City briefs: Proactis; Powerhouse Energy; and more
Proactis Holdings, a business spend management solution provider, has signed a five-year contract with a transportation company in Germany to provide its business spend management solution.
This contract win represents the third new customer in Germany to sign up under the Group’s new “go-to market strategy”.
The customer has selected Wetherby-based Proactis to digitise its procurement processes and offers further potential for new business through invoice automation and workforce management.
As announced previously, the Group adopted a go-to market strategy for each of its US, France and Germany territories designed to replicate that of the UK and the Netherlands.
This contract builds upon the contracts already signed across those territories.
Tim Sykes, chief executive officer at Proactis, said: “We are delighted to have been selected once again in Germany, following successes in North America last month and in both Germany and France late last year.
“We have demonstrated that our go to market strategy, our positioning and our solutions are relevant for our target market segment in each of the territories that we operate in and we can now see the momentum and volume of business increasing as pipeline starts to turn into contracts more regularly.
“Whilst conscious that the pandemic continues to impact the pace of our progression, we grow more confident that the market opportunity for Proactis in each of the US, France and Germany is as great as it is in the UK and the Netherlands and that we will continue to see further acceleration of deal flow over the coming months.”
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Powerhouse Energy, a sustainable hydrogen company based in Bingley, has issued an update on its progress in the UK and Poland.
The company says its priority is to ensure the first hydrogen facility using its DMG technology, based at Peel NRE’s Protos site, meets the target of being commissioned and operational by the end of quarter one 2022.
77 sites have been identified as potential locations for Powerhouse plants in the UK.
The development of the UK pipeline will form the springboard for the international expansion of the Powerhouse business model.
Last November, Powerhouse signed non-binding Heads of Terms with Hydrogen Utopia International Limited (HUI) with a view to granting HUI an exclusive non-transferable licence for the application of its DMG® technology in the country.
Progress in Poland since then has been “satisfactory”. Powerhouse says it believes – subject to agreeing a binding agreement with HUI – a first plant in Poland may be commissioned within a similar timeframe to the one proposed at the Protos site.
The company adds it also intends to examine market conditions in other east and central European countries later this year.
It aims to seek partners in other geographies to work with, adopting a similar business model to that envisaged with Peel NRE in Britain and HUI in Poland.
Tim Yeo, executive chairman, said: “This is an exciting year for Powerhouse Energy as we focus on the Protos build and aim to see good progress of our technology in Poland.
“As we look ahead to the all-important United Nation’s Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow later this year, we hope Powerhouse technology can be championed as a part of the solution to the world’s environmental challenges.”
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York-based life sciences business, OptiBiotix Health, has appointed René Kamminga as CEO of its wholly owned subsidiary OptiBiotix Ltd.
OptiBiotix Ltd contains OptiBiotix’s SlimBiome®, SweetBiotix®, and microbiome modulating technology platforms.
The intention is for Kamminga to join the OptiBiotix Health plc Board subject to completion of normal regulatory due diligence.
The business also confirms the change of role of Dr Fred Narbel, who will move from his position as director on the OptiBiotix Board and managing director of the functional fibres division within OptiBiotix Ltd to a more strategic role as non-executive director of OptiBiotix Ltd.
Kamminga has more than 25 years’ experience in the sale of speciality ingredients and products and joins from the position of vice president of business development and chief commercial officer of the Nutraceuticals division of KD Pharma Group.
KD Pharma sells high purity Omega-3 APIs and concentrates to both the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. It has rapidly become one of the world’s largest Omega-3 and fish oil refiners and suppliers.
As chief commercial officer, Kamminga was integral in developing and delivering on a strategy of moving the business from bulk ingredients to finished product solutions.
Prior to joining KD Pharma, he was president of Kerry Groups Texturants division with full P&L responsibility for its speciality ingredient business in Europe.
He has also worked in business director roles for Quest and Uniqema, subsidiaries of Unilever and ICI.
Kamminga brings experience of developing a business from selling bulk ingredients to finished product and a wealth of industry contacts in both the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries.
He has a strong track record of rapidly growing sales and has been involved in a number of acquisitions in support of accelerating business growth.
Stephen O’Hara, CEO of OptiBiotix, said: “René’s experience and track record of growing sales and his network of new industry contacts within pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries, will help OptiBiotix in its next phase of evolution.
“Having established international sales and brand awareness of its award winning SlimBiome® and LPLDL® ingredients, the company looks to extend the range of applications containing these ingredients and commercialise its second generation SweetBiotix®, microbiome modulating, and LPLDL® drug products.
“I would like to thank Fred for his contribution in building the sales of the first generation of products, expanding the company’s network of production partners around the world, commercial launches of products containing SlimBiome® with retailers in numerous countries and contribution in setting-up the functional fibres’ quality system.”
