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.

I don't hold this, but never understood the excitement over a pump, down the hole or whatever . . . aren't they all put down the hole(?), otherwise they'd be restricted to draw oil from 30ft or so. ( yes, Gas a lot deeper, but such pumps must be available)
And as halifax mentions - if they don't need cash, why this dilution, which is not in the interest of retail shareholders,; although large investors are probably feeling pretty good, picking up more stock for 13p - - - but this begs the Q. How much did they think the stock was worth, those years ago?
In the meantime, I fail to understand why the gas-extraction industry isn't grasping this pump with open arms - to the extent [CRA] are havinig to fight "copy-cats" in Patent disputes - - - - yet I get the impression . . . it's all fairly quiet....
Surely a Trial needs only last a couple of days to witness the worth?
"Hans, is the gas flowing normally, what's the reading...?"
"Nine"
"Oh dear that's not very good"
"Nine nine, ze reading is nine
"Are you sure, this is usally below one.
"Yah, it's ten times the amount, pretty good huh?

(Now that is what I call a Trial - so, maybe the readings have been a little less.... )

sensible housekeeping to add another 1m to the coffers, and all placed with long term private investors.
well done, Corac.

1m is positively peanuts ..... one has to ask why a company that is said by some to be genuinely viable has to go to the huge expense of what is effectively a rights issue to raise petty cash

expenses were minimal, which was one of the attractions of doing it, it has all been placed with half a dozen or so private investors.
Corac now have cash that will see them almost right through 2010 without any further income from new JIP members, additional dgc field trials, industrial air machines etc etc.
Although Corac didn't actually need to raise, it was done because it was felt sensible to top up the coffers with what is a small amount of dilution and the shares are in safe hands. Despite Corac telling folks they did not to raise, the question was becoming distracting from the point of view of getting the Corac story across.

All strikes me as very reasonable and sensible.

jury is out on this ..... i know that if our tiddly little company needed to raise 1m we would not have needed to dilute our shares ..... i wonder if the directors are allowed to stump up without involving outsiders ... if so, why did they not do so?

I think you will find that the wealth of the main directors is already tied up in Corac.

clearly not enough of it!

dilution is really very minimal, and the feeling is it is worth doing that for the extra security it provides.
Although 1m is small beer, it is also interesting that for Corac, involved in a potentially industry changing project, it is significant in terms of cash burn. ie the cash burn at CRA, for what they are doing, is pretty low.

Cynic, when you talk about Corac being genuinely viable, it is not yet profit making. The cash burn is low, as much of the costs are funded by the major oil and gas companies. It could be profitable as early as next year, although I would put it down for 2011 myself. So costs have to be met in the mean-time and it is just not sensible to let the cash run down too much.

The upside potential here is that just a few DGC orders would make CRA very profitable. For example, the expectation is that if the ENI trial goes well, then a follow on order for that field is expected, for a dozen or so units. Thats a 12m order with a gp of around 9m. We could be very close to that point in a years time, but we are not yet there!

hence it is only sensible to take a bit of money when it is offered, esp. when it was at no discount to the sp and with long term holders and supporters of the company.

ps
the directors were not allowed to take part in the placing, but their wealth is indeed tied up in Corac.

Just a pity they didn't raise the money as recently as november, when they could have raised twice as much for issuing the same number of shares.
2517

hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing!

confess i am pretty comfortable with my modest holding here, as for sure, if the "magic gadget" does indeed prove its worth, then the company will be valued at several (many?) times what it is today.

rather out of curiosity .... in a public company, are the directors allowed to make loans or similar to the company without going to the shareholders or other institutions?

Absolutely notlob, but who better placed than the directors to perceive the possibility of the need to raise funds, we are only talking about 3 months, any director worth their salt should be at least this forward looking.
2517

2517
I hear what you are saying.But the situation 3 months ago was that they were fine for funds and the first live trial was expected end of Q1 (ie next month)

It could not have been anticipated that the Italian authorities would ask for what they did. This is the ancillary safety equipment associated with the installation of DGC. Baker Hughes, ENI and others had designed the system and all parties were satisfied, it followed the safety path trod by esp's (electric submersible pumps) for oil wells.I don't think this event could have been reasonably foreseen.

Having said that, it is always sensible to keep sufficient funds in hand just in case the unexpected does come along. That indeed was the case, with Corac, prior to this funding, having sufficient funds for all of this year and going into 2010.

But the directors at Corac were finding that the question of funding was not going away, despite their best efforts to re-assure.
I think the action they have taken is not unreasonable and leaves them free to concentrate on getting the live trials going, as well as getting the Corac story out to the investor community without being asked every 5 mins 'but you will have to raise soon, won't you?'.

Corac is a well run company with very modest cash burn and I believe the action they have taken is sensible.

notlob----I agree the delay in the first live trial hasn't helped, and I'm not suggesting they could foresee the safety issue, but if CRA or any co for that matter sail as close to the wind (financially) as they obviously have, then they are vunerable to such situations. Like cynic I only have a modest holding bought at a much higher price though, may average down, not sure yet. Anyway good luck all
2517

Rumour is they were approached by an investor/s ref placing...

2517
I think the point is that they were not sailing that close to the wind, having over a years funding on hand, and that was not counting any further income like new JIP partners etc etc
But the perception was slightly different, and that was starting to become a distraction. So when they were approached by some private investors wanting to support the company, then that didn't seem a bad idea at all.

all the best to you as well.

Which private investors were given preferential treatment resulting in other sharehoders investment being diluted by around 7%? Shouldn't all shareholders be fully informed?

Doesn't always work like that Hal, but hey if your a holder, just chill, patience is req'd here, more so after this last set back...

I don't think it is a question of prefferential treatment, most companies have authorisation from shareholders for the directors to issue extra shares.

Any investor can approach a company and make an offer for new shares. If the offer is accepted then the company raises some cash, saves the cost of producing a prospectus and a load of other costs. The investor saves stamp duty, broker fees and gets the shares at a guaranteed price without the risk of the market reacting to the order.