CSLT.L Regulatory News (CSLT)

15 Dec 2006 15:54

Cosalt PLC15 December 2006 Cosalt plc Marine safety acquisition, placing and trading update Acquisition Cosalt plc ("Cosalt"), the UK's leading business in the supply, maintenance andtesting of marine safety products, announces that conditional agreement has beenreached for the acquisition of the Maritime Safety Division of the Bofort Groupfor a consideration of €12 million payable in cash. Bofort's maritime safety business, headquartered in Belgium, is involved in thesupply, maintenance and testing of marine safety equipment with operations inBelgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. The business had annual turnoverof €16.5 million in the year ended 31 December 2005. Profits before interest,tax, goodwill amortisation and management charges in 2005 amounted to €1.2million whilst profit before tax was €0.04 million. The 2005 year end grossassets were €6.5 million. The business is being acquired with debt of €3.0million. The consideration payable for the entire share capital of the business is €12million in cash which will be funded from Cosalt's existing bank facilities.Completion is subject to certain conditions having been satisfied and iscurrently expected to be before the end of December 2006. The business will be fully integrated with Cosalt's existing Marine SafetyDivision. The marine safety industry has benefited substantially in recentyears from increasing safety regulation; a trend which is expected to continue.On completion of the acquisition of Bofort, Cosalt's Marine Safety business willbe the market leader in the EU. Per Jonsson, Chief Executive of Cosalt, commented: "This acquisition underlinesour commitment to strategic change, will add scale to one of our corecompetencies and will enhance our overall service offering. This is anattractive business that we have tracked for some time now and we are excited bythe potential to be created from combining a European business with our existingstrong UK market position. We have an existing capable management team who willwork with Bofort's team to maximise the synergy potential". Placing The Board also announces that the Company has raised approximately £1.7 millionthrough a placing of 663,758 new ordinary shares of 25p each (the "PlacingShares") at a price of 256 pence per share. The Placing Shares representapproximately 5.0% of Cosalt's existing issued share capital. As part of theplacing, institutional investors have subscribed for 563,758 Placing Shares andDavid Ross, a Non-Executive Director of the Company, has subscribed for 100,000Placing Shares. As a result of this acquisition, David Ross now holds 1,775,461ordinary shares in Cosalt representing approximately 12.7% of the Company'senlarged issued share capital. The proceeds of the placing will be used to strengthen the Company's balancesheet and to give the Company more flexibility regarding any acquisitionopportunities that may arise in the future. Application has been made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading onthe Official List of the London Stock Exchange and admission is expected on 21December 2006. The Placing Shares will rank pari passu with Cosalt's existingordinary shares. Trading update The Board expects to release results for the year ended 29 October 2006 in lateFebruary 2007. The Company has enjoyed a good performance in Safety andProtection and a solid recovery at Cosalt Holiday Homes. As previouslyannounced performance at Cosalt Ballyclare has been disappointing due to lowerthan anticipated order intake and some delays in the planned move of the supplychain to the Far East. The results are expected to be in line with overallmarket expectations for profit before tax and exceptional items. 15 December 2006 Enquiries: Cosalt plc Tel: 01472 504504Per JonssonNeil Carrick College Hill Tel: 020 7457 2020Mark GarrawayMatthew Gregorowski This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange