Agreement with Vivobarefoot

RNS Number : 9868F

Versarien PLC

27 February 2018

 

Versarien plc

("Versarien" or the "Company")

Agreement with Vivobarefoot

Versarien plc (AIM: VRS), the advanced materials engineering group, is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with shoemaker Vivobarefoot Ltd ("Vivobarefoot"), to collaborate on developing a range of footwear that incorporates graphene into existing resins and fibres in order to enhance material performance.

Vivobarefoot, headquartered in the UK, manufactures and sells a full range of innovative, "minimalist", shoes from hiking and running shoes, to those for everyday use.  Vivobarefoot is the world's leading maker of minimalist shoes and is majority owned and run by Galahad and Asher Clark, with a leading Taiwanese shoe manufacturer, Stella International, owning a minority stake.

Utilising Versarien's proprietary Nanene few layer graphene nano-platelets, the collaboration will involve the incorporation of graphene into existing resins and fibres, with the aim of enhancing puncture resistance and improving mechanical strength, wear resistance and thermal conductivity.

Asher Clark, Vivobarefoot Design Director, commented:  "To innovate at Vivobarefoot is to put as little shoe as possible between your feet and the ground.  We are very excited to partner with Versarian in order to take that goal to a new level and redefine some extraordinary new benchmarks in performance, durability and sustainability in modern shoemaking."

Neill Ricketts, CEO of Versarien, commented:  "We are delighted to have signed our latest collaboration and we look forward to working with Vivobarefoot to enhance their already innovative ranges of footwear.

"It is very pleasing to be working with companies such as Vivobarefoot to get new and innovative graphene enhanced products to market.  The signing of this collaboration further illustrates the wide-ranging applications for our high quality graphene.  We have now entered into formal collaborations covering areas as diverse as aerospace, clothing, packaging and medical technology and we continue to see considerable interest globally from other groups wishing to work with Versarien.

"Using both new and existing ways of exploiting the properties of graphene in various materials is enabling us to simultaneously work in multiple verticals, with minimum impact to other projects, maximising and de-risking the potential commercial opportunity."

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 934 6630                

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 has developed an additive process for creating advanced micro-porous metals targeting the thermal management industry and supplies extruded aluminium. 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 

 

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