ARTA.L Regulatory News (ARTA)

19 May 2008 15:34



19 May 2008

Artilium plc ("Artilium" or the "Company")

Update re Cold Investments Limited

In its interim results, released on 20 March 2008, the Company stated that £1 million was due from Cold Investments Limited ("Cold") arising from an amount outstanding in settlement relating to the exercise of series 2 warrants and that the Company had received confirmation from the solicitors acting for Cold Investments that they had received an irrevocable instruction to pay £1 million to the Company out of the sale of assets owned by Cold.

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Since that time, the Board of Artilium has continued to pursue this debt but, to date, has been unable to recover any of the monies due. Hence, pursuant to the Company's Articles of Association, the Board recently commenced proceedings for forfeiture to recover control of those shares held by Cold.

These proceedings are now complete and, as a result, Artilium currently has control over 1,919,873 Artilium shares. These shares may be sold at the Board's discretion, for the benefit of the Company, at any time in the next twelve months. Any proceeds received from the sale of the shares in excess of £1 million will be returned to Cold after settling the Company's legal expenses of recovery.

If, prior to the disposal of the shares, Cold settles some or all of its debt with the Company, then shares representing the settled portion of the debt may be returned to Cold at the discretion of the Board. If, upon the expiry of the twelve month period, some or all of the shares remain unsold and to the extent Cold's debt also remains unsettled, the shares will be cancelled.

Due to the twelve month time period available, the Board has no immediate intention to dispose of the shares in the market. However, the Board will continue to monitor market conditions in order to identify the most appropriate timing to effect a disposal or disposals.

Whilst the shares remain under the control of the Company, they will not be eligible for voting purposes and will be treated as treasury shares. As a result, the total number of voting rights as at 19 May 2008 reduces to 56,868,052. 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 the Company, under the FSA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules. 

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