TIDMUNX
RNS Number : 2959X
Unigel Group PLC
26 August 2022
26 August 2022
Unigel Group plc
(the "Company" or the "Group")
Admission to Trading and First Day of Dealings
Unigel Group plc (AQSE:UNX), the holding company for its
wholly-owned operating subsidiary, Unitape Limited ("Unitape"), and
its 60 per cent. owned operating subsidiary, Unigel (UK) Limited
("Unigel"), which develop and manufacture components used in the
production of fibre optic cables, announces that trading in its
ordinary shares will commence on the Aquis Stock Exchange Growth
Market ("AQSE") at 8:00 a.m., today ( 26 August 2022), under the
ticker "UNX" and ISIN: GB00BPP4RY41 .
The Company has been admitted to the Access Segment of AQSE
("Admission") following successful completion of a subscription,
raising gross proceeds of c.GBP0.8m.
The Board of the Company comprises Kwang Hua ("Eric") Chhoa,
Chief Executive Officer, Gary Revel-Chion, Director, Sven ("Janne")
Sjoden, Non-executive Chairman, and Azlinda Ariffin, Non-executive
Director. Further information on the directors' biographies can be
found below.
The issued share capital of the Company on Admission comprises
11,285,000 ordinary shares.
Overview of the subsidiaries
Unigel
Unigel formulates, manufactures, and markets thixotropic gels
primarily to the fibre optic cable industry. In addition, it also
makes specialty gel products for the construction, green energy,
and high voltage transmission apparatus markets. For the year ended
31 December 2021, Unigel had revenue of GBP12.4m and profit after
tax of c.GBP0.2m.
Unitape
Unitape commenced its business activities as a trader of
co-polymer steel tapes, and after 10 years of trading, the company
progressed to backward integrate into the slitting of co-polymer
jumbo rolls into steel tapes. To facilitate this, the company
established a US subsidiary-Unitape (USA), LLC and leased a 30,000
sq ft production space in Conover, North Carolina for its slitting
business. In 2017, Unitape (USA), LLC became a wholly owned
subsidiary of Unitape. For the year ended 31 December 2021, Unitape
had revenue of GBP9.3m and profit after tax of c.GBP0.4m.
Eric Chhoa, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
"Our admission onto the AQSE Growth market represents an
important milestone for the Group. Access to capital markets will
support future business expansion and talent acquisition. We have
assembled a strong board to guide the Group and we are excited to
progress with the support of our shareholders."
The Company's Admission Document is available to view here:
www.unigel.com
The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the
contents of this announcement.
Enquiries:
Unigel Group plc
Eric Chhoa +81 7022613812
Lim Bee Khin +60 123018900
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (AQSE
Corporate Adviser)
James Lewis
Jo Turner
Ludovico Lazzaretti +44 (0) 20 72130 880
Further information
Thixotropic gels
Thixotropic gels are made from a proprietary formulation of
specialty polymers, high grade base-oils and other specialty active
chemical compounds. Typically, fibre optic cables are manufactured
in special manufacturing environments at a high production speed.
As a protective buffering agent for the fibre optic cable, the
thixotropic gel must meet and maintain an operating viscosity range
to do its work effectively. However, the operating viscosity inside
the cable is too high for thixotropic gels to be applied into the
buffer tubes without lowering the viscosity of the thixotropic gel.
The viscosity of the thixotropic gel must be reduced to enable
precision filling of the buffer tubes with thixotropic gels at high
speed. To enable this to happen, buffering gels used for fibre
optic cables are engineered to be thixotropic. Thixotropy is
essentially a time-dependent sheer thinning property. When sheer
stress (or agitation) is applied to the thixotropic gel during the
production process, the viscosity of the thixotropic gel is
reduced, enabling the less viscous gel to be applied easily and
efficiently at high production speed. After the sheered thixotropic
gel is flooded into the buffer tube, the thixotropic gel will
return to its original viscosity after a finite period, allowing it
to perform its intended purpose as a buffering agent. It is
estimated that an average kilometre of optical fibre cable uses
approximately 10-25 kg of thixotropic gel as a buffering agent. The
quantity of thixotropic gel used is dependent on cable design and
construction, as well as the fibre count inside a fibre optic
cable.
Steel tapes
Armoured fibre optic cables have a layer of co-polymer steel
tape wrapped around a pre-jacketed cable. In a typical cable
production process, semi-finished pre-jacketed cables are wrapped
by co-polymer or laminated steel tapes as the cable goes through a
"wrapper die" which forms a concentric steel wrap before the cable
is extruded or jacketed with high density polypropylene (HDPE). The
combination of the laminated steel tape and HDPE jacket as a
protective shell prevents moisture ingression and physical impact.
With enhanced physical properties, steel tape armoured fibre optic
cables can be deployed without the use of ducts in demanding
physical environment from high traffic urban roads to water-logged
terrains in suburban or rural conditions.
Directors
Sven Janne Sjödén (Age 77), Non-executive Chairman
Janne was appointed as Chairman of Unigel Group plc with effect
from Admission. Janne has been the Chairman of Unigel since 2014.
Janne had an extensive career at Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson,
Sweden where he held numerous leadership and senior management
roles including as the President and board member of Ericsson
Network Technologies AB. He has previously served as an adviser to
Handelsbanken AB, and was the Chairman and board member of The
Hoverline Group AB in Sweden from 2008 to 2013. Janne graduated
with a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of
Uppsala, Sweden.
Kwang Hua ("Eric") Chhoa (Age 57), Chief Executive Officer
Eric was appointed to the Board of Unigel Group plc on 23
February, 2022. Eric has founded, built and acquired numerous
companies in the telecommunications cable, cable components and
services areas over the past 25 years. In 2014 and 2017, Hikari
Capital Limited, a company which Eric controls, acquired 60 per
cent. of Unigel and 100 per cent. of Unitape to build a cables
component supply ecosystem for the global fibre optic cables
industry. Eric graduated summa cum laude from Sophia University,
Tokyo, Japan, and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School,
Boston, Massachusetts.
Gary Revel-Chion (Age 63), Director
Gary was appointed as a Director of Unigel Group plc on 11 July,
2022. Gary is the current Financial Controller of Unigel and
Unitape. Gary is a Chartered Accountant with over 35 years of
experience across a wide range of industries. Prior to running his
own accounting practice, Gary was employed at Robson Rhodes as a
Senior Audit Manager. In 2018, Gary joined Unigel as Head of
Finance where he was responsible for the financial operations of
the business. Gary graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Accountancy and
Economics from the University of Hull, England, and is a member of
the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
(ICAEW).
Azlinda Ezrina Binti Ariffin (Age 53), Non-executive
Director
Azlinda was appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director
of Unigel Group plc with effect from Admission. Azlinda has over 28
years of experience as a corporate lawyer and is a consulting
partner at Withersworldwide LLP. She is also the founder and CEO of
Dricopax Capital Limited, a multi-family office boutique firm in
London. In April 2021, Azlinda was appointed to the board of
MobilityOne Limited, an AIM listed company as an Independent
Non-Executive Director. Azlinda graduated with an LLB (Hons) from
University College of Wales, Cardiff. She is a barrister at Gray's
Inn, and a member of the Law Society of England and Wales.
For more information please visit : www.unigel.com
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END
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