Trading Statement

RNS Number : 2167O

Plexus Holdings Plc

09 October 2012

 



Plexus Holdings PLC / Index: AIM / Epic: POS / Sector: Oil equipment & services

9 October 2012

Plexus Holdings PLC ('Plexus' or 'the Company')

Trading Statement

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 a Trading Statement ahead of its Annual Results for the period to 30 June 2012, which are expected to be released on Tuesday 16 October 2012.

Trading since the release of the Company's Interim Results in March 2012 has exceeded management's expectations, particularly for its high pressure/ high temperature ('HP/HT') wellhead business activities where demand continues to show strong momentum with further contracts having been secured with both existing and new major international oil and gas operators across the world. 

In terms of strategic initiatives, which will impact Plexus' trading in the future, the Company has also increased during the period the number of consulting partners to its pioneering HGSS™ subsea wellhead design Joint Industry Project ('JIP'); signed an inaugural POS-GRIP world-wide licensing agreement with  Breda S.p.A. for the supply of wellhead equipment to ENI S.p.A Italy's largest oil and gas company; progressed its HP/HT Tieback wellhead system JIP with Maersk Oil North Sea UK; and achieved an American Petroleum Institute Monogram Licence status which should further improve Plexus' equipment marketability internationally where such Monogramming is required.

Full year 2012 earnings, which are still subject to external audit, are now expected to be ahead of market expectations with after tax profits and earnings per share materially in excess of current analysts' forecasts.

Plexus' management are excited with the business outlook for the remainder of 2012 and into 2013 and look forward to reporting a more detailed summary and general overview on the Company's current trading and future prospects when the Annual Results are announced.

**ENDS**

For further information please visit www.posgrip.com or contact:

Ben van Bilderbeek	Plexus Holdings PLC	Tel: [phone]
Graham Stevens	Plexus Holdings PLC	Tel: [phone]
Jon Fitzpatrick	Cenkos Securities PLC	Tel: [phone]
Ken Fleming	Cenkos Securities PLC	Tel: [phone]
Felicity Edwards	St Brides Media & Finance Ltd	Tel: [phone]
Frank Buhagiar	St Brides Media & Finance Ltd	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors:

Plexus Holdings PLC, which began trading on AIM in December 2005, is an oil and gas engineering and services business, which supplies wellhead and mudline suspension equipment for exploration and production applications.  Based in Aberdeen, with offices in London, Cairo, Kuala Lumpur and a presence in Houston, Texas, it has developed and patented a friction-grip method of engineering for oil and gas field wellheads and connectors, POS-GRIP®, which involves deforming one tubular member against another to effect gripping and sealing.

The Company plans to accelerate the roll out of POS-GRIP wellhead equipment as a superior alternative to current technology and for it to become the future industry standard for wellhead design.  In particular, the technology has advantages in High Pressure/High Temperature (HP/HT) and Extreme HP/HT (X-HP/HT) oil and gas environments, for which there is growing global demand and where Plexus is being increasingly recognised as the supplier of choice.  Importantly, the Company is focussed on extending its proprietary technology into an increasing number of subsea applications.  In line with this, in March 2011 the Company launched an initiative to develop a new subsea wellhead design, HGSS™, utilising its friction-grip technology in collaboration with key oil and gas operators and service companies. Royal Dutch Shell, Wintershall, Maersk, Tullow Oil and the UK entity of the world's largest offshore drilling company have joined the initiative to date. The HGSS subsea wellhead design will include a combination of key features never before seen in a subsea wellhead which include being rated to 15,000 psi, 4,000,000 pounds of 'instant' casing lockdown capacity, annulus pressure monitoring and access for 'bleed off' capability to address sustained casing pressure ('SCP') issues which are recognised by the API as a serious industry problem, and rigid metal annular seal technology qualified to match the performance of premium casing.  Development is expected to be completed by mid 2013 calendar year.

To date, POS-GRIP wellhead systems have been used or selected to be used in over 150 oil and gas wells by international companies including Apache Energy Australia, BHP Billiton, BG International, Bowleven plc, BP, Brunei Shell Petroleum, Cairn Energy, Centrica, ConocoPhillips, Dana Petroleum, Dubai Petroleum, GDF SUEZ, Global Santa Fe, Maersk, Niko Resources, Petro-Canada Trinidad & Tobago, Red Sea Petroleum Operating Company, Repsol, RWE, Senergy Limited, Shell Egypt, StatoilHydro, Silverstone Energy, Talisman Energy, Tullow Oil, and Wintershall.

 

END

 

 

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