TPG.L Regulatory News (TPG)

RNS Reach

16 April 2020

TP Group plc

("TP Group", the "Company" or the "Group")

Development of flexible on-site medical gas production

Initiative seeks to increase sustainability and responsiveness to peak loading

TP Group (AIM: TPG), the providers of mission-critical solutions for a more secure world, announces that it has commissioned a development programme ('the Programme') to build modular gas production equipment in response to emerging requirements.

Recent events, particularly the COVID-19 outbreak, have drawn attention to the availability of oxygen for critical care, particularly under peak load, which has highlighted challenges in logistics, contingency planning and flexibility in the supply of medical gases.

The Programme is intended to produce modular systems that can be deployed on demand at hospitals and other facilities suitable for on-site gas production. TP Group has significant experience in the field having worked for more than forty years on innovative approaches to gas production using electrolysis.

The Programme was initiated in late 2019 and has been accelerated to meet emerging needs. It is currently funded from TP Group's existing resources and will last a further three months. In that time, proven technologies developed under a range of submarine life support programmes will be combined to generate low-carbon supplies of hydrogen or oxygen according to end-user requirements. The first phase of the project aims to produce a demonstration system at the Group's Portsmouth facility that can be tested for suitability and performance. From there, it is anticipated that future modular units to suit a range of needs can be specified in consultation with customers and partners for development activities to commence in the second half of 2020.

As well as the near-term benefits in flexible gas production, this Programme will also contribute to longer-term sustainability goals, through a reduction in carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions in the existing supply chain, as well as decreased transportation costs. This is particularly key in the UK healthcare sector, where the National Health Service produces roughly five per cent of the UK's greenhouse gasses, and the NHS Sustainable Development Plan aims to eliminate 80 per cent of the 1990 baseline carbon emissions by 2050.

Phil Cartmell, Chief Executive Officer of TP Group, commented:

"I am very pleased that in these challenging times, the TP Group team has been able to look creatively at both our technologies and capabilities and sought to apply them in new ways that are relevant to the current challenges we face."

"When proven, we anticipate these systems will be able to produce medical and other gases locally at the point of consumption, potentially reducing carbon usage in both production and transportation."

"We have many years of heritage with these technologies and have been highly successful in deploying them across a range of challenging and mission critical environments."

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Notes to Editors

TP Group delivers complex equipment, software and services for mission-, business- and safety critical applications in defence, space, intelligence & security and energy sectors. With more than 400 people in 6 European countries, it serves global customers through long-term contracts. The Group's shares have been traded on AIM since July 2001.