INFA.L Regulatory News (INFA)

16 April 2021 

InfraStrata plc

("InfraStrata" or the "Company")

Award of Major Fabrication Contract

InfraStrata plc (AIM: INFA), the UK quoted company focused on strategic infrastructure projects and physical asset lifecycle management, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a contract by Saipem Limited ("Saipem") for the fabrication and load-out of eight wind turbine generator (WTG) jacket foundations for the EDF Renewables and ESB Energy owned Neart na Gaoithe Offshore Wind Farm project located in the outer Firth of Forth in Scotland.

The contract value is circa £26million, is binding and contains contractual conditions and obligations on both parties, which are standard in contracts of this type. The contract schedule shall commence from 1 July 2021.

The works for fabrication, consolidation and load-out of the eight WTG jacket foundations will principally be conducted at Harland and Wolff's newly acquired Methil facilities in Scotland. Should there be an opportunity to further optimise the works programme and make the contract more cost-effective, the Company and Saipem will work jointly to spread additional workstreams within the contract across the Company's three other sites; Belfast, Arnish and Appledore.

John Wood, CEO of InfraStrata, commented:

"We are delighted to have entered into this contract with Saipem and I believe that this contract paves the way for the execution and delivery of future fabrication contracts, a significant number of which are currently in advanced negotiations.

The geographical proximity of our Methil facility to the North Sea makes it an ideal site for fabrication and load-out to wind farm projects such as this. More importantly, it validates our strategic vision of expanding the Group's fabrication footprint into regions that are strategically located within close proximity to major wind farm projects. This will enable us to spread workstreams across our facilities to drive down costs, deliver against tight schedules and, crucially, align ourselves to the government's goal of providing wind generated power to all homes in the UK by 2030.

I am confident that this is only the beginning of a stream of projects in our pipeline that we expect come to fruition. We are hugely excited about the massive potential that this first contract has unlocked, and we look forward to working with Saipem to successfully deliver under it."

Notes to Editors:

About Infrastrata

InfraStrata plc is a London Stock Exchange-listed firm focused on the development, commercialisation and operation of advanced high-value strategic infrastructure facilities and projects. InfraStrata acquired the assets of Harland & Wolff (Belfast) in December 2019 and has since made three further asset acquisitions including its Appledore shipyard in August 2020 and the two assets of Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab) in Methil and Arnish in February 2021. In addition, InfraStrata owns an underground natural gas storage facility at Islandmagee in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

About Neart na Gaoithe

Neart na Gaoithe means 'strength of the wind'. NnG is a key UK offshore wind farm project and, with up to £1.8billion invested in its infrastructure, will have a major positive impact on the Scottish economy. NnG is located off the east coast of Scotland, 15.5 km off the Fife coast and covers an area of approximately 105 km2. EDF Renewables acquired NnG in 2018 and in 2019 sold a 50% stake to leading Irish Energy Company, ESB.

About EDF Renewables in the United Kingdom

EDF Renewables is one of the UK's leading renewable energy companies which develops, builds and operates generation projects with a focus on onshore and offshore wind as well as battery storage technology. It also looks after the operations and maintenance of its own wind farms. The company already operates more than 965MW of wind farms and battery storage (including 500 MW in Scotland with 460 MW under construction) and has more than 4GW consented and in development. The company employs more than 350 people.

About ESB

ESB operates across the electricity market on the island of Ireland: from generation, through transmission and distribution to the supply of customers with an expanding presence across Great Britain. In 2017 ESB opened an office in Glasgow to spearhead further development of renewables, in particular onshore and offshore wind, across Scotland. ESB is the owner of the distribution and transmission networks in the Republic of Ireland (via ESB Networks) and Northern Ireland (via Northern Ireland Electricity Networks Ltd). In 2017, the company had a 42% share of generation in the all-island market (via Generation and Wholesale Markets) and a 34% share of electricity supply in the all-island market (via Electric Ireland) with 1.4 million customer accounts. 

About Saipem

Saipem is a leading company in engineering, drilling and construction of major projects in the energy and infrastructure sectors. It is "One-Company" organized in five business divisions (Offshore E&C, Onshore E&C, Offshore Drilling, Onshore Drilling and XSIGHT, dedicated to conceptual design). Saipem is a global solution provider with distinctive skills and competences and high-tech assets, which it uses to identify solutions aimed at satisfying customer requirements. Listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, it is present in over 60 countries worldwide and has 32 thousand employees of 130 different nationalities.

This announcement contains inside information.

For further information, please visit www.infrastrataplc.com or contact: