Quadrise Plc (QED) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Quadrise plc investor presentation. [Operator Instructions] Before we begin, as usual, we would just like to submit the following poll, and that will just appear on your screens now. And I would now like to hand you over to the team from Quadrise plc. Andy, good afternoon, sir.

Good afternoon to you, and good afternoon everyone. Thanks very much for joining us today. I'm a disembodied voice here. I don't have the camera on because of the connection. But I'm joined -- I'm Andy Morrison, I'm joined by Jason Miles, the CEO; and by David Scott, the Chief Financial Officer. And we're here today, we're going to take you through a presentation and the same presentation that we've used for a roadshow that we've conducted last week or so around the placing, which has now been the results of which have been announced. So we're using that same presentation that other investors have seen, and that will take us around 25 minutes. And it will also cover quite a lot of project updates and there's been a lot of questions around that. And Jason will cover some of the project update questions, pre-submitted questions at the end. And we will -- but we will definitely be sure to cover all the pre-submitted questions that relate specifically to the placing and the retail offer and what needs to be done next and all that sort of thing. So with that, no further ado, we'll get on with it. Thank you again for joining us today. What we found in the -- when we were talking to investors in the roadshow was that -- the story is actually getting simpler to tell -- the Quadrise story is getting simpler to tell. And that's really because of the focus that we have had on the shipping industry and the decarbonization of shipping and also, of course, because of the delivery of several milestones over the last couple of months since the AGM and most notably, of course, you'll recognize the delivery of the milestone around the setting up of the MSC and Cargill trial, which has been long awaited and also the progress we've made on bioMSAR Zero. And most recently, the announcement around Valkor and the fact that, that project is now going ahead after a long time waiting for it. And as existing shareholders, some of what I'm going to say in the next couple of slides is going to be familiar to you. But I think it's important just to sort of remind us how the story hits investors who are joining us for the first time. And I will just skip through those before handing over to Jason. And I think the important thing that we've begin with is that we are trying to solve the problem that is huge, undeniably huge, which is the global phaseout of heavy fuel oil, which is a $210 billion market today, and 2/3 of that is shipping. That's why we are focused on that area. And roughly 3% of greenhouse gas emissions are due to shipping. And it forms a huge part of world trade. The other uses, of course, are heavy industry and thermal power. And what is needed now is cleaner, more efficient and lower carbon options for customers. And we're not alone, of course, in spotting the opportunity that faces us now. And the regulations are beginning to play their part in helping to drive this. We can see whether we're looking at the EU emissions trading scheme, the Fuel EU Maritime or the IMO and MARPOL regulations that these are starting to bite in a way, which is taking decarbonization away from being a desktop study to being something which is affecting shipowners and their day-to-day operations. And we can see on the chart there on the top left that 40% of EU maritime emissions are now subject to the EU emissions trading scheme. So shipowners operating in EU waters and now having to pay real money to get carbon credits to offset their emissions. So this is something which is really starting to bite. And looking at the right-hand chart, what we're seeing is that the use of low carbon fuels is likely to increase from almost negligible levels at the beginning of this decade in 2020 to 13% or more by the end of the decade. It will still be the case that traditional heavy fuel oils are the majority. So we are well positioned as Quadrise. As you'll know, as shareholders, that we can compete in the light blue bars, which correspond to mineral fuel oils with our MSAR product, which offers emissions and cost-saving benefits for those applications. And we're also able to compete in the emerging light green bar, which has to do with biofuels with our bioMSAR product. So we are well positioned to address this market, which is being driven by changes in regulations. And our role is as a technology company. We don't expect to buy and sell large quantity of fuel all ourselves. We want to make -- we are a company that is providing enabling technology. And we are providing a pathway to decarbonization of the existing fleet. That fleet which will be around for the next 15, 20, 25 more years and which means cleaner, cheaper, simpler and safer solutions of the sort that Quadrise can offer. And those of you who have been with us for a number of years will know that we've had the products for a long time. It's taken us a hell of a time to get to where we are now. But we are now ready to scale up this opportunity and scale up into the opportunity, and that's why we came to the market now and that's why we're also seeking the involvement of existing shareholders through the retail offer. And our task is to stimulate demand and build supply chains at the same time. So on the left-hand side of this chart, you see fuels and biofuels, MSAR, bioMSAR, bioMSAR Zero, names which you're becoming familiar with and which we are talking to shipowners to make them familiar about and stimulate demand, starting, of course, with MSC and Cargill who are a big ship operator in their own right. So we're looking at stimulating demand and at the same time, looking to stimulate supply through technology licensing and tolling services. You've heard about the tolling that we're planning to do at Antwerp as part of the MSC and Cargill project, and you will know about the technology license that we have signed with Valkor in the United States our first license revenues. So we are making progress on both those, both the supply and the demand. We've got a lot more to do, and that's why we are looking to come to the market now, raise the money to enable us to do some of that and to go as fast as we possibly can into the opportunity, which is so big. And so looking at both the supply and the demand, then at the center of our world at the bottom, shipping, maritime transport, then we also are able to address utilities and heavy industry. And we are -- we do affect the economics of downstream oil, the refinery business and upstream oil, which is the case with Valkor. So with that quick synopsis of positioning the company, I'm going to hand over to Jason to go into more depth about our execution plan, starting with updates on our products and projects. And I'll join you again towards the end for the Q&A -- to wrap up and for Q&A. Thanks, Jason.

Thanks, Andy. And good afternoon, everyone. So in terms of the products that we make, I mean, Andy mentioned them earlier, I referred to the light blue bar, the fossil fuel alternative. Basically, we make a cheaper version of fuel oil today. Fuel oil is a mixture in the refinery, typically, the residual matter of bottom per barrel of crude. So the really heavy sticky bitumen type material. And that's normally thinned down the refinery with distillates such as marine gas oil, sort of life cycle, et cetera. So we do the same thing, but we use emulsion technology. We suspend the residual matter as very small droplets, the 5 to 10 micros in water using the proprietary additives which we get from Nouryon, okay, so we basically blend the fuel -- the really heavy resid in a way that makes it cheaper to produce in the refinery. So the refinery or the upstream producer benefits from not having distillates, but it also then offers a lower cost fuel for end users. That's really the incentive in terms of joining up the supply and the demand for the products. By making the products in a way that we do with the emulsion technology, the oil and water emulsion technology, these very small droplets burn much more effectively in boilers and in diesel engines. So we get, in the case of diesel engines, higher efficiency and much lower emissions of particular matter and specifically NOx, which causes the smoke that you've see in India, et cetera. okay? So we make a synthetic version of fuel oil. And then in the last sort of 3 to 4 years, we adapted that technology to make a biofuel investigated really the types of biofuels that was not being considered by other people. The shipping sector needs very specific -- has very specific demand for a lower cost solution of biofuel. So we looked at glycerin as a first example of the byproduct from the biodiesel manufacturing industry. And today, that's obviously the project we have with MSC is to supply bioMSAR mixture, which is today is at sort of 50% hydrocarbon, 40% glycerin and 10% water, that's what we'll be making to supply the MSC ship. And we've done a lot of testing, obviously, before we did that as well which existing shareholders will know about. And then taking it one step further and following the AGM that we had in November, we did a lot of testing this year on pushing the envelope for our 100% biofuel product. So it's got literally all biofuel and some water added, which we call bioMSAR Zero. And that basically -- that product is designed again to be a lower cost solution for the customers that are looking for a complete biofuel solution. So both of these products have a very good fit with the regulations going forward. Obviously, MSAR meets the requirements today and will do for the next few decades in reality. But what shipping companies are looking to do now to meet certain regulations such as fuel maritime is to start running their ships on 100% biofuel as well. And then they can pull that particular vessel in their fleet to take advantage of that -- basically average it out over all of the vessels. So each new products meet specific requirements under the regulations going forward. And that drives demand in the future. And really what we've done is sort of future-proof the business, by offering different solutions at different times. And the same blending technology that we've designed to make MSAR has been adapted to make the biofuels very easily. So we're quite unique. We can blend very high concentrations of these biofuels into our mixture whether they are water soluble or oil soluble, we don't care. So that really gives us quite a unique proposition going forward. In terms of the strategy of the business, it's really around stimulating demand and supply around the bunker hubs of this world, around the our world rather. So essentially, the main focus at the moment and the large circle you see cover 8 -- sorry, 6 of the 10 of the largest bunker hubs in the world. The primary focus today -- as of today is in Antwerp, where we're going to be putting in a system and our 40-tonne unit to supply the biofuel or the bioMSAR product that we're making together with Cargill to supply MSC ship. But by the same token, we have a separate project to supply OCP in the Mediterranean with conventional MSAR and MSC also are a potential buyer of the high sulfur of MSAR as well. So that's a project that we're looking at in the net. So we've got Europe pretty well covered. And then looking to the east, we have a project that we're still developing with an owner of the Southeast Asia refinery there, really with a view to expand our footprint in Singapore. So that's something we're looking to progress this quarter. And then more recently, we announced a trial agreement with Sparkle Power in Panama, and that's a power plant operator who runs on fuel oil today in a 50-megawatt power station with MAN diesel engines. I can come on to that. But essentially, the plan is to do a trial there in advance of commercial supply. And that covers really the future demand in Panama and Honduras, so the Central America region, where quite a lot of fuel oil is still burn today for power generation. And then lastly, and most recently, the announcement with Valkor which is an upstream project. The heavy oil that comes out of the ground is very low sulfur. And essentially, we use that technology then to multiply this asphalt bitumen product directly in the field and get it to market without it going through the refinery process. It looks like a low sulfur fuel essentially, so it can be used for potentially very low sulfur fuel oil for patients or even deep -- applications if the sulfur is low enough. And by avoiding the refinery process, it should have around some 10% to 15% lower CO2 carbon intensity as well, which makes it quite attractive for the shipping industry going forward. So they are the projects we're covering today. That's really our core strategy with the team that we have in place. And obviously, we're looking to expand on that network in the future. Coming on to, I guess, some of the recent announcements that we obviously managed to get out of the door following the AGM. Earlier in the year, in 2024, we signed an agreement with the Antwerp terminal with MAC2 and Cargill. We took most of the year for reasons explained at the AGM to get the 3-way agreement done and signed off at the end of November and that's really kicked off the project now to get to the fuel supply system in place in that too during this coming quarter with a view to starting the vessel trial. And again, we'll come on to that in a minute. In parallel to that, we're working with other channel partners that can essentially back our growth that we see now coming from the Marine project in the future. One of the agreements we signed with a company called Auramarine who's been sort of 50 years in the Marine business, supplying fuel systems to marine and power customers. So they're a channel partner that can make the fuel systems that we need to put into vessels and potentially in power station going forward. And they've got their own customer base as well. So obviously, we're working with them in terms of joint marketing. In Morocco, we have a client who's using the fuel today as an industrial application to essentially produce fertilizers. So all our equipment is -- we signed a framework agreement with them in May, had all our equipment delivered to site towards the end of the year. And then essentially, what we -- the planned 30-day trial, we're just looking to finalize exactly which fertilizer kiln we carry out that trial at because there's been some changes to the production schedule there. So as soon as that's known, obviously, we'll provide an update to shareholders in terms of exactly what the timetable is for the first half of this year at that particular in OCP. Valkor made a lot of advances during 2024. We've cemented, obviously, their decision to proceed with the MSAR project. And really, that followed the approvals they got in the summer of last year. The commenced oil production. We drilled a couple of wells and got heaters down there. So oil starting to flow and they have planned for additional drill -- wells to be drilled as well. But in parallel, they raised in excess of $15 million project finance to facilitate the drilling program, but also proceed with the first oil sands plant. So this is taking the oil sands that's available on the ground, not subject to any drilling and the plan is to get that oil sands plant up and running this year as well. So as a result of them raising $15 million, that essentially kicked off the license payment for us with an upfront payments this month and then the remaining payment towards the end of the year, and we'll come on to that. But that's our first commercial revenue and first license for the MSAR technology, so extremely important milestone for us. And then in terms of the other projects we're working on, we published results of the bioMSAR testing and advances we made in terms of the bioMSAR Zero test as well, the first one at the end of the year and there's further optimization that we can make as part of that package as well. And then in parallel to that and then sort of in line with the bioMSAR Zero product, the plan is to do a focus -- a test in the Motor Yacht with focus in the first half of the year, probably during Q2 at the moment on bioMSAR Zero with Vertoro with their particularly crude sugar oil product or a proxy of that. And then we also announced, I think, in January the SEASTARS project, which is an EU-funded Horizon project where we get paid to do some engineering work really looking at different solutions for the marine industry, but focusing specifically on bioMSAR and our bioMSAR Zero and our blend-on-board system as well. And I'll come on to other 2 projects as well as part of the next few slides. So the expectation now having signed a 3-way agreement is that there should be a lot of news flow coming into the company to sort of underpin the work that's ongoing on the ground. So I think we've already showed via social media, some of the equipment getting prepared and deployed in readiness for deployment to site. The 3 additional bilateral agreements which we're looking to sign off imminently, one with ourselves and MAC2 for services, another one with ourselves in Cargill first the tolling agreements and then another one between Cargill and MSC for fuel supply, all of which have the framework of -- in terms of the terms and conditions have been covered within the 3-way agreements. So we expect those to get done in the next few months to get -- to complete that exercise. But in the meantime, everything is happening on site. So we're preparing all our equipment, getting ready, MAC2 are getting ready. Cargill very busy at the moment, sorting out the logistics in terms of getting project committed, et cetera. So there's a lot of work ongoing now to basically underpin the delivery of fuel to the vessel in Q2. And then in Q2, we'll start delivering the first batches of the fuel, commencing first with a proof of concept on MSAR. The vessel, just to recap, to shareholders that obviously, the vessel we're using is one we've previously successfully trialed MSAR on, again, got an interim permit letter of no objection from [indiscernible] already. MAC brought the vessel and updated it as they do when they buy vessels in their fleet. So it's got a scrubber on now. It's got a new [indiscernible] and a large propeller to improve efficiency of the vessels. So we're doing a back-to-back test between MSAR and bioMSAR for the first time in terms of a back-to-back proof of concept, which will happen during Q2. And then we'll basically commence the operational trial on bioMSAR thereafter. So we'll be making batches of 1,000 or so of fuel to load on that particular ship to then carry out its commercial voyage, which currently sort of it's going backwards or forwards between sort of U.S. waters and Europe. So it's on a good deployment route to utilize the fuel within sort of 6 to 8 months, which gives us essentially 4,000 hours worth of service during the period with which to test the bioMSAR fuel. In the meantime, further to the test we're doing and the proof of concept on MSAR, we are looking at commercial supply of MSAR to MSC in the Med as well separately to this particular vessel trial. So we expect to have some progress to report during the second half of the year or middle of the year with regards to sort of commercial supply of both MSAR and bioMSAR to the MSC fleet going forward. And MSC, they run a fleet of 850 vessels. If we use average -- if you look at the global fleet, we've got 12,000 ships as a target, roughly at 40% of the world fleet or the world marine fuel demand covered by those 12,000 ships. And MSC is quite similar. So of those 800 vessels -- 850 vessels or so, they've got over 300 that potentially could utilize the fuel going forward. So MSC is a big customer. But in parallel, obviously, we're looking at other shipping customers as well. There's no exclusivity with MSC and they're very supportive of obviously stimulating demand with other shipping companies as well. So that's ongoing. And obviously a lot of eyes are on us making sure we deliver what we said we deliver now in the first quarter of the year and being up and running the vessel in Q2. In parallel to that, we have obviously a development plan that's been ongoing and very successful in terms of the biofuel and net zero product that we're making. So the plan is to continue that development work, both involving third party and some of it ourselves on the biofuel testing with a view to stationing engine test this year and hopefully, vessel testing both on focused motor yachts in Q2, but also larger vessel traffic trials towards the end of the year as well. So that's something we're progressing in terms of the new developments we've successfully tested at the end of last year. And then building on the blend-on-board technology as well, starting to get that implemented both in the focused motor yacht, but also some larger scale applications, which is something we're also in discussions with Auramarine. As a backup and the sort of in synergy in terms of where we are looking to supply fuel from, we have other sort of other applications with a Auramarine. So obviously, Valkor could go to local power stations initially before it goes to the Marine sector. So developing a market for fuel in the U.S. is important, and that's something we were working on sort of end of Q1, beginning Q2 with Valkor. In advance of that, we're looking to receive samples very soon from their pilot facility, which they've been updating. So once those production representative samples from production from are available, they will be very quickly tested at QRF. And then we'd be looking to supply one of our smaller mini MMUs to site during Q2 to start making batches for fuel customers there. So that's really kicked off since the signature of the agreement early this year. And obviously, income is -- we now have revenue in that particular customer as well, backed up also with a $75,000 a quarter payment in terms of the technology transfer process, which will be ongoing during the year. So we expect it to get a lot of news flow and it's good to sort of link that up the oil flow now coming out of the Valkor facilities. And then in parallel, obviously with Morocco, the plan is to complete the trial. We are already undergoing of commercial discussions with refiners in the [indiscernible] with a view to be ready to start supplying in the second half of the year. And then in Panama with Sparkle Power, the plan is to complete the trial in the first half of the year at the facility having signed the agreement again this month and then commence marketing as well to sort of suppliers. So by the second half of the year, again, we're looking to have a facility up and running in that particular location to supply really the Panama market and Honduras. In terms of our resources, we have a very strong IP position. We're expanding on the patterns that we have in place. We also have been granted new patents in terms of -- or new territories in terms of Japan and Singapore for the [ Cationic ] patent and U.K. for the blend-on-board system. So we have ever-expanding patent portfolio, which we'll continue to develop. Our U.K. R&D facility is very busy at the moment in preparing the operational capability for the MSC trial. And then in terms of our team, we have a core team of staff of people, which is fairly limited in number today. Obviously, we'll be looking to expand our subject to funding going forward. But we're also bringing a lot of specialists and consultants, not only in terms of independents, but also the companies we work with as well, all of whom have resources that we can potentially deploy accelerate our growth. And then in terms of channel partners, obviously, we've been working on with year-over-year on for 20 years now. Obviously, we're booking some very large players in terms of MSC and Cargill and there's some other larger players as well behind the scenes. And then companies like Auramarine are extremely important in making sure we can sort of run their growth plans. And really underpinning that is an ESG alignment in terms of looking at the future of the world for fossil fuels, recognizing that lower carbon solutions will be necessary and really trialing that up with the unique technology that we've got and IP position to really take advantage of some of the biomass-derived products which are more abundant and will be -- provide a cost-effective solution for the shipping industry but also in the power markets as well. So there's a lot of development work that continues. I think we maybe underplay a little bit, but this really is the future of the company as well in terms of where the world is heading and it provides us with a very strong position, which is well documented in our sustainability report, which gets bigger every year. But very much appreciated and of interest to the clients that we're dealing with around the world. So I'm just going to hand over to David now just to give you a little bit of an update, obviously, as the financial position of the company and the recent placing, et cetera.

Thanks, Jason, and good afternoon, everyone. So were very pleased last week to announce that we've raised GBP 4.5 million through an oversubscribed chasing. We're also seeking to raise additional funds, approximately GBP 1 billion by via our resale offer to our existing shareholders. Now when we set out on this process, we wanted to raise a minimum of GBP 3 million. And the reason for that is that the GBP 3 million is going to give us funding through to June 2026. That's on top of our existing funds. Now why that date is important is because that one we see based on the projections and time lines that Jason has just covered. We see that as the point we're starting to make positive cash flows. So beyond that point, we should be self-sustaining this business. Now up to June 30, again, building on the timeline that Jason has just been through. We're going to be taking up 4 main projects through the trial phase and into revenue generation. And those revenues are going to be coming online between now and 30th of June 2026. So the MSC trial will be through the trials and will be in commercialization with MSC, and we're looking to scale up on to the mobile vessels with them await. We'll also look through the trial with Panama and we'd be looking to commercialize that and be in the revenue with them, similarly with OCP and BALCO as well. Now what that funding up $3 billion, what will also allow us to do is to take bioMSAR the end -- bioMSAR Zero through the MSAR -- through engine testing phase. So that's where we want to be by the end of June 2026. Everything -- all the revenues will have started up at that point, and we'll be looking to getting the positive cash flow generation. So a part of the process, you'll see that directors and management are participating approximately 67,000 in total. Now obviously have, we've raised more than $3 million. So the question arises, well, what are you going to do with the excess funds? Now what we're going to do with those is really sort of start focusing and emphasizing on the scale of the business. So those funds are going to allow us to buy long lead item equipment so we can deploy more rapidly with our existing projects and when new projects come online. We'll be really accelerate the RDI program as well. So the previous slide that Jason just went through, we've been able to push on a lot of faster, a lot harder with us. And we'll also be able to progress our business development activities to be able to put more resources to that and be able to get more projects into the business development pipeline. Obviously, it will also help us -- will be able to strengthen our balance sheet as well to give us the flexibility we need. Now where we are on the process, we've obviously announced the placing already, but we opened the resale offer last week. Now the resale offer is open until 4:30 on Thursday, and it's open to any shareholders who held shares when it opened. The results of the retail offer will be announced -- will be expected by 6:30 on 30th of January, and we look forward to the shares to be admitted on the 3rd of February. So that's pretty much everything from me. So with that, I'll hand back to Andy to wrap up.

Thanks, David. And so thank you listening to that shareholders. And hopefully, you can see the strong momentum that we've achieved over the last couple of months. It's not just a couple of months worth of course, the work has been going after the year, but we've been able to make announcements over the last couple of months that we have cemented that, and we're looking to carry on with the -- that same high energy into the -- into this year and beyond and as we scale up the business. And I'm going to go to the Q&A very quickly because the summary I think is pretty clear. And those of you who are at the AGM will know it's more or less the same summary that I'm giving, which is that our purpose has never really been clearer and our solutions are what the industry needs right now. And our focus, I hope you agree, is sharper than ever. And what we really need to do now is to lead into that growth and get ready to scale up the business. So thanks again, everyone. That was the same presentation that was used with -- on the roadshow with potential places, and we'll now move on to the Q&A. And there's quite a number of pre-submitted questions. And in the confines of an active fundraising process, we have to think carefully about how we -- which ones and how we answer. We are definitely going to answer all the ones about the retail offer and the fundraising itself, and we will answer as many as we can the more general update questions as well. So we'll have a further opportunity for a wider update when we do interim results at the end of March. So there will be another chance then to have further discussion with you on that.

Anyway, let's get straight into it. And the -- so the first question is around the retail offer. First one is a short question and it's -- for me, it's -- I'm a Quadrise shareholder living in France. How can I qualify for the retail offer? And the answer is that you should discuss the retail offer with your broker. The broker participants need to be based in the U.K. to be able to participate. And it's -- I guess will be up to those broker participants how they deal with their own underlying clients who may not be in the U.K. Next question, why did you make the offer so difficult for certain brokers? Last time I got a corporate action as part of an open offer and I could take part. And the answer to this is that the cost and lead time involved in running an open offer process is significant. And our retail offer is quicker and cheaper for issuers such as Quadrise has become very widely used by companies. All brokers are welcome to participate with the book build platform according to Bookbuild, the brokers can register and place an order in less than one hour. So if you encounter any issues, we suggest that you contact your broker to find out if and why they're unable to make that registration. They do have a duty to act in the best interest of shareholders under the Consumer Duty Act. So hopefully you'll get what you want out of that process. And then moving on, question for David. Will all retail investors that subscribe get at least a minimum allocation and what ratio to holding is that minimum?

Thanks, Andy. So the minimum obligation is GBP 100, and we're keeping the raise GBP 1 million through the retail offer. So with the shares we've got in play, it starts approximately 1 retail offer share, for every 53 existing shares. Now if we are oversubscribed, then the Board will determine whether to accept any additional funds or to carry out the scale of that process, but we'll not know about until we've got the final results.

Thanks, David. And Jason, can you be more specific about what the retail offer proceeds will be used for?

Yes, I guess, again, depend a little bit on what we receive from the retail offer. We sort of discussed that in general, I think, in David's slide in the presentation in terms of what an outline heading in terms of where the funds will be applied. The plan is really once the retail offer is closed and the amounts are known, we as a board will sit down and review obviously our plan in detail and then essentially, we'll provide an update in the interim results. We'll review that in Q1 as the Board discussed the new plan and provide an update in terms of how we plan to deploy the money -- the additional money that we get to try and accelerate the business growth.

Thanks, Jason. Now for you, David. Is there a record date set for retail investor qualification that excludes any buyers in the placing and subscription that happen 24 hours before the retail offer was announced?

Thanks, Andy. Yes. I mean, if you hold shares when this announcement came out at 5 plus 7 on Friday, then you are eligible to anticipate in the retail offer. Just to add as well, [indiscernible] are not eligible to participate in the retail offer.

Yes. I think just coming back to the consumer, I mean, brokers should be able to contact Bookbuild to join the process. I think any broker that can place an open order for shares in the open market should be able to do the same thing with Bookbuild. So we're slightly concerned as to obviously feedback why certain brokers are not willing to participate because there's no reason why they shouldn't.

And that's partly the answer to the following question, that Jason, was raised. I'm, an existing Quadrise shareholder would like to participate in the retail share offer. My current broker, [ iWeb ], does not appear on the Bookbuild list of authorized intermediary. So I do not expect to receive a notification from about participating in the offer. Can you please advise as the current shareholder, how do I gain access to this retail offer? And the answer is that Jason pretty much said, you'll need to contact your broker to ask them to participate and we have kept the retail offer open for 5 working days until as David said, to provide enough time for this. So there is still time for it if you get a hold of your broker. And moving on then, as a small shareholder, I use Barclay Smart investor. So my question is, why am I being discriminated against being unable to take up the offer? Barclays tell me that they will be delighted to be involved. I telephone Quadrise office for assistance, but nobody is there to take the calls.

Yes. Thanks, Andy. I mean it's just on the same points previously raised. We have been in touch with Bookbuild, and we've been in touch with our brokers as well. And our understanding is no one from Barclays has been in touch with Bookbuild in order to facilitate shareholders being able to participate through this. I'm sorry, that no one answered your call, a little busy this morning, but please leave an e-mail with the Investor Relations inbox, and we will have someone get back to you.

Yes. But you're providing us an example of another company that did exactly that, contacted them and placed the trade within an hour, right? So there's no physical reason why it shouldn't happen. It's just really lack of effort on behalf of some brokers.

And another question here with a similar emotion at play. Are you going to kick long-term shareholders in the teeth again by allowing an oversubscription of the retail offer, resulting in more dilution and traders who have sold out cash in the share price who are then hoping to buy in fully again at 3p making an instant big return. And I think need a bit of perspective. The total dilution in the placing is approximately 8.5%. So it's not huge. And those of you who have been through previous AGMs will know that we have said and currently in the past that the company is undercapitalized to address the scale of the opportunity it's created. And therefore, accepting oversubscription, the placing and potentially also in the retail offer is a historic opportunity really for us to address this, and we believe it's in the interest of the medium-term value creation for the company. If the retail offer is oversubscribed, then the Board will determine whether to accept any additional funds and also carries us out of scaling that process once those results are known. So there's a bit of glancing blow to the question, but we do understand that shareholders are worried about the position, but the best way really to protect the position is to participate in the retail offer. Question 48. In the retail offer, how does the share allocation work through my broker ID? I have not been offered a share allocation. This often needs to be fair and transparent. Please explain the full process. David, are you able sort of shed some light on that?

Yes. I mean, we have list of all the brokers who are participating via book build and IT are on that. So they're participating. We don't see any issues. So I suggest the shareholder gets in touch with their broker to find out why there's a problem.

Yes, that list is also available via book builds, isn't it? So we'll provide a list in the response to the questions in terms of the authorized intermediary list.

Another question here. Why do you think it's successful for directors to be able to buy many millions of future discounted shares to our long-suffering retail investors who have supported the company through thin and thin, and no typo, in brackets, are only able to buy a tiny [ 1:50 ] of their existing holdings. And again, I think there's a little bit of perspective is needed here, the directors participated in the placing and amount of 2 million shares. So that's many millions, I don't know but it's 2 million that we participated in. It is important that investors and shareholders see that directors and management have a stake in the company and that we are willing to back the company. And of course, we didn't know what the outcome of the placing would be like anyone else is until they are being completed. The size of the retail offer has been determined on the basis of previous open offer results. So GBP 1 million is what -- typically what we've been able to raise through an open offer and the basic ratio as a questioner suggest is around 1 to 50, but there isn't an upper limit on applications, which is being applied by the company. Again, you can't speak for how individual brokers who might administer the scheme, but we're not -- there's no upper limit on applications, which is being applied by the company. And another question, why is such a discount if you are confident of the future? And I think this needs a little bit of explanation about the process. So the placing process was an accelerated book build. So the way that works is immediately prior to the launch of that book build, brokers advised the level of demand at a few price levels, alternative price levels. And there was insufficient demand confirmed demand at the 4p per share level to be sort of success. So if we had attempted to go at a higher level, it could have resulted in a failed placing. And we can all take our own views as to how likely or unlikely that scenario would have been. But we have to take views and to be sure of success really. And so under those circumstances, the Board determined it was in the interest of the company to ensure successful placing and to accept more funds if they were offers. So that was the determination we made there. And this is going to be another question for me think. With the recent stock price of Quadrise being between 6p and 8p. Why did the Board decide on an open-up price so low? This has caused a market correction of the general stock price. And I would say here that in a more drawn out placing an open offer process, you can sometimes find the share prices walk down on speculation. So what we've noticed that this process we've just been through is that the -- if it didn't happen that the share price was maintained throughout the entire road show process. So I think that's testament to the fact that there was very little leakage in the market about what was going on, which is exactly how likely it is supposed to operate. And since the announcement has made, the price has rebounded to some extent, creating a positive aftermarket sentiment and the motivation for shareholders to participate in the retail offer. And I think also the -- in terms of the mechanics of that, accelerate to book build, I should say to the previous question as well. Another one for me, then we'll turn to David after that. Bearing in mind, placing was 1.5x oversubscribed. Do Quadrise know or are aware of the specific institutional investors that took part in the recent placing? And if so, is it the Board's belief that much of the bigger stock will be held longer term that is putting into funds rather than sold as a quick profit? And I would point out here that the placement was actually more than 1.5x oversubscribed. It was scaled back. So that should give some comfort that people didn't get as much as they wanted. We are aware, of course, of the institutions who participated in the placing and includes several significant longer-term shareholders, but with less than 3% of the share capital team, we may not -- you may not see that as public information. We understand that the industries are not investing to see a quick profit, but they are able to deploy their funds at their own strategy, which will be determined partly by market conditions. So there's no formal guarantees in that. There's nothing like that. But the people who are in there, we believe, have come in for the longer term, the significant size of orders, I mean for that. Then on the financials. David [indiscernible] reiterate this is probably covered by your comments earlier. What was the cash position prior to the current placing? And what is the projected monthly cash burn, not including any income revenue until we expect to commercialize date in 2026?

Thanks, Andy. So at the end of June last year, we had approximately GBP 3 million and that is our cash burn rate on an annual basis. So we haven't released our insurance at the end of December year, but you'd expect the cash at the end of December to be approximately GBP 1.5 million. Now that doesn't include any project costs or project revenues as well. And the cash burn rate, we're not really expecting that to change excluding projects, income and expenditure. Obviously, we're not really expecting that to change as we ramp up operations.

Thanks. Last one for you, David, and I'll give -- hand over to Jason to take a sort of as many of these project questions you can get through in the remaining time. So David, it was suggested on the lfc.co.uk discussion board that the company could do a share consolidation as there will be almost 2 billion shares in issue. Is this something the Board has considered or would be interested in? And how would it affect liquidity?

Yes. That isn't something that's being considered at this point. Whilst we have got 1.8 billion shares outstanding, it sounds like a very big number, but in fact, it's not unusual amongst companies of our size to have that many shares outstanding. So it isn't something we're looking at doing at this point.

Okay. Jason, I'll let you do your own quick [indiscernible] on this one. Just get through it as many as you can, and we'll wrap it up in the next 5, 10 minutes.

Okay. And there's quite a few. So I guess if I don't get through them in the time available, then there will be responses provided by the IMC platform soon afterwards, I think there's some more to come in during the call as well, which unfortunately, we can't answer, but they're quite good as well. So we're trying to get answers back for everything. Obviously as much as we can in this retail process that we're under. So the first one is really under the availability of MMUs. It is my understanding of the company had two large MMUs available for deployment, can you provide a timetable schedule or plan for the deployment of these units to meet the planned program of projects for '25, '26? So the first 20 -- 40-tonne in our MMU that we've got will be deployed in Antwerp in this quarter for the MSC vessel trial. So that's currently with the supplier in Denmark. The second MMU is also there. That's spare at the moment. We basically left that as a free unit, which will either be utilized in the Med if we make obviously positive arrangements there or it will redeployed to Valkor later in the year at the end of '25. And obviously, the Med project progresses, then we'll need to buy another MMU -- large MMU for Valkor if we need it. So that's the current plan for the two large MMUs. There's another question again around MMUs, which is really around the deployment and installation. Do the planned projects require the deployment installation of an MMUs -- mini MMU or will the fuels for these projects be manufactured offsite to shift the client side? So really the many MMUs are generally only required for trials or they do obviously work for blend-on-board applications as well. And currently, we're using those for trials. The larger units are designed to be installed in fuel terminals or refineries for the manufacturers, bioMSAR or MSAR for shipments to clients. So -- obviously our blend-on-board systems are designed for installation on ships. I think I'll answer the next one, which is really are there any active plans to order additional MMUs either in advance or -- either in advance and confirmed commercial implementation at customer site? So not at this time. We basically own the two large units that I mentioned before and one is the mini 4 tonne-an-hour unit. We also have the option to hire many MMUs from ENH and that's what we're doing in Morocco as an example. So we've got one other -- the one mini MMU [indiscernible] will be deployed at Valkor and the one in Morocco is a hired unit essentially. And if we need to hire any more we can do. And then the lead time to order and receive MMUs is another question. That's still around sort of 4 to 6 months, so that hasn't really substantially changed. And there's a question there about regarding -- has the design of the MMU fundamentally changed for new technology or ongoing improvements to the original design? I mean we changed or made modifications to obviously make the MMUs, which are asphalt emulsion plants to make them work substantially for fuel. So there's been no fundamental change, really, the additional improvements we've made since we've been working with ENH are really modifications to allow the production of bioMSAR so we're able to blend quite high percentages of glycerin way beyond sort of design of 30% water. So we have to make adaptions for that to allow the biofuel addition, and we will continue to do so as we need it. There's a question there around -- just please, can you describe the attitude of MSC towards the decarbonization of their fleet. And should they decide to progress -- not to progress rather with the use of MSAR solutions to help them transition towards that goal, which other shipping companies might be interested in adopting it? Well, obviously, by signed off the 3-way agreement with Cargill, it definitely shows the intent that MSC wish to use or test and use in the future, a Quadrise solution, be it MSAR or bioMSAR to help them decarbonize their fleet. And then that's part of a package. They've already invested money in their fleet to improve the efficiency, right? So we obviously encourage people to refer to, obviously, the latest sustainability report that they published which is excellent, we chose really their commitment to decarbonization of the fleet. And obviously, per our presentation, MSC are not the only shipping company that we're in discussions with, and we will continue to progress those. Now we have a facility available in Antwerp. The intention is to utilize that to supply additional fuel of bioMSAR for trials with other customers and also in the Med potentially with obviously the supply for fuel there as well for conventional MSAR and potentially bioMSAR in the future. There's a very long question on Valkor, which I won't be able to answer today because it will probably take me the remaining call. But I will answer via reply via e-mail, obviously on the platform. It's -- I think I've answered this one in the presentation. It was said in previous IMC meeting that MSAR did not need to wait for the LONO to complete, and this is the bioMSAR LONO that we plan on the MSC Leandra this year. And the plan is to use MSAR based on its interim LONO. Does this mean that once MSC completed the proof of concept on MSAR that they are looking to start using MSAR soon afterwards from the Mediterranean supply that can also supply OCP? And that's -- the answer is that's correct. I mean I think I make that fairly clear in the presentation that the project to supply MSAR to OCP is also being looked at in the context of supplying MSC with MSAR as well. They both need a high sulfur fuel or solution as well. And it's little independent of what we're doing in Antwerp. So that's a separate discussion as we're having refiners in that sector. Especially in regards to OCP in Morocco. It said the OCP trial information in the placing document says that Quadrise has completed a technical and economic study -- feasibility study for a potential industrial application and the second OCP site would just be a bioMSAR trial? Or is this another furnace or something different? I mean this that really refers to the 30-day MSAR trial at [indiscernible] on a specific line of furnaces. Where we've done a lot of work for. So that's really the reference there. And then looking at -- there's a question in regards to Utah samples. So have the Utah samples been received? I think I mentioned we've not received them yet, as Valkor been making some changes to their pilot plants that reduces -- and It's important that we get a representative sample. And unfortunately, the first sample had earmark for us, they found -- had still a little bit of sand and they've improved that pilot process to do that. So we expect the first representative samples to receive early next month to complete the testing there. And obviously, we'll update shareholders once that expertise has been completed successfully. Why is the start of the MSC trial moved from Q1 to Q2 2025? Well, the 3-way agreement took a long time to get done. We only signed it at the end of November, which really formally kicked off the protect and all the preparations to prepare the MAC2 site which is [indiscernible] is extremely busy at the QRF lab and elsewhere in ENH, et cetera. There's also work that needs to get done in terms of making -- securing the additional supply logistics, which can only get kicked off once the 3-way was done. And also the sort of bilateral agreements which need to be completed as well. So all of these things meant that Q1 is going to be quite a busy time to get everything done and the decision was made to move it back towards the end of the end of Q1, so beginning of Q2 is that really where we're at. There's a question in terms of -- please give a detailed update regarding the blend-on-board work stream, please? And I think I touched on that as part of the presentation. One of the reasons we got in contact and signed agreement with Auramarine, which with regards to their capabilities in accelerating the blend-on-board work stream. And they're actually over this week to set some more detail on the wider-ranging face-to-face meeting with them. And blend-on-board is something we're considering and modifying optimizing rather for the focused [indiscernible] trial as well. So the purpose of doing that trial will be to also, at some stage, demonstrate blend-on-board system and we're building that also into the work we're doing for the SEASTARS EU Horizon projects as well. So blend-on-board is very much a focus for the future in line with other things that are obviously were underway. Just finishing off here. Do we have a supply proposal from a med supplier for OCP on the back of the letter of intent and if there are also capacity to supply marine vessels. The answer is yes, we are in contact with med supplies, and that's progressing. And yes, the idea is that we are able to supply MSAR both to OCP and MSC and hopefully any others who are interested in supply from the Med as well.

Thanks, Jason. I think we've got to draw that to a close there. And thanks for your valiant attempt to get through many as possible. And as you said, we'll answer the other questions offline. And this remains for me to thank our shareholders for your engagement today. Thanks very much for joining us. Quadrise is an extraordinary company in the sense that of the level of shareholder engagement that we have, and we're very -- we recognize that, and we thank you very much for it. Hopefully, you have the information now to help you decide whether you want to participate in the retail offer or not and to what extent and also the information about how to go about it if it isn't already a familiar territory to you. And if you do still struggle then I think your best bet in the time available is to contact your brokers and to try to get them to have the -- because they're the ones at the end of the day who's got to place the order on your behalf. So with that, I thank you -- I wish you all a good afternoon. I'm going to hand back to IMC [indiscernible] for the closing out to administration.

Perfect. Andy, Jason and David, thank you very much indeed for updating investors this afternoon. Could I please ask investors not to close this session will now be automatically redirected for the opportunity to provide your feedback in order of the management team can really better understand your views and expectations. This won't take a few moments to complete, but I'm sure it'll be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of Management team with Quadrise plc, we would like to thank you for attending today's presentation. That now concludes today's session. Good afternoon to you all.