Hi spid, I think this might be it... Breakthrough for graphene...

Hi spid, I think this might be it...

Breakthrough for graphene groups remains elusive
A £60m commercialisation centre hopes to take the material from the lab to the factory


Graphene is stronger than steel, harder than diamond and is superconductive. Yet 14 years after it was first isolated at the University of Manchester, it is being used in only a handful of products. Companies have struggled to turn the atom-thick layer of carbon into a form that can be used in products such as batteries, flexible screens, electronics components, medical equipment and aircraft wings.

The university hopes to change this with a £60m commercialisation centre opening in December. The Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre has signed up its first business partners, some of which are listed on Aim, to take the material from the lab to the factory floor.

Khasha Ghaffarzadeh, research director at IDTechEx, a consultancy, said the “inflection point” for graphene, when the material becomes cheap and flexible enough to be widely adopted by industry, is still at least two years away.


Some companies, however, will have first-mover advantage.

Applied Graphene Materials
The share price of Applied Graphene Materials tells the story of investors’ premature optimism about graphene.
Floated in late 2013 at 155p, shares in the Durham University spinout peaked just months later at 510p, before starting a juddering lurch down. They slid from 215p to 39.5p between June and October 2017, and now trade at about 43p.

Institutional investors, however, have stayed patient. Supported by two further equity fundraisings, AGM has pursued its strategy of collaborating with manufacturers on graphene applications to add value to products in sectors including paints and coatings, composites, automotive and aerospace.

House broker N+1 Singer sees 2018 as an important year for AGM, because it is making increasing commercial progress in all its target markets and also appointed a new chief executive. Adrian Potts took over this month, via internal promotion, succeeding Jon Mabbitt.

A step-change could come this year with the launch by chemicals business James Briggs of a range of aerosol paint primers containing AGM graphene. Previous products have been more niche, including fishing rods and the Fenyr SuperSport car. AGM is progressing with its Structural Ink patented technology, a method of printing graphene on to composites, and is working with Airbus on satellite applications.

Pre-tax losses in the six months to January 31 widened to £2.3m, from £2.1m in the previous half-year, but the company had £12m cash that it hopes will sustain it through to profitable trading.

Haydale
Haydale, a GEIC partner, was among the pioneers of graphene. The WeIsh company has developed a process allowing the material to be used in inks and coatings, and operates four plasma reactors to enable it to be mixed into composites and other materials. One is in Thailand as Asia becomes an increasing focus for the group.

However, Haydale issued a profit warning in June, admitting its customers were taking longer than expected to launch graphene products. Losses for 2018 would equal the £5.4m of last year, it said, although revenue for the year to June (excluding grant income of about £850,000) would be about 15-20 per cent above the £3m generated last financial year.

After the warning, Ray Gibbs stepped down as chief executive but will remain with the company in a business development role. David Banks, chairman, said investors remained supportive and pointed to recent collaboration deals, including the world’s first aircraft incorporating graphene. Haydale is poised to take advantage of the mass commercialisation of graphene, he said. “It always takes industry a while to adopt new materials,” he added.

House broker Arden Partners is forecasting adjusted pre-tax losses to fall from £5.6m in 2017 to £4.8m in 2018 and £2.1m in 2019. Haydale floated in 2014 at 210p but the shares have dropped to about 57p.

Versarien
Another GEIC partner, Versarien, has had better fortune. Shares in the Gloucestershire-based company, which floated in 2013 at 12.25p, have risen to 155p on the back of a string of contract wins, giving the company a market capitalisation of £217m.

Versarien creates graphene nano platelets and inks, and recently signed a collaboration agreement with Axia Materials of South Korea to develop enhanced composite materials for electric vehicle batteries and “smart” houses with built-in sensors.

Versarien also makes an additive for metals to make them more heat resistant and sintered tungsten carbide, which is used in arduous environments in the oil and gas industry.

Revenues increased by 52 per cent to £9m in the year to March 31, while pre-tax losses narrowed from £2.2m to £1.6m.

www.ft.com