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10 May 2012 10:00
10 May 2012
Judges Scientific plc
("Judges Scientific", "Judges", the "Company" or the "Group")
£3 MILLION PLACING
The Directors of Judges Scientific plc are pleased to announce that the Company has raised £3.0 million (before expenses) through a placing (the "Placing") of 500,000 new ordinary shares of 5p (the "Placing Shares") at a price of 600p (the "Placing Price") per Placing Share. The Placing, which was almost three times subscribed, involved the participation of one existing and several new institutional investors together with private investors. In addition, 10,000 of Alex Hambro's ordinary shares were placed with one of the institutional placees at the same price.
The net proceeds from the Placing will serve to restore the Company's ability to complete further acquisitions. Global Digital Systems, acquired in March, was financed entirely by debt and, although the Group's gearing is modest, the Board took the view that further M&A activity would be constrained in the absence of an equity issue.
Commenting on the Placing, Alex Hambro, Chairman of Judges Scientific, said:
"We are delighted by the success of the Placing and by the quality of new investors who have joined our register. There has been a considerable appetite for the Company's equity during the past two years and we hope that the Placing will improve the liquidity in our shares."
Admission
The Placing Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares. Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on the Alternative Investment Market ("AIM") and admission is expected to take place on 16 May 2012. Following admission of the Placing Shares, the enlarged issued share capital will amount to 4,830,967 ordinary shares of 5p each.
The Company does not hold any shares in treasury and the above figure may therefore be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculation to determine whether they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the Financial Services Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
Holdings on Completion of the Placing
The Directors' interests in the Group's issued share capital following completion of the Placing are set out below.
Following the Placing | |||
Director |
Position | Number of Ordinary Shares | Percentage of Issued Share Capital |
Alexander Hambro | Non-executive Chairman | 90,000 | 1.9% |
David Cicurel | CEO | 538,841 | 11.2% |
David Barnbrook | Chief operating Officer | 15,000 | 0.3% |
Ralph Cohen | Finance Director | 15,000 | 0.3% |
Ralph Elman | Non-executive Director | 75,791 | 1.6% |
Glynn Reece | Non-executive Director | 3,000 | 0.1% |
Enquiries:
David Cicurel, CEO, Judges Scientific: Tel: 01342 323 600
Pascal Keane, Shore Capital: Tel: 020 7408 4090
Melvyn Marckus, Cardew Group: Tel: 07775 896 491
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