AVS.L Regulatory News (AVS)

17 May 2007 08:10

InvestinMedia PLC17 May 2007 Avesco Group plc ("Avesco Group" or the "Company") Formerly known as InvestinMedia plc ("InvestinMedia") 17 May 2007 Not for release, publication or distribution in or into the United States, Australia, Canada or Japan Merger of InvestinMedia plc and Avesco plc completes Change of name to Avesco Group Trading Update Appointment of Joint Broker The Board of Avesco Group is pleased to announce that, following the approval bythe Court of the Scheme of Arrangement required to effect the recommendednil-premium merger of InvestinMedia and Avesco and the satisfaction or waiver ofall remaining conditions, the Scheme of Arrangement has become effective and theAcquisition has now been completed. As a consequence of the completion of theAcquisition, the name of the Company has today changed to "Avesco Group plc". Admission of Shares and Result of Partial Cash Alternative As a result of the Acquisition, 9,668,992 new Avesco Group ordinary shares of10p each ("Shares") have been issued to Scheme Shareholders. Application hasbeen made for these Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and dealings inthese Shares are expected to commence at 8.00 a.m. today. Following theAcquisition, the Company will have 25,985,289 Shares in issue of which 92,500are held in treasury. Valid elections pursuant to the Partial Cash Alternative were received fromAvesco Shareholders exceeding the maximum limit of 25% of Avesco's fully dilutedshare capital as at 28 March 2007. Accordingly elections by Avesco shareholdersin respect of up to 25% of their holdings have been satisfied in full andelections in excess of that allocation have been satisfied in respect ofapproximately 8.25% of total excess elections. As a result a total sum of£7,289,608.20 will be paid out in the next fourteen days to former AvescoShareholders in satisfaction of elections to take up the Partial CashAlternative. Change of Directors and Company Secretary On completion of the Acquisition, Alfred Stirling resigned as a director ofAvesco Group and Watlington Securities Limited resigned as Company Secretary.Following the appointment to the Board of Michael Gibbins, Ian Martin, JohnChristmas, Graham Andrews and David Nicholson, who were all previously directorsof Avesco, the Directors of the Company and their shareholdings in the Companyas enlarged by the Acquisition are now as follows: Name Role Number of Shares Percentage of the enlarged issued share capital Michael Gibbins Non-Executive Chairman 27,692 0.11Richard Murray Non-Executive Deputy Chairman 4,819,720 18.55 Chairman CCChairmanIan Martin Chief Executive 290,769 1.12John Christmas Finance Director 3,461 0.01Graham Andrews* Executive Director 11,864 0.05David Nicholson Executive Director 46,335 0.18Laurence Blackall Non-Executive Director 0 0.00Cameron Maxwell Non-Executive Director 100,024 0.38 * on page 91 of the Admission Document and page 49 of the Scheme Document, itwas stated that Graham Andrews held 17,139 shares in InvestinMedia. This wasincorrect, Graham held 17,139 Avesco shares and no InvestinMedia shares. The details of the above Directors are included in the Admission Document. In addition, on completion of the Acquisition, Nicholas Conn, who was previouslyCompany Secretary of Avesco, was appointed as Company Secretary of Avesco Groupand the registered office address of the Company was changed to Unit E2, SussexManor Business Park, Gatwick Road, Crawley, Sussex RH10 9NH. Trading Update and Notice of Results Avesco enjoyed a successful year to 31 March 2007, with trading results in linewith market expectations, while InvestinMedia's Fountain Studios continued tosee good utilisation of its facilities. Avesco Group will be announcing itspreliminary results for the six months ended 31 March 2007 on Thursday 28 June2007. An announcement will be made to the London Stock Exchange on that date. Commenting on the completion of the Acquisition, Ian Martin, Chief Executive ofAvesco Group said: "Avesco has made particularly strong progress over the last 12 months,delivering substantial growth and building a solid platform for future growth ineach of its markets. The additional financial resources that the merger bringsshould allow us to continue the strategic development of Avesco Group and welook forward to an exciting future." Appointment of Joint Broker The Company is pleased to announce that, on Admission, KBC Peel Hunt Ltd hasbeen appointed Joint Broker with JM Finn. Terms used in this announcement shall have the same meaning as in the AdmissionDocument Enquiries: Avesco Group plc 01293 583400 Ian Martin (Chief Executive)John Christmas (Finance Director) JM Finn & Co. Ltd. (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker) 020 7628 9688 Clive CarverCharles CunninghamEdward Frisby KBC Peel Hunt Ltd (Joint Broker) 020 7418 8900 Julian Blunt Weber Shandwick Financial Terry Garrett, Alex White, John Moriarty 020 7067 0700 Not for release, publication or distribution in or into the United States,Australia, Canada or Japan This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange