Acquisition of stake in Engsolve Limited

Powerhouse Energy Group plc

("Powerhouse" or the "Company")

12 August 2021

Acquisition of 48% stake in Engsolve Limited

Powerhouse Energy Group plc (AIM: PHE), the UK technology company commercialising hydrogen production from plastic, announces the acquisition by Powerhouse of 48% of the share capital of Engsolve Limited (“Engsolve”), the engineering consultancy (the “Acquisition”). The shares have been bought for a consideration of £99,990 in cash from Engsolve shareholders.

Reasons for the Acquisition

Paul Emmitt, the Company’s Chief Technology Officer, is also the managing director and founder of Engsolve. Powerhouse has worked very closely with Engsolve and Paul for the last four years. The acquisition is intended to maintain Engsolve’s continued support of the Company’s projects and developments and will ensure that Engsolve’s expertise remains available to Powerhouse in future.

Engsolve is a private company based in Bridgend in Wales. As an engineering solutions company, Engsolve has significant experience in undertaking engineering design and support, cost estimating and control, project management and safety risk assessments across a range of industries including energy from waste, renewables and green energy. 

It made a profit after tax of approximately £137,000 in the year to 31 March 2021 on a turnover of approximately £840,000.

Related Party Transaction

Engsolve is owned by its three directors, Pauline McCarthy, Paul Emmitt and Richard Riddell. Ms McCarthy is the wife of David Ryan, who was a director of Powerhouse within 12 months preceding the Acquisition. Paul Emmitt is the chief technical officer of Powerhouse. Ms McCarthy is considered to be a related party under the AIM Rules for Companies and the transaction with her is a related party transaction under the Aim Rules for Companies. Ms McCarthy is selling her entire holding in Engsolve of 35 per cent to Powerhouse. Mr Emmitt will retain 50% of the shares in Engsolve pursuant to the Acquisition.

The Directors of the Company, having consulted with WH Ireland, the Company’s Nominated Adviser, consider the terms of the related party transaction to be fair and reasonable insofar as shareholders are concerned.

Tim Yeo, Executive Chairman of Powerhouse, said: “We are delighted to have acquired 48% of the share capital of Engsolve, a company Powerhouse has worked closely with for four years developing our technology which transforms plastics and waste into clean energy. This Acquisition ensures Engsolve’s excellent expertise remains available to Powerhouse as our technology helps to improve the world’s environment for future generations”.

Paul Emmitt, Managing Director and Founder of Engsolve, said: “Engsolve welcomes this partial Acquisition and I am delighted Powerhouse will utilise the extensive expertise within Engsolve to aid in accelerating the world’s clean energy transition and into transforming plastics and waste into clean energy”. 

-ENDS-

For more information, contact: 

Powerhouse Energy Group plc	Tel: [phone]
Tim Yeo, Executive Chairman
WH Ireland Limited (Nominated Adviser)	Tel: [phone]
James Joyce/ Lydia Zychowska
Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Ltd (Joint Broker)	Tel: [phone]
Andrew Thacker / James Pope
SisterSmith PR (media enquiries) Becca Smith	Mob: [phone]

Notes to Editors:

About Powerhouse Energy Group plc

Powerhouse has developed a proprietary process technology - DMG® - which can utilise waste plastic, end-of-life-tyres, and other waste streams to efficiently and economically convert them into syngas from which valuable products such as chemical precursors, hydrogen, electricity and other industrial products may be derived. Powerhouse’s technology is one of the world's first proven, distributed, modular, hydrogen from waste (HfW) process.

The Powerhouse DMG® process can generate up to 2 tonnes of road-fuel quality hydrogen and more than 58MWh of exportable electricity per day.

Powerhouse’s process produces low levels of safe residues and requires a small operating footprint, making it suitable for deployment at enterprise and community level. As announced on 11th February 2020 under its Supplemental Agreement with Peel Environmental, Powerhouse will receive an annual license fee of £500,000 in respect of each project which is commissioned.

Powerhouse is quoted on the London Stock Exchange's AIM Market under the ticker: PHE and is incorporated in the United Kingdom.

For more information see www.powerhouseenergy.co.uk