Versarien revenues rise as it continues to expand

Advanced engineering materials company Versarien reported group revenues from continuing operations of £3.82m for its first half on Monday, up 41% year-on-year.

The AIM-traded firm said out of that, graphene revenues were ahead 166% to £0.93m for the six months ended 30 September.

Its adjusted EBITDA loss for continuing operations narrowed by 39% to £0.71m, while its reported loss before tax totalled £3.11m, compared to £4.34m a year earlier.

The company said its reported loss before tax from continuing operations came in at £2.96m, narrowing from £4.31m.

Cash at period end totalled £3.46m, up from £2.36m at the end of March.

On the operational front, Versarien received a £1.93m strategic investment from Korea’s GrapheneLab during the period, together with royalty and trademark agreements.

It acquired a number of Spanish graphene manufacturing assets to provide up to an additional 100 tonne powder capacity per annum, and placed orders for the purchase of equipment to scale-up its ink production capacity by an additional 12,000 litres per annum.

A lease was signed on a new dedicated graphene production facility in Longhope, Gloucestershire, and a textile supply agreement was signed with Crosslete, with the board saying that discussions were ongoing with multiple garment suppliers.

Since the end of the first half, Versarien signed a grant agreement to support the development of ‘Pseudo-Capacitor’ technology, aimed at zero emissions for port-side infrastructure.

A commercial agreement was also signed with fast fashion brand Superdry to produce graphene-enhanced garments, while a royalty agreement had been reached with Gerdau for the distribution of graphene masks, primarily in Latin America.

“The first half of this financial year has seen continued progress in our pursuit of commercialisation whilst increasing both production capacity and our global footprint,” said chief executive officer Neill Ricketts.

“GSCALE remains on track with particularly pleasing results in textiles and concrete.

“We remain conscious of our environmental obligations which also brings commercial opportunities as we seek to solve some of the global issues and challenges using graphene and allied two dimensional materials.”

At 1130 GMT, shares in Versarien were up 5.87% at 28.24p.