Versarien Regulatory News (VRS)

17 November 2017

Versarien plc

("Versarien" or the "Company")

Collaboration with Global Consumer Goods Company

Versarien plc (AIM: VRS), the advanced materials engineering group, is pleased to announce that, further to the statement in the Company's Trading Update, released on 3 November 2017, that the Company was in advanced negotiations with two of the world's largest consumer goods groups, the Company has now started collaborating with one of them (the "Partner") to enable both groups to work together on research, development and testing of Versarien's proprietary Nanene few layer graphene nano-platelets in polymer structures.

The Partner has provided its first Nanene purchase order to Versarien. The Nanene will be incorporated into polymer structures, primarily for packaging applications, for testing and evaluation, with a view to improving material strength, moisture control and recyclability.

Advanced negotiations continue with a number of other multinational companies, including in the consumer goods sector, with a view to them collaborating with Versarien on the commercialisation of graphene enhanced products. The Company looks forward to making further announcements on these as appropriate.

Neill Ricketts, CEO of Versarien, commented: "We are delighted to be working with this new Partner, which is a global leader in a number of consumer goods segments and whose products are household names. It is testament to the quality of our team and our products that we are able to take on these global high volume opportunities. 

"This latest collaboration, coupled with the others that we have already entered into, demonstrates the very wide ranging potential for graphene and that Versarien is rapidly establishing itself as the go-to supplier of high quality graphene, this being the first of a number of enquiries in packaging applications. The quality of our graphene, coupled with our research capabilities in conjunction with the Universities of Manchester and Cambridge gives us an unrivalled position and is putting us at the forefront of its commercialisation.

"Our recent fund raise is allowing us to rapidly scale up our graphene production capabilities and we are seeing ever increasing interest from global OEMs. We are currently showcasing our graphene technology at the IDTechEx show in Santa Clara, California, where we have been delighted with the interest received on the first day of the show including many from large global companies.

"I look forward to providing further updates on our progress during this exciting time for Versarien."

This announcement includes inside information as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation No. 596/2014 and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of those Regulations.

Enquiries:

Versarien 01242 269 122

Neill Ricketts, CEO

Chris Leigh, CFO

WH Ireland (Nominated Advisor) 0117 945 3470

Mike Coe

Ed Allsopp

IFC Advisory (Financial PR and IR) 0203 053 8671

Tim Metcalfe

Graham Herring

Heather Armstrong

About Versarien

Versarien plc (AIM:VRS), is an advanced engineering materials group. Leveraging proprietary technology, the Group creates innovative engineering solutions for its clients in a diverse range of industries. Versarien has five subsidiaries operating under two divisions:

Graphene and Plastics

2-DTech Ltd, which specialises in the supply, characterisation and early stage development of graphene products. www.2-dtech.com  

ACC Cyroma Ltd, which specialises in the supply of vacuum-formed and injection-moulded products to the automotive, construction, utilities and retail industry sectors. Using Versarien's existing graphene manufacturing capabilities, AAC will have the ability to produce graphene-enhanced plastic products. www.aaccyroma.co.uk  

Cambridge Graphene Ltd, which supplies novel inks based on graphene and related materials, using patented processes and develops graphene materials technology for licensing to manufacturers. www.cambridgegraphene.com

Thermal and Hard Wear Products

Versarien Technologies Ltd. which owns the exclusive rights to a patent-protected additive process for creating advanced micro-porous metals targeting the thermal management industry and manufactures extruded aluminium heat sinks for the electronics and computing industries. www.versarien-technologies.co.uk 

Total Carbide Ltd, a leading manufacturer in sintered tungsten carbide for applications in arduous environments such as the oil and gas industry. www.totalcarbide.com