Last checked at 27 Mar 2009 07:00
27 March 2009
Pursuit Dynamics plc
("Pursuit Dynamics" or "the Company")
AGM Statement
Pursuit Dynamics plc (AIM: PDX), the developer and exploiter of the PDX platform technology, will be holding its Annual General Meeting this morning at 11.00am. In his address to shareholders, Chairman, Mr. Andrew Quinn will update Shareholders as follows:
"Pursuit Dynamics is making good progress in the commercialisation of the PDX technology in the fields of bioethanol, decontamination and fire suppression, while sales of food and brewing have proved to be less resilient. Going forward, we remain confident that our strategy of focussing our attention primarily on the renewable fuels market will produce the best results for the Company and our shareholders.
In December we advised that we had signed a contract with Iroquois Bio Energy Corporation LLC (IBEC), which operates a 45 million gallon per annum ethanol plant in Indiana. Since December we have undertaken the design, installation and pre-commissioning phases for a PDX Ethanol Reactor Tower (ERT) at IBEC and I am pleased to inform you that the system was started on 18 March. It is too early to give any accurate yield uplift numbers but we are encouraged that the system has suffered no major commissioning problems and we look forward to reporting results over the next few weeks.
As has been well chronicled, the US ethanol industry has been impacted by the broader economic environment. Whilst we remain confident of achieving our aim of an installed base of facilities producing 610 million gallons per annum, it may be more difficult to achieve this by the end of the year. Several European plants, along with a substantial number of US plants, have expressed interest in acquiring an ERT system from us once we have proved the process at IBEC.
In January, we moved our Research and Development emphasis to the pre-treatment of feedstock for renewable fuels other than those generated through starch activation. Initial results from trials with cellulosic materials including corn fibre, corn cob and waste paper have proved extremely encouraging. We intend to establish strategic alliances with suitable third parties in order to accelerate the commercialisation of the PDX pre-treatment process.
ANSUL, a subsidiary of Tyco Fire and Building Products, launched the PDX FireMist® technology as part of an integrated fire protection system in June 2008 under the brand name "AQUASONIC". The first sale of an Aquasonic system has now been made by ANSUL, resulting in the receipt by the Company of its first fire suppression related royalty payment. We continue to believe that the FireMist® system represents a major step in fire suppression and we remain confident of its commercial prospects.
In June 2008 we announced that we had licensed the Basilisk decontamination and disinfection technology to EADS for the European NATO countries. Progress has been rapid and a fully functioning demonstrator was completed in October 2008. Both EADS and Pursuit Dynamics have made a number of presentations to potential customers since then and the level of interest in the EADS TransMADD system is high. EADS is currently carrying out a series of extensive tests using various contaminants and chemicals to verify the technology under stringent independent and government standards with the aim of having the system certified to European Standards in the near future.
The Company is restructuring its food and brewing division and will move to a licensing model from a direct sales model. The Company will, therefore, cease manufacturing PDX-based systems at its facility in Brooklands, Surrey, with effect from 30 June 2009 and, as a result, a number of positions will become redundant. The restructuring will lead to a reduction in operating costs in line with the strategy which we disclosed in December 2008.
As we enter the next stage of our commercial development, we remain confident that the markets that we are focussing on offer exciting opportunities to develop commercially the PDX technology. There will inevitably be some impact on these sectors from the adverse broader economic climate but this does not diminish the medium term opportunity. We have already taken decisive action to cut our cost base thereby markedly reducing our burn rate and as at 21 March 2009 we had a strong cash position of £5 million. As a result, we remain confident of successfully exploiting the exciting opportunities for the PDX technology. In particular, we await the results from the successful start-up of the ERT at IBEC which, if proved successful, have very positive implications for the Company."
-Ends-
For Further Information, please contact:
| Pursuit Dynamics | |
| John Heathcote, Chief Executive | Tel: +44 (0)1480 422050 |
| Donald Bell, Chief Financial Officer | |
| Financial Dynamics | |
| Ben Foster / Marc Cohen | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7831 3113 |
| Cenkos Securities plc | |
| Ian Soanes / Max Hartley | Tel: +44 (0)20 7397 8924 |
Notes to Editors
- Pursuit Dynamics PLC (AIM: PDX) owns and commercialises the PDX fluid processing reactor whose benefits include significant reductions in energy usage, process acceleration and result enhancement for industries such as Bioethanol production, Food & Drink, Brewing, Fire Suppression and Decontamination.
- Pursuit Dynamics is headquartered in Huntingdon, UK and has offices in Norwalk, Connecticut, and Fallbrook, California, USA.
- Further information is available at the Company's website: www.pursuitdynamics.com
- Publication quality photographs are available from Financial Dynamics.