LONDON, UK: InfraStrata plc has applied to Companies House to trade under the name Harland & Wolff Group Holdings plc.

The Company has, over the past 18 months, proceeded through various phases which have included, the acquisition of assets, significant upgrades to all its facilities, the introduction of state-of-the-art technology and has simultaneously established a substantial sales pipeline.

The Company is now at its final stage of full reactivation of all its yards, which involves building a multi-year backlog for its facilities across its five key markets: defence, cruise and ferry, commercial, renewables and energy. The Company believes that this change of name will better reflect its ambition in expanding its core business and the significant development of its shipbuilding and fabrication activities.

The Company’s flagship Islandmagee gas storage project will retain its name, with management remaining focused on obtaining the Marine Construction Licence and Final Investment Decision (FID) thereafter. Whilst the project now has substantially more life expectancy with the need for major volumes of hydrogen storage (subject to regulatory approvals) it is a relatively straightforward technical change to make in a phased approach as the project transitions from gas to hydrogen over time.

Trading in the Company’s shares on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the new name of Harland & Wolff Group Holdings plc is expected to take effect as soon as the relevant Companies House filings have been received and lodged with the London Stock Exchange. It is expected that the Company’s shares will trade under the new TIDM (stock ticker) of “HARL”.

A further announcement will be made shortly once the name change has become effective. The Company’s ISIN remains unchanged.  No new share certificates are being issued in respect of existing Ordinary Shares held in certificated form. Shareholders should retain their existing share certificates which will continue to be valid.

In order to reflect the change of name, the Company’s corporate website will change to www.harland-wolff.com. The information required pursuant to AIM Rule 26 will be available at this address.

John Wood, CEO of InfraStrata plc commented on today’s announcement: “We are delighted to make this announcement today, signalling the end of upgrade and reactivation phases. With the new national shipbuilding strategy due to be released in the autumn and the government’s 10-point plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, we have confidence that the shipbuilding and fabrication business will deliver substantial value to all our stakeholders as we enter this exciting new stage of building our multiyear backlog of projects.

Since acquiring Harland & Wolff in December 2019, we have seen the organisation grow significantly; in August 2020 we reopened what is now known as Harland & Wolff (Appledore) and in February 2021, we acquired two ex-BiFab sites based in Scotland – now renamed Harland & Wolff (Arnish) and Harland & Wolff (Methil) respectively giving us one of the largest fabrication footprints dedicated to our core markets, in addition to two of the largest drydocks in Europe which at 80% capacity could give sales of in excess of £500m per annum when operational efficiencies have been achieved.

This is a natural progression in building and further developing the Harland & Wolff brand, our commitments to high-quality jobs across our five markets including the 34 apprenticeships recently announced as well as providing socio-economic investment into local, regional, and national communities.”