Plexus Regulatory News (POS)

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

30 July 2013

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

Pre Close Trading Update

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, known for its safety, time and cost saving capabilities, announces that following the end of the Company's financial year on 30 June 2013, the Board anticipates that the full year results, which are subject to external audit, will be well ahead of current market expectations. The Company intends to announce its full year results in the second half of October 2013.

Plexus' Chief Executive Ben van Bilderbeek said, "I am delighted to report that this last financial year has seen strong year on year growth in revenues, margins, and profitability. The excellent performance reflects continued demand for our best in class POS-GRIP wellhead equipment that delivers proven safety, functionality and cost effectiveness benefits. The high level of new and repeat orders we have reported over the course of the year with blue chip oil and gas operators around the world for our rental POS-GRIP exploration wellheads, illustrates the momentum behind our business as more operators experience the multiple benefits and advantages that our equipment has to offer.

"Looking ahead, the Company is on course to bring its high pressure/high temperature ('HP/HT') tie back connector joint industry project ('JIP') to a conclusion in the coming months. In addition, the Company's exciting HGSS™ new subsea wellhead design JIP is also progressing well with the testing of the prototype due for completion in mid-2014, and will extend our product range into this multi-billion dollar market. Importantly this subsea project addresses a number of key safety and operational challenges such as annulus pressure management that conventional subsea wellhead equipment has to date not resolved, but which are gaining increasing prominence amongst industry leaders such as Oil and Gas UK, Scottish Enterprise, and ITF, a not for profit organisation owned by 30 global oil majors and oilfield service companies. 

"With the above developments in mind, the Board is confident that the strong momentum behind the Company will continue into the current financial year and beyond, and we look forward to updating the market on our progress."

**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, ENI, Oil States Industries Inc., TOTAL 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. The design process has now been completed, and prototype testing is due for completion mid 2014.

To date, POS-GRIP wellhead systems have been used or selected to be used in over 250 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.