Board appointments

RNS Number : 3352J

Infrastrata PLC

27 June 2017

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR"). With the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

27 June 2017                                       

InfraStrata plc

("InfraStrata" or the "Company")

Board appointments

Following the general meeting of the Company held earlier today, the new directors of the Company, Adrian Richard Pocock and Peter Verdun Wale have been appointed as directors of the Company in place of all previous directors of the Company. Mr Pocock has assumed the role of Chief Executive and Mr Wale has been appointed as Non-Executive Director and Interim Chairman.

Further details on the new directors are set out below. It is expected that additional directors will be appointed to the Board in due course. The new Board will be seeking to work with the former directors of the Company for an orderly transition.

Adrian Pocock, Chief Executive, commented:

"Peter and I are extremely grateful for the support of shareholders and look forward to beginning the process of validating that support by creating value for the Company. We acknowledge the achievement of the former directors of getting the Islandmagee project to its current stage and we look forward to their ongoing support."

The following details on the new directors are set out in accordance with Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies ("AIM Rules").

Allenby Capital Limited ("Allenby Capital") is required as the Company's Nominated Adviser to undertake customary due diligence regarding the new directors of the Company and this due diligence is ongoing. This may result in further disclosures being made in accordance with Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules as necessary in addition to those set out below. In the event that Allenby Capital is unable to reach a satisfactory conclusion in this regard, it may be unable to continue to act as the Company's Nominated Adviser. In the absence of the appointment of a new nominated adviser, trading in the Company's Ordinary Shares on AIM will be suspended immediately. Under the AIM Rules, if the Company cannot appoint a replacement nominated adviser within one month of such suspension, the admission of the Company's ordinary shares to trading on AIM will be cancelled.  

Mr Adrian Richard Pocock (aged 58) 

Adrian spent many years practising as a Chartered Surveyor (previously a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors), working for some of the largest property companies and partnerships in the UK at director level. He holds an MBA from Strathclyde Business School and studied Master's level Contract and Construction Law at the Glasgow School of Law. He has extensive property asset management experience, having led and been a member of a diverse range of project support teams, ranging from small companies to companies with property portfolios valued in excess of £3 billion. He has worked with some of the largest organisations in the UK, including the NHS, the Bank of England and British Land. He ran his own commercial property development company for 10 years.

Mr Pocock is beneficially interested in 12,655,055 ordinary shares in the Company, equivalent to 3.37% of the voting rights in the Company's total issued ordinary share capital, which are held in his SIPP in the name of Wealth Nominees Limited.

Mr Pocock currently holds or has held the following directorships and partnerships within the last five years:

Current directorships and partnerships	Past directorships and partnerships held within the last five years
None	Asset Management and Improvement Limited

Mr Pocock entered into voluntary sequestration in Scotland on 23 August 2007, as a result of a personal loan guarantee of £1.5 million being called upon, which was discharged on 23 August 2010. 

Mr Pocock was a director at the time, or within the twelve months preceding, the date of the compulsory liquidation or administrative receivership of the following companies:

·      Joint-receivers were appointed to The R. Oak (Longton) Limited on 9 March 2007.  Mr Pocock resigned as a director on 20 September 2007. Of total receipts of approximately £92,000, approximately £53,000 was paid to the charge holder.  This company was subsequently dissolved on 5 May 2009.

·    Joint-receivers were appointed to The Jolly Roger (New Ollerton) Limited on 9 March 2007.  Mr Pocock resigned as a director on 20 September 2007.  Of total receipts of approximately £196,000, approximately £162,000 was paid to the charge holder.  This company was subsequently dissolved on 20 January 2009.

·      S.L. Securities Limited (formerly Scotia Land Limited) was put into compulsory liquidation on 1 June 2007, with a resulting deficiency as regards creditors of approximately £3.75 million. Mr Pocock resigned as a director on 20 September 2007. The company was dissolved on 13 May 2008.

·    Scotia Land (Bath Street) Limited was put into compulsory liquidation on 22 August 2007. This company is still in liquidation.  Mr Pocock resigned as a director on 20 September 2007.

·     Joint Venture Properties Limited was put into compulsory liquidation on 9 January 2008.  Mr Pocock resigned as a director on 20 September 2007.  Of total receipts of approximately £429,000, approximately £372,000 was paid to floating charge creditors.  There were insufficient funds after the payment of fees and expenses to pay a dividend to unsecured creditors.  The company was dissolved on 26 November 2009.

·      Joint Venture (Earl Grey Street) Limited was put into compulsory liquidation on 22 August 2007.  Mr Pocock resigned as a director on 20 September 2007.  There was a resulting substantial shortfall to the secured creditor and after the costs and expenses of the liquidation there were insufficient funds to pay a dividend to any class of creditors. This company was subsequently dissolved on 16 May 2012.

Mr Peter Verdun Wale (aged 47) 

Peter holds a BA in Business Economics & Accounting from the University of Reading and has 25 years of diverse investing experience across developed and emerging markets. He has worked in equities trading for both Japanese and American investment firms, including Fidelity Investments, where he was a Pan-European small and mid-cap equities trader. He was most recently a partner and senior equities trader at a global hedge fund. Peter has been an active investor in the small and mid-cap space and has established an extensive network of investor contacts. He is a non-executive director of Strategic Minerals plc (AIM: SML) and a director of Cornwall Resources Limited, where in both cases he has been actively involved in the development of the companies and investor communication.

Mr Wale is beneficially interested in 9,889,000 ordinary shares in the Company, equivalent to 2.63% of the voting rights in the Company's total issued ordinary share capital, of which 5,009,000 are held in his SIPP in the name of Hubwise Nominees Limited, 2,880,000 in an ISA and 2,000,000 with Shard Capital.

Mr Wale currently holds or has held the following directorships and partnerships within the last five years:

Current directorships and partnerships	Past directorships and partnerships held within the last five years
Strategic Minerals plc Cornwall Resources Limited	Habrok Capital Management LLP

For further information, please contact:

InfraStrata plc Adrian Pocock, Chief Executive	028 9051 1415
Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser & Broker) Jeremy Porter / Alex Brearley / Liz Kirchner	020 3328 5656

-ENDS-

The Front End Engineering & Design (FEED) and Insitu Downhole Testing programme for the Islandmagee gas storage project is co-financed by the European Union's Connecting Europe Facility.

Disclaimer releasing the European Union from any liability in terms of the content of the dissemination materials:

"The sole responsibility of this publication lies with the author. The European Union is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein."

Notes:

Background on InfraStrata plc

InfraStrata is an independent gas storage company focused on the UK and Ireland.

Further information is available on the Company's website: www.infrastrata.co.uk.

Background on the Islandmagee Storage Project

The Islandmagee gas storage project company, Islandmagee Storage Limited ("IMSL"), is owned 90% by a wholly owned subsidiary of InfraStrata plc and 10% by a wholly owned subsidiary of Mutual Energy Limited. The project is a proposed salt cavern gas storage facility located on Islandmagee in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Work commenced in 2007 with the acquisition of 3D seismic data to image the Permian salt in the Larne Lough area. During 2012, planning permission was granted for the project and a gas storage licence was issued by the Utility Regulator. In October 2013, the gas storage project was granted a 'Project of Common Interest' ("PCI") status by the European Commission. In 2015 a well was drilled to core the salt and confirm the technical feasibility of the project, supported in part by the Commission. The final stage before a Final Investment Decision will be the Front-End Engineering Design and Commercialisation of the project. To date approximately £11m has been invested in the project.

Further information is available on the project company's website: www.islandmageestorage.com.

 

END

 

 

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