3 March 2022

Gelion plc

("Gelion" or the "Company")

Board and Management Update

Gelion (AIM: GELN), the Anglo-Australian battery storage innovator, announces the following Board and management changes.

·      Ms Hannah McCaughey appointed to the Gelion Board as CEO replacing Andrew Grimes who has resigned from the Board and stepped down from his role with immediate effect;

-  Ms McCaughey has more than seven years' executive experience in the energy sector as well as over 15 years' commercial experience at a senior level, a decade of that in the UK, including roles at Centrica, where she was Commercial Director of Centrica Power and became Director of Strategy at British Gas. During her time at Centrica Ms McCaughey was responsible for projects worth more than £5.2bn. Until recently, Ms McCaughey was at APA Group as Group Executive: Transformation & Technology;

-  Ms McCaughey will join Gelion for a nine-month period during which time the Board will conduct a global search for a long-term appointee.

·      Mr Simon Mouat appointed as Chief Operating Officer in a non-Board role;

-  Mr Mouat was until recently Vice-President of Power Systems at Schneider Electric's Pacific operations where he was responsible for the growth of a business unit with A$300m revenue.

·      This new structure will further improve the company's ability to engage with rapidly emerging commercial opportunities

Dr Stephen Mahon, Chairman of Gelion, said:

"The Company has made great strides over recent years under Andrew Grimes' leadership to demonstrate the efficacy of its Endure battery as a leading solution in the growing renewable energy storage space. With that progress secure and the commercial opportunities expanding even in the relatively short period since our IPO, and following Andrew's resignation, the Board has moved to appoint an expanded senior leadership team with the skillset necessary to capitalise.

"With the funds from the IPO, the groundwork put in place over recent years and the newly expanded team, I have every confidence that the Company is well set to be at the forefront of the commercial energy storage sector. On behalf of the Gelion Board, I would like to thank Andrew for all his hard work and wish him well in the future."

Andrew Grimes, outgoing CEO, said:

"It has been a tremendously rewarding experience to lead Gelion through such an important stage of its growth including listing on the London Stock Exchange. I'd like to thank Dr Steve Mahon, Gelion's Chairman, and Professor Thomas Maschmeyer its founder, for the opportunity and wish them and the entire Gelion team the best as they move through to the next phase of commercialisation."

Hannah McCaughey, CEO, said:

"I feel enormously privileged to be able to lead a company that is building the energy future. Energy storage is a hugely exciting growth sector to be involved with and I am delighted to help guide Gelion through its next phase of commercial development. I look forward to working with the whole team including Thomas Maschmeyer, whose commitment to Gelion and its technology played a big part in me accepting this position."

Since its IPO in November last year, the Gelion Board has identified a raft of opportunities for the deployment of the Company's proprietary zinc-bromide battery technology. Having successfully trialed this technology in a number of settings, the Board is now confident that it has a product capable of exploiting the vast commercial opportunities that are appearing in the energy storage sector. It has therefore moved to put in place a senior management team capable of delivering on the opportunities arising.

Hannah McCaughey joins the board immediately as CEO with a focus on executing Gelion's ambitious commercial timetable to take its breakthrough battery technology to the global markets. Ms McCaughey joins from APA Group where she had the role of Group Executive: Transformation & Technology responsible for APA's response to decarbonisation, digitisation and decentralisation with a team of more than 200 full-time employees. At APA Ms McCaughey was responsible for green technology innovation projects including investment in a 100% green hydrogen pipeline and battery and microgrid projects. Before this, Ms McCaughey's career has taken in more than a decade's worth of commercial experience as a C-Suite executive across electricity networks and transmission, gas infrastructure, power generation, hydrogen, energy retail and wholesale markets. She worked in the UK for 14 years, including seven years at Centrica plc where she became Director of Strategy of British Gas and was part of the senior team launching the international launch of the Hive connected home service which grew to 1.5 million global customers. Ms McCaughey was also M&A transaction lead on £1bn of successful power transactions and Program Director of the £4.2bn Race Bank offshore wind farm during this time.

Ms McCaughey has agreed to join Gelion for a period of nine months during which time the Board will conduct a global search for a long-term appointee who will be based In London.

The Company has appointed Mr Simon Mouat in a non-board role of Chief Operating Officer responsible for overseeing the Company's operations and product development. Before joining Gelion Mr Mouat worked as Vice-President of Power Systems at Schneider Electric's Pacific operations where he was responsible for the growth of a business unit with A$300m revenue.

Andrew Grimes, whose tenure has seen the Company further develop its Endure battery technology ready for commercialisation while preparing for Gelion's successful listing on AIM last November, steps down from the Board and his role with the Company with immediate effect.

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION AS DEFINED IN ARTICLE 7 OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION EU NO. 596/2014, AS RETAINED AND APPLICABLE IN THE UK PURSUANT TO S3 OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018 (AS AMENDED). UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, THIS INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Disclosures pursuant to Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies

Regulatory Disclosures:

The following information regarding the appointment of Hannah Ruth Joan McCaughey, aged 45, is disclosed under Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies:

There are no further disclosures required under Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

CONTACTS

Notes to editors

Gelion (AIM: GELN) is a publicly listed company on the London Stock Exchange AIM market. It was founded as a spin-out from the University of Sydney in 2015 by Professor Thomas Maschmeyer, one of the world's leading chemists who was awarded the Australian Prime Minister's Prize for Innovation 2020.

Gelion is a global renewable-energy storage innovator. By designing leading-edge battery technology for stationary and mobile energy, the Company supports the transition to a sustainable economy while delivering value for customers and investors.

·      The batteries are scalable, using lead-acid battery manufacturing technology, and the Company expects to develop megawatt-hour capacity for large-scale infrastructure, including for solar and wind farms.

·      With applications in agriculture, mining, water management and irrigation the battery is highly adaptable for off-grid use.

In addition to investing in the growth of its zinc-bromide technology, the Company will use funding to develop its mobile energy division to enhance existing lithium-ion and lithium-sulfur battery technologies used in electric vehicles and the emerging market in electric aviation.

For the mobile market, Gelion's technology pipeline includes:

Using additive technology developed by its R&D team, which cooperates closely with scientists at the School of Chemistry and the University of Sydney Nano Institute, Gelion will develop and license additives for advanced lithium-silicon and lithium-sulfur technologies for ultra-high-density batteries to extend the cycle-life and safety of mobile energy storage.

Gelion also recently announced a partnership with Battery Energy Power Solutions in Sydney to manufacture and distribute its zinc-bromide batteries for the Australian market.

Gelion qualified for the LSE Green Economy Mark which recognises London-listed companies and funds that derive more than 50% of their revenues from products and services that are contributing the environmental objectives such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, waste and pollution reduction, and the circular economy.  

To find out more, please visit: www.gelion.com.