Plexus Regulatory News (POS)

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

15 March 2012

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

Board Changes

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, is pleased to announce the appointment of Christopher Fraser to the Board of the Company as a new, Non-executive Director, replacing Jeff Thrall who has stepped up to Non-executive Chairman with immediate effect. These appointments follow the announcement of 17 January 2011, in which it was reported that Robert Adair, after six years, was retiring as a Director and Chairman of the Company. 

Christopher Fraser has experience in managing large, diverse corporate projects in complex business environments on a global scale. His wide-ranging career includes two terms as a Member of Parliament, as well as a number of years as a management consultant and corporate adviser. Mr. Fraser also founded and ran an international marketing and communications group, which had clients in the oil and gas sector. Mr. Fraser has been appointed as a member of the Company's Audit and Remuneration Committees and Mr Thrall replaces Mr Adair as the chair of each committee all with immediate effect.

Jeff Thrall, who has extensive experience in both industry and finance, has been a Non-executive Director of Plexus since its admission to AIM in December 2005. His career includes a number of appointments in investment banking, commercial lending and administration. He is currently President and CEO of Thrall Enterprises Inc., (TEI) a family owned holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. TEI's operating subsidiaries have interests in ink manufacturing and functional printed electronic products.

Ben van Bilderbeek, CEO of Plexus said, "These changes to the Board come at a time when Plexus, as with the oil and gas industry as a whole, is entering a new phase. Today, the industry faces the complex challenge of operating in ever more extreme environments, while having to enhance health and safety standards and also constantly strive to optimise resources. As a result, industry and regulatory demands on exploration and production equipment both in terms of workload and higher operating standards continue to increase. Plexus is well placed to benefit from such future developments. We have a number of exciting projects underway, particularly in the subsea arena that I believe will play a key role in shaping future industry best practice thanks to the safety and operational advantages of our proprietary POS-GRIP friction grip method of engineering. Our wellhead equipment is ideally suited to such tougher safety and operational performance driven environments, as evidenced by the ever increasing number of contracts signed for our equipment by leading industry players. 

"Of course, having a leading product is only one half of the story. The other half is having the right team in place to ensure that Plexus becomes the supplier of choice to the wellhead market. I am confident that these board changes will help us deliver on this goal. Jeff and Christopher will both undoubtedly provide valuable support to the Company at this time; Jeff, having served as a Non-executive Director for many years, knows Plexus intimately, while Christopher is well placed to help us navigate the various international regulatory and legislative initiatives that are being placed on the industry. I look forward to working with Jeff in his new role and welcome Christopher on board as we aim to entrench Plexus as the leading supplier in our chosen markets.

"Finally, I would like to thank Robert for his support over the years, both on a personal and corporate level. Robert joined us when Plexus was looking to break into established markets with high barriers to entry, and has been a key member of the team during the formative stages in Plexus' development from a UK customer led business to an international one. Robert is leaving a company that is today generating growing revenues and profits, and which has formed a number of important relationships with leading oil and gas companies to develop equipment fit for a more demanding future. I wish him all the very best and every success for the future." 

Disclosures under Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules

Christopher James Watts Fraser, aged 49, is or has been a director of the following companies during the previous five years:

There are no other matters, which are required to be announced with regard to the appointments under paragraph (g) of Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules.

**ENDS**

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, Tullow Oil and the UK 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. Development is expected to be completed by mid 2013 calendar year.

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.