Portfolio Updates

INVESTEE APPOINTS US-BASED NED

9 September 2005

ACAL Energy Limited, has announced the appointment of Dan Dajie, from Princetown, MA USA as Non Executive Director.

The company specialises in fuel cell technology and was introduced to Dan via the UK Trade & Investment global entreprenaurs' programme, and believe that his experience in the fuel cell industry and work with North American venture funds will provide invaluable in helping the company meet its future growth plans.

ACAL Energy, located on the MerseyBio incubator, is an early stage company in the process of developing a novel approach to improving the power generation efficiency of fuel cells. Fuel cells are seen as an important way to address the need to reduce carbon emissions for cars and domestic power, as well as having the potential to provide long lasting batteries for portable electronics such as mobile phones and computers. ACAL Energy's systems is designed to innovately address a number of the technical and commercial barriers that are preventing take up of this exciting new technology.

Dan, who has held senior positions at companies such as Polyfuel, a fuel cell related company, and Polaroid, said, "The ACAL Energy system is already showing exciting results, and if the team delivers the plan to demonstrate its power generation capability then the technology could have the potential to revolutionise the approach to certain types of fuel cell. I am looking forward to helping them find collaborative partners and raise further funding, particularly over in the USA".

Amanda Lyne, Commercial Director at ACAL Energy said, "Our commercial development plans will involve us collaborating with global partners and securing funding from outside of the UK, so we felt that a Non Exec from North America would be a real asset for us. As a very small growing company, the UK Trade and Investment team was essential to give us the introductions and access we needed to fulfill this stage of our strategic plan."