CMR Fuel Cells plc announces the underwritten Placing and the expected admission of its share capital to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. The Company will on Admission have a market capitalisation of £35.7 million at the Placing Price. Admission to AIM should take place tomorrow (Thursday 22 December 2005).

Investec Bank (UK) Limited has underwritten the Placing and is acting as Nominated Adviser and Broker to the Company.

CMR Chief Executive Officer, John Halfpenny said 'We have new technology which has the potential to deliver commercially viable mass-market fuel cells. Our arrival on AIM accelerates us strongly towards our goal of delivering long-running and cost effective fuel cells to the consumer electronics industry'.

CMR is a fuel cell development company. CMR has developed a new platform approach to the design and operation of fuel cell stacks which has the potential to offer substantial reductions in the size, weight and cost of fuel cell stacks.

While CMR's technology can be applied to various types of fuel cells, CMR has chosen to focus initially on the development of Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) stacks for portable applications.

The Directors believe that the portable applications market sector is likely to be amongst the earliest where fuel cell applications may be adopted on a commercial scale. To exploit this opportunity, CMR has assembled a team with a combination of commercial, fuel cell technology and design expertise and experience. CMR is based in Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

This year CMR has received a number of prestigious accolades for its technology including:

# Winner 2005 Carbon Trust Overall Innovator of the year award

# Winner 2005 Carbon Trust Individual and Small Businesses award

# Selected by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer for 2006

# Selected by Harvard Business School as one of 25 companies 'most likely to change our world by 2010'

CMR's mixed reactant, flow though technology

Central concept

CMR's technology has the potential to reduce substantially the cost, complexity and size of fuel cell stacks, to improve volumetric and weight energy density and robustness and to allow certain components to be removed. These factors have the potential to allow the fuel cell stack production process to be simplified by the use of mass production techniques such as printing or roll-to-roll assembly. This coupled with the removal and modification of certain components could reduce production costs substantially.

CMR has developed a new approach to the geometry, materials and operation of any fuel cell type whereby the fuel and oxidant enter and pass through the fuel cell mixed together, rather than separated as is the case for existing fuel cell technologies. This involves the combination of two primary concepts: mixed reactants and flow-through porous cell structures.

In a CMR fuel cell, selective electrocatalysts are used, enabling the fuel and the oxidant streams to be mixed together. A mixture of gaseous or liquid fuel and oxidant flows axially through the solid state CMR stack. The anode catalyst reacts selectively with the fuel and the cathode catalyst reacts selectively with the oxidant, creating the required reaction at the anode and the cathode.

Reasons for Admission and use of proceeds

The purpose of the Placing is to raise equity finance for the Company. The net proceeds of the Placing to be received by the Company amounting to approximately £9.2 million after expenses will be used principally to continue the technical development of its fuel cell products and progress potential manufacturing alternatives, to allow the Company to build relationships with partners, to develop and protect the Company's intellectual property rights and for general working capital purposes.

The ordinary shares will trade on AIM under the RIC code 'CMF'.

Placing Statistics

Placing Price
176 pence

Number of Placing shares to be issued
5,852,273

Number of Ordinary Shares in issue on Admission
20,304,846

Net proceeds of the Placing receivable by the Company
£9.2 million

Market capitalisation at the Placing Price immediately following Admission £35.7 million

Expected Timetable

Admission effective and dealings commence on AIM
22 December 2005

Despatch of definitive share certificates
by 29 December 2005

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For further details:

CMR Fuel Cells plc
 

John Halfpenny, Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +44 1223 875295
Michael Priestnall, Chief Technology Officer
Tel: +44 1223 875295

Investec
Michael Ansell
Tel: +44 207 597 5190
Daniel Adams
Tel: +44 207 597 5190

Hansard Communications
Andrew Tan
Tel: +44 207 245 1100
 

Copies of the AIM Admission Document published by CMR today will be available for a period of one month from the offices of Taylor Wessing, Carmelite, 50 Victoria Embankment, Blackfriars, London EC4Y 0DX.

All definitions in this announcement have the same meaning as terms defined in the 'Definitions' and 'Glossary' sections of the AIM Admission Document.

The Company accepts responsibility for the information contained in this announcement. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the Company (who has taken all reasonable care to ensure that such is the case) the information contained in this announcement is in accordance with the facts and does not omit anything likely to affect the import of such information.

Investec Bank (UK) Limited ('Investec'), which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Services Authority, is acting exclusively for CMR in connection with the flotation and no-one else. Investec will not be responsible for providing advice to any person in relation to the flotation and/ or the associated share offer, the contents of this announcement or any other matter referred to herein.

This announcement is directed only at persons who (i) are outside the United Kingdom or (ii) are in the United Kingdom and either have professional experience in matters relating to investments or are high net worth companies, unincorporated associations etc for the purpose of Article 49 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (all such persons together being referred to as 'relevant persons'). This announcement must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this announcement relates is available only too relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons.

This announcement does not constitute an offer of, or the solicitation of any offer to buy, any of the ordinary shares which are proposed to be offered (the 'Ordinary Shares') to any person in any jurisdiction to whom or in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful. The distribution of this announcement in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law and therefore persons into whose possession this announcement comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of such jurisdiction. The Ordinary Shares have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 (as amended) and may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration. There will be no public offer of securities in the United States.

This announcement does not constitute or form part of an offer, or any solicitation of an offer, for securities and any purchase or application for shares in the placing should only be made on the basis of information contained in the formal admission document to be issued in connection with the placing. The value of shares can go down as well as up. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. Potential investors should consult a professional adviser as to the suitability of an investment in the shares of CMR for the individual concerned.