16 Mar 2020 07:00
16 March 2020
Quadrise Fuels International plc
("Quadrise", "QFI", the "Company" and together with its subsidiaries the "Group")
Statement re Covid-19
Morocco Pilot Trial Schedule
Having implemented a plan to protect the Group's employees and business as a pre-emptive, pragmatic and measured approach to prevailing global events, the Company provides the following update.
The Company confirms that its London office remains open, that the Quadrise Research Facility ("QRF") in Essex remains operational and that the Company continues with its business development activities where permitted to do so, including a team of three QFI personnel visiting South America during week commencing 9 March 2020 alongside Freepoint representatives, for a positive follow-up meeting which included a visit to a refinery and nearby powerplant.
To seek to ensure that this remains the case, no third-party visitors are being accepted at QRF and the Company has put in place appropriate measures to, inter alia, ensure that London based staff will, in the main be working remotely, with little, if any, impact on their normal activities but minimising the potential risk to the Group's employees.
Notwithstanding the above, the Company announces that it has now been informed that the MSAR® pilot trial in Morocco will be delayed, as the client is now restricting site access for external contractors, as a precaution not dissimilar to the Company's own approach in relation to the QRF.
No revised trial schedule has yet been indicated and further announcements in relation to the situation in Morocco and the revised trial schedule, will be made, as appropriate in due course. All of the equipment required for the trial is now in Morocco including the MSAR® fuel produced at QRF, enabling the trial to commence as soon as the site can again be accessed by QFI.
Mike Kirk, Chairman of QFI, said:
"We have taken a pragmatic approach to the rapidly developing global Covid-19 situation and taken actions to protect our staff and the business which we believe will be effective in the short to medium term. The decision by our client in Morocco to delay the pilot trial is not surprising and parallels the procedures we have put in place to protect QRF. With all of the equipment and fuel for the trial now in Morocco, we will be in a position to commence the trial very rapidly, once we are able to access the client's site.
In the meantime, we will continue to progress with business development activities in line with any restrictions that may be in place. The visit by our team to South America last week shows that we can still respond positively and actively to opportunities as they arise, and we have the capability to progress discussions and technical and economic analysis via web/videoconferencing with clients if face to face meetings are not possible."
For additional information, please contact:
Quadrise Fuels International plc +44 (0)20 7031 7321
Mike Kirk, Chairman
Jason Miles, Chief Operating Officer
Cenkos Securities plc +44 (0)20 7397 8900
Nominated Adviser
Ben Jeynes
Katy Birkin
Peel Hunt LLP +44 (0)20 7418 8900
Joint Broker
Richard Crichton
David McKeown
Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited +44 (0)20 7408 4090
Joint Broker
Toby Gibbs
Fiona Conroy
FTI Consulting +44 (0)20 3727 1000
Public and Investor Relations
Ben Brewerton
Ntobeko Chidavaenzi
The information communicated within this announcement was deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 prior to the release of this announcement. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.