Press Release 15/06/04

Caledus Limited was formed during March of 2003 and has recently had their start-up business efforts rewarded by entering and picking up the “New Business Award” at the Grampian Awards for Business Enterprise 2004. These prestigious awards were held at the Ardoe House Hotel in front of a crowd of more than 400 people from the Grampian business community.

The New Business Award recognises a business that has been trading for less than one year, but clearly show signs of being a dynamic business of the future. Caledus has achieved many things in the past twelve months that clearly demonstrated this potential to the panel of Judges. The co-directors Paul Howlett, Derek McLeod and Jim Bain joined forces during 2003 with an aspiration to start and grow an upstream oil and gas service sector business of significant scale.

A number of agreements were put in place to give Caledus a portfolio of products and services to take to market. In addition to these market ready products a significant development and commercialisation product-line was identified.

The SlimWELL™ system is a development to reduce the cost of oil and gas well construction by more than 50%. It is envisaged that SlimWELL™ will have worldwide appeal once it is developed and field proven, and that a significant business can be built around this game changing technology.

To supplement management investment and to allow the business to grow more rapidly additional investment was raised. Caledus was able to raise a seven-figure sum from Lime Rock Partners in January of 2004.

Since January of 2004 the company has grown from 3 to 12 full time staff supporting up to 6 subcontractors at any one time. The company’s revenue, from humble beginnings, has grown month on month and it is expecting to turnover more than one million pounds in the next 12 months.

Caledus will be moving from their serviced offices at 7 Queens Gardens during July 2004 to a newly acquired office building on Rubislaw Terrace, capable of housing more than 24 staff involved in sales and operations. This central office location is ideal for supporting the Aberdeen based customers.

Caledus also hopes to be able to announce the acquisition of a new product-line for the company in the next few weeks. This acquisition will further strengthen Caledus and its product portfolio.