(Alliance News) - Zotefoams PLC on Wednesday reported "good progress" towards the commercialisation of ReZorce, a mono-material barrier packaging substrate in beverage carton applications.

The cellular material technology provider said functional cartons are now being produced at one of Refresco's facilities in Europe. Rotterdam-based beverage packaging comany Refresco is Zotefoams' joint development partner for ReZorce.

"This represents a number of significant technical milestones associated with the transition from liquid packaging board to ReZorce in the production process and most notably that a filling line designed for LPB can be readily modified to accommodate ReZorce," Zotefoams said.

Zotefoams said that it 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.

Zotefoams said it is continuing to evaluate a range of options to "best capitalise on the significant potential of this proprietary technology".

The company said that, as it previously guided, it believes that an investment partner for ReZorce may help accelerate and de-risk any potential scale-up. The board will explore this over the coming months, before updating shareholders on its evaluation of the "optimal path to realise value".

"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," said Zotefoams Chief Executive David Stirling.

"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."

Shares in Zotefoams were up 11% to 477.84 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News senior reporter

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