FFWD.L Share News (FFWD)

(Sharecast News) - Investment company FastForward Innovations has placed 24,705,879 new shares at a price of 8.5p each with new and existing shareholders, it announced on Friday, raising £2.1m to fund a number of investment opportunities.
The AIM-traded firm said that in addition, it issued 2,941,177 shares from its treasury to former director Lorne Abony at the placing price, in settlement of accrued directors fees payable in for calendar year 2019, which was deferred on 15 May for a period of up to 12 months.

It said the placing price represented a discount of 9.86% to its most recently published net asset value per share of 9.43p, and a 1.19% premium to the closing price of its shares on 28 January.

FastForward said it had to date experienced "largely positive" developments in the current financial year ending 31 March, as it focussed on delivering its core objective of providing investors with exposure to disruptive growth opportunities, in particular medical cannabis, that had near-term re-rating potential and would otherwise be inaccessible.

The proceeds from the placing would be used to fund a number of opportunities in line with that investment strategy, the board said.

"The support that we have received from new and existing shareholders in completing this placing is extremely encouraging and is an endorsement of our streamlined strategy to focus our investments into the areas where we have significant expertise, namely, health, wellness and medical cannabis," said chief executive officer Ed McDermott.

"We have had a strong start to 2021, particularly with respect to our investments in the wellness and medical cannabis space."

McDermott said that notably, this week the merger between Yooma and Globalive moved towards completion following its approval by shareholders, marking a "significant milestone" for FastForward.

"We hope to maintain this momentum across our other portfolio companies and as we consider potential new investment opportunities in the space."

At 1210 GMT, shares in FastForward Innovations were up 3.56% at 8.7p.