Installation of CNC machine and block vacuum pump machine in Kosovo factory
Monday 16 April 2018
Fox Marble Holdings plc
(“Fox Marble” or the “Company”)
Fox Marble (AIM: FOX), the AIM listed company focused on marble quarrying and finishing in Kosovo and the Balkans region, is pleased to announce that it has installed a new state-of-the-art Computer Numerical Control (“CNC”) machine and a block vacuum pump machine in the Company’s processing factory in Pristine, Kosovo. These additions to the new marble processing factory will provide additional capacity to meet increased order flow and improve margins.
The brand new, CNC machine is capable of automatically processing many varied shapes of material from slabs and small blocks, including 1,500 square metres of marble tiles per day. The machine is fully operational and has just manufactured the Company’s first order in which the whole process has been completed in house for “cut-to-size” tiles. Currently the only one of its kind throughout the Balkans and Greece, the CNC machine has been supplied by Gravellona Macchine Marmo, one of the leading manufacturers of cutting and polishing machinery based in Northern Italy.
In addition, Fox Marble has just completed the installation of a block vacuum pump machine, which is a more cost-effective way of adding to the inventory of marble blocks eligible for sale. This machine allows resin to be absorbed by blocks that have micro-cracks or fractures in them. As a result, the machine will improve the yield achievable from the quarries and increase the pricing of blocks which would otherwise have been considered lower quality.
Chris Gilbert, CEO of Fox Marble, commented:
“Our fully operational factory now has the additional capability to process material-to-order at speed. We are confident that the cost effectiveness, flexibility and improved sophistication in our processing, delivered by this machinery, will impact positively on margins in the current year.
The installation of this new machinery also allows us to more effectively access the local market for tiles and “cut-to-size” orders, as well as servicing our international customers.”
For more information on Fox Marble please visit www.foxmarble.net or contact:
Fox Marble Holdings plc
Chris Gilbert, Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7380 0999
Fiona Hadfield, Finance Director
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7380 0999
Brandon Hill Capital (Broker)
Oliver Stansfield
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3463 5000
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nomad)
Liam Murray
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7213 0880
Yellow Jersey PR (PR & IR)
Georgia Colkin
Katie Bairsto
Tel: +44 (0) 7825 916 715
Tel: +44 (0) 7946 424 651
Notes to Editors
Fox Marble (AIM:FOX), is a marble production, processing and distribution company in Kosovo and the Balkans region.
Its marble products, which includes Illyrico Bianco, Illirico Selene, Grigio Argento and are gaining traction globally both to international wholesale companies as well as being supplied directly into luxury residential properties. In the UK these include among others St George’s Homes and Capital and Counties Plc’s Lillie Square development. In Sydney, Australia Rosso Cait, Alexandrian White and Breccia Paradisea marble have been used in what is expected to be Australia’s most expensive property. These sales serve to demonstrate the desirability of Fox’s premium marble products as the stone of choice in some of the most prestigious and expensive residential developments around the world.
Fox Marble holds 40 year mining licences for six separate marble quarries with a maiden JORC resource indicating an in-situ valuation of approximately Euro 16.5 billion. Fox has taken three of the six sites into production (the Drini and Maleshevë quarries, both in Kosovo and from the Prilep Quarry in Macedonia) and continues to increase production. Notably, Fox has access to over 300 million cubic metres (over 1bn tons) of premium quality marble.
Marble demand continues to grow with stable pricing, predominantly driven by the construction and real-estate industries, on which Fox is looking to capitalise.