A Gloucestershire engineering firm that has fallen into financial difficulty has warned its shareholders not to expect any returns from the administration process.
AIM-listed Versarien announced on Monday (August 11) that it had appointed business advisory firm Leonard Curtis to carry out an "accelerated sale process" of the group's remaining assets.
The Longhope-based business, which makes graphene products for use in a range of sectors including automotive and aerospace, placed a number of its businesses into administration last month after failing to find a buyer for them.
It is now selling off the assets of Versarien plc and its shares in Gnanomat SL and Total Carbide Limited. It is understood that Leonard Curtis will contact potentially interested parties with a view to them submitting offers by early September.
Versarien said in a statement: "The company has taken actions to conserve cash, including commencing the process to place Versarien Graphene Limited into administration and commencing the process of the voluntary liquidation of Cambridge Graphene Limited and 2‐DTech Limited.
"This will extend the group's forecast cash runway through to the end of August 2025 to allow further time for the proposed strategic investment, as first announced on 5 March 2025, to be closed.
"Whilst the company continues dialogue with the strategic investor with a view to the investment being completed and continues to market Total Carbide Limited for sale, there is no certainty that either transaction will be successfully concluded in a timeframe that will enable the company to continue trading."
It is understood that even if all the company's assets are sold off it, the maximum proceeds from any sale will still be less than the group's debts. In these circumstances, the company would cease trading and would be placed into administration.
This would result in the suspension of trading of Versarien's shares on AIM.
In June, the business posted a pre-tax-loss of £1.49m for the first half of the year.
