EQTEC Shares Tumble as Deeside Sale Falls Through

EQTEC (LON: EQT) shares declined more than 21% in early Thursday trading after the company said it had been unable to reach an agreement on the sale of its Deeside project.

After Eqtec and its partners signed a non-binding Heads of Terms with the potential buyer in September, the AIM-listed firm said it and its partners were unable to reach mutually acceptable commercial terms with the investor toward formalising the sale of the project, and further discussions “will not be pursued.”

However, the company is responding to additional interest in the project, which includes an anaerobic digestion facility, waste reception plant, and EQTEC clean syngas technology facility, from several potential funders.

Eqtec said any agreement would focus on technology and innovation services, engaging partners and customers to develop and fund projects that will deploy Eqtec technologies.

As a result of the deal falling through, revenues totalling £4.5 million related to the Deeside SPV sale cannot be recognised. Therefore, it has updated its FY 2022 revenue forecast to between €5 and €7 million, while it has updated its FY 2022 EBITDA loss, which is now expected to be in the range of €4 to €5 million.

“We have already turned to other potential investors and committed ourselves to securing an alternative financing solution quickly. In terms of funder interest, the company is in a very different position now than a year ago,” commented David Palumbo, CEO of EQTEC.

“We have a number of prospective funders interested in the Deeside project, and we increasingly find ourselves speaking with bigger and better organised companies with clearer reasons for working closely with new infrastructure technology providers such as EQTEC. We remain committed to announcing the funding of Deeside in early 2023 and to moving at pace from there toward financial close and construction start.”