Plexus Holdings PLC / Index: AIM / Epic: POS / Sector: Oil Equipment & Services
18 December 2023
('Plexus' or 'the Company')
Loan Agreements Update
Plexus Holdings PLC, the AIM quoted oil and gas engineering services business and owner of the proprietary POS-GRIP® friction-grip method of wellhead engineering, is pleased to provide an update with regards to the previously announced loan and option agreements (the 'Transaction'), which were notified by the Company on 18 September 2023.
Alongside the loan agreements, which had a total value of £700,000, the Company entered into Primary and Secondary call option agreements ('Option Agreements') with Ben van Bilderbeek and Plexus Property International Ltd ('PPI') (the 'Lenders'). These Option Agreements provided the Lenders with the right to exercise a Primary option to have their portion of the loans repaid in shares owned by Plexus Ocean Systems Limited ('POSL') in Kincardine Manufacturing Services Limited ("KMS"), a precision engineering company in which Plexus holds a 49% interest following a strategic investment of £735,000 in December 2018. The Secondary option enabled the Lenders to acquire the balance of POSL's 49% shareholding in KMS for an additional sum of £300,000.
On 31 December 2022, POSL's holding in KMS was valued at £838,000 and held as an investment in an associate of the Company. Ahead of the Transaction, the Company commissioned an independent valuation of its stake in KMS, following which the independent directors have concluded that an increased valuation of £1m should be applied to POSL's KMS shares for the purposes of the Option Agreements.
The Company is pleased to confirm that the Lenders have elected to exercise the Primary and Secondary options and will be issued with the 49% of shares held by POSL in KMS in return for a further cash payment of £300,000 to Plexus; this is in addition to the original £700,000 loan funds associated with the Primary option.
The sale of this non-core asset has now generated a total of £1m of additional funding for Plexus, which will be used to provide additional working capital for the Company whilst it continues to pursue a pipeline of opportunities and potential orders, including in the fast-expanding decommissioning sector where Plexus' technology can enable the safe and permanent plug and abandonment of wells at the end of their lives.
**ENDS**
For further information please visit www.plexusplc.com or contact:
Plexus Holdings PLC Ben van Bilderbeek, CEO Graham Stevens, CFO
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Tel: 020 7795 6890 |
Cavendish Capital Markets Limited Derrick Lee Adam Rae
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Tel: 0131 220 6939
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St Brides Partners Ltd Isabel de Salis Paul Dulieu
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plexus@stbridespartners.co.uk
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NOTES
Plexus Holdings plc (AIM: POS)
Plexus is an IP led company focussed on establishing its patented leak-proof POS-GRIP® wellhead and associated equipment as the go-to technology for energy markets whilst making a genuine contribution to the oil and gas industry's ESG and NetZero goals by championing "through the BOP" (Blow-out Preventer) designs, and lifetime leak-proof HG® metal-to-metal sealing systems. Having protected the environment for many years through these technological innovations, the Company was awarded the London Stock Exchange's Green Economy Mark in July 2021 and continues to place emphasis on its ability to reduce harmful methane emissions and unnecessary maintenance and intervention costs.
Headquartered in Aberdeen, the Company has provided leak-free wellhead performance in over 400 wells worldwide and worked with an array of blue-chip oil and gas company clients. As well as generating direct revenues from securing orders for surface production wellheads particularly in the UK and European North Sea regions, the Company has several licencing/collaboration agreements with major partners including FMC Technologies, which is a subsidiary of TechnipFMC and Cameron, an SLB Group company. Cameron has a non-exclusive licence to use the POS-GRIP and HG® metal-to-metal seal method of wellhead engineering for the development of conventional and unconventional oil and gas surface wellheads, and Plexus entered into a Cooperation Agreement, which enabled Plexus to return to the Jack-up Exploration (Adjustable) Wellhead rental business for 'through the BOP' jack-up applications, where Cameron will help to provide Plexus with sales leads and market insight through a formal Sales Advisory Board.
Plexus' current suite of products and applications include: "HG" wellheads, which combine POS-GRIP technology with gas tight leak free metal-to-metal sealing; the Python® subsea wellhead, developed in a Joint Industry Project with several industry leaders; the POS-SET™ Connector for the de-commissioning and P&A market; and Tersus-PCT, an innovative HP/HT tie back connector product. Having proved the superior uniquely enabling qualities of POS-GRIP Technology, Plexus is now also focused on establishing its technology and equipment in other markets such as Plug and Abandonment de-commissioning, carbon capture, gas storage, hydrogen and geothermal where it can play an important role in reducing harmful methane emission risks as operators strive to deliver on ESG commitments and NetZero goals in a safe and cost-effective way.
For more information visit: https://www.plexusplc.com/