Imagine trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle where the last two pieces don’t fit. In fact, they are from two different boxes.
At the molecular level, Graft Polymer UK PLC has managed to solve this problem.
For it is able to take normally incompatible polymers and combine them.
In doing so, it brings new physical and chemical properties to the materials used.
It combines the incompatible via the processes of grafting (hence the name of the company), alloying, cross-linking and synthesis.
The methods employed are based on the work of Graft’s founder and chief executive, Victor Bolduev.
Protected IP
And they are protected by a company-held seven separate patents.
“There are only 40 polymer grades and to create a new one would require a lot of investment. Ultimately, you have to modify the existing puzzles,” says Bolduev of the rationale for his advances.
Without diving down a rabbit hole, Graft’s technology allows it to create some of the most sophisticated polymer modifiers known to the industry that are of consistent quality and high purity.
Bolduev and his team have developed at least eight different ‘standard products’ such as coupling agents, impact modifiers and adhesives.
They also sell four ‘innovative’ ranges that tackle issues such as abrasion and temperature resistance and have come up with smart polymers that are self-hardening or self-healing or have shape memory.
There is more than a green twist to what Graft does too.
Green twist
The processes it uses minimise waste and deleterious elements, while its ECO ‘compatiblisers’ based are used by recycling clients.
“If you want to utilise to some extent your plastic waste, to do it without polymerisation is practically impossible,” Bolduev explains.
When not focused on internal projects, the team also works with customers to bespoke or make modifications to standard products.
All of this provides Graft with an entrée to an array of multi-billion-dollar markets such as automotive, aerospace, construction and defence.
In a move that could really tilt the needle, in 2020 the company launched a new division called GraftBio.
It was formed to develop nano-coating delivery systems for food supplements and drugs that can control how much of an active ingredient is absorbed into the blood, when and how.
Nano-technology
It has already licensed the technology to MGC Pharma, the London-listed developer of medicines that use natural ingredients and cannabinoids.
Work on its plant in Slovenia will have it certified to world food and drug manufacturing standards this year, and, crucially at this point, it will be able to make and sell its own drug delivery system (DDS) products.
The Slovenia production facility is key not just to its drug delivery system, but also to the wider product array as orders are received for Graft lines and its R&D expertise.
It will invest some of the £5mln raised via its January listing (IPO) in London to expand nameplate capacity in Slovenia from 4,000 to 6,000 tonnes a year.
Proceeds from the IPO will also be used to acquire lab equipment and develop new technologies that in turn will create new products.
The cash injection will also allow it to fund collaborations with end customers.
Customer base
It works with the refiners, which produce bulk commodities such as polyethene, polypropylene and polyamide, and are seeking to upgrade their product.
Graft's customer base also includes compounders that create composites, mixtures of virgin polymers, modifiers and fillers.
These are then supplied to processors who are responsible for finished or intermediate products such as moulded structures, pipes, blown films and packaging.
A recent update reveals that Graft is seeing the commercial traction foreshadowed at the time of the IPO.
Investors were told the company anticipates an increase in commercial orders following a successful customer trial.
Not only that, Graft has already moved to a two-shift operation at its manufacturing base in Slovenia in anticipation of this potentially significant uptick in business.
It said the investment to increase capacity is underway, while it is also in the final stages towards hazard analysis and critical control point certification and good manufacturing practice sign-off.
Simple proposition
So, what are you buying into by investing in Graft Polymer?
Well, according to the company presentation it is quite simple.
It’s a comprehensive portfolio of technologies for polymer modification, an innovative pipeline of products that are heavily patent protected.
The presentation says the group also has a ‘strong future sales pipeline’, which backers of the business will look for evidence of as we move through this year and into 2023.
For Bolduev the secret of Graft is its nimbleness; it’s the ability to work faster and smarter than some of its larger and more leaden-footed competitors that mass produce polymer products.
“We are not a Dow, DuPont (NYSE:DD) or Arkema (OTC:ARKAY); our model is we are boutique modification company.
“That means we are able to implement sophisticated, very complicated tasks for our clients that cannot be fulfilled by the big players.”