Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited sells 1,000 BlueGEN units to Baltic distributor

RNS Number : 1276U

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited

28 November 2013

Market

Announcement

Thursday, 28 November 2013

CFU sells 1,000 BlueGEN units to Baltic distributor

Agreement signed for 1,000 BlueGEN units valued in excess of EUR20M, to be delivered in CY2014 and CY2015

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (AIM/ASX: CFU), a world leader in developing and manufacturing fuel-cell-based micro power plants, is pleased to announce it has signed a cooperation agreement with Synergy International OÜ (SI). Under this agreement, initially a minimum of 1,000 BlueGEN m-CHP units, with a value in excess of EUR20 million, will be sold to SI over the next two calendar years. The agreement has the option to be extended for a third year.

CFU has appointed SI as its exclusive distribution partner for the Baltic States and Scandinavia (Finland, Sweden and Norway). A main business partner and shareholder of SI is the Tameo Grupp, one of the biggest wholesalers of electrical materials in Estonia.

SI will be responsible for arranging the distribution and servicing of CFU's BlueGEN product across its distribution region. Under the agreement SI will purchase from CFU, on a take-or-pay basis, 500 BlueGEN units in CY2014 and a further minimum 500 units in CY2015. The first 100 systems are scheduled to be delivered in the first quarter of CY2014. In addition to the distribution agreement being on a take-or-pay basis, under the agreement 50 percent of the price of the initial 500 unit sale will be paid to CFU before the end of this calendar year. Further payments will be received quarterly in advance for units to be delivered during the CY2014. This payment profile is repeated in CY2015 for the 500 units to be ordered on a take-or-pay basis.

Frank Obernitz, Managing Director of Ceramic Fuel Cells GmbH in Germany, said: "I am delighted that CFU has partnered with SI in the highly promising markets of the Baltic States and Scandinavia. We have been especially impressed by their well established network of major industry and policy stakeholders."

Bob Kennett, Managing Director of CFU, explained: "We are very pleased to have received this major order. Apart from the commercial success, the terms of the agreed take-or-pay contract enable our company to significantly strengthen its working capital position in response to market requirements. We are very much looking forward to working closely with Synergy International in what I'm sure will be a very successful relationship."

Taxation Refund

CFU advises that it has recently received a refund of circa $4M from the Australian Taxation Office for research and development activities relating to FY2013. The expectation of this refund was announced on 30 October 2013 in the Company's Quarterly Cashflow announcement.

-End-

 
For more information please contact: 
 
    Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited 
 
        Clifford Ashby                        Tel.        : +61 (0) 3 9554 2300 
        (CFO)                                 Email       : investor@cfcl.com.au 
                                              Tel.        : +44 776 4200661 
        Bob Kennett (CEO)                     Email       : investor@cfcl.com.au 
                                              Tel         : +49 (0) 2452 153 
        Frank Obernitz                        Email       763 
        (GER)                                 Tel         : frank.obernitz@cfcl.com.au 
                                              Email       : +49 (0) 171 1933 
        Ludmila Fuhrmann                                  611 
        Corporate Communications                          : ludmila.fuhrmann@cfcl.com.au 
 
                 Arden Partners Plc (AIM Nomad) 
                 Steve Douglas Tel. : +44 (0) 12 1423 8900 
 
                 German media enquiries 
                 Sebastian Mewißen Tel. : +49 (0) 211 
                 430 7926 
                 Hering Schuppener Consulting E-Mail : smewissen@heringschuppener.com 
 
                 Netherlands media enquiries 
       Kees Jongsma                          Tel.         : +31 (0) 654 79 82 
        SPJ                                   Email        53 
                                                           : cjongsma@spj.nl 
    UK media enquiries 
       David Stürken                    Tel.         : +44 (0) 207 379 5151 
        Maitland                              Email        : dsturken@maitland.co.uk 
 
 

About Tameo

Tameo MT OÜ is one of the biggest electrical materials wholesalers in Estonia. The company offers full solutions for projects as well as dwelling from customers special needs. Tameo has over 4 000 different products available in stock, and based on customer needs this list improves constantly. The suppliers are internationally known companies and the product assortment of Tameo complies with the standards established for quality and nature protection. Tameo has sales offices and warehouses in Tartu, in Tallinn, and in Pärnu. The affiliated company Tameo Electric Group SIA operates in Riga, Latvia and also Tameo UAB in Klaipeda, Lithuania.

http://www.tameo.ee/en/

About Synergy International

Synergy International OÜ (SI) has been founded recently in order to establish the cooperation agreements with Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd. and to execute the business plan agreed on by the shareholders of SI.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

Ceramic Fuel Cells appoints BlueGen distributor in The Netherlands

Ceramic Fuel Cells appoints BlueGen distributor in The Netherlands

21 July 2011

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (AIM/ASX: CFU), a leading developer of high efficiency and low emission power products for homes and other buildings, has signed a distribution agreement with Zestiq B.V., for Zestiq to market and sell Ceramic Fuel Cells' BlueGen gas-to-electricity products in The Netherlands.

Zestiq is part of the consortium of innovative companies which in March 2011 bought and installed a BlueGen in a 17th century canal house "De Groene Bocht" in the centre of Amsterdam. The aim of Zestiq is to accelerate 'clean technology' which is market ready. By developing smart business models for the different technologies, Zestiq aims to significantly reduce the time to mass market.

Zestiq and its partners will market and sell BlueGen units to small commercial and residential customers in The Netherlands. The units will be installed and maintained by the service company of Eneco, Eneco Installatie Bedrijven.

The other members of the consortium include several leading energy companies in The Netherlands: Liander is a distribution company with 2.9 million electricity customers and 2.1 million gas customers. GasTerra is an international natural gas trading company owned by Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil and the Dutch Government. Responsibility for the planet and for society go hand in hand at GasTerra, which is why sustainability is an important component of GasTerra's policy. The company supports the development of gas technologies, such as BlueGen units, that could make a significant contribution to the transition to sustainable sources of energy. A BlueGen unit is also installed at the home of a Director of GasTerra.

The other consortium member, Eneco, currently provides services for a range of heating and cooling technologies, including other small scale combined heating and power products. Eneco invests in sustainable energy sources such as wind, hydro and solar energy, biomass, heating and cooling and decentralised, local generation of energy. Eneco is active in the North West European market with operations in Belgium, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Eneco is mission partner of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the world's first energy company to participate in the international Climate Saver programme.

Matthijs Guichelaar from Zestiq said "Zestiq sees a huge market potential for BlueGen in the Netherlands. With its dense gas network, large gas reserves in the North and growing interest in distributed generation, we think the Netherlands and the BlueGen are a perfect match. We see great possibilities in carbon reduction and smartgrid applications. Together with Eneco we are looking forward to starting to make sales."

Brendan Dow, Managing Director of Ceramic Fuel Cells said "We are very pleased to have appointed Zestiq as another sales channel for BlueGen, this time in the important Dutch market. Zestiq and their utility partners will drive BlueGen sales in this market to build on our sales channels in the UK and other key markets."

BlueGen uses ceramic fuel cells to turn natural gas into electricity and heat for hot water, with each unit capable of producing more than three times the electricity needed to power the average Dutch home. (In The Netherlands an average home consumes an estimated 3,700 kilowatt hours of electricity per year.)

Surplus electricity can be sold back to the grid or used in supplementary applications such as charging an electric car, as well as having the additional benefit of providing heat for domestic hot water use. BlueGen units generate electricity with the highest electrical efficiency of any small scale generating technology in the world, reducing energy bills and cutting carbon emissions.

BlueGen customers in The Netherlands are eligible to receive a feed in tariff for up to 5,000 kilowatt hours of electricity exported back to the grid.