InfraStrata raises £9m in bid to strengthen balance sheet

(Sharecast News) - Infrastructure company InfraStrata has raised a total of £9m before expenses through a placing of 2,571,428,683 existing shares, at a price of 0.35p each, in two tranches with existing and new investors, it announced on Friday.
The AIM-traded firm said the first Placing raised £2.7m, and the second placing raised £6.3m, with the net proceeds set to strengthen its balance sheet, and enable it to tender for and win larger contracts.

It would also be used to pay the final tranche of deferred consideration for the Harland & Wolff acquisition, pay down smaller bridging loans and the redemption of redeemable preference shares, and to provide additional working capital for enhanced operations at Harland & Wolff.

InfraStrata also proposed a share consolidation of every 100 existing shares into one new share.

"We are delighted with the strong support we have received from institutional investors," said chief executive officer John Wood.

"This is testament to the significant growth opportunities available to our company on the back of our acquisition of the iconic Harland & Wolff shipyard, which is home to the UK's largest drydock.

"With numerous facilities currently closed globally due to the global pandemic, we have experienced unprecedented demand to use our drydock and are therefore gearing up for a period of significant activity."

Wood noted that the company recently welcomed three sister cruise vessels to the shipyard, and currently had a "strong pipeline" of future contracts.

"Additionally, with the two major UK Defence shipyards reaching or exceeding capacity, we are in a prime position to offer a much-needed solution to the UK defence market and have been actively engaging with UK defence with this in mind.

"This placing, together with the recommissioning work we have recently undertaken on site, positions us robustly to unlock the pipeline of opportunities that we have built since we completed the Harland & Wolff acquisition."

At 1114 BST, shares in InfraStrata were down 7.69% at 0.36p.