Monday 4 September 2017

Foresight Group invests in Formula gas or something

Oh, I don't know, reader(s). I don't know what's going on. And it's Monday morning, you dig? 'Ha!' Should I know what's going on? Really? Should I even care, man?

Foresight Group LLP ("Foresight") announces the investment of £500,000 on behalf of the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund ("Fund") into Southampton-based Utonomy, a  ground-breaking intelligent gas ("Gas") grid solutions provider. The transaction represents the Fund's first investment.

Williams. They do the, uh, Formula One thing with cars, don't they? But I have no idea why they're getting mixed up with intelligent gas now. Jesus H. - !!!

Established in 2015, Utonomy has developed an innovative technology for reducing leakage in gas distribution networks. Its unique "internet of things" solution automatically optimizes gas distribution pressures through electro-mechanical actuators retrofitted to the network and controlled by intelligent, cloud-based software.

Okay, okay. I'm sure this is all cool and everything. But - 'It's not as exciting as racing a car around a track in Monaco, boss.' No, of course it isn't, Voice. Christ! However, you could argue that Formula One has been quite boring for years. I don't think I've watched it since the time of Schumacher. Maybe Williams are getting into gas now for a bit of excitement, you dig? 'Are they inhaling it?' I don't know, man. Maybe. Who knows?!

The leakage of methane from gas distribution networks is a massive global problem with over 300 bn MWh of this potent greenhouse gas lost from networks around the world each year. This is estimated to cost consumers more than £5 bn per annum. More importantly, leakage of methane has a serious impact on the environment, releasing the equivalent of 1.7 bn tonnes per annum of CO2 into the atmosphere - more than four times the total emissions of the UK.

Okay, okay. Well, we didn't actually need to know that, did we? It's funny how some of these PR emails just volunteer information that is no use to anyone. 'Eh?! That's a matter of opinion, boss.' Is it? 'Yes. We don't know who's reading this. We don't know what their needs and wants are. We don't know how they get their kicks.' Kicks! Well, let's continue with it then ...

Building on their proven expertise in precision engineering, systems integration and optimization, Williams Advanced Engineering is well-placed to support the design and development of the actuator technology, a critical component of the Utonomy gas network management solution. Foresight's experience in growing businesses and expanding them globally will be invaluable to Utonomy in the commercialization of their technology and the expansion of their business.

All right. All right. And now we have voices, other voices, Voice, telling us how delighted they are. I'll skip those, if you don't mind, dear reader(s). I'll finish with this about Foresight -

Foresight is a leading independent infrastructure and private equity investment manager which has been managing investment funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients for more than 30 years.

Foresight has £2.7 billion of Assets Under Management across a number of funds, including Listed Vehicles, Limited Partnerships, Enterprise Investment Schemes (EISs), Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) and Inheritance Tax Solutions using Business Property Relief (BPR).

Funds managed by Foresight own more than 80 Solar farms around the world and 28 Energy from Waste facilities in the UK, which together have a generating capacity of over 1GW, enough clean renewable electricity to power more than 600,000 UK homes every year.

Foresight has offices in London, Manchester, Nottingham, Guernsey, Rome, San Francisco and Sydney.


Nottingham and Rome. Whatever. / And that's enough for Monday morning, surely? 'Yes!' Yes.

...

Anything else? Music? I was listening to The Doobie Brothers earlier. I don't know what next.

My music? I'm rethinking my demo again. 'Not again, Mikey!' Yeah, man, moving songs out, and moving songs in. It's because I've been writing new stuff lately. I have three big pop/rock ballads now. I'll leave one off the demo. I don't want to overdo it.

What else? Not much else. I'll be doing a conceptual later, for your sins, dear reader(s). I hope you don't mind. / Laters. 'Bye!' Bye.