At a media launch to be held in Amsterdam today, Zotefoams plc (LON:ZTF), a world leader in cellular materials technology, will provide an update on the progress of ReZorce®, the Company’s mono-material barrier packaging substrate, in beverage carton applications.
The keynote speaker at the event will be Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, a globally recognised voice on sustainability in business.
The Company will be joined by Refresco, the world’s largest independent beverage solutions provider for leading retailers and A-brands with production in Europe, North America and Australia. Further to the announcement of 18 July 2023, the Company has been working with Refresco, as its joint development partner, on the commercialisation of ReZorce and a planned in-market trial.
At the event, Zotefoams will report good progress towards commercialisation of ReZorce beverage cartons. Functional cartons are now being produced at one of Refresco’s facilities in Europe. This represents a number of significant technical milestones associated with the transition from liquid packaging board (“LPB”) to ReZorce in the production process and most notably that a filling line designed for LPB can be readily modified to accommodate ReZorce.
Zotefoams and Refresco are now initiating quality and compliance testing procedures required for commercial production of beverage carton applications aiming for a trial market launch with a European retailer.
The Company is continuing to evaluate a range of options to best capitalise on the significant potential of this proprietary technology. As previously guided, the Board believes that an investment partner for ReZorce may help accelerate and de-risk any potential scale-up and, in light of the progress made to date, will explore this over the coming months. At the end of this process the Board will update shareholders on its evaluation of the optimal path to realise value.
In conjunction with its Annual General Meeting, Zotefoams will announce a trading update on 22 May, followed that morning by an investor presentation on the Investor Meet Company platform (https://www.investormeetcompany.com/zotefoams-plc/register-investor). Investors who already follow Zotefoams on the Investor Meet Company platform will be invited automatically.
David Stirling, Group CEO at Zotefoams, comments, “The announcements we are making today are indicative of the gathering momentum on this project. We are proud that Refresco, a world leader in its field, has recognised the potential of ReZorce and has chosen to partner with us to accelerate its commercial launch.
“We are delighted to have reached this milestone, which clearly demonstrates that ReZorce is progressing well towards becoming a fully commercialised product that is scalable with existing infrastructure.
“Retailers and brand owners understand the need for a sustainable alternative to LPB cartons and ReZorce meets that need: it is fully recyclable via mainstream collections, contains recycled material in line with the thresholds set out in the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive and has a lower carbon footprint.”
