Haydale Plc Regulatory News (HAYD)

Haydale Graphene Industries plc ("Haydale" or the "Company") Supply Agreement with TANTEC A/S Haydale Graphene Industries plc (AIM:HAYD), the Company focused on enablingtechnology for the commercialisation of graphene, is pleased to announce it hasentered into an exclusive development and supply agreement with Tantec A/S(Tantec), a leading manufacturer of standard and customised plasma reactors. This rolling two year contract will enable Haydale, in collaboration withTantec, to continue to develop the functionalisation process to meet customerspecific needs, both in terms of quantity of materials and the level offunctionalisation. The first bespoke Tantec built reactor arrived in June and has beensuccessfully commissioned leading to Haydale having the confidence to order newunits. As announced in Haydale's preliminary results on 30 September, Haydaleis due to receive two new reactors from Tantec in December 2014 to increasecapacity and operational flexibility. The Tantec machines are significantlymore advanced than the previous units providing greater control and precisionwith a consequent positive impact on performance. An added feature is theability to monitor and control the reactor remotely which is essential asHaydale seeks to install the reactors into customers' production facilities. Haydale has recently been testing the functionalisation of resins for use incomposite materials and has seen significant improvements in materialproperties including toughness, and an increase in excess of 200% in theultimate tensile strength when using just 2% loading of Haydale functionalisedgraphene nano platelets ("GNPs"). This corroborates previously reported thirdparty studies (J.APPL.POLYM.SCI 2014, DOI: 10.1002/APP.40802) when using HDPlas® materials. To achieve such improvements with a relatively small amount offunctionalised GNPs demonstrates that low levels of properly functionalisedGNPs can make a significant difference to large volumes of material. Haydale's collaboration with Tantec will facilitate Haydale providing properlyfunctionalised graphene consistently and the ability to scale up volumes toaccommodate future demand. Ray Gibbs, CEO at Haydale, commented: "Having already commissioned our first Tantec reactor and established a trackrecord of performance to date, we are confident in its engineering and buildquality. As a result we have agreed an exclusive supply agreement and orderedtwo new units. These machines not only provide us with required capacityincrease but importantly provide a flexible operating capability to rapidlymeet customer requirements. We also have a continual program of reactordevelopments to enhance the features and benefits of the machines which isexpected to generate additional intellectual property to add to our existing"family" of patents. The market reaction to the third party verification of our process and theresults we have obtained with customers have led to enquiries for the use underlicense of a reactor. We have therefore ordered a larger unit to provide uswith further capacity and also act as our "licensing" demonstrator." Kim Saabye, European Sales Director and partner in Tantec, added: "Tantec is looking forward working to developing its relationship with Haydaleand we are pleased to have reached this agreement with a company that has theknow-how to use our reactors to functionalise materials to meet the specificneeds of their customers." - ends - For further information please contact: Haydale Graphene Industries plc 01269 842 946 John Knowles, Chairman Ray Gibbs, Chief Executive Officer Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nomad) 0207 148 7900 Tony Rawlinson Paul Trendell Cantor Fitzgerald Europe (Broker) 020 7894 7000 David Foreman Paul Jewell Hermes Financial PR Trevor Phillips 07889 153 628 Chris Steele 07979 604 687 About Haydale Haydale has developed a patent-pending proprietary scalable plasma process tofunctionalise graphene and other nanomaterials. This enabling technology canprovide Haydale with a rapid and highly cost-efficient method of supplyingtailored solutions to enhance applications for both raw material suppliers andproduct manufacturers. Functionalisation is carried out through a low-pressure plasma process thattreats both mined, organic fine powder and other synthetically producednanomaterial powders, producing high-quality few layered graphenes and graphenenanoplatelets. The process can functionalise with a range of chemical groups,with the level of functionalisation tailored to the customer's needs. Gooddispersion improves the properties and performance of the host material andensures the final product performs as specified. The Haydale plasma process does not use wet chemistry, nor does it damage thematerial being processed; rather, it can clean up any impurities inherent inthe raw material. The technology is a low energy user and most importantlyenvironmentally friendly. The Haydale method is an enabling technology,allowing the Company to work with a raw material producer who seeks to addvalue to the base product and also tailor the outputs to meet the targetapplications of the end user. The Haydale view is that the market currently does not require tonnes offunctionalised graphene but rather the confidence in the materials performanceand the consistent replication of that performance. Demand will grow with increasing evidence in the performance improvementsgenerated when using graphene. Commercialisation and hence increased demandrequires the correct functionalisation of the right graphenes to improve itsdispersion leading to enhanced material properties. Haydale, based in South Wales and housed in a purpose-built facility forprocessing and handling nanomaterials, is facilitating the application ofgraphenes and other nanomaterials in fields such as inks, sensors, energystorage, photovoltaics, composites, paints and coatings. www.haydale.com About Tantec The Tantec Group is a privately held company founded in 1974 and is located inLunderskov, Denmark. It is a leading manufacturer of standard and customisedPlasma and Corona systems for surface treatment of plastics and metals toenhance adhesion properties with more than 40 years of experience in deliveringand manufacturing quality, high-end surface treatment products for anyindustry.