VELOCITY COMPOSITES plc
("Velocity" or the "Company")
BOARD UPDATE
Velocity, the leading supplier of advanced composite material kits, providing engineering value-solutions for the global aerospace industry, provides the following update further to the announcement on 5 November 2018 regarding the demand received on 2 November 2018 for one or more Board Member resignations, and a proposal for the reappointment to the Board of Jonathan (Jon) Karl Bridges and Peter Turner. The demand also stated that should the requests not be met by 5.00 p.m. on 5 November 2018 Jon Bridges, Gerard Johnson and Christopher Banks (together the "Founders") would requisition a general meeting of the Company to effect these changes.
The Company and its advisers have attempted to engage in constructive dialogue with the Founders since that date and have impressed on the Founders the importance of expediting these matters towards a resolution as quickly as possible so as to put an end to this ongoing and damaging period of uncertainty. In response to these attempts the Founders' advisers have made it clear that the Founders' position remains unchanged.
At the time of this announcement, and since 2 November 2018, the Board has not received any clear communication from the Founders regarding their intentions over and above the initial demand, are not aware that the Founders have communicated a form of plan or strategy to any of the Company's stakeholders and have not received notification of the threatened general meeting requisition. The Board understands that the Founders are working with certain advisers and other individuals to put together a plan but there can be no certainty over the timing of this or whether it will come to fruition at all. The Founders' advisers have indicated that this plan will be ready to share with investors and other stakeholders "as soon as possible".
The Company will continue to attempt to engage with the Founders to clarify matters and in the meantime the Board will focus its attention on pursuing the Company's stated growth strategy.
Mark Mills (Chairman), Brian Tenner and Meera Parmar (both non-executive directors) commented: "While the Company has had some disappointments over the past 18 months we know that there is a significant opportunity to deliver considerable revenue growth in the future and we are absolutely focussed on delivering our plan and revised strategy to realise this potential. As a Board we are confident that our plan will deliver value accretion to all of the Company's shareholders but the current situation is damaging. Given our focus on this growth opportunity, it is very disappointing and a considerable distraction to the day-to-day running of the business that we continue to find ourselves in a state of uncertainty with regards to the intentions of the Founders 13 days after the receipt of their initial email and nine days after the expiry of the deadline that they imposed. In the interests of all of the Company's stakeholders, we will continue to seek clarification from the Founders as a matter of urgency. We hope that the Founders will recognise that their actions to date have been, and continue to be, detrimental to the success of the Company and the interests of its various stakeholders."
Ends
CONTACT DETAILS:
Velocity Mark Mills, Executive Chairman
|
c/o Camarco Tel: 020 3757 4980 |
finnCap (Nominated Adviser and Broker) Ed Frisby / Scott Mathieson / Hannah Boros (Corporate Finance) Tim Redfern (ECM) |
Tel: 020 7220 0500 |
Camarco (Financial PR) Ed Gascoigne Pees / Georgia Edmonds / James Crothers |
Tel: 020 3757 4980 |
The information communicated in this announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement via a regulatory news service this inside information will be considered to be in the public domain.
About Velocity Composites
Velocity Composites is a manufacturer of advanced composite material kits for the aerospace industry disrupting the composites supply chain to deliver engineered waste reduction solutions for its customers to build aircraft components using less time and material. The Company's customers include multi-national manufacturers of composite parts and assemblies, who in turn deliver to the world's leading civil and military aircraft manufacturers. The Airbus A320, A330, A350, A380, Eurofighter Typhoon, F35 Joint Strike Fighter and Boeing 737, 787 and V22 Osprey are all constructed using parts manufactured from Velocity's kits. The Company's business model reduces the operating costs of preparing composite materials ahead of their usage in the construction of an aircraft part and as such, its offering is disposed to being self-financing for aircraft parts' manufacturers. Velocity's services are seeing increased demand as the global aircraft industry enters a more-for-less era. Velocity currently has customers in the UK and Continental Europe.