Graphene specialist set for Aim float

Investor appetite for graphene is to be tested once more as a company working with the wonder material becomes the second specialist in a matter of months to float on London's junior market.

Haydale, whose shares are set to start trading on Aim next month, differs from Applied Graphene Materials, whose shares have almost doubled since it floated in November. Applied makes the single atom-thick layer of carbon; Haydale finds ways to use it.

"We are an enabler, not a producer," said Ray Gibbs, chief executive of Haydale, which is based in Ammanford, south Wales. He said that approach left the group less vulnerable to price erosion as more companies work out how to manufacture graphene.

Industrialists believe graphene, first isolated at the University of Manchester in 2004, is set to transform many products. Its electrical and thermal conductivity, optical purity and mechanical strength could be used in high-capacity batteries, flexible screens, ultra-fast transistors and other electronic components, super-bright lasers and materials from sports equipment to aircraft wings.

Huge resources from public and private sectors are pouring into graphene research. Sir Andre Geim, co-discoverer of the material, believes total spending is about $1bn a year.

The European Union this year launched a €1bn graphene research programme. The £61m National Graphene Institute in Manchester opens next year while several other British universities have set up research centres.

The total number of patents and patent applications worldwide relating to graphene is already close to 10,000.

Haydale uses a plasma reactor to disperse graphene nanoplatelets into other materials such as paint and ink. Its method is more environmentally friendly than those that use acid. It has been patented and verified by the National Physics Laboratory.

It aims to raise £10m in selling about 40 per cent of the business. More than 100 private investors have already put in £5m since it was founded in 2006. Annual revenues are about £100,000.

The float would come just over a year after Graphene Nanochem reversed on to Aim. Applied, a spinout from Durham University, raised £11m in November and now has a market capitalisation of about £66m.

"It is the right time to come to market," said Mr Gibbs of Haydale. "We need to build a sales and marketing capability. This is a global market."

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It also raises the profile of the company and would lead to more opportunities, he said. The first applications are likely to be printed RFID (radio frequency identification tags) and composites, for use in aircraft and other devices. It aims to work with customers on applications and share the revenues. It does not anticipate large-scale manufacturing itself.

Haydale has a supply of graphite from AMG Mining of Australia that it can convert to "functionalised graphene", which can be blended with other materials.

Mr Gibbs is a former finance director of Chemring, the FTSE 250 defence company. John Knowles, the 71-year-old chairman, co-founded NanoSight, which design and manufactures particle-size measurement instruments.

Mr Gibbs said it could have products on sale in a couple of years. "Graphene now needs to be commercialised," he said.

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