they may want to raise funds, I also asked whether they intended to use Haydale branding for Haydale graphene and could this be extended to end user products (along the lines of “intel inside” in PCs). The answer was an emphatic yes (I presume this will entail ensuring that HDplas is displayed as prominently as possible, wherever possible).

This was a good lead in to a couple of questions on Directa Plus (an Italian based Graphene company which floated on AIM three weeks ago, see earlier posts on this thread and the Directa Plus web site for details)


The Directa Plus business model is not dissimilar to Haydale’s. Their technology utilizes a a high temperature plasma process to produce graphene nano paricles from Graphite, the resulting graphene nano particles can be used without any subsequent chemical derivatization in a wide range of application (which seems surprising given that graphene nanoparticles derived from conventional micronisation type techniques requires derivatization before it is suitable for most applications). Directa Plus now have their branded graphene “G+” showcased in two commercial products: tyres for racing bikes and branded sports wear.

RG acknowledged the Directa Plus achievements to date and told us that he had a meeting scheduled with them in Italy next week and that they intended to explore potential opportunities for collaboration.

There was a comment that it would be good if we could get involved with a high profile sport like Formula 1, responding to the comment RG took the opportunity to remind us about the ongoing collaboration with Alex Thompson Racing, he also mentioned Mclaren, I’m not too sure about the nature of that particular connection, but there was a Mclaren representative at the meeting.

There was the inevitable question about the company’s prospects in the event of a Brexit. JK’s response was fairly non-committal but he seemed to be indicating that they would prefer if the UK stayed in the EU.

I asked if Haydale graphene had yet been commercialized in any end user products, the response was that there was nothing out there as obvious as the Directa Plus’s tyres or sportswear, but Haydale’s graphene was now being adopted for some 3D printing processes and Haydale’s graphene inks were beginning to be used for products such as sensors.


Demonstrations:

After Q&As there were a some demonstrations for those of us who didn’t have to rush off. One of these concerned the fabrication of a graphene enhanced laminated auto body panel (for the BAC mono super car). Another demonstrated a large robotic arm simulating the winding process used for the graphene enhanced pressure vessels. There was also a photo opportunity with the Haydale’s BAC mono which RG tweeted for prosperity.


I got the chance to speak to Gerry Boyce (Director of Haydale Composite Solutions) after the BAC Mono photo session and asked him about the IP associated with the intermediate inks and suspension, he was firmly of the opinion that it would be extremely difficult to reverse engineer these intermediates and estimated that it would take a third party competitor several years to reproduce Haydale’s achievements in this area, furthermore Haydale have taken all the necessary steps to maximize protection of the trade secrets (akin to Coca Cola and the Coke secret recipe).

Before leaving the site, delegates picked up a goody bag containing (amongst other items) a Haydale branded drinks coaster (made from Welsh Slate) and a selection of A4 printed posters summarising the Haydale technologies on show throughout the day. There was also a brief one page research note from Cantors (dated May 31st) with some Haydale revenue and earnings forecasts, brief details for those of you who haven’t seen seen the Cantor’s note were as follows: For year ending June 2016 they forecast: revenue £2.0M, EBIT (£3.8m) and PBT (£3.8m). For year ending June 2019 (the first year of profitability) they forecast: revenue £14.9m, EBIT £3.4m and PBT £3.5m. Short term price target: 220p/share.

[fightfear] 26/6/2016 12:26

I'm looking forward to reading your summary Timbo if you find the time to write it of course(this is another meeting I didn't get a chance to go to due to my holidays, which is a big shame because this company is one of the top shares in my watchlist)

[black bird] 23/6/2016 10:03

paid 113 p will hold long term i'm very optimistic balance sheet soon
full of profit BB

[timbo003] 23/6/2016 09:49

I went along but I'm still up here in the tundra, will write up a few notes when I return down south, either later today or tomorrow.

[determined] 23/6/2016 09:36

Did anyone attend the open day yesterday?

If so, any chance of a brief synopsis?

[timbo003] 20/6/2016 17:26

Could it be a employee share scheme that has just matured?

[petewy] 20/6/2016 14:09

Some 30 deals of 500 shares each between 12 noon and 1pm. Today.
Any ideas?

[timbo003] 13/6/2016 14:36

The share price for Directa Plus has continued its upward trajectory and has now more than doubled to stand at around 180p

The Market Cap for Directa Plus is now around £80M (Haydale £26M)

The Directa Plus Aim Admission document is an interesting read, especially the section on the competitive landscape (see below). I will quiz the Haydale management about that at the forthcoming Haydale Investor day on June 22nd




10. COMPETITION

There are many organisations involved in graphene research and production, ranging from university spinouts and other small start-ups through to large multinational corporations. The Directors believe that the Group’s competition can be split into two groups, direct and indirect. Direct competition comes from companies working to directly supply and/or functionalise GNP’s, or products incorporating GNP’s, to the market. Indirect competition comes in the form of alternative competing technologies working to penetrate the market for similar commercial applications to those which the Group is focused.

Direct competitors producing GNP’s include the US-based companies Angstron Materials, Inc., Vorbeck Materials Corporation, Inc. and XG Sciences, Inc.. These three companies are involved in the commercialisation of graphene technology, using top-down production methods that rely on the exfoliation of mined graphite.

Angstron Materials, Inc. has a facility located in Dayton, Ohio and is focused on energy storage applications of graphene. Vorbeck Materials Corporation, Inc. is a specialty materials company which manufactures and supplies graphene, primarily for the electronics industry. Vorbeck Materials Corporation, Inc. was founded in 2006 and licenses its technology from the University of Princeton. In October 2012, Vorbeck Materials Corporation, Inc. increased the production capacity of its facility located at Jessup, Maryland to 40 t/a. XG Sciences, Inc. was founded in 2006 and manufactures and sells GNP’s for use in advanced materials and energy applications.

In the UK, the main competitors that the Directors are aware of are Haydale Graphene Industries plc (Haydale), Applied Graphene Materials Plc (AGM) and Thomas Swan & Co Limited. Haydale works on functionalising graphene using its HDPlas™ process and their current focus appears to be the addition of functionalised graphenes within resin and composite materials as well as graphene-based inks and coatings that can be used in smart packaging, printed batteries, electrochemical sensors, flexible displays and potentially in touch screens. AGM has developed a proprietary bottom-up process for the production of graphene and their current focus appears to be on inks and coatings as well as composites. Thomas Swan & Co Limited is working in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin to develop a top-down process to produce graphene.

The Directors believe that the Group faces indirect competition from producers of nanomaterials, particularly carbon nanotubes and multi-walled nanotubes, which in some circumstances carry similar performance properties to graphene. Known commercial-scale producers of carbon nanotubes include Arkema SA and Nanocyl NV.

Whilst there are multiple companies exploring the commercialisation of graphene, the Directors believe that the Company has a strong competitive position with a production facility that is already capable of producing consistent commercially viable graphene on a commercial scale. In addition, the Directors believe that the GNP’s produced by the Group’s proprietary manufacturing process have unique morphology (high lateral dimension and very low thickness) together with higher crystalline quality leading to a lower proportion of graphite and other contaminants than those derived from alternative production methods, and therefore the Directors believe that the Group’s GNP’s have the potential to deliver a greater improvement in material properties when added to a final product.

[timbo003] 01/6/2016 11:39

Directa Plus are now quoted at 138 - 142p valuing them at £62M (up 90% since the IPO last Friday)

Haydale are currently quoted at 170 - 177p valuing them at £26m

Directa Plus are slightly ahead of Haydale regarding roll out and commercialisation of their products (their graphene is show-cased in branded racing bike tyres and branded sports clothing), but I suspect Haydale's derivatized graphene has more potential applications than Directa's non-derivatised graphene, I guess time will tell, but from where we are now it seems to me that either Directa Plus are overvalued or Haydale is undervalued, hopefully it's the latter.

[timbo003] 28/5/2016 16:44

Directa Plus got off to a good start on Friday I see (floated at 75p and ended up at 105p), Market Cap at the close on Friday was roughly double that of Haydales.



Needless to say, I wish I had done a few to stag now.

[knownowt] 26/5/2016 08:46

Timbo, notwithstanding that Amiantit is a Saudi company, and we tend to think that all things Saudi focus on oil, from the company's own website :

Amiantit Home \ Products \ Pipe Systems\
Glass Reinforced Polyester (GRP) Pipes A A A
Amiantit is the leading supplier of GRP pipes worldwide.

Pipes are manufactured using either a continuous filament winding process (Flowtite), centrifugal casting (C-Tech), or cross helical winding process (Vectus).

GRP pipes are lightweight and easy to handle, corrosion-free, with a proven resistance to acidic environments in water and sewage systems.

Main applications include transportation of potable water, fire-fighting, irrigation; seawater, desalinated water; chemical and industrial waste, and sewage.

GRP pipes are produced in nominal, inner diameters ranging from DN 80 to DN 4000
mm, and in lengths from 6 metres upwards.

However, if the collaboration is as successful as everyone must hope then surely oil pipelines will become a target end-user.

[timbo003] 26/5/2016 08:37

Back on the subject of Directa Plus (see post #237)


The Directa Plus offer was EIS qualifying, but I opted to duck out on the IPO. There was no prospectus available and from what I can ascertain from in the public domain their technology is not as adaptable or as broad as the Haydale technology.

It appears to me that they physical modify rather than the chemically modify the graphene, so I would imagine they would not be able to produce a non-conducting Directa Plus graphene with their process, or to produce materials that easily disperse in both hydrophilic and hydrophobic matrices.

Having said that, I have been told by the broker that there was good demand for the Directa Plus offer and they closed it early.

The potential size of the modified graphene market is enormous and there is likely to be plenty of room for several specialist suppliers, I just happen to think Haydale will be more successful than Directa plus. Accordingly I opted to put the small amount of cash I had put aside for a Directa Plus investment into a few more Haydale shares.

[timbo003] 26/5/2016 08:20

Another eye catching collaboration announced today:


I'm slightly surprised to see that it specifies "next generation GRP pipe systems for water and sewerage applications". Oil pipe systems are not mentioned, yet Flowtite Technology AS is the wholly owned GRP Pipe technology and R&D Centre of The Saudi Arabian Amiantit Company ("Amiantit").

Will there be a separate collaboration announcement at some stage for Oil pipe systems with another third party?

[bomber13] 21/5/2016 12:02

Interesting that the CEO put his hand in his pocket to buy a few more shares on Thursday at more or less the same price as his option award announced yesterday , which conveys quite a strong and consistent message in my opinion .

[timbo003] 20/5/2016 01:48

>>>>petewy

I don't know as I've got him filtered too, but he seems to be my new stalker for some reason.

[petewy] 19/5/2016 19:19

Who is this singer8 clown? I have him filtered.
Is he saying anything of value?

[singer8] 19/5/2016 09:06

got this one right then timbo003
makes a change
LOL

[timbo003] 18/5/2016 22:33

See video interview with Ray Gibbs on ProactiveInvestor regarding today's announcement on AMG collaboration:

[timbo003] 18/5/2016 09:01

>>>petewy

They obtain the reactors from Denmark, modify them and then dispatch them to suppliers, that's the model I think.

Directa: They are considerably more than sports suits (and tyres), its their customers who produce those goods containing Directa'a Graphene, they produce/modify graphene use a plasma process (a bit like Haydale), but it looks like it's a hot plasma process (not a cold one) and the resulting graphene is not chemically functionalised as far as I can see (unlike Haydale's graphene which is chemically functionalised)

[petewy] 18/5/2016 08:45

Don't understand it, the announcement.
I thought Haydale bought its machines from Denmark not supplied them.
Directa seems interesting, just sports suits or more?

[timbo003] 18/5/2016 08:18

This morning's announcement really does sound like meaningful news, I'm intrigued to see if this cross licencing/royalty business model really works.

[18bt] 18/5/2016 08:02

Great development this morning

[singer8] 18/5/2016 07:55

LOL
is anyone interested in what you do mate LOL

[timbo003] 17/5/2016 18:37

Another IPO on a graphene specialist (Directa Plus) is coming up by the looks of it, I have requested a prospectus.



Web site:


Mini prospectus (for promotional purposes):



I see the broker is Cantors (the same broker as Haydale)

[petewy] 09/5/2016 09:09

I can't get there but I hope you (timbo)will furnish us with you usual excellent report.