Velocys, a sustainable fuels technology business, signed a deal with a European renewable fuels developer on Tuesday to provide preliminary engineering services for a project that is still in the planning stages.

While the revenue for this stage of the project is negligible and the project’s progression to material revenues is yet to be determined, the agreement expands the company’s customer base and demonstrates Velocys’ ability to move its pipeline of potential global customers toward commercial contracts.

While the deal would generate little money, Velocys claims it will “extend” its customer base. This is also in line with Andy Bensley’s goals for the company’s business development division.

British Airways (BA) has agreed to extend the UK Altalto project Joint Development Agreement and the Option Agreement for BA to buy 50% of Altalto Ltd by one year, until March 31, 2023.

The original option was signed on May 12, 2020, and it was extended for the first time on March 30, 2021.

Velocys provides a technology solution to its customers that enables the commercial-scale synthesis of sustainable synthetic fuels from a variety of waste sources, including municipal, commercial, and forestry waste.

The only commercially accessible alternative to fossil aircraft fuels is sustainable aviation fuel or SAF.

President Biden recently emphasised the necessity of sustainable synthetic fuels derived from bio-based feedstocks as part of the US aviation decarbonisation plan.

Increased demand for Velocys technology to ramp up commercial-scale production of sustainable synthetic fuels to speed the global clean energy transition and boost host country fuel independence is growing the company’s customer pipeline.

Velocys

Velocys is a startup that develops sustainable fuels technology and is traded on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market with “VLS.L” as the ticker symbol.

For 18 years, the company has developed and demonstrated its Fischer-Tropsch technique, which allows for the synthesis of drop-in fuels from a variety of waste sources.

The group is actively working on initiatives in the United States and the United Kingdom to develop fuels that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in aviation and transportation.

Velocys’ revenue derives from licencing its technology and providing technical and project services to its reactors and catalysts based on its unique expertise.

The company focuses on providing end-to-end technology solutions to partners, site owners, and third-party developers globally.

Velocys’ shares were trading down 0.25% to 6p in late afternoon trade on Tuesday.

Kainos Group shares were down 0.3% to 1,263p in late afternoon trading on Tuesday, despite the company’s strong products pipeline and balance sheet in its latest trading statement.

The group confirmed that its board expected revenue and adjusted profit to fall in line with current projections, and that its international engagements have grown in scale with positive progress across Europe and Canada.

Kainos also said that its Digital Services team continued to deliver high-end transformation programmes to newly acquired and existing clients in the Public, Healthcare and Commercial sectors, driven by strong market demand in the UK.

The company’s Workday Practice platform has reportedly benefited from the expertise of new employees gained through the acquisitions of Cloudator, Une Consulting, Blackline Group and Planalyse.

Kainos added that its Smart Product Suite for Workday has also maintained a promising growth trajectory over the last year of operation.

Kainos has further seen an influx of new clients to its Smart Audit platform since its launch in August last year.

The group currently employs 2,692 people in over 20 counties, representing a rise of 33% year-on-year in company employment.

The company said that it is well-positioned for growth heading into 2022, and remains confident in its strategy for the coming year.

Woodbois shares were up 0.4% to 4.4p in early afternoon trading on Tuesday after the company reported a 22% jump in Q1 revenue to $5.6 million against $4.6 million in Q1 2021.

The group further noted a gross profit margin rise of 23% from 20% last year, alongside a cash balance of $2.6 million.

Woodbois celebrated its best quarter for volume of product shipped since before the Covid-19 pandemic and highlighted a 24% increase in sawmill production and a 13% climb in veneer production year-on-year.

The company commented that it aimed to grow its exports to the United States and Europe over 2022, with an expected increase in scale and profitability as the group worked out the hurdles in its shipping and production operations.

“The business is now beginning to reap the rewards from the significant investment in capital and human resources over recent periods,” said Woodbois CEO Paul Dolan.

“The operational performance in Q1 continues the growth set out in our 2021 results, which were released on 1^st April 2022.”

“Absent any further material disruption to the shipping routes and container availability we plan to deliver strong quarter-on-quarter growth throughout the remainder of the year.”

Board Reorganisation

Woodbois announced several changes to its management, including the reintroduction of executive chair Paul Dolan as Chief Executive Officer.

Former Chief Executive Officer Federico Tonetti has reportedly been confirmed to leave the firm soon, and non-executive director Graeme Thomson has been appointed as non-executive chair.

“We needed to amend our senior team in order to ensure enhanced and dedicated focus at our key assets in Gabon so as to better deliver our expansion plans,” said Dolan.

The company also highlighted the introduction of Olivier Normand in the newly created role of Gabon Country Chief Operating Officer, who will reportedly be overseeing enhanced processes, oversight and daily functions at the Operation under the supervision of Gabon Operations head Hadi Ghossein.

Gateley, a legal and professional services firm, announced on Tuesday that it has reached an agreement with the Bank of Scotland and HSBC UK for a new revolving credit facility amounting to £30m.

Gateley’s new revolving credit facility provides £30 million in committed funding between the Bank of Scotland and HSBC UK until April 2025.

The dual bank club replaces the group’s previous £8m overdraft arrangements with Bank of Scotland and HSBC UK, giving it more flexibility to fund future growth and acquisitions.

The loan has an interest rate that is 1.95% higher than the SONIA reference rate.

“We are delighted to have agreed this new £30m facility with our long-term supportive banking partners of Bank of Scotland and HSBC UK. The facility will provide us with additional headroom to continue with our stated strategy to grow organically and through acquisitions,” said Rod Waldie, Gateley CEO.

“We continue to position ourselves to invest in and grow our Platforms to provide an increasing breadth of services to our clients.”

“The aggregation of complementary legal and consultancy services on our four market-facing Platforms of Corporate, Business Services, People and Property continues to differentiate Gateley, strengthen our appeal to clients and enhance our resilience.”

Leading global manufacturer of utility-grade energy storage, Invinity Energy Systems received 3 certifications from International Organization for Standardization (ISO) on Tuesday morning.

Following an exhaustive audit process conducted by top global assurance provider SAI-Global, Invinity Energy Systems has been certified as complying with ISO standards for Quality Management (ISO 9001), Environmental Management (ISO 14001), and Health & Safety Management (ISO 45001).

Invinity is now one of just three flow battery manufacturers in the world to hold all three certifications at the same time, confirming the company’s position as a leading producer of utility-grade solutions to the stationary energy storage industry.

International Organization for Standardization

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a significant benchmark institution in the world.

The ISO creates standards to ensure the quality, safety, and efficiency of products, services, and systems. These standards are widely recognised as the gold standard for operational excellence among major industrial companies throughout the world.

Individual criteria to which Invinity has now been certified are critical to the company’s operations.

ISO 9001 specifies the requirements for a company’s quality management system (QMS) and is founded on fundamental quality management principles such as a strong customer focus, senior management involvement and accountability, process orientation, and continuous improvement.

ISO 9001 standards and processes will enable Invinity to provide consistently high-quality products and services to its clients.

An Environmental Management System (EMS) is defined by ISO 14001 as a systematic framework for measuring, managing, and minimising the immediate and long-term environmental impacts of an organization’s goods and operations.

Completing this certification will ensure Invinity’s customers and partners that the company honours its environmental commitments and operates with the least amount of environmental effect feasible.

ISO 45001 is a global standard for occupational health and safety that aims to manage and reduce any health and safety risks linked with Invinity’s activities for all stakeholders. 

ISO 45001 standards, when used in conjunction with regional, national, and industry-specific workplace safety rules, will help Invinity formalise procedures to proactively improve health and safety performance, provide a safe and healthy workplace, and reduce the risk of causing irreversible harm to employees or the company as a whole.

These three certifications demonstrate Invinity’s commitment to not just producing a high-quality product, but also to being a leading supplier in the stationary energy storage sector.

Compliance with these three standards, according to the firm, will speed up Invinity’s commercial development by demonstrating to new customers that Invinity conforms to the highest operational excellence standards without the need for time-consuming and costly due diligence.

Finally, adhering to these ISO standards will aid Invinity’s expansion by laying the solid foundations required to expand and scale the company’s business in a ‘sustainable, responsible, and transparent way’.

Invinity

Invinity was formed in April 2020 by the combination of two industry leaders in the flow battery sector, redT energy plc and Avalon Battery Corporation.

Invinity is active in all major global energy storage markets and has operations all over the world, with over 25 MWh of systems implemented to date across more than 40 sites in 15 countries.

Flow batteries are made by Invinity Energy Systems for large-scale, high-throughput energy storage needs in business, industry, and electrical networks.

Factory-built flow batteries from Invinity run continuously for over 25 years with minimal degradation, making them ideal for the most demanding applications in renewable energy production.

Energy storage systems based on Invinity’s batteries are safe, dependable, and cost-effective, with capacities ranging from under 250 kilowatt-hours to tens of megawatt-hours.

Larry Zulch, Chief Executive Officer, Invinity said, “As Invinity commercialises our long-duration vanadium flow batteries, our focus must progress from simply developing leading technology to superb execution across the entire organisation.”

“We undertook the ISO process determined to meet the highest standards; by obtaining certification in these three major areas, we have demonstrated our ability to achieve them. This is a tremendous accomplishment by our team and I am very proud of the work they have done.”

Invinity Energy Systems’ shares gained 7% to 97.5p following the announcement of multiple ISO certifications being awarded to the company.

The FTSE 250 was down 0.6% to 20,986.8 and the AIM was down 0.4% to 1,055.2 on Tuesday as the breakdown of Russia-Ukraine peace talks and the spiking cost of living dampened investor optimism heading after the easter break.

Spectris shares increased 5.5% to 26,540p after the company reported its divestment of Omega Engineering to Arcline Investment Management, along with its upcoming £300 million share buyback scheme.

“Today’s announcement is yet a further example of our approach to optimising our assets and successfully divesting businesses at multiples higher than the group as a whole,” said Spectris CEO Andrew Heath.

“This disposal, in conjunction with the share buyback programme, delivers clear value for shareholders, whilst also allowing us to take advantage of new growth opportunities for our core businesses, in line with our purpose.”

Harbour Energy shares rose 0.9% to 524.5p after the company reported its exit from the North Falkland Basin, with Navitas scheduled to buy all the shares in Harbour’s indirectly held subsidiary POEPL, via which Harbour holds its rights in the North Falkland Licenses.

JTC shares saw a decline of 6.4% to 758p following the group’s 57.2% drop in operating profits to £9 million compared to £21 million last year.

However, the company noted a pre-tax profits hike of 147.2% to £27.8 million against £11.2 million year-on-year.

The SSP Group fell 5.9% to 230p after Deutsche Bank reduced the stock to a hold from a buy recommendation and cut the firm’s price target to 265p from 333p.

888 shares dipped 3.7% to 210p following Berenberg’s ‘buy’ recommendation, with a price target cut to 500p compared to 545p.

Arrow Exploration Group shares increased 15.3% to 15p after the company reported positive results from its RCE-2 Well, following its spudding on 2 April and its total drilled depth of 9,674 ft from 14 April.

The RCE-2 Well’s casing was finished on 18 April and cementing has been scheduled for 20 April, followed by a production testing programme.

“From the data we have, several of the pay zones are attractive and like the RCE-1 well, we believe more than one pay zone will be productive,” said Arrow Exploration CEO Marshall Abbott.

Empyrean Energy shares rose 10.5% to 11.2p after the firm announced elevated methane levels in its Jade drilling update, supporting the company’s prediction of light oil in the Chinese prospect.

“Drilling operations continue to run smoothly and safely, with progress to date right on schedule,” said Empyrean Energy CEO Tom Kelly.

Sensyne Health shares plummeted following the firm’s proposed delisting from the AIM junior market, pending approval from shareholders at its general meeting on 20 May.

Serabi Gold dropped 13.5% to 51p after its 13% decline in gold production over the first quarter to 7,062 ounces from 8,087 ounces year-on-year had a reported knock-on effect on its full-year production guidance.

“At Palito, the first-quarter production results have been disappointing with 7,062 ounces produced, and while March was a significantly better month with improved grades and production, it was not possible to recover earlier shortfalls in planned production,” said Serabi Gold CEO Mike Hodgson.

Microsaic Systems shares dropped 7.3% to 0.09p following the company’s announcement of a manufacturing services framework and initial contract with Innovenn UK Limited worth £400,000.

The agreement will reportedly see Microsaic refine and miniaturise existing monitoring technology for environmental and human health diagnostics.

“Microsaic’s business model has been transitioned to offer additional services which leverage the considerable depth and breadth of technical design, engineering and delivery expertise within its team,” said Microsaic acting executive chairman Gerard Brandon.

“By offering the skillsets that created the smallest compact mass spectrometer in the world, partner customers such as DeepVerge can outsource their engineering development of existing and new monitoring equipment and concentrate on growing their business.”