Plexus Regulatory News (POS)

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

30 November 2011

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

AGM 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, will hold its Annual General Meeting ('AGM') today. Robert Adair, Chairman, will make the following statement at the AGM:

"Plexus delivered a strong financial performance for the year ending 30 June 2011, reporting a 17% increase in revenues to £15.4m, a 37% rise in EBITDA to £4.7m, and pre-tax profits 144% higher at £1.6m. In line with market expectations I am pleased to report that the Company has continued to perform strongly in the first half of our 2012 financial year. 

"New customer and contract wins in the first four months of this financial year include Gaz de France Suez E&P Ltd, Centrica Energy, Transocean Drilling U.K., Dana Petroleum PLC, and a subsea engineering design contract for Wintershall Noordzee B.V. We now have a larger number of international oil and gas operator customers, in a greater range of territories, than ever before and believe this trend of winning new customers is set to continue as the demand for our POS-GRIP® proprietary friction-grip wellhead equipment, particularly for high pressure/high temperature ('HP/HT') exploration rental applications continues to grow.

"In addition to the progress we are making with our organic rental exploration activities, we have recently announced that Maersk Oil North Sea UK Ltd, Shell International Exploration and Production B.V., Wintershall Noordzee B.V., and the UK entity of the world's largest offshore drilling company, have joined our new innovative 'HGSS' subsea wellhead design Joint Industry Project ('JIP') as consulting partners. The objective of the JIP is to develop and commercialise a new and safer subsea wellhead utilising Plexus' patented POS-GRIP technology. This exciting project is one of a number of initiatives that are underway to grow and expand our product range, particularly in terms of taking our technology from surface to subsea. 

"One such initiative, which is well advanced and expected to be commercialised by mid 2012, is our up to 20,000 psi Tie-Back system to enable HP/HT exploration and pre-drilled production wells to be converted to either subsea or platform producing wells. The design contains unique patented features, and will also utilise Plexus' metal-to-metal 'HG' seals. By 'saving' or 'converting' such wells, which are estimated to each cost between £50m to £200m, this system, when commercialised, will have the ability to deliver significant financial benefits to operators which previously would have abandoned such a well and 'written off' the cost.

"The board believes that the positive combination of organic activity and strategic initiatives will enable Plexus to make further advances in terms of reputation and market growth. As well as moving from surface to subsea, we believe that in the longer term the unique combination of benefits arising from the POS-GRIP method of engineering, in terms of safety, operational performance, and time savings, will also have the potential to take us into markets outside of traditional oil and gas activities. Potential processes and industries which may be targeted include fracking, geothermal, and CO2 storage, where HT/HP is a feature of such activities, and as such long term metal-to-metal sealing capability is essential.

"Finally, as announced on 18 October 2011 I am pleased to confirm that the Board has recommended the payment of an increased final dividend of 0.43p per share which is 10% higher than last year ended 30 June 2010, and which will be submitted for formal approval at this AGM today."

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

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 and theUK 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.  Field trials of HGSS are targeted for deployment Q3 2012. 

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.