AGM Statement

RNS Number : 3370A

Bonhill Group PLC

11 September 2018

 

For release: 07:00, 11 September 2018

Bonhill Group plc

("Bonhill" or the "Company")

AGM Statement

At its Annual General Meeting to be held later this morning, Neil Sachdev, Non-executive Chairman of Bonhill Group plc, (AIM: BONH), a leading B2B media business specialising in three key areas: Business Information, Live Events and Data & Insight, will make the following statement:

"The Company has undergone a period of significant change in recent months and the management team is now successfully executing on our stated business strategy with the aim of creating a B2B media company of scale, providing Business Information, Live Events and Data & Insight propositions to international Technology, Financial Services and Diversity business communities. In summary, we are pleased to report that the business is progressing extremely well and current trading is in line with the Board's expectations. 

"We recently announced completion of the transformational acquisition of InvestmentNews for a total consideration of $27.1 million.  InvestmentNews is one of the best known and market leading B2B media brands supporting the financial adviser and wealth manager community in the US, and the acquisition is highly complementary to all three pillars of the Company's corporate strategy. I am very pleased to report that the integration process has begun well and we see great opportunities to grow InvestmentNews, with a particular focus on opportunities in the Live Events and Data and Insight areas of the business.

"We are delighted to announce that InvestmentNews is premiering its first documentary, "Making an Impact" at the United Nations today. The production, sponsored by Vanderbilt Financial Group, highlights efforts by several companies across the globe that are focused on delivering both socially responsible and purpose-driven results and returns. The goal of the documentary is to illustrate how these types of companies are influencing positive change in their communities - at the same time that they are also producing impactful results and success for their businesses. The project illustrates InvestmentNews' focus on expanding its storytelling capabilities through multimedia and diverse channels, along with its commitment to educating, informing and advancing its own community of financial advisers.

On Thursday, InvestmentNews is hosting its third Women Adviser Summit of 2018 in Denver, Colorado, following on from the successful format held in Boston and Chicago.  This is a new city for the Women Adviser Summit and the fourth workshop will be held in San Francisco in October 2018.  These successful workshops, now in their fourth year, seek to develop the professional female financial adviser and additional cities will be launched in other locations in the coming year.

"The UK business also continues to flourish and the Live Events sector, in particular, has been a major contributor of revenue, attracting over 2,000 people and reaching 10.6 million people on social media.  Our move into Diversity has been particularly successful with the flagship Women in IT event held earlier this year attracting over 1,000 delegates, making it one of the Group's most successful events ever.  We are due to host Women in IT events in both Ireland and Silicon Valley in November 2018 and in Singapore in May 2019.

"We will continue to develop our Live Events portfolio, expand its geographical footprint, connect our audiences internationally and harness the power of Bonhill's communities to create value for our shareholders.  In order to achieve this, we need a strong and efficient technology platform and investment in this area has already started.

"I am also pleased to report that the Company has recently received advance assurance from HMRC that the EIS Placing Shares and the Excess EIS Shares (as defined in the Company's admission document dated 31 July 2018) are regarded as 'eligible shares' for the purposes of EIS.

"We continue to seek strategic and earnings enhancing acquisition opportunities. We look forward to updating shareholders at the time of release of our interim results in late November."

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014 ("MAR").

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For further enquiries please contact:

Bonhill Group plc	[phone]
Simon Stilwell, Chief Executive David Brown, Group Finance Director
Stockdale Securities Limited (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)	[phone]
Tom Griffiths Ed Thomas David Coaten
Canaccord Genuity Limited (Joint Broker) Simon Bridges Richard Andrews Ben Griffiths (ECM) Sam Lucas (ECM)	[phone]
Taurus London	[phone]
Peter Tracey Tom Fyson Tom Marriage
Belvedere Communications (Financial PR)	[phone]
John West Cat Valentine Kim van Beeck

About Bonhill Group plc

Bonhill Group plc is an AIM-quoted leading B2B media business specialising in three key areas: Business Information, Live Events and Data & Insight in three key sectors: Technology, Financial Services and Diversity. Bonhill's ambition is to create content that informs, communities that engage and brands that inspire in order to enable a better business environment for our sponsors and clients.

Flagship titles include: InvestmentNews, SmallBusiness.co.uk, Growth Company Investor, Information Age, GrowthBusiness.co.uk and What Investment. Bonhill is also responsible for a growing portfolio of high-profile events, including The Quoted Company Awards, Women in IT Awards and British Small Business Awards, amongst others.

For more information visit www.bonhillplc.com 

 

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