?8m Placing to support growth strategy

RNS Number : 1701T

Audioboom Group PLC

01 October 2014

 



1 October 2014

Audioboom Group plc

("Audioboom" or the "Company")

£8m Placing to support growth strategy

Audioboom Group plc (AIM: BOOM), the digital social media audio platform, announces that it has raised £8 million from new and existing institutional and other shareholders to fund the growth of the business.

Highlights

·     £8m raised through the issue of 64m new ordinary shares at 12.5p per share

·     New ordinary shares will represent c. 12.0% of the enlarged issued share capital

·     Placing of 29 million shares on behalf of 7Digital to assist liquidity

·     Directors to subscribe for 820,000 Placing shares

·     Funds to support global roll out of new app, geographical expansion, creation of Hispanic app, website and content, expansion of curation teams and roll out of aggregated audio advertising network

Rob Proctor, CEO of Audioboom, commented, "Since Audioboom was admitted to AIM in May 2014, we have been overwhelmed by the response and take up of the platform. Audioboom served over 260 million page impression in August 2014, making it one of the UK's largest digital media platforms. I anticipate that the new app and new content deals will quickly drive this figure significantly higher.

"I am delighted that the Placing was heavily oversubscribed and to have received the backing of both existing and new institutional and private investors. Our substantial balance sheet will now allow the accelerated global growth of our platform, major expansion of our aggregated audio advertising network and the roll-out of the new Audioboom app, which I believe will revolutionise the digital consumption of audio."  

Enquiries:

Audioboom Group plc	www.audioboomplc.com
Rob Proctor, CEO	Tel: [phone]
Arden Partners plc	Tel: [phone]
Chris Hardie, Corporate Finance
Kam Bansil, Equity Capital Markets
Walbrook PR	Tel: [phone] or [e-mail]
Paul McManus	Mob: [phone]
Sam Allen	Mob: [phone]

Placing of ordinary shares to raise £8million (the "Placing")

Audioboom Group plc (AIM: BOOM), the digital social media audio platform, announces that it has raised £8million through the issue of 64 million new ordinary shares of no par value in the Company (the "New Shares") at a price of 12.5 pence per share. The New Shares have been placed with institutional and other investors by the Company's Nomad and Broker, Arden Partners plc ("Arden Partners"). The Placing is conditional, inter alia, on the admission of the New Shares to AIM.

The New Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares. Application has been made for the admission of the New Shares to trading on AIM ("Admission"). It is expected that Admission will become effective and trading in the New Shares will occur at 8.00 a.m. on 7 October 2014.

In order to satisfy demand, the Company has also agreed to release 7digital PLC ("7digital") from the lock-in arrangements entered into at the time of the acquisition of Audioboo Limited in May 2014. 7digtal has conditionally placed 29,029,307 existing Ordinary Shares (the "Sale Shares") through Arden Partners at 12.5 pence per share. 7digital will retain 58 million ordinary shares, representing 10.9 per cent. of the enlarged issued share capital of the Company. The placing of Sale Shares is subject only to the Placing becoming unconditional.

Background to the Placing

Since the acquisition of Audioboo Limited in May 2014, Audioboom has expanded rapidly its range of content and user base, with registered users growing from 2.4 million on acquisition to approaching 3 million currently. New offices have opened in New York, San Francisco and Australia and the Company recently released the new iOS app for mobile users with a new app for other platforms such as Android to be launched in the near future. The recently announced partnership with Zee TV in India also provides a new range of opportunities for the Company.

These significant expansion opportunities bring with them the need for additional headcount and infrastructure. The new funds will allow the Company to continue implementing its strategy, in particular:

-      to support the global roll out of the new Audioboom app in all formats;

-      accelerate geographic expansion, including growth of the New York and Sydney offices and a new office in Mumbai;

-      allow the creation of a bespoke app, website and content specific to Hispanic partners and users, opening up major opportunities in both the North and South American markets;

-      expansion of the content curation teams to ensure the best audio content is syndicated around the world; and

-      accelerate the roll-out of the world's first aggregated audio advertising network through Audioboom's content partners.

This is expected to increase headcount from 17 to 25 by the end of the first quarter of 2015. The Directors are confident that, following the Placing, the Company will have adequate financial resources for the foreseeable future.

7digital sale of ordinary shares

The Company has entered into a release agreement which removes the lock-in entered into in May 2014 under which 7digital agreed not to sell all or part of its shareholding except in certain limited circumstances for a period of 12 months. 7digital has, in agreement with the Company, decided to reduce its shareholding to free up resources for use in its business. 7digital has today conditionally placed 29,029,307 Sale Shares at 12.5 pence per share through Arden Partners. 7digital retains a shareholding of 58 million shares representing 10.9 per cent. of the enlarged share capital following the placing and it has entered into an orderly market agreement under which it will not sell any further shares for a period of 12 months without the prior agreement of the Company and its Nomad and broker.

Details of the Placing

Arden Partners has today placed 64 million New Shares on behalf of the Company with institutional and other investors. The Placing is conditional, inter alia, upon Admission and will raise approximately GBP 7,700,000, after expenses for the Company. Approximately £141,000 of commissions payable to intermediaries are being settled in Ordinary Shares giving rise to a further allotment of 1,131,296 Ordinary Shares ("Commission Shares"). 

Application will be made for the New Shares issued pursuant to the Placing to be admitted to trading on AIM and it is anticipated that Admission will become effective and that dealings will commence on 7 October 2014.

The New Shares and the Commission Shares will, when issued, rank equally in all respects with the existing ordinary shares and will represent approximately 12.25 per cent. of the enlarged issued share capital of the Company immediately following Admission.

Following Admission, the total number of ordinary shares in the Company in issue will be 531,643,649. 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 change to their interest in, their shareholding in Audioboom.

Charles Stanley Securities acted as Placing Agent on the Placing.

Future prospects

The Directors are excited about the prospects for the Company and expect that they will have a number of new content provider transactions to announce which they are currently working on. These and other milestone achievements will be announced to the market as they occur.

About Audioboom (www.audioboom.com)

Audioboom Group plc is a SaaS based digital social media audio platform enabling the creation, broadcast and consumption of audio across multiple global media outlets. Audioboom works with some of the biggest names in broadcasting across sport, entertainment and current affairs to bring their content to millions of listeners worldwide via Facebook, Twitter and other media platforms.

The technology allows partners to embed playlists onto their sites and apps, use our mobile apps and functionality as listen again players and re-syndicate their content around the web.

Audioboom also allows the monetisation of audio via the dynamic insertion of pre and post roll advertising into content as a user is listening, allowing contemporary advertising selection, depending on content genre and geographic location of the user.

Audioboom has over 1,700 content partners, including the BBC, Telegraph, Guardian, CBS, Sky Sports, Premier League, Southern Cross Austereo, Reuters, CNBC, Universal and Fox.

 

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