Contract Win and Issue of Equ

RNS Number : 9898F

Optare PLC

22 January 2010

 



Optare plc

("Optare" or the "Company")

Contract win and issue of Equity

Contract win

As referred to in the Company's announcement on 17^th December 2009, the Board is expecting new orders for Optare's zero emission and hybrid buses under the Government's Green Bus Fund. The Board is pleased to announce that it has received the first of such orders for its Solo EV Zero emission bus from Durham County Council. The Board anticipates that further orders supported by the Green Bus Fund will be received during 2010. 

The Placing

The Company is also pleased to announce that it has raised approximately up to £2.2million (before expenses)  by way of a placing of 37,010,712 new ordinary shares (the "Placing Shares") at a price of 6 pence per ordinary  share (the "Placing Price") with institutional, other investors and members of the Board (the "Placees").  In addition, the Company intends to issue to the Placees and to Cenkos Securities plc (as part of its Placing fees) warrants to subscribe for, in aggregate, 39,694,581 ordinary shares with an exercise price of 6 pence (the "Warrants"). The issue of the Warrants is conditional upon the passing of the necessary shareholder resolutions which the Company intends to pass at its next Annual General Meeting, to be held no later than 30 June 2010.  The Warrants will be exercisable for a period of 24 months from the date of issue and, if exercised in full, would raise approximately a further £2.2 million. 

As highlighted in the Company's trading update on 17th December 2009, order intake in Q4 09 was better than Q3 09 and the Company's order book increased. The proceeds of the Placing will be used to support the working capital required in order to meet the current order book demand and export prospects.

The Company's bank has confirmed that the terms of the Company's existing banking arrangements will be unchanged following the Placing.

The Company has raised up to approximately £2.17m (net of expenses) through the issue of the Placing Shares at the Placing Price. The maximum number of Placing Shares represent approximately 13.8 per cent. of the Company's issued ordinary share capital immediately following admission of the Placing Shares. 

Jim Sumner, John Fickling and Mike Dunn, Directors of the Company, have agreed to subscribe for Placing Shares at the Placing Price as follows:

Director	No. of Shares issued	No. of shares held following transaction (% ISC held)
John Fickling	291,667	2,542,355 (0.95%)
Jim Sumner	83,333	1,215,497 (0.45%)
Mike Dunn	16,667	548,501 (0.20%)

Application for admission of the Placing Shares to AIM has been made and the Placing Shares are expected to be admitted on 25 January 2010.

For further information, please contact:

Jim Sumner, CEO, Optare plc Mike Dunn, Finance Director, Optare plc	[phone]
Camilla Hume, Cenkos Securities plc Stephen Keys, Cenkos Securities plc	[phone]

 

END

 

 

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