Short term Unsecured Loan & Extension of Warrants

Gusbourne PLC

14 November 2023

 

14 November 2023

Gusbourne Plc

("Gusbourne", the "Company" or the "Group")

Short term Unsecured Loan Facility and Extension of the final exercise date of the Company's Warrants

Short term Unsecured Loan Facility

The Company announces that it has agreed a short-term unsecured loan facility of £1.5m ("the Loan") with a company associated with Lord Ashcroft ("the Lender"). The Loan is repayable on demand (and in in any event within 364 days of the agreement) and carries an interest rate of 2.5% per annum above Base Rate (being the base rate of the Bank of England). The proceeds of the Loan will be used for working capital and to support the ongoing growth strategy of the Company.

Lord Ashcroft holds an interest in 66.3% of the Company's ordinary shares of 1 pence each ("Ordinary Shares") and is a Substantial Shareholder in the Company as defined by the AIM Rules for Companies ("AIM Rules"). The provision of the Loan constitutes a related party transaction pursuant to AIM Rule 13. The directors of the Company, having consulted with the Company's nominated adviser, Panmure Gordon, consider that the terms of the Loan are fair and reasonable insofar as shareholders are concerned.

Extension of the final exercise date of the Company's Warrants

On 17 December 2021, the Company issued transferrable one-year warrants to subscribe for 4,002,259 Ordinary Shares at 75p per Ordinary Share to all Shareholders on the register on 16 December 2021. Such warrants have a final exercise date of 16 December 2023 (the "Warrants"). The Company has now agreed to extend the final exercise date of the Warrants by 12 months, being to 16 December 2024.

Unexercised Warrants at 10 November 2023 amount to 3,888,671 Ordinary Shares with 113,588 Warrants having been exercised to date including 57,740 by the directors of the Company.

Of the unexercised Warrants, 2,660,158 (68.4%) are held by the Company's largest shareholder, Belize Finance Limited, a related party of Lord Ashcroft, and 20,617 Warrants 0.5%) are held by Directors of the Company.

The extension of the final exercise date of the Warrants, as set out above, constitutes a related party transaction pursuant to AIM Rule 13. The independent directors for the purpose of the extension of the Warrants (Jim Ormonde, Mike Paul, Katharine Berry and Lord Arbuthnot PC), having consulted with the Company's nominated adviser, Panmure Gordon, considers that the terms of the Warrant extension are fair and reasonable insofar as shareholders are concerned.

Enquiries:

Gusbourne Plc

Katharine Berry CFO                                                             [phone]

Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Nomad and Sole Broker)                       

James Sinclair-Ford / Ailsa Macmaster / Lauren Riley           [phone]

Hugh Rich / Rauf Munir

Media
Kate Hoare / Ben Robinson / India Spencer (Houston) [e-mail]	[phone]

Note: This and other press releases are available at the Company's website: www.gusbourneplc.com

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as amended by regulation 11 of the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019/310. With the publication of this announcement, this information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Note to Editors

Gusbourne produces and distributes a range of high quality and award winning vintage English sparkling wines from grapes grown in its own vineyards in Kent and West Sussex.

The Gusbourne business was founded by Andrew Weeber in 2004 with the first vineyard plantings at Appledore in Kent. The first wines were released in 2010 to critical acclaim. Following additional vineyard plantings in 2013 and 2015 in both Kent and West Sussex, Gusbourne now has 93 hectares of mature vineyards. The NEST visitor centre was opened next to the winery in Appledore in 2017, providing tours, tastings and a direct outlet for our wines.

Right from the beginning, Gusbourne's intention has always been to produce the finest English sparkling wines. Starting with carefully chosen sites, we use best practice in establishing and maintaining the vineyards and conduct green harvests to ensure we achieve the highest quality grapes for each vintage. A quest for excellence is at the heart of everything we do. We blind taste hundreds of samples before finalising our blends and even after the wines are bottled, they spend extended time on their lees to add depth and flavour. Once disgorged, extra cork ageing further enhances complexity. Our winemaking process remains traditional, but one that is open to innovation where appropriate. It takes four years to bring a vineyard into full production and a further four years to transform those grapes into Gusbourne's premium sparkling wine.

Gusbourne's luxury brand enjoys premium price positioning and is distributed in the finest establishments both in the UK and abroad. Our wines can be found in leading luxury retailers, restaurants, hotels and stockists, always being aware that where we are says a lot about who we are.

 

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