R.e.a.hldgs. Regulatory News (RE.)

2 May 2007 07:01

R.E.A.Hldgs PLC02 May 2007 R.E.A. Holdings plc ("REA") Placing and crop update REA announces that, pursuant to a placing agreement dated 1 May 2007, MirabaudSecurities Limited has placed on behalf of REA a total of 1,500,000 new ordinaryshares of REA (the "placing shares") with a limited number of institutionalinvestors at a price of 450p per share. The placing is conditional uponadmission of the placing shares to the Official List of the Financial ServicesAuthority and to trading on the London Stock Exchange's market for listedsecurities. It is expected that admission will become effective and thatdealings in the placing shares will commence on 8 May 2007. The placing shareswill upon issue rank pari passu in all respect with the existing ordinary sharesof REA. The proceeds from the placing shares are estimated to amount to £6.5 million(net of expenses of £250,000). These monies will be applied towards meeting thefurther funding that the REA group is likely to require beyond 2007 if, as thedirectors of REA hope will be the case, the group's extension planting of oilpalms continues at a high level. It was announced on 25 April 2007 that the fresh fruit bunch crop to the end ofMarch 2007 was approximately 9,000 tonnes below budget. The position at the endof April showed an improvement with the deficit on budget reduced to some 5,000tonnes. It remains the case that, as the monthly phasing of each year's cropvaries from year to year, a deficit against budget in crops harvested in theearly months of the year should not be taken as indicating a likelihood that thefresh fruit bunch crop for 2007 as a whole will be below budget. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange