City Briefs: ITM Power; Avacta; Croda
ENERGY storage and clean fuel company ITM Power has secured a commercial contract from AMEC and National Grid.
The contract will assess the deployment of Power-to-Gas Energy Storage technology to reduce the energy losses in the gas network and will look at the cost and energy benefit of deploying Power-to-Gas technology at specific sites on the gas network to reduce energy losses and increase system efficiency. Consultancy, engineering and project management company AMEC, a tier 1 supplier to National Grid, will be undertaking a third party assessment of the cost benefit analysis.
Dr Graham Cooley, CEO of Sheffield’s ITM Power, said: “ITM Power is delighted to be working with National Grid and AMEC on this important deployment study which has very significant market potential in the UK and worldwide.”
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AVACTA will tell shareholders today that trading is in line with market expectations.
At the Yorkshire healthcare company’s annual general meeting this afternoon, chief executive, Alastair Smith, will say: “Trading for the first half of fiscal 2014 is in line with market expectations.
“We have seen good progress in Avacta Analytical in the first half of this financial year following the launch of the re-engineered Optim2 early in 2013 and a strong growth in the number of units shipped in the second half of last year. Avacta Animal Health continues to concentrate on one of its core strategic objectives of expanding its business outside of the historical focus on allergy. We are pleased to report that Avacta Life Sciences is making good progress towards its first commercial offering of a custom Affimer reagents service.”
At the AGM, Gwyn Humphreys will step down as chairman of Wetherby-based Avacta and Tony Robards will step down from the board as a non-executive director. Trevor Nicholls, who joined the board in September 2013, will take over as chairman.
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CRODA has appointed new non-executive director, Dr Helena Ganczakowski.
Dr Ganczakowski worked for Unilever for 23 years and held senior positions in brand management, consumer marketing and strategy development. She is a non-executive director of Greggs and runs a consulting business working with a range of organisations helping them to develop and implement strategies. She has a PhD in Engineering from the University of Cambridge.
Stanley Musesengwa will retire from the board in April.
Martin Flower, chairman of the East Yorkshire speciality chemicals business, said: “Helena brings with her a wealth of experience in consumer marketing and innovative product development and we are delighted to welcome her to the Croda board. We wish Stanley well and thank him for the valuable role he has played over the last seven years.”
