First Derivatives PLC European Energy Market Contract Win (6992U)

TIDMFDP

RNS Number : 6992U

First Derivatives PLC

16 July 2018

16 July 2018

First Derivatives plc

("FD" or the "Group")

European Energy Market Contract Win

FD (AIM:FDP.L, ESM:FDP.I) announces that it has been selected, alongside its partner CGI, to deliver a next-generation electricity information exchange for Fingrid, the transmission system operator for Finland. This significant contract win further demonstrates Kx technology's applicability within utilities, in particular opening up the potential for further wins as transmission system and energy market operators upgrade their systems to cope with more demanding regulation and deliver additional services.

Under the deal Kx technology will provide key functionality for the new system, known as Datahub, and will be integrated with CGI's Central Markets System (CMS) to deliver a centralised information exchange for retail markets that stores data from all of Finland's 3.5 million places of electricity consumption. Datahub will simplify, speed up and enhance the efficiency of the data exchange required by the retail electricity market.

Within Datahub, Kx for Sensors will provide the meter data management and settlement functions, handling data validation and frequent recalculations of market settlement amounts involving large amounts of time-series data, both historic and real-time. Kx for Sensors will be integrated with the CMS system of CGI, one of the world's largest providers of systems to the utilities markets, including as partner to eight of the ten largest utilities in both Europe and North America.

Together, Kx and CGI will provide Fingrid with an advanced system that will transform the capabilities of market participants within the Finnish electricity market. Similar next-generation capabilities will be required by other European transmission and market operators, for example to deliver 15 minute imbalance settlement between electricity suppliers and consumers, an EU requirement by December 2020.

Asta Sihvonen-Punkka, CEO of Datahub Oy, a subsidiary of Fingrid, commented: "The energy sector will undergo a major transformation in the coming years. We are heading towards a clean and reliable market-based electricity system. The Datahub will play a very important role in this electricity market transition."

Leena-Mari Lähteenmaa, Senior Vice President of CGI Finland, commented: "Fingrid is a forward-thinking transmission systems operator and its Datahub will introduce multiple benefits for the Finnish electricity market. A key component of the delivery of these benefits is the high performance and lower total cost of ownership of Kx, particularly its proven capability to handle data at scale. Together, CGI and Kx's products create a powerful solution in a rapidly evolving market."

Brian Conlon, Chief Executive Officer of Kx, commented: "The combination of CGI, with its market-leading CMS system, and Kx for Sensors creates a compelling solution that helped secure this contract with Fingrid in a competitive and rigorous process. We believe other operators in the energy ecosystem will see the advantage that the use of high performance data solutions powered by Kx can bring to transform their operations and look forward to working with them to secure these benefits."

Enquiries

For further information please contact:

 
First Derivatives plc               [phone] 
 Brian Conlon, Chief Executive       www.firstderivatives.com 
 Officer 
 Graham Ferguson, Chief Financial 
 Officer 
 Ian Mitchell, Head of Investor 
 Relations 
 
Investec Bank plc (Nominated 
 Adviser and Broker) 
 Andrew Pinder 
 Carlton Nelson 
 Sebastian Lawrence                 [phone] 
 
Goodbody (ESM Adviser and 
 Broker) 
 Linda Hickey 
 Finbarr Griffin                    [phone] 
 
FTI Consulting 
 Matt Dixon 
 Dwight Burden 
 Darius Alexander 
 Niamh Fogarty                      [phone] 
 

About FD

FD is a global technology provider with 20 years of experience working with some of the world's largest finance, technology, retail, pharma, manufacturing and energy institutions. The Group's Kx technology, incorporating the kdb+ time-series database, is a leader in high-performance, in-memory computing, streaming analytics and operational intelligence. Kx delivers the best possible performance and flexibility for high-volume, data-intensive analytics and applications across multiple industries. FD operates from 14 offices across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, including its headquarters in Newry, and employs more than 2,300 people worldwide.

For further information, please visit www.firstderivatives.com and www.kx.com

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact [e-mail] or visit www.rns.com.

END

CNTFKPDNKBKBOOD

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 16, 2018 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)