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18 October 2013
Coms plc
("Coms" or "the Company")
Placing of 167,586,000 new Ordinary Shares
Coms (AIM: COMS), a leading player in the provision of Hosted VoIP Telephony to UK businesses, is pleased to announce that Charles Stanley Securities and SI Capital have placed on its behalf 167,586,000 new ordinary shares (the "Placing Shares") at 3 pence per share, with certain institutional and other investors (the "Placing") to raise approximately £5million.
The Placing has been undertaken in response to institutional demand to support the Company's stated strategy of building a full service telecommunications business via organic growth and acquisition. The Company is currently evaluating several potential acquisition opportunities at various stages with no formal agreement as to terms. A key consideration in the Board's decision to progress any of these potential transactions will be that any acquisition should be earnings enhancing. Taking into account the net proceeds of the Placing of c.£4.8 million and the net cash balance of c.£3.1million (as at 16 October 2013), the Board believes that the Company will be well placed to pursue these opportunities.
Application has been made for the 167,586,000 Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. The Placing is conditional, amongst other things, on admission of the Placing Shares to trading and it is expected that admission will take place on 24 October 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 787,459,783 Ordinary Shares. The Company does not hold any shares in treasury and therefore the total number of voting rights in Coms is 787,459,783. This figure 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 charge to their interest in, the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
Dave Breith, Chief Executive Officer of Coms, commented: "We are delighted to have received investment both from existing and new institutional investors and I am very pleased to be welcoming the new shareholders to the Company. The Placing allows us to pursue our ambitious strategy to build a full service telecommunications company based around our carrier class VOIP telephony platform. "
For further information, please contact:
Coms plc +44 (0) 207 148 3000
David Breith (CEO)
Iain Ross (Chairman)
Charles Stanley Securities +44 (0)207 149 6000
(Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)
Karri Vuori / Philip Davies
SI Capital Limited +44 (0) 1483 413 500
(Joint Broker)
Andy Thacker / Nick Emerson
Newgate Threadneedle +44 (0) 207 653 9858
(PR)
Robyn McConnachie / Alex White
Notes to Editors
Coms plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (AIM market) and is a leading player in the provision of Hosted VoIP Telephony to UK businesses with over 10-years' experience in the telecoms sector. Unlike most VoIP providers, Coms does not rely on third party providers and we own and operate a UK based Carrier Class Telephony Platform.