Versarien Share Discussion Threads

[clint fleecewood] 01/7/2020 12:19

"the Company has been awarded a legally binding £5 million loan facility ("the Loan") by Innovate UK Loans Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of UK Research and Innovation."

[charo] 01/7/2020 12:04

Repeat after me "there is as yet no loan agreed."

[vs9] 01/7/2020 12:00

des - the Haydale RNS is a collab rather than an order, but interesting application for graphene in fabrics. Suspect a few have jumped in with covid19 in mind, but this is an antibacterial fabric not antiviral (though they intend to investigate this further).lag - not sure, weren't HAYD previously referred to as both a customer and competitor?

[grabster] 01/7/2020 11:48

The tenor of today's press reports of the Versarien announcements is positive. As are the headlines used.

For example: Graphene group takes control of China operation and announces £5m loan

Advanced materials engineering group Versarien, which operates its 2-DTech arm in Manchester, has converted its 50-50 joint venture in China into a wholly-owned entity by the UK business.

It also announced a £5m loan from Innovate UK Loans, a wholly-owned subsidiary of UK Research and Innovation, today.

The funding is specifically for a project named G SCALE – an acronym for Graphene-Seat, Concrete, Arch, Leisure, Elastomer – which is designed to enable Versarien to significantly increase its manufacture of quality assured graphene.

Neill Ricketts, Versarien, chief executive, said: “Versarien is delighted to have been awarded this loan by Innovate UK, which acknowledges the work we are undertaking and advancements made.

“Our vision for the business also sits within the context of the UK Government’s industrial strategy ‘Grand Challenges’, which is focused on clean growth, the ageing society, AI and the data economy and the future of mobility.

“The loan will help Versarien step up its graphene production capacity so that we can expedite the commercial adoption of graphene enhanced materials.”

Regarding the change in ownership in China, the company had signed an agreement with Young-Graphene (Beijing) Technology Company (YG) to create a 50%-owned Chinese joint venture out of the company’s previously wholly foreign-owned enterprise, Beijing Versarien Technology Co, (BVT), for the development of the company’s activities in China.

Versarien can exercise a backstop arrangement if YG fails to procure agreement for the first Versarien share subscription by June 30, 2020. Under this backstop arrangement the company can purchase from YG all of its equity interest in BVT for a nominal price of approximately £1.

The company said the lpst three months have seen significant progress by YG. However, the recent and ongoing lockdown restrictions in both China and the UK, coupled with the impact of political events in Hong Kong, have, understandably, had an impact on the process and the ability of YG to complete the first Versarien share subscription.

Therefore, the Versarien board has decided to exercise the backstop arrangement and return BVT to 100% Versarien ownership for the time being.

Versarien said it remains in discussions with YG.

Today, the company also announced the appointment of Matt Walker as head of international strategy and government relations, following the completion of his secondment from the Department for International Trade.

Neill Ricketts said: “COID-19 and the complex political environment has obviously impacted our plans in China, but this does not alter our strategy for expansion, of which China is but a part.

“We remain well-placed in China and the triggering of the backstop arrangement with YG has not fundamentally altered our strategy.

“However, in all our activities we are very conscious of the need to protect our IP and are grateful for the support and assistance we have been receiving from the UK Government.

“Matt Walker’s contribution to Versarien during his secondment, particularly with regards to the expansion of our activities in Asia, has been invaluable.

“We are thrilled to have him with us on a full-time basis at this crucial moment, as we build on establishing Versarien as a global leader in the advanced materials sector.

“We look forward to releasing our preliminary results in August and providing an update on the progress we have been making with our collaboration partners at that time.”

[deeplane] 01/7/2020 11:44

The price of democracy? The responsibility of Brexit will be borne by the electorate eventually. In our hands, so need to grip the realities.

[andymoore07] 01/7/2020 11:40

Sorry for the drop, I just bought 5000 more shares so it was obviously going to drop the moment I Bought them!!!

[hoverflyman] 01/7/2020 11:38

Sandbag, thanks for that. I realise that option was and may remain the most viable for the present but at one point there was mention of a bigger machine; no doubt either will do nicely but bigger implies greater efficiency ... down the line perhaps. It’s great we can scale up on materialising demand and of course numerous little looms in the shed would provide some redundancy in the event of a breakdown.

[desflurane] 01/7/2020 11:29

Post 105366-see what happens when a collaboration to use “graphene̶1; is announced? Come on VRS the time HAS come.

[breedsy] 01/7/2020 11:28

'Innovation loans are, we believe, most useful for innovations near to market, whereas grants are more suitable for earlier stage, riskier innovations.'

[ambyth] 01/7/2020 11:24

Information about, and terms boundaries, of Innovate UK Loans are here. All SMEs meeting criteria can apply through to end of 2020 via a series of specific competitions:

[sandbag] 01/7/2020 11:23

Hoverflyman,

Some time ago I likened the production machine to a loom. You could have one on its own or hundreds in a weaving shed. Superg1 who was/is very close to Neill said that it was a pretty good analogy. No need to build a huge one off (and therefore costly) machine. Just mass produce the existing ones. I've not heard or read anything to the contrary since.

[holidayfunds8] 01/7/2020 11:23

I would say the G SCALE project name is just a work of genius.

I think everybody is agreed that the KEY thing the market / investors are waiting for is absolute confirmation of one (or more) meaningful graphene-related commercial orders. And by 'meaningful', I mean something bringing in at least £0.5m to £1.0m a year in revenue.

Now the £5m UK Government loan is firmly focused upon engineering a significant increase in the SCALE of VRS-manufactured graphene. This sentence is absolutely KEY and most telling, in that the UK Government would not be loaning £5m to significantly increase VRS-manufactured graphene, if now was not the moment where such a significant increase in VRS graphene supply was NEEDED.

Now, just to spell things out for those that are unwilling to draw the obvious conclusion from the above - this significant increase in VRS-manufactured graphene is not related to ongoing 'collaborations' or ongoing 'testing'.

Rather, as the RNS clearly spells out, the loan "...is intended to facilitate the production of sufficient quantities of graphene by Versarien, to enable market supply of commercial quantities of graphene-enhanced materials." SO THIS MEANS ANTICIPATED CUSTOMER ORDERS, on a SIGNIFICANT SCALE.

I am happy if others do not read things in the same way, but the above logic appears absolutely clear, in my mind at least.

So, yes, we are all waiting for that absolute confirmation of an actual (meaningful) customer order, but the UK Govt are basically saying that they think such orders will be confirmed in the relatively near future.

Now NR was reluctant in the recent Q&A session to detail exactly how much VRS graphene has so far been manufactured, or what the current level of VRS graphene mfring capacity was, but we now KNOW they need still MORE GRAPHENE TO BE MANUFACTURED BY VRS. (Apologies to all, who are already bright enough to know all this for themselves).
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Finally, the G SCALE project name is sweet - but we know that they will have needed to have been maybe creative to be able to spell the acronym out:
* I think we are all clear on Concrete (both 3D printed but also more generally), the railway Arch, and also on the Leisure part (graphene-enhanced fabrics, and maybe also running shoe soles and the like);
* But I don't thinking Plastic or Bottles was an easy fit, so I am wondering if that became Elastomer?
* And I was surprised to see SEAT - maybe they just needed an 'S' and they could not readily think of another application that begins with the letter 'S' - or, alternatively, I think aircraft interior parts has been a flagged as one of the 'big5' and, in addition to all of the over-head lockers & related composite parts, the 3D printing of better / lighter aircraft SEATS would be my best guess);

Anyway, happy (enough) days...
David

[willoicc] 01/7/2020 11:10

Thank you nightfox.

[willoicc] 01/7/2020 10:59

bisho4 do you have a link for that podcast, please? I just can never seem to find them.

[bisho4] 01/7/2020 10:54

And, I strongly urge anyone with an interest in graphene to listen to Robert Llewellyn's Fully Charged podcast episode with Neill Ricketts, from a couple of days ago.

It contains about 35 minutes of chat from a couple of petrol-heads geeking out over electric cars and the possibilities of graphene. It's not a sales-pitch for Versarien, it's a relaxed environment with two guys enjoying each other's company and talking about their hobbies.

Shavian, you said you initiated this meet-up. Could you provide a bit more info?

[bisho4] 01/7/2020 10:51

A pair of very reassuring RNSs this morning.

Young Graphene failed to secure a deal to satisfy the agreement, so Versarien rightly revoked the privilege. YG lose face and Versarien are rightly seen as tough negotiators protecting the company's interests.

Matt Walker joining is a huge boost. He has seen the innermost working of the company, and knows its prospects intimately. There is no way he would give up his HMG career for a dud.

The £5m loan is a great show of faith in the company's growth prospects, and I LOVE the acronym G-SCALE. I wonder what's coming down the pipeline? :)

The timescales might not satisfy some investors who want quick returns so they can sell out, but the deals will happen. It's becoming clearer that it's a question of when, not if.

Very confident lth here.

[actorontop01] 01/7/2020 10:49

I have been a shareholder since 2017.Like all genuine LTHs, I have been disapponted by the lack of sales, despite a seemingly endless supply of collaboratiin agreements.
The decision to blow the whistle on the Chinese deal is encouraging- I could only see IP theft in the short term for trivial financial benefit.China follows a ruthless self interest.
So it is welcome that the UK government has offered a loan which ought to provide funding to get just one deal over the line and proof of sales.
But £5m is peanuts in comparison with the eye watering sums this Tory govt foolishly wants to spend on HS2, which on any metric, must be cancelled.
Short term, I want to see the textiles collab reach fruition. Aecom would be good as well. Fracking is a dead duck, wrong industry, wrong time, and climate hostile.Same for aviation. Concrete is a winner.
Why can't VRS collaborate with a company such as Verditek which is developing graphene solar panels.

[1teepee] 01/7/2020 10:48

Maybe it the China opportunity will get even bigger!

[laginaneil] 01/7/2020 10:45

Are Haydale a 'current' customer of VRS?

[66sequoia] 01/7/2020 10:28

Good for them, room for their type of graphite in the market. We are after different revenue streams.

[dot com] 01/7/2020 10:27

Bonzo the Clown!

[dot com] 01/7/2020 10:25

Very pleased with todays news!
Shows VRS are in total control with backing of UK Gov.
Hopefully todays news will also but an end to the endless share manipulation thats been going on. If that endless manipulation stops now then I can can only conclude the Chinese were behind it! Looking forward to next top 5 updates knowing VRS now have the cash to fully commercialise those products.