Zenova receives trial order from University of Sheffield

Zenova said it had received initial interest from Sheffield University to replace the installed base of 4,500 6L fire extinguishers across its campus and further upgrade fire safety in all buildings with its smaller FX500s units.

The AIM-listed group stated the order was also a primary catalyst for four of its principal distributors to merge and create Environmental Safety Protection, trading as ESP, noting that the connective agreement was the "best way" for the partners to capture "growing demand" for Zenova products across the UK marketplace.

Chief executive Thomas Melchior said: "All of our stakeholders at Zenova should not underestimate the endorsement of our products that the formation of ESP Ltd conveys. The advanced discussions with Sheffield University for a substantial extinguisher order are clearly just the beginning of what ESP's four partners feel they can deliver, and thus I look forward to updating the market in the weeks to comment on their - and the company's - continued sales progress."

As of 0950 BST, Zenova shares were up 5.36% at 1.48p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com