Directorate change

Gelion PLC

30 June 2026

 

30 June 2026

Gelion plc

("Gelion", "Company" or the "Group")

Leadership and Board change

Appointment of new CEO

Gelion is seeking to replace the critical minerals in current Lithium-ion battery cathodes with Gelion's Nano-Encapsulated Sulfur (NES™) that are low cost and can be dropped into existing global manufacturing lines.  Gelion's NES™ is made from sulfur which is abundantly available, free from supply chain constraints.

Gelion plc (AIM: GELN), the sulfur battery company, today announces the appointment of Matthew Wood as Chief Executive Officer.  John Wood will retire from his full-time executive role with immediate effect, following a successful tenure as CEO.  John will step down from the Board, and the Company thanks him for his significant contribution. Matt joins the Board with immediate effect.

Matt's appointment reflects the Group's current transition from a technology development organisation to a business focused on commercial scale-up.  Matt, 44, is a UK national who, after six years at BP, has spent the bulk of his career with Boston-based Cabot Corporation (NYSE: CBT), a global specialty chemicals company producing carbon- and silica-based specialty materials for a range of industries including automotive and battery.

In his 15 years with Cabot, he occupied a number of leadership positions including Vice President Global Marketing & Strategy, Battery Materials and, most recently, Senior Vice President & President, Reinforcement Materials.  His roles included postings to Germany and China as well as the US where he lived until recently.  Matt has held P&L accountability for businesses ranging from US$10 million to US$2 billion revenue.  He is a results-driven business leader who has delivered rapid growth in complex and challenging markets with a track record of scaling industrial manufacturing businesses, including battery materials and managing partnerships with global players in Japan, Europe and the US.

Outgoing CEO John Wood will continue to support Gelion as a Senior Advisor, assisting Matt Wood and the executive team with the continuity of key relationships, partnerships and corporate knowledge. Reflecting John's own comments, he will remain available to provide targeted support where his experience and relationships can help Gelion progress through its next stage of growth.

Steve Mahon, Gelion Chairman, commented: 

"Gelion, under John Wood's stewardship, has established a world class battery materials platform based on our NES™ technology.  Our focus now is on capitalising on the value created and exploiting a path to deployment into real applications and for the cost-effective supply to customers at scale.  The momentum has been growing as we have been thoughtfully making the transition from technology to industrial relevance.  The appointment of Matt Wood is a critical part of this journey, bringing direct experience of scale up, manufacturing, licensing and sales of carbon materials into the battery supply chain globally. I am delighted to have an executive of Matt's calibre and domain experience at the helm.

"John Wood had worked closely with me to manage the transition in leadership to ensure the Company is best placed for the commercialisation stage ahead. John has played a key role in building and securing our groundbreaking technology base and delivering our first partnerships with TDK, QinetiQ and Nissan.  We will still be working with John for some time to come as he hands over the reins to Matt, and he will support the Company in an advisory role going forwards.  On behalf of the Board, staff and shareholders of Gelion, I wish him a very happy retirement and thank him for his collaborative support and unceasing energy in delivering the right outcomes for shareholders."

John Wood, retiring CEO, added:

"This is a key transition point for Gelion. I am very grateful for the support I have received during my tenure as CEO from an amazing team, a dedicated board, an always available and effective Chairman, the brilliant (and continuing to develop) suite of collaboration partners assembling around Gelion, and the investors who have enabled us to establish a strong foundation for the growth stage to follow.  This is also a key personal transition… I have been a CEO establishing global businesses for more than 30 years…

"The next stage for Gelion entails locking in structured execution for growth and the continued establishment of global leadership. We have found in Matt someone with the skills and experience to take our business to that next level. At a personal level it is time for me  to kick back a bit and I take this decision confident in the knowledge that Gelion is well equipped to quickly become a much larger business while remaining available to Matt to contribute where I can deliver occasional precision leverage actions to support the course he sets from here."

New CEO Matt Wood said:

"I am excited to join Gelion.  This is a great opportunity - we have technology that's been proven, a process that I see as eminently scalable, and fantastic partnerships and programmes thanks to John's leadership.  With the announcement of our entry into the US, the geographic focus of the business has expanded to include a market I know extremely well.  I am grateful to John for handing-over a company with such great prospects and I look forward to working with him as I develop the business."

Investor Presentation

Steve Mahon, John Wood and Matt Wood will host a presentation for all existing and potential shareholders via the Investor Meet Company platform at 0900h BST on Thursday 2 July 2026.  Investors can submit questions pre-event via their Investor Meet Company dashboard up until 0900h on 1 July 2026 or at any time during the live presentation.  Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company and add to meet Gelion via:

https://www.investormeetcompany.com/gelion-plc/register-investor

Investors who already follow Gelion on the Investor Meet Company platform will automatically be invited.

For more information, please visit Next-Generation Sulfur Battery Technologies | Gelion or contact:

Gelion plc Steve Mahon, Chairman Amit Gupta, CFO	via Tavistock
Strand Hanson Limited (Nominated and Financial Adviser) Christopher Raggett / Rob Patrick / Harry Marshall	[phone]
Oberon Capital (Joint Broker) Nick Lovering / Mike Seabrook / Adam Pollock	[phone]
Allenby Capital Limited (Joint Broker) Jos Pinnington / Lauren Wright (Sales and Corporate Broking) Alex Brearley / Ashur Joseph (Corporate Finance)	[phone]
Tavistock (Financial & Corporate PR) Simon Hudson / Nick Elwes / Rebecca Hislaire	[phone] [e-mail]

Market Abuse Regulation

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation No. 596/2014, which forms part of United Kingdom domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended.

About Gelion

Gelion plc, the sulfur battery company is developing next‑generation battery technologies that aim to accelerate the clean energy transition by delivering sustainable, high‑performance, cost‑effective energy storage solutions. Central to its strategy is proprietary sulfur‑based cathode active material (CAM) technology, which uses nanoconfinement to control sulfur behaviour in lithium‑sulfur and room‑temperature sodium‑sulfur battery architectures Nano-Encapsulated Sulfur (NES™), addressing historical performance limitations and enabling compatibility with standard lithium‑ion and sodium‑ion manufacturing infrastructure.

The NES™ material has been developed with the goal of having "drop in" capability in place of alternate cathode materials to support scalable production in existing gigafactories and targets critical benchmarks for energy density and power performance, with applications across electric mobility, e‑aviation, grid and stationary storage. Gelion works with blue-chip industrial and research partners to commercialise its technology and deliver integrated energy storage systems that support global decarbonisation goals.

Regulatory disclosures in accordance with Rule 17 and Schedule two paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules

Save for the information set out above and below, there are no further disclosures to be made in accordance with Rule 17 and Schedule Two paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules in respect of the appointment of Matt Wood.

Matthew Forster Wood (aged 44) holds or has held the following directorships or partnerships in the last five years:

Current Directorships / Partnerships	Former Directorships / Partnerships within last five years
None	Applied Nanostructured Solutions, LLC
	Cabot (China) Limited
	Cabot Australia Holdings Pty. Ltd.
	Cabot Corporation
	Cabot International Capital Corporation
	Cabot Japan K.K.
	Cabot Specialty Chemicals Mexico S.A.P.I. de C.V.

Matt Wood has no direct or indirect interest in the Company's issued share capital.  

The Company is currently working on a number of exciting initiatives that preclude the issuance of a standard options package to Matt at the present time. The board intends to issue to Matt options over 6,882,648 ordinary shares in the capital of the Company ("Options"), representing 3 per cent. of the Company's currently issued share capital, once it is out of a close period and able to do so. It is intended that the 1,147,108 Options vest every six months for three years and will be exercisable at a price of 0.1p per ordinary share as with other options issued to the executive board and senior management team.

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