19th Jun 2007 07:01
Braveheart Investment Group plc19 June 2007 19 June 2007 Braveheart Investment Group plc ("Braveheart" or the "Group") Alpha EIS Fund invests in PSI Electronics Braveheart (AIM: BRH), the technology commercialisation and investmentmanagement company, announces that it has made its 6th investment from its AlphaEIS Fund. The Group and its clients have invested c£250,000 in PSI Electronics("PSI") a spin-out from the University of Strathclyde. PSI is developing an intelligent cable fault locator, the IFL1000p, fordetection of permanent and transient faults in low voltage power cables. Thedevice is particularly effective in areas of high population or transportnetworks, where cables and cable joints are more prone to deterioration,increasing the likelihood of faults and power cuts to large areas. Pinpointing the exact location of a fault is currently difficult and expensivedue to the complex systems, which can confuse existing cable fault detectiontechnology. Often several excavations are required to pinpoint the fault, andthe costs of these, coupled with the penalties imposed by regulators for downtime, can be substantial. PSI estimates that its simple to use technology offers a 60%reduction in costs to locate the faults and a 50% reduction in repair time. It is also expected to increase the number of faults detected and rectified. To date successful field trails have been carried out with major transport andutility companies and it is anticipated the manufacture and sale of PSI's firstproduct will commence in September 2007, with future product launches andapplications planned. The funds raised will be used to provide working capital to strengthen themanagement team and infrastructure to allow PSI to exploit the marketopportunities for its technology. The proceeds will also be used to continueproduct development on PSI's pipeline of products, as well as to enhance IPprotection. Commenting, Chief Executive of Braveheart, Geoffrey Thomson, said, "At presentthere are no units on the market that can reliably calculate the distance to afault on low distribution networks and PSI is developing an innovative marketled technology. Having provided seed funding to PSI last year via our SMARTEquity Scheme, we are delighted to be supporting the company again in thedevelopment of a commercial technology which could bring benefits to many citiesand rail networks world-wide." Martin Stewart at PSI Electronics, added, "There is a clear unmet market needfor the accurate detection of faults in underground and power cables, which areonly likely to increase in the future as installations increase in both volumeand age. These new funds will enable us to move to new, larger premises andexpand our team to further exploit the commercial opportunities arising fromincreased R & D in our technology." The Alpha EIS Fund ("the Fund") Established in December 2005, the £2.5 million Fund was set up as a taxefficient vehicle to invest in early-stage, university spin out companies, richin intellectual property, with potential for significant growth, through thecommercialisation of their IP. The Fund is managed by Braveheart andparticipants in it include Bank of Scotland Corporate, Scottish Enterprise'sCo-investment Fund and Braveheart's own clients. The Fund will deliver a minimumof ten EIS qualifying investments, sourced through the Group's unique frameworkof strong formal relationships with Scottish universities and business parks. To date the Fund has made six investments from the Alpha Fund, including arecently announced investment in to Spiral Gateway Ltd. For further information, please contact: Braveheart Investment Group Tavistock Communications PSI ElectronicsGeoffrey Thomson Richard Sunderland Martin StewartChief Executive Rachel Drysdale Tel: 01738 587555 Tel: 020 7920 3150 Tel: 0141 548 2108 [email protected] www.psi-electronics.co.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Braveheart Investments