Time Finance Regulatory News (TIME)

28 Jul 2008 07:01



TIME.L

Timestrip Plc (the 'Company')

Placing by the Company and Appointment of Non-Executive Director

The Company is pleased to announce that it has raised £562,500 through a Placing by the Company of 25,000,000 new ordinary shares of 0.02 pence each (the 'Placing Shares') at a price of 2.25 pence per share (the 'Placing Price') with Graham Platts, a private investor based in Monaco. The Placing Price represents a premium of 20% to the closing mid market price on 25th July 2008. The Placing Shares will represent approximately 6.2% per cent of the enlarged issued share capital of the Company following the Placing.

The Placing is conditional upon admission of the Placing Shares to trading on AIM. No commissions or fees were paid in relation to the Placing.

The Company has also entered into an unconditional put option agreement, exercisable at the Company's sole discretion at any time between 1 January 2009 and 1 January 2011, to raise a further £437,500 through an additional placing of shares with Graham Platts. The price of any new shares issued pursuant to this agreement will be based on the average offer price over the 20 business days preceding the date of exercise. There are no commissions or fees associated with either the agreement or the placing of new shares pursuant to this agreement.

Graham Platts has agreed not to sell any shares until such time as either the put option is exercised by the Company or it expires.

Application will be made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and dealings are expected to commence on 15th August 2008.

After the Placing the total enlarged issued share capital of the Company will be 403,078,739. Therefore, following the Placing, the total number of voting rights in the Company is 403,078,739

The above figures may be used by shareholders in determining whether they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the Disclosure and Transparency Rules. 

Use of proceeds

The proceeds of the Placing, and the option to place a further £437,500 of ordinary shares in the future, significantly strengthens the Company's balance sheet at a time when it is looking to build long-term relationships and grow revenues with both its existing customers and from its extensive pipeline of potential customers, many of whom are blue-chip multinational companies.

New board appointment

As outlined above, Graham Platts, aged 48, has today been appointed a non-executive director of the Company. Graham is a graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge and holds an MA in Mathematics. He joined Scorex, an international credit scoring consultancy based in Monaco, in 1988. He became CEO of Scorex in 2001 and helped build the business to revenues of £30m and clients in over 60 countries prior to its sale to Experian in 2003. After three years as CEO of the enlarged entity, Experian-Scorex, he left in 2006 to become a director of Scoresoft SAM, a company that invests in credit bureau, credit scoring and credit lending businesses in emerging markets.

Graham holds or in the last five years has held directorships or partnerships in the following:

Scorex (UK) Limited; Scorex SAM; Scoresoft SAM. In respect of Graham Platts, no further disclosure is required pursuant to Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules.

Paul Freedman, Joint Chief Executive of Timestrip Plc said:

"We are delighted to have taken this opportunity to further strengthen the finances of the Company at an important stage in our development, and to have increased the strength of the Board through the addition of Graham Platts. Graham brings with him a wealth of commercial experience and a proven track record in developing fast-growth companies."

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