Placing of New Shares, New Debt Facilities &...
1PM PLC
("1PM" or the "Company")
Announcement of Placing of New Shares, New Debt Facilities & Board Changes
24 October 2007
The Company is pleased to announce that it has raised approximately £675,000
before expenses through an equity placing by SVS Securities (the "Placing"). The
directors of the Company have subscribed for shares to the value of £310,000 in
the Placing. The Placing was significantly oversubscribed.
The placing monies will increase 1pm's capital base enabling the Company to
write a greater volume of business than recently possible and thus exploit the
opportunities within the thriving £5 billion traditional small ticket leasing
market.
In conjunction with the Placing, the Company is also pleased to announce the
following changes to the Board:
Michael ("Mike") Richard Johnson (63) has been appointed as full-time executive
chairman with immediate effect. Mike Johnson joined 1pm in February 2007 as non-
executive chairman, bringing over 30 years experience in the asset finance
industry, to help accelerate the growth of the business.
Maria-Louise ("Maria") Hampton (29) has been appointed as operations director
with immediate effect. Maria has worked for the Company since 2003. She has
been instrumental in the restructuring of 1pm's business procedures and
implementing strict underwriting procedures and controlled debt management
systems.
As a result of the procedures Maria has put in place, 1pm has seen a significant
improvement in bad debt levels which have fallen from 8 per cent in May 2006 to
2 per cent. in the first quarter of this financial year.
Paul David ("Paul") Connell (40) has been appointed as a non-executive director
with immediate effect. Paul set up and still owns, First Financial (UK) Limited
in 1990. First Financial is a general finance broker based in Bexley, Kent. Paul
is experienced in asset finance lending and has previously worked with chairman
Mike Johnson at First Sierra Financial Inc, a large US asset finance group
during the late 1990s.
Anthony ("Tony") Ffrancon Williams (49) has stepped down as a director with
immediate effect. The board would like to thank him for his efforts.
Rodney Owen Channon (49) remains as finance director.
The following directors have subscribed for shares in the placing:
Name No. of No. of Value Total Resultant
Ordinary Ordinary of No. of Holdings
Shares Shares shares Ordinary (%)
held acquired acquired Shares
prior to in the held
the Placing
Placing
Mike Johnson Nil 40,000,000 £100,000 40,000,000 9.13%
Paul Connell Nil 40,000,000 £100,000 40,000,000 9.13%
Rodney Channon Nil 40,000,000 £100,000 40,000,000 9.13%
Tony Williams 36,666,667 4,000,000 £10,000 40,666,667 9.28%
The Placing comprises 270,047,000 new ordinary shares issued at a price of 0.25
pence each representing approximately 61.6% of the enlarged share capital of the
Company. As a result of the Placing, in addition to those detailed above, the
following notifiable interests in the voting share capital of the Company now
exist:
Wills & Co Stockbrokers Ltd - 18.26%
SVS Securities plc* - 15.69%
John David George Stickley - 8.37%
*SVS have subscribed for 47,135,000 new Ordinary shares in the Placing. In
addition, SVS Securities have been allotted in lieu of cash fees for broking
services 21,603,760 new Ordinary shares for which they paid the nominal value.
An application has been to AIM for all the new shares to be admitted for trading
on 25 October 2007. The total number of ordinary shares in issue following
admission of the new shares will be 438,212,229.
Mike Johnson, the chairman of the Company commented:
"We are delighted with the success of this fundraising which was significantly
oversubscribed and as a result investors were scaled back. The placing
demonstrates a positive vote of market confidence in the progress that the
repositioned 1pm plc is making into the traditional small ticket leasing market.
I would like to extend my thanks to the committed team at 1pm who have worked
tremendously hard to reposition the business. The Board's commitment and
confidence in the future is reflected by their personal investment in the
Company.
I would like to welcome the new members of the Board and wish Tony Williams
success for the future and for his contribution to 1pm. We now view the future
with growing optimism."
For further information, Contact:
1pm plc Mike Johnson 08707 397 397
Chairman
ARM Corporate Finance Limited Nick Harriss 020 7512 0191
SVS Securities plc Ian Callaway 020 7638 5600
Disclosure under AIM Rules for Companies Schedule 2(g)
Maria Hampton
No disclosures
Paul Connell
Current Directorships/Partnerships
First Financial UK Limited
First Asset Protection Limited
Connell & Jordan Partnership LLP
Previous Directorships
State Security Limited
First Vehicle UK Limited
First Asset Finance UK Limited
IGF Asset Finance Limited
No other disclosures