Admission and First Day of Dealings on AIM

RNS Number : 8049V

Benchmark Holdings PLC

18 December 2013

 



18 December 2013

Benchmark Holdings plc

 ("Benchmark" or the "Company" or the "Group")

Admission and First Day of Dealings on AIM

Benchmark (AIM: BMK), an established international animal health, technical publishing and sustainability science business, is pleased to announce that its shares will today be admitted to trading on AIM.

In an oversubscribed fundraising led by Cenkos Securities and supported by Equity Development, Benchmark has successfully raised £27.5 million before expenses through the sale of new ordinary shares at a price of 64 pence per share to a diverse range of investors. In addition, existing shareholders have sold shares worth £17.6 million. Total gross proceeds from the placing amounted to £45.1 million, making this the largest fundraising in the healthcare sector this year on AIM. At admission, the Company will have a total of 136,416,750 ordinary shares in issue.

The proceeds of the fundraising will be used by Benchmark to invest in high quality scientific research and development, to enhance its business development team, to expand its core businesses and enter into new segments which fit synergistically with its existing businesses. The proceeds will also be used to fund the expansion of Benchmark's manufacturing base, as well as selective acquisitions. 

Highlights:

·       Benchmark was established in 2000 to develop solutions in the food, agriculture, aquaculture and sustainability business sectors.  It is an ethical company with an explicit policy based on the "3E's" definition of sustainability - ethics, environment and economics - which guides its strategy and operations

·       In the year ended 30 September 2013, the Group reported revenue of £27.5 million and pre-tax profit of £4.3 million

·       Over the last four years, Benchmark has achieved compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue of 34 per cent and in profit after tax of 29 per cent

·       The Group is cash generative with an extensive product pipeline to support future growth and a growing international presence

·       Benchmark has three divisions: Animal Health; Technical Publishing; and Sustainability Science

·       Its activities include the development, manufacture and commercialisation of animal health vaccines, medicines, biocides and diagnostics, with a key focus on aquaculture. The Group also provides consulting services, scientific and technical information to industry participants across the food chain 

·       Clients include blue-chip multinationals such as McDonald's, M&S, Bayer and Novartis, and indicate Benchmark's world-leading status in the sustainability space

·       The group exploits the synergies between its three divisions to drive revenue and margin growth, illustrated by its recent geographic expansion into Asia

·       Success to date can be attributed to the early decision to become part of the development of the rapidly emerging global aquaculture, sustainability and technical knowledge transfer sectors

·       Benchmark's management team has an average of over 20 years' experience in their relevant business sectors, and is well positioned to identify future opportunities

Malcolm Pye, Chief Executive Officer, said: 

"We are really pleased that Benchmark has been so well received. The quality and breadth of our new shareholder base is evidence to the confidence people have in our Company.

"Our goal has always been to become a world leading specialist in the development of a sustainable food chain with a particular focus on the development of aquaculture health. The AIM market will provide Benchmark with access to capital and tradable equity, enabling us to pursue a strong pipeline of potential new products and technologies and continue to build the group by acquisition. The team and I are looking forward to this exciting new chapter in Benchmark's development."

-Ends-

For further information, please contact:
Benchmark Holdings plc	Today: 020 7920 3150
Malcolm Pye, CEO	Thereafter: 07443 056888
Roland Bonney, COO
Amy Firth, Head of Communications
Cenkos Securities, Nominated Adviser and Broker	Tel: [phone]
Elizabeth Bowman / Ivonne Cantu
Tavistock Communications	Tel: [phone]
Catriona Valentine / Keeley Clarke

For further information on Benchmark and to download the Company's Admission Document please visit www.bmkholdings.com.

Notes to Editors:

Founded in 2000, Benchmark represents a new model in sustainable business development. Over the last decade it has built a profitable group of companies on the economics of a sustainable food chain. The company is growing in response to a rapidly increasing demand for sustainable food chains, and in particular for seafood, from both mature and emerging markets. As demand can no longer be met by declining wild resources, it will necessitate the growth of sustainable farming systems around the world.

Benchmark is an ethical company with an explicit policy based on the "3E's" definition of a sustainable business - ethics, environment and economics - which guides its strategy and operations.

The Group operates internationally with offices in the UK, Ireland, Norway, USA, Brazil, China and Thailand and, as at 30 September 2013, employed 157 people, approximately half of whom are educated to degree, professional specialist or PhD level.

Animal Health

Fish Vet Group and Benchmark Vaccines form the group's largest division, Animal Health, focusing on aquaculture health. The Group is exposed to the growth trends and drivers in aquaculture and in animal health, which are large markets. Aquaculture accounted for $119 billion in 2010, and it grew at an average annual rate of 8.8% between 1980 and 2010. Since then the aquaculture market has grown at an average annual rate of 6.3% (source: FAO - The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2012).

Technical Publishing

With 13 online publications in three languages, the Group's technical publishing business, 5M, sits primarily within the agriculture segment of the STM (Science, technical and medical) publishing market. The STM market was estimated in 2011 as a $26 billion market with a projected growth from 2013-2014 estimated at 5.3% and CAGR from 2009 - 2014 of 5.0% (source: Outsell 2011).

Sustainability Division

This division is made up of companies working in collaboration with its customers on research and development of sustainable food and farming business management and technologies. Verdantix estimates the global sustainability consulting market to be $13.8 billion. Of this $1.2 billion is categorised as strategic and management consulting services and $12.6 billion relates to technical sustainability consulting.  trie^SM operates in the sustainability, strategic and management consulting sector while FAI and RL Consulting operate in the technical sustainability consulting space. The overall sustainability consulting market is estimated to be growing at 4-5% per annum, and this growth is projected to continue accelerating as the developed economies emerge from the global recession. Allan Environmental operates in the environmental consulting (EC) sector, which is estimated to be a US$26.5 billion global market and is forecasted to reach $31.4 billion by 2016 (source: researchandmarkets.com).

 

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