Yes an engineer but lets call it a TECH Engineer. Compressed air technology is its main business, develops industrial air compressors and Gas seals and whats more it provides them for the OIL and GAS industry.
Very close to commercialisation now with its compressors and seals and todays deal ( see below ) should bring that very close.

Charges upfront payments, continuing royalties and development contracts so revenues are not lumpy.

It as a market cap circa off the top of my head 20 million(hope my calculator is now working) and as circa of 5 million cash on the books, very nice.

Some very big names as customers.

Heres todays announcement...........

Corac Group Plc
26 May 2004


For Immediate Release 26 May 2004


Corac Group plc ('Corac')

Joint Industry Programme for Downhole Gas Compression

Corac, the intellectual property and licensing company specialising in
compressor technology, is pleased to announce the signature today of a Joint
Industry Programme ('JIP') for the development of its unique, patented downhole
gas compression technology.

Following the recent successful completion of a Shell funded feasibility study
which evaluated both the technical and economic viability of the technology,
considerable industry interest has been generated, culminating in the addition
of a further four major international oil and gas operators to the project.

The participants of the JIP comprise ConocoPhillips, ENI, Husky Energy,
Repsol-YPF as well as Shell, all of whom have gas assets worldwide which they
believe could benefit from this game changing technology. As well as covering
the development costs for the next phase, the participants will also make
substantial resource available to ensure the final product specification meets
the requirements of the industry.

Corac's downhole gas compression concept involves the coupling together of a
number of axial compressor modules in a single compression train for
installation in the well bore in close proximity to a gas reservoir. In this
location, a modest uplift in pressure results in a very significant increase in
gas production compared with conventional methods using surface compression,
thereby accelerating gas production and cash flow from a producing asset.
Potential production rate enhancement of up to 40% has been demonstrated through
the application of downhole gas compression during a number of gas field case
studies carried out over recent months.

Placing the compressor downhole could also have the effect of being able to
lower the reservoir abandonment pressure which in turn would materially increase
the ultimate recovery from a gas field, thereby further enhancing the economic
benefit from the installation of this novel application of existing technology.

Phase 1 of the JIP is scheduled for completion by the end of 2004, with further
engineering and development work leading to the manufacture and testing of a
prototype downhole in a producing gas well within the following two years.

Commenting on the JIP, Professor Gerry Musgrave, Chairman, said:

'The support from such eminent oil and gas companies vindicates Corac's
development to date of the downhole gas compression project and gives the Group
another product line to bring to the market using its core technologies. It is
the start of a major business development opportunity which is expected to have
significant international ramifications throughout the upstream natural gas
industry.'ENDS.

Although loss making at the moment it shouldnt be very long before this one turns the corner.

Outlook

The Company has a loyal, talented workforce dedicated to the innovation and
exploitation of the technology. Successful trials have demonstrated the
commercial performance in Corac's industrial air compressor and its seals. The
Board is striving to deliver the right manufacturing and sales licences which
will yield the best returns in the long term.

We are confident that a number of deals, which have been subject to recent
intensive negotiation, will be successfully concluded in the near term.

Short to medium term investment, and anyone interested should DYOR and please remember you are responsible for the timing of your buying and selling actions.

cheers GF.

given existing market uncertainty expected during 2008 then CRA is a quite nice option to hold.... with the on-going DGC tests then the risk/reward has moved more towards reward .... so perhaps people buying on prospects for it later in year and not just short term gains .... so I supose that's a bit like buying in to producing gold miners as well i.e. under present circumstances if you still have a compulsion to buy shares then invest in stuff that is likely to be higher by H2 rather than the usual stuff which is bouncing around and 2008 general sentiment is poor ;-)

Missed out on top up, for me, already have plenty and will watch to see if my prediction unfolds, i feel it will rise until 19th and then get sold heavily regardless of results/update poss back to 60p level in following month/s, i know i should practise what i preach but would rather adopt wait and see, already nice though that this one alone counteracts most of the losses of other holdings...

think there are a couple of things here, and you have to go back into CRA's history to understand it.

There has, for years, been a persistent seller of the stock, in Sofaer Capital. They were not interested in having their stock placed, but liked to dribble it out whenever they felt like it. They had a large stake in CRA which they had bought in the early days + were sitting on a good profit. The effect of this persistent selling was to cap any upside in CRA and depress the valuation.

Sofaer was finally out around 7 or 8 months ago. So then we had the situation that DGC trials were moving forwards to a visible horizon, a stock that was undervalued and the over-hang gone.
Looking back, you can see that CRA has been in a general uptrend since that time.

Looking at other energy saving or energy related technology and IP stocks, and you can see that CRA could have some way to go. eg, Zenergy is valued at around 100m (energy saving on windmill turbines + other areas), PDX 100m+ (bioethanol fuel savings), ROM (romag) 100m+ (photo-voltaic glass) to mention just a few.

Corac's valuation is a little over 50m, with a unique technology that addresses a multi-billion pound market and has three major backers already on-board.

Mr Bolton ..... interesting read, but i don't really see the correlation between CRA and the other 3 stocks you mention, for they are in a rather different field, although could all loosely be lumped as "energy" ..... if you like ROM, then PVCS may also appeal

dear mr ci-nyc, do you always read backwards?

but I take your point.

The first part of my post was concerning Sofaer, and the situation I described is or was factual, although you can argue over the Sofaer effect.

The second post highlighted three other stocks I quite like that rely on their IP or technology in the field of energy saving.
Comparisons are always difficult, but I think it is valid to compare one IP or technology stock in the energy field with another one in that area. That is what I did.

If you disagree or feel the comparison is not really valid, that is your perrogative.

But I find it useful to compare the market cap against such companies.

Another i could have mentioned is Ceres (CWR). Market cap 200m. They are also really in the area of energy saving or energy efficiency. That is what CRA are doing with their DGC project. CWR expect to ship their first boilers in 2011 or 2012. Corac expect the first live deployment later this year. One has a 200m valuation (CWR) and one has 50m (CRA)

re PVCS, yes, looked at that one, but valuation looked a bit high, did buy some Jetion (similair field) beginning of the year, they have stuck on around 30% since, which is nice.

Surely the relative point in question is what are the PE ratios of these (similar) companies...???

big ted

not, it isn't

CRA do not make a profit, neither do Ceres, PDX or Zenergy. Romag make a profit, but they also have a conventional glass business that is profitable alongside the photovoltaic glass business which is still ramping up.

We are looking here at companies that have very interesting IP and technology that could make significant advances in the field of energy saving or energy efficiency.

Most of these companies are at the early revenue stage and profitability is probably still some years away. Clearly, with Ceres, it could be another 5 years +.

So, the only way to effect a comparison is to use such measures as market cap, the addressable market of each company, strength of the technology, backers, cash position, cash burn, time to market etc etc.

A PE ratio here is as much use as a chocolate tea pot!

Maybe, but do any of these companies have considerably higher current sales than that of CORAC? or are you saying they are all valued based on their prospective future earnings? dont get me wrong, i'm right with you on the undervalue of CRA by the market...!

Big Ted

I am saying that they are all valued based on their potential or prospects, as against actual earnings.

The only sort of exception is Romag, where they have two parts to their business, a conventional glass line which is profitable but has no real growth prospects and a photo-voltaic glass line, which is not really profitable but has the potential for explosive growth. The ROM market cap ,imo, is 80% or 90% down to the photovoltaic line.

I like Zenergy, PDX, Ceres , Romag.....

But I consider Corac offers a better risk/reward and far more upside.
Low cash burn, good cash position, majors on board, near term commercialisation, strong IP position, modest market cap are just some of the attractive features that Corac has. imo.

at least i concur that the CRA is very exciting and, with a fair wind, may relatively soon be fully and/or sufficiently proven to allow full production and sales to go ahead .... perhaps even to profitability within my lifetime (lol)!

certainly a great performance today in a pretty horrid market ...... volume is about double norm, but as norm is only 250k, that is still nothing amazing ..... also no news at all even from Reuters

Well, i did say if it breaks 60p it will motor on well past...

from Money Observer:



The second tip,Corac is much higher risk - but potentially higher reward.It is developing technology to help oil companies get more gas from their fields.Using a specially adapted compressor to artificially increase the pressure in gas wells,Corac believes it can increase the amount of gas that can be extracted by between 20 and 40 percent,prolonging the life of shrinking reserves.

A number of oil companies think it may be right:it is working with partners such as Conoco Phillips,ENI and Repsol.The results of tests from a simulated rig in Cumbria have been encouraging and it is on course to start field trials with some of its partners later this year-and that,according to brokers Numis,should mean profits as well as gas start to flow.

The company has some heavyweight City support,including Gartmore and Axa Framlington,and a placing to raise funds for the tests late last year was well received.But there is no guarantee its product will be a success,so the risks are high-not a share to risk your shirt on.

But if profits do start flowing in 2009,the current share price of 58p looks cheap.

steady away today, gently rising north, very nice!

break-out confirmed!

Was wondering if we had a seller in the background this morning, as bought some at 62.88 when quoting 62-64, ie below mid price, was going to point out all trades are buys when indicated as sells, buying just inside bid 66.75 being quoted, offer at 64.51, (current 63-67) onwards and upwards, not large volume though...

Still offering well within sell quote and only just under buy quite, get the impression the mm's dont have a massive amount of stock, ie price moving up rapidly on relatively low buying volume and closing the spread to encourage selling, looking at the chart this momentum could keep us rolling well into the 70's, but only educated guesswork and aimho of course...

as i mentioned yesterday, average volume is only 250k ..... today about 400k traded already ... hardly big potatoes, but suspect the stock is tightly held

another strong day for Corac and break-out is underway.

regarding volume, volume has definitely been moving up, just shy of 700,000 traded today, not far off 500K's worth.

There has been many a day fairly recently when 50K wouldn't be a bad day!

it is certainly very good news to see CRA surging into new high ground, not only with impetus but also on the back of relatively heavy volumes ...... for all that, there is no news anywhere, even on Reuters which gives any clue as to whether or not the recent interest is institutional ..... one might reasonably assume it is, but clearly these purchases have not crossed any reportable threshold