Issue of Equity

RNS Number : 5423H

Christie Group PLC

21 June 2013

 

21 June 2013

Christie Group plc

('Christie' or the 'Group')

Placing of 1.26m Ordinary Shares

The Board of Christie Group plc, the leading provider of Professional Business Services and Stock & Inventory Systems & Services to the leisure, retail and care markets, is pleased to announce that it has placed 1,263,178 new Ordinary Shares (the "Placing Shares") at 62 pence per share, with certain institutional and other investors (the "Placing") to raise approximately £783,170(gross).

Background to and reasons for the Placing

The Placing has been undertaken to raise funds to, in part, expedite the Group's European expansion of its stocktaking operations and to fund the acquisition of a 75 per cent. controlling interest in the German franchisee.

At the beginning of 2013, the Group embarked on its first franchise stocktaking operation with Inventory Services GmbH which now trades as Orridge Inventory Services.  The Group has an option to acquire a controlling stake in the German's franchisee's business and, subject to completion of satisfactory due diligence, it is the intention to exercise this option and complete the acquisition later this summer.  Subsequent to the completion of the acquisition, the Group will provide certain working capital to the franchisee and an investment in the proven technology we use elsewhere to enable the franchisee business to produce equivalent margins to the rest of the Group.

In addition, the Group is also utilising certain of the placing proceeds to develop new 'next generation' software for its operations.  

Information on the Placing

The placing price of 62 pence per new Ordinary Share represents a discount of 6.1 per cent. to the Company's closing midmarket price on 20 June 2013 of 66 pence being the last practicable date prior to the announcement of the Placing.

Application has been made for the 1,263,178 Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and it is expected that admission will take place on 26 June 2013. The Placing Shares will rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares of the Company. Following this allotment, the total issued share capital of the Company will increase to 26,526,729 Ordinary Shares.

The Placing Shares are being issued out of the Company's existing authorities.

Related Party Transaction

The Chairman, Philip Gwyn and David Rugg, the CEO along with certain other Directors of the Company, are intending to participate in the Placing. Philip Gwyn is the Group's majority shareholder, with an aggregate beneficial and non-beneficial holding of 43.41 per cent. of the Company's existing share capital.  The Directors in aggregate own 57.39 per cent. of the issued share capital. The Directors will participate in the Placing up as set out in the table below: 

Director	Current holding			Placing shares	Holding post Placing
Philip Gwyn	10,967,582	43.41%		548,379	11,515,961	43.41%
David Rugg	2,596,860	10.28%		181,522	2,778,382	10.47%
Chris Day	606,068	2.40%		80,645	686,713	2.59%
Paul Harding	202,733	0.80%		10,137	212,870	0.80%
Tony Chambers	125,690	0.50%		6,285	131,975	0.50%
Total	14,498,933	57.39		826,968	15,325,901	57.77

The proposed participation by the Directors in the Placing is considered to be related party transactions for the purposes of AIM Rule 13, and accordingly Dan Prickett and Pommy Sarwal who are not participating in the Placing and are therefore deemed Independent Directors, the Independent Directors, confirm that having consulted with Charles Stanley Securities, the Company's Nominated Adviser, they consider the terms of the transaction to be fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's shareholders are concerned.

David Rugg, Chief Executive Officer of Christie, commented,

"I'm delighted to have the support of our shareholders in this exciting expansion of our stocktaking business in Europe."

Enquiries:

Christie Group plc	020 7227 0707
David Rugg
Chief Executive
Dan Prickett	020 7227 0700
Chief Financial Officer
Charles Stanley Securities	020 7149 6000
Nominated Adviser and Broker
Russell Cook / Carl Holmes

Notes to Editors:

Christie Group plc (CTG.L.), quoted on AIM, is a leading professional business services group with 39 offices serving the UK, Europe, Canada and the Middle East and Africa, catering to its specialist markets in the leisure, retail and care sectors.

Christie Group operates its two complementary business divisions: Professional Business Services (PBS) and Stock & Inventory Systems & Services (SISS). These divisions trade under the brand names: PBS - Christie + Co, Christie Finance, Christie Insurance and Pinders; SISS - Orridge, Venners and Vennersys.

Tracing its origins back to 1846, the Group has a long-established reputation for offering essential services to client companies in agency, valuation services, investment, consultancy, project management, multi-functional trading systems and on-line ticketing services, stock audit and inventory management. The diversity of these services is intended to provide a natural balance to the Group's core agency business.

For more information, please go to www.christiegroup.com.

 

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