Strategic Minerals Regulatory News (SML)

8 Jul 2005 14:02

Smallbone PLC08 July 2005 SMALLBONE PLC Placing Smallbone plc ("Smallbone" or "the Company"), the supplier of luxury kitchensand stone flooring is pleased to announce that, in order to meet institutionaldemand, it has today placed 2,138,838 ordinary shares with new institutionalshareholders (the "Placing"). Of the 2,138,838 ordinary shares placed withinvestors, 772,078 are new ordinary shares placed on behalf of the Company and1,366,760 ordinary shares are placed on behalf of existing shareholdersincluding trust funds connected to Charles Smallbone, Chairman and ChiefExecutive, which sold 944,225 ordinary shares. The shares placed represent 9.6 per cent of the enlarged issued share capital ofthe Company and the new ordinary shares represent 3.5 per cent. of the enlargedissued share capital. All of the ordinary shares were placed at a price of 71pence per share. The net proceeds of the new ordinary shares is approximately£0.54 million and will be used to augment the Company's working capital. Following this placing the interests of the vendors (including directors) in theordinary share capital of the Company is as follows: Name No. of shares % of issued share capital CD Smallbone 9,156,646 41.1%Charwell Trustees Limited 1,377,465 6.2% The shares were primarily placed with two institutional investors and followingthe placing Hendersons Global Investors will have an interest in 1,000,000ordinary shares, representing 4.5 per cent. of the Company's issued sharecapital. Commenting on the placing, Charles Smallbone, Chairman and Chief Executivecommented: "I am delighted that we have been able to attract new institutionalshareholders, thereby increasing our institutional investor base and theliquidity in our shares. The net proceeds of the placing will augment ourworking capital and further enable us to carry out the Group's expansion plansafter our recent acquisition of Mark Wilkinson Furniture". Contact details: Smallbone plc Tel: +44 (0)1380 729090Charles Smallbone, Chairman & Chief Executive Gordon Montgomery, Finance DirectorCharles Stanley & Co. Limited Tel: +44(0)20 7953 2000Mark TaylorCollege Hill Tel: +44(0)20 7457 2020Nick Elwes / Kate Pope This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange