SMRT.L Regulatory News (SMRT)

10 Apr 2008 13:13

Coms PLC10 April 2008 COMS plc (the "Company" or "Coms") Placing and issue of Shares AIM quoted Coms plc has today placed 162,083,333 new ordinary shares of 0.1peach ("Placing Shares") with new investors and Directors at a price of 0.3p perordinary share (the "Placing"). The gross proceeds of the Placing are £ 486,250and will be used by the Company to provide additional funds for furtheracquisitions and the continued growth of the Company's existing operations. The following Directors took part in the Placing: +-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+|Director |No. of Placing |No. of Ordinary |% of Enlarged || |Shares |Shares held |issued share || | |following the |capital || | |Placing | |+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+|Jason Drummond |16,666,666 |519,179,032 |42.61% || | | | || | | | |+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+|Jonathan Cole |3,000,000 |90,951,100 |7.46% || | | | || | | | |+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+|Justin Drummond |10,000,000 |41,431,400 |3.40% || | | | || | | | |+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ The Placing Shares will represent approximately 13.3 per cent of the Company'senlarged issued share capital immediately following the Placing. Applicationwill be made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM anddealings in the shares are expected to commence on or before Thursday 17 April2008. The Placing Shares will rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares. The Company's enlarged issued share capital immediately following the Placingwill be 1,218,461,533 ordinary shares of 0.1p, each share carrying the right toone vote. Mr Jason Drummond, Mr Jonathan Cole and Mr Justin Drummond are directors of theCompany and accordingly their participation in the Placing constitutes a relatedparty transaction under the AIM Rules. Accordingly, the Board, other than MrJason Drummond, Mr Jonathan Cole and Mr Justin Drummond, having consulted withHB Corporate, the Company's Nominated Adviser, believe that the terms of thetransaction are fair and reasonable in so far as its shareholders are concerned. Commenting on the Placing, Jason Drummond, Executive Chairman of Coms plc said,"The Company continues to focus on its business internet telephony service andthis additional working capital will allow us to expand our sales teams. Comsremains well positioned to expand further and to capitalise on profitableacquisition opportunities that we believe are likely to arise in the fastgrowing internet telephony sector". Date: 10 April 2008 Contact: Coms plc Richard Bennett, Corporate Development Officer Tel: +44 (0)20 7148 3600 HB Corporate Rod Venables, Director Corporate Finance Tel: +44 (0)20 7510 8600 Notes to Editors: About Coms plc Coms was founded by Jason Drummond in 2000 with the vision of using the Internetto carry and deliver voice telephone calls. Unlike Skype, Coms is based upon theindustry standard SIP protocol which enables the widest possible connection ofcustomers, devices and integrated Web 2.0 applications. Coms subscribers canmake high quality calls over the internet wherever a high-speed internetconnection is available including in wireless hotspots. Coms subscribers canalso select their own free telephone number. Ofcom has allocated Coms 2 millionnumbers in the top 178 UK geographic area codes by population which Comssubscribers can choose from. In addition, Coms can transfer a company's existingtelephone number to their service. Subscription is available in a range ofpackages from the Company's website www.coms.com. As well as the obvious cost saving implications for businesses and consumers,the expanding market will enable Coms to develop and offer innovative newconvergent services such as video calling, IP Centrex, location independence andonline presence. It is these new innovative features, alongside the cost savingbenefits that are likely to encourage customers away from traditional PSTNsystems and combine their broadband service and voice calling system. Coms launched its consumer service in October 2006, and recently acquiredExchangeXT, a leading provider of business VoIP services, to enable Coms toenter the SME market. Coms is an Ofcom authorised Public Electronic Communications Network (PECN) anda member of the Internet Telephony Service Providers Association (ITSPA). Coms plc joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange on 6 September 2006(AIM:COMS). This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange