CFU - Ceramic Fuel Cells

Looks like the spec buyers bailed out on this one ,to some extent ,today

SP down to .955.Perhaps the Arab interest was just another Furphy!

I'm still up on my buy having got them at .90. Perhaps things might settle down a bit from here in and we can see some steady growth ..Hope so

Thanks for the background on yesterday's spike,YChromzome

Cheers Ya'll

SP finished up at $1.03.Still the usual spec buying,but I am pleased by the general movement of this one.

Was waiting for some kind of ann and here it is.


PRESS RELEASE

9th July 2007



E.ON UK and Ceramic Fuel Cells to collaborate on development of new greener microgeneration in the home



Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (CFCL), a global leader in fuel cell development, and E.ON UK, the company that runs Powergen, have signed an agreement to develop and deploy a prototype fuel cell combined heat and power unit in the UK.



The companies will work together to develop a fully-integrated micro CHP unit, incorporating CFCL’s fuel cell, that can be fitted into homes.



The highly efficient new units would be able to power a wide range of UK homes and would also help to reduce carbon emissions in the UK.



E.ON is contributing to the product development costs and retains a first option to purchase future CFCL micro CHP units for the British market. The agreement with CFCL complements E.ON’s existing activities in the field of micro CHP.



Brendan Dow, Managing Director of CFCL, said: “As climate change emerges as one of the greatest challenges for modern society, we believe that CFCL is well placed to deliver energy-saving initiatives to reduce carbon emissions in the home.



“With this agreement we are now very close to achieving our partnering objectives in Europe. We look forward to working with E.ON UK to bring our energy-saving technology to homes and small businesses throughout the UK.”



CFCL is planning to announce its appliance partner responsible for manufacturing the units in due course.



During the collaboration, CFCL will supply a NetGen+ unit for operation with a supplementary boiler and a specially designed thermal store to produce an ‘Alpha’ prototype which will subsequently be deployed in a field trial. The current project schedule is for the NetGen+ unit to be delivered by December 2007 and the Alpha unit to be developed in Q2 2008.



The partners have agreed to discuss further co-operation in the subsequent development and deployment of ‘Beta’ CHP units (comprising CFCL’s fuel cell module fully integrated with a condensing boiler) as well as commercial targets for fuel cell m-CHP units for the UK residential market.

Exciting stuff.
I bought a small holding which is now a bit bigger.
Happy to keep holding as we now have a product, a manufacturer and a client.

Yes indeed Knobby22,Things are moving fairly rapidly for CFU.Well,as fast as this sort of new tech does.

Perhaps a bit of background info on them ,for those who are new.Of particular relevence to the share price movement in the short term are the last 2 lines of the final paragraph in this story from Power Alternatives news site.

It's a beaut read!

June 18, 2007

Ceramic Fuel Cells Is Moving Along The Commercialisation Route


By Rue Swabey



Australia-based Ceramic Fuel Cells (CFCL) has achieved a significant amount since its IPO on AIM in March 2006. It is working to commercialise its fuel cell technology on a large scale. CFCL’s micro combined heat and power (m-CHP) unit generates constant electric power while producing hot air and water from the waste heat. Fuel cell technology produces low emission electricity as it is generated by chemical reactions rather than combustion. CFCL has acquired a site to build a manufacturing facility in Germany and it has signed two product development agreements with European utility companies. These agreements validate CFCL’s technology and underscore the growing confidence in the company.
CFCL’s business model is to sell to the utility companies rather than the end user. This approach is logical as the technology is new and the utility companies are better equipped to market it and install it. In addition the utilities have the balance sheets to roll out large volumes to their existing customer bases quickly. However the real pull factor is that m-CHP technology is highly attractive to the utility companies. This is because on-site generation reduces dependency on the grid and lowers maintenance costs. Residential users of the technology will remain connected to the grid so power can be imported to meet demand and surplus energy can be exported. Under this import-export model consumers would sell unused power to the utility at wholesale prices which would be re-sold at retail prices improving distribution margins.

There is also potential for carbon credits and tax rebates. CFCL’s chief executive for Europe, Brendan Bilton, emphasises that the economics of its m-CHP unit means that it does not need government subsidies or favourable legislation. In fact he sees gas-fired power stations as CFCL’s competitors. However it is likely that the utilities will subsidise the installation of CFCL’s m-CHP units and lock the consumer into a long-term contract that will more than repay the initial subsidy.

The signing of product development agreements with Gaz de France and Germany’s EWE demonstrate the solid interest that European utility companies have in the technology. EWE is a serious partner with a commitment to fuel cell technology dating back to 1995. Specialist boiler maker, Bruns Heiztechnik GmbH, is part of the agreement. EWE has ordered ten units for field trials with will be built in conjunction with Bruns. The agreement with Gaz de France (GDF) and boiler manufacturer, De Dietrich, is particularly attractive as GDF has a monopoly over the French residential market with more than 11.1million customers.

CFCL is in discussions with a further seven utility companies in Europe. The market has focused on UK’s Powergen and Nuon in the Benelux region as probable partners. Robert Kennett, a non-executive director of CFLC was formerly managing director of Powergen Combined Heat and Power and Renewables. And CFLC is building its German production facility in an industrial park owned by Nuon. Discussions with privately owned utilities are slow as the technology is new and needs to be quantified before an investment decision can be taken. But Mr Bilton is confident that once an agreement is reached with a UK utility it will lead the way in demonstrating the value of the technology across Europe.

CFCL’s board is currently discussing how much capacity to build at its site in Germany. Once a decision is taken orders will need to be firmed up before work commences in September. Construction is envisaged to take 12 months. The building of a proprietary high-quality ceramic powder plant in Merseyside in the UK is progressing and should be commissioned by the end of September.

There are several short-term drivers for the stock including announcements of orders from the utility companies. The market will also focus on the alpha field trials being run by EWE. Technological updates underscore why the utilities are so interested in the technology. Recent developments have increased the electrical efficiency of CFCL’s fuel cell stack allowing for a 50 per cent reduction in the balance of plant which is significant in terms of cost and size. Longevity tests are currently at between 3,000 and 4,000 hours with degradation of less than 1 per cent over 1,000 hours. The share price has climbed steadily from its 2006 listing price of 21p to 44p today. In February it reached a high of 52p on speculation of a bid from a utility company. If the product development agreements progress as expected it is likely that there will be real acquisitive interest in the company before long

The latest news on CFU. Anouncement on Thursday about the forth parnership agreement.It's all up on the website.Plus a Broadcast of a presentation by MD, Brendan Dow.

Here is an excert from that announcement.


Press Release 24 July 2007
CERAMIC FUEL CELLS, NUON AND REMEHA COLLABORATE ON MICROGENERATION FOR BENELUX REGION
Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (CFCL), a leading developer of energy products based on solid oxide fuel cells, Nuon NV (Nuon), Holland’s leading generator and distributor of electricity, gas and heat and De Dietrich-Remeha Group, represented by Remeha BV (Remeha) today announce that they have formed a collaboration to jointly develop a fully integrated micro-combined heat and power (m-CHP) unit for the residential market across The Netherlands and Belgium.
The new-generation high-efficiency unit, which is based on CFCL’s fuel cell system, will enable households and small businesses to generate both heat and electricity.
The unit will look just like a conventional high-efficiency boiler with the difference being that as well as generating heat, it also generates enough power to meet an average household’s energy needs. This means more efficient use of natural gas resources, while the CO2 emissions are up to 25% lower than from a gas-fired power station and up to 60% lower than from a conventional coal-fired power station. The fuel-cell boiler will be easy to install as it uses the same pipes as existing high-efficiency boiler installations.
Peter Erich, Member of the Board of Nuon, commented:
“Technologies that save energy at home are one of our biggest future challenges. We believe that with CFCL and Remeha we can offer households and small companies a solution for a more efficient use of energy and the reduction of CO2-emissions.”
Brendan Dow, Managing Director of CFCL, commented:
“Our fourth product development agreement, this time in the key Benelux market, complements our existing collaborations in the UK, France and Germany and completes our partnering objectives in Europe. We are now well on our way to commercial product development.
“Nuon is widely considered to be at the forefront of clean power generation and our selection as development partner is a huge endorsement of the potential for CFCL’s fuel cell technology. Importantly, Nuon has stipulated precisely what it needs to place large orders for commercial m-CHP units providing a clear path for us to formalise volume orders for the first time.
“We are also delighted to have expanded our relationship with the Remeha group. The experiences gained from our existing collaboration with De Dietrich in the French market will serve us well as we work together to develop a commercial product for Benelux residents.”
With operations in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, Nuon is one of the leading innovative energy companies in Europe, with a stated commitment to efficient and renewable power generation. In December 2006, CFCL announced that it is to develop a large-scale
fuel cell manufacturing facility at the Oberbruch industrial park in Heinsberg, Germany, which is owned and managed by Nuon.
De Dietrich-Remeha Group is one of the largest boiler manufacturers in Europe. Besides Remeha, it includes De Dietrich Thermique, France’s leading heating appliance company, with whom CFCL already collaborates via its partnership with Gaz de France. The product development project for Benelux will build on this existing collaboration.
Under the terms of the agreement announced today, CFCL, Nuon and De Dietrich-Remeha will jointly develop 1kW m-CHP units to meet specifications for homes in The Netherlands and Belgium. The first stage of the project is to deploy an ‘Alpha’ unit, whereby a CFCL NetGen+ unit, a high efficiency condensing boiler and a thermal store will be integrated and operated via a single control unit. Nuon will then test the system for efficiency, reliability and integration. Based on the results of this stage, the partners will then proceed to the second stage - creation of a near-commercial ‘Beta’ unit, comprising a single physical unit in which a CFCL fuel cell module is fully integrated with a boiler.
The parties have also agreed to define price and performance targets for commercial m-CHP units and, if the project proceeds successfully, to place agreed volume orders for commercial units. On the basis of these volume order targets Nuon will be CFCL’s exclusive utility partner in the Benelux region.
The partners will commence work on the project immediately. The Alpha unit is expected to be deployed in the first half of 2008.

Last time I posted on this CFU board was Dec06. I wasn't very enthusiastic. But I've kept an eye on CFU and it has entered a few new deals - it now has deals in the UK, Holland and Belgium, as well as Germany and France. Things seem to be going CFU's way, business-wise, though the share price has been one-way for 7 months - down.

APEC bringing China and the US into the global warming debate will help, and oil prices are back up into the mid-$US70's.

My feeling now is that CFU probably has a good chance of becoming a major player in Europe, and is looking like pretty reasonable value.

I have bought back in. [In Dec06 it was 0.75, I have now paid 0.80. So I haven't missed much - phew! - and my $$$ have been working hard elsewhere in the meantime ...]

CFU has a pretty slick presentation out. They are meeting targets and expanding their reach. (I am still a holder)


https://invest.etrade.com.au/Quotes...spx?symbol=CFU&tab=ASX Company Announcements#


Cheers Ya'll

Bought more at 71, 66 and 60, and it still keeps going down. Still looks pretty good to me (obviously) so am I missing something?

I took more at Eighty four!

Can't see anything fundamental to worry about.They keep on releasing good news.First Net Gen Unit shipped to EWE/European Patent in the bag.

The market will wake up one day..

Cheers

I had a flyer come around at my work about a year ago when the share price was about $1.20 ,didn't mention the companys name on the flyer just a brokers number , don,t quote me but as i recall they were forcasting returns of around 100% for the next 5 years . glad i didn,t buy then but with the price now very seriously considering it, as a buy.

Moving into Japan too (today's announcement).

It looked pretty good before, now it looks even better ..... doesn't it?

CFU last at 0.53 following announcement of expansion of fuel cell venture into Japan. http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20080117/pdf/316zhzydc3l3wf.pdf
To date Europe has been the main focus. However with strong growth projected in Asian LNG usage, the Asian market growing has additional huge potential. This move into Japan may be the catalyst to spike the SP out of its current malaise.
Mkt cap $164mill
52week: 0.42low; 1.435high;
The drift lower has occurred despite a flow of good news. IMO investor impatience a possible factor ie, Prototype development & field trials ahead of scaled up appliance partner manufacture has been (necessarily) a protracted capital intensive process. Now nearing end of this phase...appliance partners throughout Europe are currently integrating the CFU units into final marketable units for mass manufacture.http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20080110/pdf/316w7d7cld47lv.pdf
CFU's patent suite and involvement as vert integrated supplier to major European energy & appliance co's can be expected to bring strong revenue growth from 2009 on. Now that units have been strenuously field-tested as a prerequisite of European contracts, CFU will be better able to fast-track its move into the Asian market.
Noting that Woodside is a substantial holder (last time I looked)

I am still a patient holder of CFU..as the SP slips down again and again.

With this stock patience is the key. They keep the market well informed with developments and their strategy of "value adding" is bearing fruit.An excerpt from todays announcement.
Ceram Tec is a German comany producing ceramic components for the automotive,electronic,medical and industrial markets


"In line with CFCL’s commercialisation strategy the partnership will combine CFCL’s and CeramTec’s expertise in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) with CeramTec’s manufacturing capabilities and expertise, securing the supply chain for mass manufacture of high quality fuel cells at commercially viable unit costs."

Add that to there continued push into Asian markets...you have a winner IMHO

From an interview with Brend Dow,CEO of CFU.

These guys still have the inside track on their nearest rivals Ceres



INTERVIEW-Ceramic Fuel MD sees 2008 as crunch year

By Chuang Khoo and Chris Wills

LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Ceramic Fuel Cells , which makes fuel cells for the next generation of domestic boilers, faces a make-or-break year in 2008, when substantial orders are expected, its managing director told Reuters on Friday.

"We expect the volume orders (in 2008) to be in the vicinity of thousands to tens of thousands," Ceramic Managing Director Brendan Dow told Reuters in an interview on Friday.

The loss-making company has so far only received orders for prototypes of its fuel cell units, called stacks, which go in household gas boilers.

They create electricity, as well as heat, from gas fed into the boilers, which can be distributed back to the grid.

These micro-generation units could appear in homes from 2009, cutting power costs for users while making excess power available to utilities for resale.

Ceramic is developing the fuel cell stacks for boilers with utility partners Nuon, E.ON's Powergen , Germany's EWE and Gaz de France .

The units will be priced between 2,000 euros ($2,963) and 2,500 euros each, Dow said.

Ceramic expects 2009 to be a key production year, when it will start producing significant volumes for the first time if the utilities place orders as the company hopes.

Ceramic expects to turn a profit in 2010/11, house broker Libertas Capital said in a note earlier in February.

The firm, listed in Australia (CFU.AX
CERAMIC FUEL23 February,2008
23/02/2008 22:20 Sydney, Australia.
Value Change % Change
0.415 +0.005 +1.220%

* Company overview
* Real-time quote

CFU.AX , 0.415, +0.005, +1.220%) and London, is expected to turn cashflow positive in calendar year 2010, Dow said.

Dow said the factory it was building in Germany would cost around 8 million pounds ($15.7 million), slightly lower than the 9 million pounds analysts had expected.

It will initially have capacity to produce around 50,000 units a year, which can be extended to 160,000 with further investment.

This would require further fundraising, which the company would prefer to raise in debt rather than equity, Dow said.

Rival AIM-listed Ceres Power , which is also loss-making, is working on similar technology for domestic boilers, but testing with its partner British Gas is not expected to be complete until 2011.

Dow said Ceramic would not favour selling a stake in the company to an investor, in the way Ceres sold a 10 percent stake to British Gas-owner Centrica . (Editing by Will Waterman)

The news continues to flow....At last some revenue too.

Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd announces that it is investing €12.4 million in the construction of a manufacturing plant in Heinsberg, Germany for the commercial production of its fuel cell systems. CFCL also announces that it has received a volume order from Nuon, The Netherlands’ largest energy company and CFCL’s partner for that market. CFCL and Nuon have agreed on a set of performance targets for a commercial unit. On CFCL’s achievement of these targets, Nuon will order 50,000 fuel cell systems, to be delivered over a five year period from June 2009. The order is expected to generate substantial revenue for CFCL over the five years.

At CFU's estimate of up to $3,000 per unit that's $150,000,000 over the timeframe.Brendan Dow is also confident of signing two more similar agreements over the next 12 months with other utilities

I am rapt. This is what the company needed to give investors confidence. My shares return is nicely profitable which is always relaxing.
Tried to be buy more today but failed.

The risks have reduced but there is still the possibility of manufacturing problems. I am pleased with how the management have not tried to take too much on though. I am now a keen buyer amd am waiting for for the second leg of this bear stage to back up the wagon.

(QUOTE)
Australia's Ceramic Fuel Cells has secured its first volume order for its fuel cells that provide electricity and hot water for homes from natural gas. Instead of burning the gas, the fuel cells use a catalytic reaction to produce two kilowatts of power. Netherlands energy utility Nuon will buy 50,000 of the fuel cells over five years from mid-2009 on the condition that performance targets are met. Ceramic Fuel Cells has also announced it will spend EUR12.4m ($A20m) building a new plant at Heinsberg in Germany to produce the cells


Distributed by News Bites. © Lexis-Nexis



After such encouraging news yesterday, does anyone have some ideas on why the pullback?

There seems to have been a very large trade yesterday of over 2mill shares at over 80 cents. Normal trades per day are around 2-300k. Then it drops back today to the mid sixties. Does anyone know what the large trade is about? Is there someone (another company?) building up a large stake?

Like many others, this board is virtually defunct. I thought that, 3 weeks on, at least someone should try to answer your question. So here's my best attempt at an explanation :


(Sorry about that, I'm just in that sort of mood at the moment. Weeks of market mayhem eventually get you down.)

I think that trades between major players can be arranged outside the normal market mechanism, and then be reported to it, whereupon they appear as a trade. You do sometimes see a big trade reported outside trading hours.

But I might be somewhere the wrong side of cloud cuckoo land on this one. I'm pretty sure I've heard of this mechanism in the US, but whether it operates here, I really don't know for sure.

Another 4-6 months of being pushed any played and CFU will be well and truly on its path to a true valuation imho.

Was thinking that the UK market was looking at CFU more favorably than it has been over the last 6 months but another 6% downward push on Thurs with substantial volume themes CFU downward in the UK for the short term I'd say. Oz CFU market very bullish imho but Poms are killing the enthusiasm.

Im a fairly substantial holder near on 2 years and sitting on a loss but have absolute faith that CFU will be one of the stellar performers in a massive new eco market. Its potential is highly calculated, very well managed and virtually predestined.

Well see another order, maybe more, perhaps further partners, the factory build progressing, test modelling updates and perhaps new product profiles within the next 4-6 months imo, so plenty of news to kick CFU along.

News is the driver of CFU so bring it on.