British Smaller Companies VCT plc
Issue of Equity
British Smaller Companies VCT plc (the "Company") and British Smaller Companies VCT2 plc are seeking to raise £30 million in aggregate by way of offers for subscription ("Offers"). Full details of the Offers are contained in a prospectus issued by the Company and British Smaller Companies VCT2 plc on 20 October 2014 (the "Prospectus").
The Company announces that on 2 February 2015 it made the second issue of ordinary shares pursuant to these Offers by allotting 2,526,397 ordinary shares of 10 pence each raising gross proceeds of £2.6 million. These allotments were made in respect of valid subscriptions received on or before 30 January 2015, for the tax year 2014/2015 pursuant to the Offers. In accordance with the pricing formula set out in the Prospectus the new ordinary shares were allotted at offer prices of between 102.00 and 106.81 depending on the adviser charge (if applicable) and the number of shares issued pertaining to each application.
The NAV used for the calculation of the issue price on 2 February 2015 is 98.8 pence per share, being the last reported NAV as at 31 December 2014 of 100.80 pence per share, adjusted for the dividend of 2.00 pence per share that was paid on 7 January 2015. Shareholders who are allotted shares on 2 February 2015 will be entitled to the further interim dividend of 2.5 pence per share announced on 27 January 2015. The dividend will be paid on 3 March 2015.
Together the Company and British Smaller Companies VCT2 plc have in total raised gross proceeds of £16.4 million under the Offers and, after taking into consideration the costs of the Offers, this gives net total proceeds of approximately £15.6 million. The Company has raised net proceeds of approximately £9.3 million and British Smaller Companies VCT2 plc has raised net proceeds of approximately £6.3million.
Applications are now being made by the Company for the ordinary shares which were allotted on 2 February 2015 to be admitted to the premium segment of the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and to trading on the London Stock Exchange's main market for listed securities, and dealings are expected to commence on or around 16 February 2015.
Following the allotment of 2,526,397 ordinary shares, the Company's issued share capital consists of 75,216,986 ordinary shares with voting rights ("Voting Capital") and 3,129,322 shares held in Treasury.
The above statement of Voting Capital may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
The Offers remain open. A copy of the Prospectus was submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and is available to the public for viewing online at the following web-site address: http://www.hemscott.com/nsm.do. It can also be viewed on the Company's website http://www.bscfunds.com.
3 February 2015
For further information, please contact:
David Hall YFM Private Equity Limited Tel: 0113 244 1000
Emily Watts Nplus1 Singer Advisory LLP Tel: 020 7496 3000