Placing of shares
Screen Technology Group plc
01 December 2006
For Immediate Release 1 December 2006
Screen Technology Group plc
Placing of 2,500,000 new ordinary shares at 60p per share to raise £1.5million
New customer order
Screen Technology Group plc ('Screen Technology' or the 'Company') the designer
and manufacturer of high-resolution, large-screen displays for high ambient
light environments is pleased to announce that Charles Stanley Securities has
conditionally placed 2,500,000 new ordinary shares of 5p each ('New Ordinary
Shares') at 60 pence per share to raise £1.5 million before expenses (£1.4
million net of costs) with certain institutional and other investors (the
'Placing'). The proceeds of the Placing will be invested in the Company's
production facilities to accelerate growth in the business.
Screen Technology is also pleased to announce that Ashingo Plc ('Ashingo') has
placed an order for modular display screens and ancillary equipment. Ashingo is
a supplier of display equipment and content for shopping malls and other public
areas. Screen Technology will supply certain ancillary display equipment,
which will be delivered in the current financial year and during 2007 is set to
deliver 10 large modular displays, each measuring over four square metres and
consisting of a 4x3 array of modules comprising 48 ITrans tiles. The first
modular display is expected to be delivered in April 2007. The Company
anticipates that these will be some of the first modular displays produced from
Screen Technology's new high-speed facilities which are expected to commence
production in January 2007.
The Placing represents approximately 7.7 per cent. of the existing issued share
capital of the Company. The New Ordinary Shares will rank pari passu with the
existing ordinary shares. The Placing is conditional on admission of the New
Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM ('Admission') which is expected to take place,
and dealings are expected to commence, on 6 December 2006. Following Admission,
the enlarged issued share capital of the Company will be 35,108,970 ordinary
shares.
The placees include MTI Partners Ltd ('MTI'), which has subscribed for 597,973
new shares. Following the Placing and upon Admission MTI will own 17,554,484
ordinary shares representing just under 50.0% of the Company's enlarged share
capital.
The participation of MTI in the Placing is a related party transaction for the
purposes of the AIM Rules. In the opinion of the directors having consulted with
the Company's Nominated Adviser, Charles Stanley, such participation is fair and
reasonable insofar as shareholders are concerned.
Certain of the Directors, have agreed to participate in the Placing as detailed
below:
Director Number of % of the Number of Number of % of
Ordinary issued Placing Ordinary issued
Shares Ordinary Shares Shares Ordinary
prior to Share following Share
the capital the capital
Placing prior to Placing following
the and the
Placing Admission Placing
and
Admission
Thomas Swan 5,751,285 17.6% 166,666 5,917,951 16.9%
Thomas Jarman - - 100,000 100,000 0.3%
Peter Smyth 23,809 0.1% 33,333 57,142 0.2%
Thomas Swan's interests are held entirely through his beneficial interest in
Thomas Swan & Co Ltd.
In addition to the shareholdings set out above, immediately following the
Placing and Admission, the Company is aware of the following shareholdings
representing 3 per cent. or more of the Company's issued ordinary share
capital:
Name Number of % of the Number of Number of % of
Ordinary issued Placing Ordinary issued
Shares Ordinary Shares Shares Ordinary
prior to Share following Share
the capital the capital
Placing prior to Placing following
the and the
Placing Admission Placing
and
Admission
MTI Partners 16,956,511 52.0% 597,973 17,554,484 50.0%
Limited
Schroder 1,837,300 5.6% 250,000 2,087,300 5.9%
Investment
Management Limited
Herald Investment 1,587,300 4.9% 250,000 1,837,300 5.2%
Management Limited
Tom Jarman, CEO of Screen Technology, commented :
"We are delighted by the support from investors who recognise the compelling
competitive advantages of ITrans. With a growing number of orders from blue chip
customers and funding in place for increased capacity, we are confident of our
prospects."
Screen Technology Group plc www.screentechnology.com
Thomas Jarman, CEO 01223 559600
Simon Barton, Finance Director
Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000
Isabel Podda
Charles Stanley Securities 020 7149 6000
Russell Cook
Henry Fitzgerald-O'Connor
Notes to Editors
Screen Technology
Screen Technology is the designer and manufacturer of high-resolution, large-
screen displays designed for high ambient light environments.
The high resolution and high definition of the Company's displays give a high-
quality image suitable for advertising images and video as well as public
information displays. They are visible at short viewing distances as well as
across larger venues making them particularly suitable for large retail
outlets, shopping malls, control rooms and transport concourses where customers
might be within 10m of the display, a distance at which LED display
technologies become unsuitable. The high brightness means that the displays
are also easily visible in the kind of high ambient light environments where
conventional LCD or plasma technologies become unusable.
Screen Technology's patent-protected technology uses moulded optical fibre tiles
to produce seamless large displays using standard production LCD panels.
The scaleable modular technology enables screens to be built in a wide variety
of shapes and of theoretically unlimited size.
Screen Technology Group plc listed on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock
Exchange, on 1 August 2005.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange