Board & senior management scrip dividend election

RNS Number : 9789I

Franchise Brands PLC

07 April 2020

 

Franchise Brands plc

("Franchise Brands", or the "Company", or "Group")

Board and senior management scrip dividend election

Franchise Brands plc (AIM: FRAN), a multi-brand franchise business, announces that all Directors and a number of members of senior management have elected to receive the scrip dividend instead of cash in respect of the proposed 2019 final dividend, details of which were announced on 30 March 2020. The Directors' shareholdings in the Company will therefore increase upon issue of the scrip dividend shares which is due to occur by 8 June 2020. Their shareholdings will be as follows:

Director	Current t otal interest in ordinary shares (prior to payment of the scrip dividend)	Current percentage of total voting rights held (prior to payment of the scrip dividend)	Number of pro rata scrip dividend shares to be issued	Total interest in ordinary shares upon issue of the scrip dividend shares
Stephen Hemsley	20,515,117	25.75	132,552	20,647,669
Chris Dent	15,000	0.02	96	15,096
Peter Molloy	33,644	0.04	217	33,861
Tim Harris	1,362,314	1.71	8,802	1,371,116
Julia Choudhury	1,517,288	1.90	9,803	1,527,091
Colin Rees	323,507	0.41	2,090	325,597
Nigel Wray	21,720,120	27.26	140,337	21,860,457
David Poutney	3,438,881	4.32	22,219	3,461,100
Rob Bellhouse	82,768	0.10	534	83,302
Total	49,008,639	61.50	316,650	49,325,28 9

The percentage of voting rights which will be held by the Directors on completion of the scrip dividend share issue will be announced after 26 May 2020, which is the final date for shareholders to elect for the scrip dividend and therefore the resulting number of new ordinary shares to be issued will be known.

In addition to the Directors, the Company has been notified of a number of senior managers within the Group who have also elected to take the scrip dividend, taking the total percentage of the share capital electing for the scrip dividend, that the Company is aware of, to 63.6%.

The above table also confirms the shareholding of Peter Molloy, which since November 2018 had been incorrectly understated by 62 shares.

Further details and the information required in accordance with the requirements of Article 19(3) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation No 596/2014 are set out at the end of this announcement.

Enquiries:

Franchise Brands plc	+ 44 (0) 1625 813231
Stephen Hemsley, Executive Chairman
Chris Dent, Chief Financial Officer Julia Choudhury, Corporate Development Director
Allenby Capital Limited   (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)	[phone]
Jeremy Porter / Liz Kirchner / Nicholas Chambers
Dowgate Capital Limited  (Joint Broker)	[phone]
James Serjeant / Colin Climie
MHP Communications  (Financial PR)	[phone]
Katie Hunt	07884 494112 [e-mail]

About Franchise Brands plc

Franchise Brands is focused on building market-leading businesses in selected customer segments using primarily a franchise model. The Group currently has a combined network of over 450 franchisees across five franchise brands. Our focus is on established brands which can benefit from our shared support services, specialist sector expertise, management experience and group resources.

Franchise Brands' portfolio of market-leading service businesses grew in 2019 with the acquisition of Willow Pumps. The addition of Willow Pumps, a direct labour organisation, represented an important step in expanding Metro Rod and Metro Plumb's range of services to the commercial market.

The Group is organised into a B2B division comprised of Metro Rod, Metro Plumb and Willow Pumps, and a B2C division incorporates ChipsAway, Ovenclean and Barking Mad. This divisional organisation of our brands is designed to provide a greater focus and structure to support the strategic development of our B2B and B2C brands.

Each of our brands are leaders in their respective markets and each brand has a long trading history. The combined trading history of all the Group's brands is over 125 years.

Franchise Brands plc employs some 250 people across three principal locations in Macclesfield, Kidderminster and Aylesford.

For further information, visit www.franchisebrands.co.uk.

Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them

1	Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
a)	Name	PDMRs: Stephen Hemsley Executive Chairman Chris Dent Chief Financial Officer Peter Molloy Managing Director, Metro Rod Tim Harris Managing Director, B2C Division Julia Choudhury Corporate Development Director Colin Rees Chief Information Officer Nigel Wray Non-Executive Director David Poutney Non-Executive Director Rob Bellhouse Non-Executive Director
2	Reason for the notification
a)	Position/status	See 1a) above
b)	Initial notification /Amendment	Initial notification
3	Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
a)	Name	Franchise Brands plc
b)	LEI	213800CFRX6CJ8LCKN37
4	Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted
a)	Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument Identification code	Ordinary shares of 0.5p each in Franchise Brands plc Identification code (ISIN) for Franchise Brands plc ordinary shares:  GB00BD6P7Y24
b)	Nature of the transaction	Election of scrip dividend alternative
c)	Price(s) and volume(s)	Price: 100.6p Volumes: Stephen Hemsley 132,552 Chris Dent 96 Peter Molloy 217 Tim Harris 8,802 Julia Choudhury 9,803 Colin Rees 2,090 Nigel Wray 140,337 David Poutney 22,219 Rob Bellhouse 534 316,650
d)	Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price	n/a
e)	Date of the transaction	6 April 2020
f)	Place of the transaction	Outside of a trading venue

The information set out in this announcement is provided in accordance with the requirements of Article 19(3) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation No 596/2014.

 

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