Argo Blockchai. Regulatory News (ARB)

PRESS RELEASE

08 May 2019 

Argo Blockchain PLC

("Argo" or "the Company")

Operational Update

The Company announces that since posting its circular to shareholders on 18 April 2019 it has continued to trade in line with the expectations set at that date and that the price of Bitcoin has increased by 15 per cent from 15th April 2019 to 7th May 2019. 

The 1,000 Bitmain Z11 mining units referred to in the circular came in to production on 2 May 2019 and the Directors expect that these will contribute to an improving gross margin during the second quarter. As a consequence of bringing the Z11's on line the Directors remain confident in having the equivalent of 400 BTC of cryptoassets on Argo's balance sheet by the end of Q2, which at £4,532 per BTC (being the prevailing market price as at 7 May 2019) equals approximately £1.81 million. The Directors estimate that mining costs will increase to approximately £300k for the quarter. The Board reiterates that it expects to be operating cash breakeven during May.

The Directors remain committed to the crypto asset sector. In the Company's results of 17 April 2019 the Directors notified an intention to continue a phased expansion of its mining infrastructure given the material reduction in mining hardware prices. With this in mind the Company has recently contracted to purchase 1,000 S17's for a total consideration of £1.7m to be put into production in early July. The Directors look forward to updating shareholders further on performance over the coming weeks.

Jonathan Bixby, Executive Chairman, said: "Argo expects to turn EBITDA break-even in the second half of this year. We strongly believe that the cryptocurrency market has considerable long-term potential to become a major asset class and that the correct strategy is to continue to invest in mining infrastructure at current prices."