AIM Admission

RNS Number : 8172G

Versarien PLC

12 June 2013

 



Press Release

12 June 2013

Versarien plc

("Versarien" or the "Group")

First day of dealings on AIM

Versarien plc (AIM: VRS), the advanced engineering materials group, is pleased to announce the commencement of dealings of its Ordinary Shares on the Alternative Investment Market ("AIM") of the London Stock Exchange ("Admission").  Northland Capital Partners Limited is acting as Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker to the Company and Westhouse Securities Limited as Joint Broker.

In conjunction with Admission, the Group raised £3.0 million before expenses through a placing of 24,489,799 ordinary shares of 1p each at 12.25 pence per share (the "Placing").  Immediately following Admission, the Company has 83,076,085 ordinary shares in issue, giving a market capitalisation of £10.2 million at the Placing Price.

The net proceeds of the Placing (amounting to approximately £2.3 million) will be used to satisfy the cash consideration due in respect of the acquisition of Total Carbide Limited and to provide working capital for the Group.

Versarien develops advanced micro-porous metals for thermal management.  These open celled metallic foams have exceptionally high surface area to volume ratios, making them ideal for heat transfer, heat exchange, catalysis and energy storage.

Versarien is initially targeting cooling systems for central processing units (CPUs), found in high performance workstations (engineering, science, CGI, animation), computer clusters, supercomputing infrastructure and data centres.  The Group's initial product, VersarienCu, a micro-porous copper, can improve efficiency by up to ten times when incorporated into liquid cooling systems.

The thermal management market is expected to reach US$S11.1 billion during 2013 (Source: BCC Research).

Upon Admission, Versarien acquired Total Carbide Limited, a manufacturer of sintered tungsten carbide components, from Elektron Technology plc for a total consideration of £2.28 million satisfied as to £1.58 million in cash and the balance in Ordinary Shares. The acquisition of Total Carbide will give Versarien access to manufacturing assets to expand production of VersarienCu, but also as part of Versarien's expansion strategy as a developer and manufacturer of advanced materials.

Prior to the acquisition of Total Carbide, Versarien directly employed 10 permanent members of staff and operated from its Gloucestershire headquarters.  The Group's trading subsidiary, Versarien Technologies, is still at an early stage of its development and in the six months ended 30 September 2012 reported a loss of approximately £168,000 on nil turnover.  Founded over 50 years ago, Total Carbide operates from a facility in Princes Risborough and reported a profit of £56,000 on turnover of approximately £3.8 million in the year ended 31 January 2013, and at that date had assets of approximately £3.0 million.

Commenting on the Group's admission to AIM, Neill Ricketts, Chief Executive Officer of Versarien plc, said: "The Board is delighted with the successful Admission to AIM today.  This listing makes both strategic and commercial sense as we take Versarien to the next stage of its development.  We look forward to working with our new shareholders and we would like to thank them all for their support and the confidence they have shown in the future of Versarien.

"With the funds successfully raised, we can now complete the acquisition of Total Carbide enabling the Group to develop its commercial proposition, product portfolio and manufacturing capabilities.  We intend both to build on the current profitable business of Total Carbide and to use its automated facilities to manufacture VersarienCu.  This in turn enables Versarien to tap into the large and high-growth market for thermal management, and we look forward to developing innovative products to capture this opportunity using our proven leading edge technology."

- Ends -

For further information:

Versarien Limited
Neill Ricketts, Chief Executive Officer	Tel: [phone]
	www.versarien.com

Northland Capital Partners Limited (Nomad and Joint Broker)
William Vandyk / Lauren Kettle	Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]	www.northlandcp.co.uk
Westhouse Securities Limited (Joint Broker)
Tom Griffiths / Rob Sanders	Tel: [phone]
	www.westhousesecurities.com

Media enquiries:

Abchurch Communications Limited
Henry Harrison-Topham / Jamie Hooper	Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]	www.abchurch-group.com

Notes to Editors

Versarien develops advanced micro-porous metals for thermal management. The open celled metallic foams produced by the Group at its manufacturing factory in Cinderford, Gloucestershire, are 'biomimetic' - that is they mimic the sponge like structures of biological materials, e.g. bone and coral.

Versarien's porous metals have an exceptionally high surface area relative to volume which means they are ideally suited to any function where surface area is important, for example heat transfer, heat exchange, catalysis and energy storage.  Versarien is initially targeting the thermal management industry due to the material's superb heat transfer properties.  The thermal management market is expected to reach US$S11.1 billion during 2013 (Source: BCC Research).

The Group's lead product is VersarienCu, a micro-porous copper. When incorporated into liquid cooling systems, VersarienCu can improve efficiency by up to ten times. Versarien's key market is cooling systems for central processing units (CPUs), hardware that is found in high performance workstations (engineering, science, CGI, animation), computer clusters, supercomputing infrastructure and data centres. VersarienCu can be retrofitted into 'cold plates' within existing infrastructure and the Group also intends to produce complete cooling systems containing VersarienCu.

Board of Directors

Ian Balchin, Non-Executive Chairman

Mr Balchin has 27 years of extensive experience in technology based businesses across several sectors, optimising business performance in start-up, growth, turn-around and change situations. Ian is currently chief strategy officer and deputy chairman of AIM quoted AFC Energy plc and a non-executive director of Waste2Tricity Limited. Previously until 2005 Ian was with Stanelco plc as CEO during its successful growth period and with AEA Technology plc until 2000 including serving as director of New Ventures. Other positions held include executive chairman of Forensic Alliance, president of Biotec Holdings GmbH, non executive director of Synexus, chairman of Risk Solutions and chairman of Sonomatic BV. Ian has a degree in Chemistry with Economics from the University of Sussex.

Neill Ricketts, Chief Executive Officer

Mr Ricketts is a graduate engineer with over 20 years of senior level experience in manufacturing and engineering companies, including several directorships of AIM-quoted companies. Neill has demonstrated success in introducing and commercialising new technology, including new materials and coatings for diverse sectors from Aerospace to Formula One, including significant work in the oil and gas sector. Neill has successfully led several successful turnarounds and was a board level director at Elektron PLC; a group which included Total Carbide, which at that time sat within the Elektron Ventures division.

Will Battrick, Chief Technical Officer

An innovative, analytical and commercially focused Engineering Materials Technologist, with a 1st class Masters degree from one of the UK's premier engineering universities, and significant experience in the UK Advanced Manufacturing sector, including former management buy-in Crompton Technology Group (CTG, recently acquired by UTC Aerospace Systems), The National Physical Laboratory and Elektron Ventures, the advanced products division of Elektron plc. He co-founded aerospace composites start-up Kynsa, securing contracts in the defence sector prior to trade-sale. Demonstrable success in the transfer of highly complex materials manufacturing processes into volume, he has delivered programmes for Siemens Healthcare and GE Medical Systems, as well as leading production of highly challenging specialist products for space science programmes. His specialities range from composite structures though to powder metallurgy, process piloting and scale-up, technology programme management and application of innovative materials.

Stephen Humphries, Finance Director

Mr Humphries joined Griffiths Marshall in 1990, where he qualified as a chartered accountant in 1995 and became partner in 2000. He has experience in business finance, audit and compliance, taxation and general financial matters.

(David) Jeremy Veasey, Non-Executive Director

Mr Veasey has over 40 years' experience in all aspects of stockbroking, including corporate work. He retired from Seymour Pierce Ellis in 2010 after 12 years with the firm, prior to which he was a senior director of NatWest and a member of the management board of the stockbroker Fielding Newson Smith & Co. Since his retirement, Jeremy has advised on smaller company corporate work through his service company, Jeddah Securities.

 

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