5 March 2025
Versarien plc
("Versarien" or the
"Company")
Notice of General
Meeting
Versarien plc (AIM: VRS), the advanced
materials engineering group, announces that a Notice of General
Meeting ("General Meeting") will be posted to shareholders today.
The General Meeting will be held on 24 March 2025 at 10.00 a.m. at
the offices of Fieldfisher LLP, Riverbank House, 2 Swan Lane,
London EC4R 3TT. The purpose of the General Meeting is to
renew the Company's share capital authorities.
The formal notice of the General Meeting
including full details of all resolutions to be proposed
("Resolutions") is available to view on the Company's website at
www.versarien.com.
The Company values shareholder participation
and values the votes of shareholders, so it encourages all
shareholders to exercise their voting rights by completing and
submitting a proxy form as soon as possible. It would also be
helpful if shareholders could submit any questions in advance of
the General Meeting via IFC Advisory Limited, the Company's
financial PR and investor relations adviser, at
versarien@investor-focus.co.uk.
Background
At the Company's Annual General Meeting on 30 April
2024 shareholders approved resolutions giving the Board authority
to allot 2,976,339,014 ordinary shares with such authority to
expire at the conclusion of the Company's next Annual General
Meeting.
That authority has now been used in full and the
Directors do not currently have the authority to allot further
ordinary shares. The Directors now wish to renew that authority in
advance of the 2025 Annual General Meeting to provide the Board
with the maximum flexibility to raise the funds necessary to enable
the Company to continue as a going concern. As part of the
Company's ongoing quest to source additional working capital, the
Board is currently in advanced discussions with a third party with
a view to completing a strategic investment in the Company at a
premium to the current share price which, if completed, is expected
to be approximately 15 per cent. of the Company's then enlarged
capital. Without the renewal of the share capital authorities this
potential transaction could not be completed, although there can be
no certainty that it will do so, nor that is will be for the amount
or at the price currently contemplated by the Board. If it does not
complete then the Board will seek to use the proposed share capital
authorities to raise further equity capital in order to ensure that
the Company has sufficient working capital to carry on its
business.
As stated in the 2023 Annual Report, the Company is
reliant upon its ability to access capital until such time as it
achieves profitability and positive cash flow. As shown by the
unaudited interim results, the Company has materially reduced its
annual losses and is increasing its graphene revenues as it makes
progress towards its objectives. This, together with the repayment
deferment agreed with Innovate UK, provides a platform for the
Company to continue as a going concern.
With the exception of the disposal of Total Carbide
Limited, which remains an ongoing process, the strategy to
turnaround the business has largely been completed and we have a
much-simplified business with a lower cost base.
In addition, we have been pleased by the support
provided by Innovate UK through extending the date for repayments
of the loan principal to August 2026. We look forward to providing
further updates in due course.
Recommendation
The Board considers that the renewal of the share
authorities and the Resolutions are in the best interests of the
Company and its Shareholders as a whole and accordingly recommends
that Shareholders vote in favour of the Resolutions.
If the Resolutions
are not approved at the General Meeting the Company's ability to
operate as a going concern will be put at risk.
Expected
timetable of principal events
|
2025
|
Publication and dispatch of the
circular and Form of Proxy
|
5
March
|
Latest time and date for receipt of
the Form of Proxy
|
10.00 a.m.
on 20 March
|
Time and date of the General
Meeting
|
10.00 a.m.
on 24 March
|
Results of the General Meeting
announced through RNS
|
24
March
|
All references to times in this timetable are to London times and
each of the times and dates are indicative only and may be subject
to change.
Terms used and not defined in this
announcement shall have the same meanings given to them in the
Notice of General Meeting.
This
announcement contains inside information for the purposes of
Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms
part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union
(Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with
the Company's obligations under Article 17 of
MAR.
For
further information please contact:
Versarien
Stephen Hodge, Chief Executive
Officer
Chris Leigh, Chief Financial
Officer
|
c/o IFC
|
SP
Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser and
Broker)
Matthew Johnson, Adam Cowl
|
+44 (0)20 3470 0470
|
IFC
Advisory Limited (Financial PR and Investor
Relations)
Tim Metcalfe, Zach Cohen
|
+44 (0)20 3934 6630
|
For further information please
see: http://www.versarien.com