Monthly updates on its growing inroads into overseas markets are not uncommon, and now one of Gloucestershire's best connected firms has reached another major milestone.

The Cheltenham-headquartered engineering and manufacturing firm has revealed it now boasts an address in the United States of America.

Its US office and laboratory facility in Houston, Texas, designed to act as a hub for the company's activities in North America, is a significant step for Versarien.

It potentially unlocks the door to a major overseas market fast developing an appetite for its expertise in graphene and its many possible uses.

Neill Ricketts, chief executive officer of Versarien, said: "This has enabled us to more efficiently progress a number of new and existing relationships and accelerate our traction in the US.

"We now have relationships with over 25 companies in North America, encompassing sectors as diverse as automotive, aerospace, consumer goods, oil and gas, sports equipment and speciality plastics.

"We continue to receive a high number of enquires for the supply of our graphene and other 2D materials from leading US companies and others globally.

"Versarien is now truly operating on a global basis and I look forward to providing further updates on our activities with our multiple collaboration partners in due course."

According to the firm, which started life in the Forest of Dean, the US hub has already enabled it to accelerate its progress in North America with various new partners, in addition to the work it has been undertaking with the US National Graphene Association and various existing collaboration partners in the region.

A number of new agreements have already been entered into with partners in North America.

The Gloucestershire firm's name will be in lights later this month (May 21 to 22) when the company takes part in the American Graphene Summit, being hosted by the National Graphene Association (NGA) in Washington DC.