1 Mar 2017 16:03
Strat Aero plc / Index: AIM / TIDM: AERO / Sector: Support Services
1 March 2017
Strat Aero plc ("Strat Aero," the "Company" or the "Group")
Extension of Loan Facility
Strat Aero plc, an international aerospace company focused on the rapidly emerging Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ("UAV") sector, announces that further to the announcement of 24 November 2016, the Company has successfully re-negotiated the short term loan facility ('the Loan Facility') it entered into with Farina Investments (UK) Ltd ('Farina') on favourable terms.
Under the new agreement, the term of the Loan Facility has been extended for a period of 12 months from 1st March 2017 with an option for the Company to extend this to a second year. The size of the Loan Facility remains £300,000 however interest will be charged at a rate of 8%, compared to the previously agreed interest rate of 25%. The Loan Facility will continue to have a secured fixed and floating charge. In exchange for agreeing the new terms and in consideration of interest accrued to date, Farina is to be issued with 50,000,000 new ordinary shares in the Company at a price of 0.1p per ordinary share ("Farina Shares").
The Loan Facility was originally executed to provide adequate working capital for the Company through to mid Q1 2017 and enable management to focus on continuing to grow the business in line with its stated strategy to focus on its two core divisions, Survey & Inspection Services and Commercial UAS Training & Education.
Subsequent to the execution of the original Loan Facility the Company has raised equity capital in order to provide for its expected working capital requirements, as it looks to deliver on its target to become cash flow positive by the end of the year. The Directors intend to retain the Loan Facility to provide the Company with additional financial flexibility in support of this aim.
Admission
Application will be made for the Farina Shares, which will rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares in the Company, to be admitted to trading on AIM ('Admission'). It is expected that Admission will become effective and dealings will commence at 8.00 a.m. on or around 7 March 2017.
Total Voting Rights
In accordance with the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules, following the issue of the Farina Shares the Company will have 1,964,285,262 ordinary shares of 0.1p each in issue, none of which are held in treasury. Therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company is 1,964,285,262.
The above figure of 1,964,285,262 may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
Iain McLure, CEO of Strat Aero plc, said "We regard the successful renegotiation of the loan facility with Farina as a vote of confidence in both the management team and our strategy to focus on what we are good at, specifically delivering highly specialised UAV based surveys and inspection services and UAV commercial training and education. We are targeting breakeven at the operating level this year and once this has been achieved we will have a cash generative platform with which to fund our future expansion as we look to scale up our activities and further position Strat Aero as a leading UAV services provider."
For further information please visit www.strat-aero.com or contact
Strat Aero plc | Tel: +44 (0) 1293 804741 |
Graham Peck (Chairman) | |
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0470 |
Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker | |
Stuart Gledhill | |
Jeff Keating | |
Beaufort Securities Limited |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7382 8300 |
Joint Broker | |
Elliot Hance | |
Cornhill Capital |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7710 9610 |
Colin Rowbury | |
St Brides Partners Ltd |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 |
Financial PR | |
Frank Buhagiar | |
Susie Geliher |
Notes
Strat Aero plc is a multi-divisional international aerospace services company, focussed primarily on the provision of complete client solutions in the Unmanned Aerial System ('UAS' market), which is predicted to show exponential growth over the coming decade. Commercial and military applications in UASs are expected to be a dynamic growth sector in the aerospace industry over the next 10 years with the UAS market forecast to grow to more than US$82.1 billion between 2015 and 2025 (AUVSI Economic Report 2013) and the global airborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance ('ISR') market estimated to grow to US$19.23 billion by 2023.