The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR")
14 February 2017
Vela Technologies plc
("Vela", the "Company" or the "Group")
Update re BTL Group Ltd
The Board of Vela (AIM: VELA), the investing company focused on early-stage and pre-IPO disruptive technology investments, notes the announcement released today by BTL Group Ltd ("BTL"), which provided details on a blockchain pilot using BTL's Interbit platform that it is working on with a group of major energy companies, including Wien Energie GmbH, Austria's largest regional energy company.
Vela currently holds 783,332 common shares in BTL, equivalent to approximately 4.6 per cent. of BTL's issued share capital. BTL is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, on which the closing mid-market price on 13 February 2017 of BTL's common shares was C$1.925 per share, which values Vela's shareholding in BTL at approximately C$1,507,900 (equivalent to approximately £927,000 at the prevailing exchange rate*).
Extracts from the BTL announcement are copied below:
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Feb. 14, 2017) - BTL GROUP LTD. (TSX VENTURE:BTL) ("BTL") is pleased to announce that it is working with a group of leading energy companies, including Wien Energie GmbH, Austria's largest regional energy company, on a blockchain pilot using BTL's Interbit platform. As with previous projects that BTL has successfully completed in this space, the goal is to demonstrate how BTL's technology can significantly drive down costs associated with energy trading. This revenue generating pilot will run alongside the other work BTL is continuing to undertake in the energy and finance industries.
Guy Halford-Thompson, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of BTL said, "We are very excited about working on this project with a number of major energy companies, including Wien Energie, a large and well-established European energy provider. The experience and expertise we expect to acquire from this pilot will be in addition to the knowledge we have obtained from our past work with leading energy companies. By commencing this project we are one step closer to live application of Interbit in the energy sector."
"With the pilot project now being launched, we are able to build up know-how in the blockchain area with our partners and test the new technology for its opportunities and benefits. We also want to analyze how new business models can arise from this," says Peter Gönitzer, Managing Director at Wien Energie. "Through different experimental arrangements with the technology, new insights into the use of blockchain in the energy business are to be gained and possible process optimization and cost savings are to be explored."
Wien Energie's Chairman, Michael Strebl added, "Blockchain technology is a further digitization trend in the energy industry. As Austria's largest energy service provider, we want to actively make use of the technology and its chances for our customers and us."
This pilot project is being supported by global consultancy firm EY and is expected to run for three months, from March to May 2017, after which further commercial strategies will be assessed.
Andreas Freitag, Manager at EY Austria added that, "The energy industry should actively deal with blockchain technology. The impact on existing processes and markets could be enormous. Now is a good time to test the technology and adjust the company to the upcoming changes. With EY playing a critical role in the pilot, led by BTL, we are able to get to know the technology and to assess the future potential even better. At the end of the project, we will be a step further to assess how Interbit will affect the energy industry."
Guy Halford-Thompson continues:
"The energy industry has a complex ecosystem with a myriad of business lines from raw material exploration to electricity generation and delivery. Currently, record keeping and data management are incredibly cumbersome leading to costly mistakes when it comes to trading energy products and tracking asset ownership. From the work we have done so far, we have demonstrated how the Interbit platform can vastly improve existing infrastructures. We believe this project we are undertaking with some of the world's largest energy companies will further prove how our blockchain technology can increase efficiencies and lead to considerable cost savings for energy companies."
ABOUT BTL GROUP LTD.
Operating from both Canada and the UK, BTL offers blockchain solutions to businesses across multiple industries, in particular the finance, energy and gaming sectors. BTL has built prototypes that showcase the capabilities of its Interbit platform, a proprietary blockchain based interbank payment network and settlement and asset trading solution.
Interbit is an open, multi-chain, asset settlement platform with a suite of APIs and smart contracts that allow businesses from across the world to provide global access to fast, secure, and auditable financial and asset trading services.
With offices in Vancouver and Canary Wharf in London, BTL is positioning itself as a front-runner in the blockchain ecosystem, providing advice and knowledge to industry leaders.
Website: www.btl.co
Twitter: https://twitter.com/blockchainltd
The full BTL announcement can be found using the following link: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/btl-group-commence-interbit-blockchain-pilot-with-wien-energie-other-major-global-energy-tsx-venture-btl-2195601.htm
*Based on the exchange rate as on 14 February 2017 of C$1: GB£0.61521.
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