25 Jan 2016 07:00
25 January 2016
Applied Graphene Materials plc
("Applied Graphene Materials", "the Group" or "the Company")
Annual General Meeting Statement
Applied Graphene Materials plc, the producer of specialty graphene materials, will be holding its Annual General Meeting tomorrow, on 26 January 2016 at 11.00am at The Lecture Theatre, The Wilton Centre, Redcar, Cleveland, TS10 4RF, during which the Chairman, Bryan Dobson, will make the following statement:
"The Board remains pleased with the progress that the Group is making over the course of the current financial year. The successful conclusion of the placing and open offer, raising approximately £8.5 million, has allowed the Group to continue to plan for a significant increase in its production capacity and to fund customer collaborations and joint development activity as the business pursues production orders. The fundraising followed a year of good progress in developing our commercial pipeline, including collaborations with a number of blue chip international partners.
Our main focus remains on driving forward opportunities to win production orders with existing commercial partners, along with new joint development agreements and collaborations. The pipeline of opportunities has grown significantly over the last year, although most collaborations remain subject to strict client confidentiality. However, I am pleased to be able to confirm that we are collaborating to develop graphene based anti-corrosive coatings with Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings (the largest US paint producer) and TWI Ltd (world leader in materials and corrosion management). Innovate UK has confirmed that it will be co-funding this exciting collaboration.
Corrosion is estimated to cost the British economy £10 billion per annum, primarily affecting major infrastructure sectors such as construction, petrochemicals and transport. Organic coatings loaded with hazardous or environmentally harmful metals such as zinc and chromates are commonly used to protect such structures and so it is desirable to find improved and sustainable alternative solutions. Graphene has been identified as an alternative anti-corrosive additive and the collaboration aims to develop the use of graphene in anti-corrosive coatings. The corrosion resistance of a coating is not a single property but a summation of many properties such as barrier resistance, electrochemical behaviour, mechanical strength and resistance to damage.
As our customer engagements continue to progress, we are confident that the Group remains well positioned to become a leading graphene provider."
Ends
For further information, please contact:
Applied Graphene Materials +44 (0) 1642 438 214
Jon Mabbitt, Chief Executive Officer
Oliver Lightowlers, Chief Financial Officer
N+1 Singer +44 (0) 207 496 3000
Shaun Dobson / Richard Lindley
Hudson Sandler +44 (0) 207 796 4133
Charlie Jack / Emily Dillon
Notes to Editors
About Applied Graphene Materials
Applied Graphene Materials was founded by Professor Karl Coleman in 2010 with its operations and processes based on technology that he initially developed at Durham University. The Group was admitted to AIM in November 2013, raising £11 million, and is based at the Wilton Site on Teesside.
The Group has developed a proprietary bottom-up process which is capable of producing high purity graphene nanoplatelets using a continuous process. The manufacturing process is based on sustainable, readily available raw materials and therefore does not rely on the supply of graphite, unlike a number of other graphene production techniques. Applied Graphene Materials owns the intellectual property and know-how behind this process.
Applied Graphene Materials works in partnership with its customers using its knowledge and expertise to provide bespoke graphene dispersions and formats to deliver enhancements and benefits for a wide range of applications.
About Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings
Sherwin-Williams is a global protective and marine coatings company that delivers smarter asset protection and unmatched service and specification support to its customers from 4,000 locations worldwide. From alkyds to zincs, the company offers a complete line of time-tested, high performance coatings and systems to combat corrosion, supported by the largest group of NACE-certified coatings inspectors in the industry. With 150 years in business and a culture of product innovation, Sherwin-Williams today is the single source of supply for coatings solutions made to your specifications and delivered on time, every time.
About TWI Ltd
TWI Ltd is one of Europe's foremost independent not-for-profit research and technology organisations, employing over 800 people with an annual turnover in excess of €70 million. The majority of TWI's activities (65%) are contract research, funded by industry and built around the development of advanced technologies. TWI is also an active participant in collaborative research programmes in Europe and the UK. TWI has over 3 decades of experience in various coating systems, including functional organic films, hybrid inorganic-organic coating systems, thermal spray, and more recently low surface energy coatings for the aerospace and wind turbine industry.