Tiny Qonnectis is at present in an embryonic stage, but seems to have an interesting product with great potential. Their flagship product connects energy and water meters to the Internet via Qonnectis' own server and users' website, providing 24-hour real-time accessibility as well as the opportunity for instant data comparison and updates as frequently as every 15 minutes. This avoids the costs of traditional meter-reading methods (i.e. reading by eye or the more recent "drive-by" technology). The new technology has already saved one early customer a reported 180,000 after it spotted a water leak and alerted the user. Early adopters include utilities such as Scottish Water and Generale des Eaux Lyon, plus public sector clients such as the NHS, the RAF and various District Councils (the list is numerous, so please see QTI's press releases for the whole picture). In November 2005 QTI announced a distribution deal with Compteurs Farnier of France, providing potential access to the USA and Canada in addition to the French market.

The business case for QTI seems strong: the product is inexpensive and provides cost savings both in terms of labour-saving and of cutting wastage. Sales include an element of subscription on a five-year basis; it seems logical that satisfied customers will both increase their number of meters in use and come back for further subscriptions after the five-year period has elapsed. The potential market is huge. The real question is, when will QTI achieve break-even?

CEO Mike Tapia previously built up the Talisman remote/drive-by meter-reading business, which was then sold to Severn Trent Water Co around 1997.

Does anyone have any figures on the Talisman sale, or perhaps on Compteurs Farnier? It would be good to get some idea of the current market.


EDIT: New charts added, 21Dec2007.

All but two trades were buys so the upwards pressure on the sp has been maintained. So far there have not been any 0.5m+ trades since the interims came out.
Be interesting to see if tomorrow's IC has any comment.

Up again, Bid: 0.75p Offer: 1.00p Shares traded 883k

That's good to see.

Up again, a bit: QTI Bid: 0.75p Offer: 1.25p Change: 0.125 One million traded

Melissa Carroll for The Penny Sleuth (Part of Fleet St Publications) had a write up on QTI in her daily e-mail today, which may explain some of the trades today.

Some general industry info, might eventually provide encouragement for QTI:

Severn Trent unable to confirm whether it has met 2006/7 leakage targets UPDATE
(adds comment from chief executive)LONDON (AFX) - Utility Severn Trent PLC has pledged to meet leakage targetsfor the next financial year, despite being unable to confirm that it had metthis years targets in todays trading update.Chief executive Colin Matthews told reporters that it was too early to saywhether the company had missed guidelines on how much capacity it is allowed towaste."Leakage is a complicated measurement and it will take us several weeks toknow in detail the leakage for the year as a whole," he said. "So I can neithersay today whether we definitely will or will not meet our target for the year."But we have devoted much more resources than previously, and it is clearthat leakage in March is down on a year ago."Ofwats target for 06/07 is 525 megalitres per day. Last year, it was 505 andSevern Trent recorded 542 megalitres, but missed a fine from Ofwat because ithad undertaken to invest 100 mln stg over what had been asked to improveinfrastructure.Matthews was keen to point out that last year was the first time the companyhad missed its targets and added that the Ofwat objective was already slightlymore than the companys "economic level of leakage" - beyond which reducing leaksbecomes uneconomic and not in the best interests of charges consumers have topay."Our customers already enjoy some of the lowest charges for water and wasteanywhere in the UK," Matthews said. We will invest something like 550 mln stgworth of capital on maintaining our infrastructure and assets. For every onepound of profit, we invest 3 stg back into the physical infrastructure."But he will be privately hoping that Severn Trent does not miss targets forthe second year running. Ofwat's recent price review for utilities allowed thecompany to increase prices by 5.7 pct on 2007-08. Although this is notexcessive, it would be an inconvenient time for the company to admit it has notkept its side of the bargain.Matthews said Severn Trent was to cut 600 jobs over the next five years asit continued to refocus after the disposal of waste arm Biffa PLC.The job cuts, which amount to a 10 pct reduction in the workforce over thenext five years, will mostly be done by voluntary severance and are a responseto the utility becoming a pure water play.Analysts were heartened by indications that Severn Trent was "sorting itselfout", in the words of Merrill Lynch analyst Robert Miller-Bakewell.The company said trading was in line and forecast an increase in pretaxprofit of between 1 and 3 pct. "A shrinking regulatory backlog may yet encouragean LBO promoter to take a serious appraisal," he said.philip.waller@thomson.compaw/sljCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including byframing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior writtenconsent of AFX News.AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX NewsLimitedFor more information and to contact AFX: www.afxnews.com andwww.afxpress.com

A lot of money is being thrown at the leakage problem - could explain the comments in the QTI interims.

Here's more from Thames Water:

Tackling leakage remains our biggest priority.

Over the five years to 2010 we are investing 500,000 a day to reduce leakage, a total of 1bn that includes the deployment of the very latest technology to pinpoint invisible underground leaks.

Over 1400 people are already working to bring leakage down, a figure that will rise as Victorian mains replacement work in London accelerates.

We fixed 87,000 leaks in 2005/06. Thats over 200 a day, or one every six minutes, up 20 per cent compared to the previous year, a performance surpassing commitments we gave to Ofwat.


Leakage reduction and water conservation

We are visiting some business customers across our region over the coming months as part of our ongoing work to reduce leakage and conserve water.

We are connecting more equipment to water meters for a short period to collect extra data. This is separate to our regular visits to read meters for billing purposes.

Let's hope they invest 500,000 a day in QTI!

Qonnectis plc
19 April 2007


19 April 2007

Qonnectis plc

Director/PDMR shareholding

The Company has been notified pursuant to transitional provision 7 of the
Disclosure and Transparency Rules that the following directors are interested in
3% or more of the voting rights of the Company:-

Name Percentage of voting rights held

Michael Anthony Tapia 9.62%

The above percentage is based on 218,608,023 being the total number of its
issued ordinary shares each carrying voting rights.

Qonnectis plc
19 April 2007


19 April 2007

Qonnectis plc

Holding in Company

The Company has been notified pursuant to transitional provision 7 of the
Disclosure and Transparency Rules that the following is interested in 3% or more
of the voting rights of the Company:-

Name Percentage of voting rights held

Alasia Trading Inc. 3.27%

The above percentage is based on 218,608,023 being the total number of its
issued ordinary shares each carrying voting rights.

Neither of which is a change from previously declared holdings.

At least did not reduce.

I see that QTI registered a trademark - leakfrog - on 16 March (07) for a leak detection apparatus etc. Presumably this relates to 'our partnership with a major UK water company for the production of units incorporating new technology for leakage control and monitoring applications' mentioned in the interim report. Does anybody know any more about this?
See:http://www.ipo.gov.uk/tm/t-find/t-find-number?detailsrequested=C&trademark=2431206

Nice one, JMAC. But I don't know anything more about the technology. Have you tried emailing Mike Tapia?

There's aa American device with the same name - I'm sure it's no connection:

http://www.ideativeinc.com/leakfrog.cfm

Very different John

Yes, I'd hope so, too!
QTI are aware of the Canadian outfit, but don't intend marketing in N America, so it won't be material.

Comprehensive description of service offered by Cambridge Water using QTI equipment on:

http://www.cambridge-water.co.uk/products/flow_logger.asp

Includes:
Pricing is based on a five-year contract per meter point for provision of hardware to collect meter data and service for data collection and provision of data over the internet. The price includes full five-year support and warranties provided by Cambridge Water, but excludes the cost of installation which will be quoted on an individual basis.

Price: 2,500

This one just woke up but big spread.

Looking at the chart it could have a very quick run upto the 2p level with some sustained buying.