Investor News

Capital Raising Update

Environmental Clean Technologies Limited (ASX: ECT) (ECT or Company) provides the following update to shareholders in regard to its current capital raising program.

Highlights:

  • Entitlement applications close 5pm (AEST) Tuesday 19 November 2019
  • Shortfall process to commence from Wednesday 20 November 2019
  • Company presentation attached to support lead manager, CPS Capital’s marketing of shortfall to new investors
  • Additional pre-commitment by strategic partner
  • Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to date
  • Progress with insurance claim may provide improved timeframe and delivery for key plant upgrades.

ECT confirms that the entitlement offer application deadline closes at 5pm (AEDT), Tuesday 19 November 2019. 

Applications received after this time will still be considered for the next few days, allowing for delays in postage and payment clearance timeframes and all applicants are encouraged to submit payment before 5pm today via BPAY to secure their allocation. Existing shareholders can apply for shares under the offer shortfall.

On closure of the entitlement offer, should the full amount of entitlement not be taken up, then lead manager, CPS Capital will formally open the shortfall period from Wednesday 20 November 2019 through to 5pm Tuesday 26 November 2019.  All enquiries for shortfall should be made direct to the Company via [email protected] or to Michael Soucik at CPS Capital.

A presentation, attached to this announcement, will be used by CPS in their marketing of the Company to prospective shortfall applicants. The Company encourages all shareholders and prospective investors to read the presentation along with the Replacement & Supplementary prospectus.

Glenn Fozard, ECT Chairman commented, “The pricing of this issue has been designed to represent considerable value to any existing shareholders or new investors taking up this offer via their entitlements or the shortfall. The dilution effect of such an offer is off-set by the heavy value built into the offer. We recognise not every shareholder is able to participate at this time, but we encourage all existing shareholders and new investors to closely consider the Offer as the Company’s prospects, through the prospectus, uses the funds to propel the Company into a period of establishing strong operational earnings.”

“At minimum subscription of this entitlement issue, the Company will have no uncovered debt and will have funds to deliver a Coldry and char plant which will generate considerable earnings of up to $3M per annum. We are entering a phase of operational earnings, enough to keep the potential of HydroMOR, COHGen and CDP alive and well”. 

“We have unfinished business in India developing HydroMOR and other projects of interest to our Indian relationships. We have emerging relationships with the Japanese, in pursuit of hydrogen solutions, for both Coldry and COHGen, and we are continuing the feasibility study for the build of a large Coldry plant at Yallourn in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, including the potential integration of our waste-to-diesel technology, ‘CDP’. However, the next 12 months will be laser-focused on generating earnings from our existing investment in our plant and technology suite. 

“After spending more than $50 million on developing our technology suite since 2007, it’s time to realise the returns on our investment and only then, direct these returns into furthering our R&D and project development for future growth.”

As has been advised to the market in previous announcements, the metrics for determining performance of the board and executive will be largely based on the upgrades project at Bacchus Marsh for the next 12 months without ignoring other metrics of performance like share price.

Pre-commitment

The Company is pleased to advise that the Calleja Group has agreed to a pre-commitment of ~$228k.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: How much debt will the Company have after the minimum subscription is met?

A: Upon reaching minimum subscription, the Company will have paid out and converted all debt into shares except for the 2018/19 R&D loan, which is expected to be paid out in the coming weeks via the ATO tax refund. This will leave only the 2019/20 R&D loan currently at ~$268,000 which, as has been the case for the last four years, is secured against and repaid from the yearly ATO refund under the R&D tax incentive program.

Q:  Will my entitlement application be accepted if I don’t make the cut-off for applications?

A: Remitting your funds via BPAY is the surest way of having your application accepted. The Company will make allowance of a few days beyond the 19 November 2019 close date to allow for reasonable postage and payment processing delays.

Q: Are the directors participating in the issue?

A: Yes, Glenn Fozard and Ashley Moore are participating in the Offer.

Q: Can I apply for shortfall even though I didn’t take up my rights?

A: Yes, all existing shareholders and new investors can apply for shares under the shortfall offer. Any New Shares not applied for under the Entitlement Offer will become Shortfall Shares. The Directors reserve the right, in conjunction with the lead manager, to issue any Shortfall Shares at their discretion within 3 months after the Closing Date (Shortfall Offer). It is an express term of the Shortfall Offer that applicants for Shortfall Shares may be required to accept a lesser number of Shortfall Shares allocated to them than applied for. If a lesser number is allocated, excess application money will be refunded without interest as soon as practicable after the Closing Date.

Q: If I apply under the offer, either through my entitlements and / or as part of any shortfall, will my application monies be accessed by the company prior to meeting minimum subscription?

A: All application monies will be held in trust until minimum subscription is met. If minimum subscription is not met, then application monies will be returned to all applicants.

Insurance Update

Further to the Company’s recent update (11 November 2019), which confirmed the formal acceptance of the insurance claim and initial claim payment of $200,000, the Company is pleased with the continued progress with the remediation of its Bacchus Marsh site, development of the scope and quotes for re-instatement of damaged plant and the alignment of these works to the broader proposed upgrades which support our current capital raising program.

The Company held initial estimates the overall claim to be between $2.0 and $2.5 million, with the internal budgets for rebuild assuming the lower end of this range. Working through the development of detailed scope of works and firm quotes now indicates that this figure may increase materially.

The submission of formal claims on the central component (reinstatement of the Coldry facility) are due in approximately 10-14 days and will then be reviewed by the insurers and advisers prior to confirmation of final payment amounts.

ECT’s COO Jim Blackburn commented, “As we move through this process, we remain well-supported by our insurers, their advisers, and those external engineering firms preparing the core scope and quote details. We have revised our original upgrade timeline from August 2020 to November 2020 however there now appears to be some opportunities to make up lost ground as the plant designs and implementation plans mature. We are grateful for the dedicated work of our engineering team and look forward to making a start on re-construction as soon as the claims process concludes.”

Further updates on the recovery and upgrade activities will be provided in due course.

For further information, contact:

Glenn Fozard – Chairman           [email protected]