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.

It's a bit of a moot point, imo, because Corac is still loss making (1.4m last financial year). Industrial parteners, including Repsol & ENI are part financing the R&D for this technology, which is why they are conducting the field trials. If they are purchasing these units, then that cash is going in to the development of their own product. CRA might want to write that up as a sale for their P & L accounts, but it seems a bit misleading of CRA to promote these as sales.

Harrycat
I don't think it is a moot point or misleading, its all quite clear to me.
I don't think Corac are promoting anything, other than recognising revenues, as all companies do!

Corac are paid or partially funded to develop the DGC for the JIP partners,that is one area of revenue.

Another , quite seperate, area of revenue is the actual sales of DGC units.
The initial DGC units will be charged at full commercial rates,

All sounds absolutely fine to me and very straightforward.

Buy orders not getting triggered, they just wont drop! although topping up recently, i think there is more chance of them going to 85p than dropping down to 65p! up 3p this morning on very few purchases and no new news, i expect share tip sheets and general awareness of this company now, will give limited downside to sp, also i think it would be a while before any potential problem with a DGC would be reported, as they haven't been deployed as yet, therefore if the sp is going to rise on speculation, it gives a certain safety net... ie if sp is going to reach 1 before any poss problems can happen with a compressor, a guaranteed stop will safeguard against such setbacks, and NL before you point it out, i already know that the testing in Cumbria was positive, i'm just pointing out any snag reported with a trial down a well could cause a lot of panic and the sp to crash...

from todays investor chronicle

BULL POINTS

Huge global market in stranded gas

Co-investment by industry partners

Patent-protected technology

Little competition

BEAR POINTS

Testing not complete

Assembly facility needs to be built

Corac is poised to bring to market a revolutionary compressor that can extend the life of gas wells by up to five years. High gas demand and pricing coupled with diminishing resources is forcing producers to look to releasing stranded gas from depleting wells - residual gas under insufficient pressure for normal recovery. Governments keen to minimise reliance on foreign states are also likely to support takeup, including the UK government in relation to North Sea reserves.

Corac's Downhole Gas Compressor (DGC) uses revolutionary gas-lubricated bearings. Not using oil, and being almost frictionless, these can rotate at high speeds with minimal wear, and Corac has miniaturised the unit for use in seven-inch (178mm) pipes extending some two km underground. The designs are protected by 64 patents and closely guarded know-how, providing a significant advantage over potential competitors.

DGC units sell for $2m, with a $2m installation fee, and independent research estimates there are around 100,000 gas wells requiring artificial lift excluding those less than seven inches in diameter, or in difficult structures. So this represents a multi-billion dollar market similar to that for electric submersible pumps, the established, equivalent oil well technology.

To date, joint industry partners (JIPs) - ENI, Repsol YPF and ConocoPhillips - have invested 4m in development. And following successful trials in Cumbria, JIPs will field test in producing gas wells in Italy and Argentina later this year, providing initial revenues to Corac. Orders and roll-out should follow soon afterwards.

While the DGC provides the most exciting upside, Corac's innovative industrial air compressor, which turbo boosts existing compressors, provides the bedrock of the business. One unit being used by a major international soft drinks company is saving an estimated 70,000 per year in energy costs, and Corac is developing further sales and licensing agreements.



SHARE TIP SUMMARY:
Buy
Following last November's placing, the company has more than 5m of cash to cover completion of DGC testing and construction of an assembly and test facility. JIPs and sales of industrial air units offer further finance, if required.

So with demand, funds, partners, and economic and political will all in place to bring the DGC to successful commercialisation, the market has huge potential and Corac is well positioned to dominate. For the long-term, the shares rate a buy.

Lol, i knew you wouldn't be far away...! For my part i am overweight on these...

got the odd one or six myself!

i like this company and its concept too ..... am currently out, but may well buy back in later today once the next set of scary figures from US have been published and we can see the market reaction

Ramp of the year award - see link below... i think we all know which company Tom Bulford is recommending here! Cant say im moaning when its my fave company...!


http://www.fspinvest.co.uk/Investment-Services/Red-Hot-Penny-Shares.html

That's done the trick-----------down 2p
2517

Lol, yes unbelievably the large reported trades yesterday most probably were sells, i try dummy buys from time to time and certainly lots of smaller trades yesterday shown as sells were in fact buys, this was probably why it crept up 3p and as now fallen back, of course there may be bigger sells in the background, which is great for me as im in buying mood! All in all, it doesn't matter in your mind if you firmly believe it is going to be much higher than current, later in the year, my theory is that it will rise much higher on speculation alone before any info about the trials will be released, so although i have faith in the capability of th DGC's i'm imagining we could be near the 1 mark before the chance of any problems being made public...

the red hot penny share thing was first issued at least a couple of months ago, think they e-mailed and posted it to just about everyone in the country, so its old news now.
Quite simply if DGC continues to impress the JIP partners and there are no problems with the tech etc, then CRA will be worth 5 or 10 in a few years time.
There is no other tech around in the gas extraction area where you can get gains of 30%-40% in production for very little additional costs. The gas companies are going to love this one, as, at a stroke, it will enable them to vastly re-value their proven reserves, and make existing assets far more valuable.

Anyone else had a problem purchasing shares??? Phoned TDWaterhouse earlier only to be told that CRA are closing only deals, i've not come across this before, and am a bit puzzled as i'm sure they have direct access to the market so it cant be that they cant get the stock, the lad tried to say it was one of a few companies that TDW have stopped supplying because of risk, tbh he didn't really explain it at all. I have since applied for another brokerage company that uses IG, as i find it unacceptable that i cant buy a popular company by making a phone call...

Apparently, mm's have called it a limit up stock, although i can still see some (small) purchasing going on this morning, damn them... lol!

on line they , currently, will buy 50,000 off you for 69.5p but only sell you 2,500 at 72p.
clearly they don't want you to be buying their stock!
But, if you have got a decent broker, you will be able to buy at least 5,000 at the touch point and more likely inside the spread.

On-line limit with Selftrade is 2500 shares at 72p. Still possible to execute. Not tried a sell.

Then that looks positive to me, or am I misreading it.
2517

I have never heard of the expression 'limit up stock' applied to small cap AIM stocks

think it is a term applied to commodity futures and the like, but not, as far as I am aware, to UK stocks.

sounds like a MM or broker giving out a bit of bullshit?

Thats how i see it, although nothing is ever that simple, i cant see that the market makers are trying to look after pi's interests, and can only presume that there really is a shortage of stock out there... However, how can restricting the volume to buy reduce the demand? or is it that they think the sp is too far ahead of itself based on the progress of the dgc trials, ie its purely speculative at the moment???

BigTed-------I'm sure if they thought the sp was too far ahead of itself they would not restrict your buying at whatever sp levels, as they would be offloading shares that would be cheaper to buy later. That's my view.
2517

you are correct, they only look after one interest, which is their own, no problems with that, we all do the same.

They will not have an opinion on the stock, they work on supply and demand and , at the moment, they want stock, either to balance their books, or perhaps there is a large order they are filling or mayybe they would like a few more on board in case of good news!

Given that they seem reluctant to move the sp up too much, I would think that means that the option of filling a large buy order at a certain maximum price is my favourite option that fits in with the situation. It also fits in with the fact that Corac have made a number of presentations to institutions following the annual results and I understand that these went down well.