Softcat Regulatory News (SCT)

1 Dec 2006 12:13

Screen Technology Group plc01 December 2006 For Immediate Release 1 December 2006 Screen Technology Group plc Placing of 2,500,000 new ordinary shares at 60p per share to raise £1.5millionNew customer order Screen Technology Group plc ('Screen Technology' or the 'Company') the designer and manufacturer of high-resolution, large-screen displays for high ambientlight environments is pleased to announce that Charles Stanley Securities hasconditionally placed 2,500,000 new ordinary shares of 5p each ('New OrdinaryShares') at 60 pence per share to raise £1.5 million before expenses (£1.4million net of costs) with certain institutional and other investors (the'Placing'). The proceeds of the Placing will be invested in the Company'sproduction facilities to accelerate growth in the business. Screen Technology is also pleased to announce that Ashingo Plc ('Ashingo') has placed an order for modular display screens and ancillary equipment. Ashingo isa supplier of display equipment and content for shopping malls and other publicareas. Screen Technology will supply certain ancillary display equipment,which will be delivered in the current financial year and during 2007 is set todeliver 10 large modular displays, each measuring over four square metres andconsisting of a 4x3 array of modules comprising 48 ITrans tiles. The firstmodular display is expected to be delivered in April 2007. The Companyanticipates that these will be some of the first modular displays produced fromScreen Technology's new high-speed facilities which are expected to commenceproduction in January 2007. The Placing represents approximately 7.7 per cent. of the existing issued share capital of the Company. The New Ordinary Shares will rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares. The Placing is conditional on admission of the NewOrdinary Shares to trading on AIM ('Admission') which is expected to take place,and dealings are expected to commence, on 6 December 2006. Following Admission,the enlarged issued share capital of the Company will be 35,108,970 ordinaryshares. The placees include MTI Partners Ltd ('MTI'), which has subscribed for 597,973new shares. Following the Placing and upon Admission MTI will own 17,554,484ordinary shares representing just under 50.0% of the Company's enlarged sharecapital. The participation of MTI in the Placing is a related party transaction for thepurposes of the AIM Rules. In the opinion of the directors having consulted withthe Company's Nominated Adviser, Charles Stanley, such participation is fair andreasonable insofar as shareholders are concerned. Certain of the Directors, have agreed to participate in the Placing as detailedbelow: Director Number of % of the Number of Number of % of Ordinary issued Placing Ordinary issued Shares Ordinary Shares Shares Ordinary prior to Share following Share the capital the capital Placing prior to Placing following the and the Placing Admission Placing and AdmissionThomas Swan 5,751,285 17.6% 166,666 5,917,951 16.9%Thomas Jarman - - 100,000 100,000 0.3%Peter Smyth 23,809 0.1% 33,333 57,142 0.2% Thomas Swan's interests are held entirely through his beneficial interest inThomas Swan & Co Ltd. In addition to the shareholdings set out above, immediately following thePlacing and Admission, the Company is aware of the following shareholdingsrepresenting 3 per cent. or more of the Company's issued ordinary sharecapital: Name Number of % of the Number of Number of % of Ordinary issued Placing Ordinary issued Shares Ordinary Shares Shares Ordinary prior to Share following Share the capital the capital Placing prior to Placing following the and the Placing Admission Placing and AdmissionMTI Partners 16,956,511 52.0% 597,973 17,554,484 50.0%LimitedSchroder 1,837,300 5.6% 250,000 2,087,300 5.9%InvestmentManagement LimitedHerald Investment 1,587,300 4.9% 250,000 1,837,300 5.2%Management Limited Tom Jarman, CEO of Screen Technology, commented : "We are delighted by the support from investors who recognise the compellingcompetitive advantages of ITrans. With a growing number of orders from blue chipcustomers and funding in place for increased capacity, we are confident of ourprospects." Screen Technology Group plc www.screentechnology.comThomas Jarman, CEO 01223 559600Simon Barton, Finance Director Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000Isabel Podda Charles Stanley Securities 020 7149 6000Russell CookHenry Fitzgerald-O'Connor Notes to Editors Screen Technology Screen Technology is the designer and manufacturer of high-resolution, large-screen displays designed for high ambient light environments. The high resolution and high definition of the Company's displays give a high-quality image suitable for advertising images and video as well as publicinformation displays. They are visible at short viewing distances as well asacross larger venues making them particularly suitable for large retailoutlets, shopping malls, control rooms and transport concourses where customersmight be within 10m of the display, a distance at which LED displaytechnologies become unsuitable. The high brightness means that the displaysare also easily visible in the kind of high ambient light environments whereconventional LCD or plasma technologies become unusable. Screen Technology's patent-protected technology uses moulded optical fibre tiles to produce seamless large displays using standard production LCD panels. The scaleable modular technology enables screens to be built in a wide variety of shapes and of theoretically unlimited size. Screen Technology Group plc listed on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange, on 1 August 2005. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange