My thoughts are that the announcement will have something to do...

My thoughts are that the announcement will have something to do with the two ISO accreditation standards that were applied for in July 2017.

The below is from the announcement made on 17 July 2017:

"Epichem is now pleased to announce that in July 2017 it applied for both ISO17025 and ISO17034 Quality Accreditation, which represent the highest international standards for the production of reference standards. Successfully achieving these accreditation standards will facilitate access to further major global partners and is expected to drive significant growth in the high-margin catalogue business. An outcome to these application processes is expected by Q4, 2017."

It would be fantastic if this is the case. I don't recall hearing anything about whether the ISO standards were granted, does anyone know?

If the two ISO standards have been achieved and a global partnership has been made this would ensure a revised guidance for Epichem and a re-rate for PAA.