Woodbois Regulatory News (WBI)

28 September 2017

Obtala Limited

("Obtala", the "Group" or the "Company")

(AIM: OBT)

Corporate Structure and Board Changes

· Forestry (Argento Ltd) and Agriculture (Montara Ltd) divisions to have their own Board of Directors. Separate P&L and budgets to be approved by the Obtala Board

· Forestry Division to be further segmented into Timber Trading and Timber Production with asset and operational management adjusted accordingly

· Martin Collins named Deputy Chairman of Obtala Limited, and Chairman and CEO of Montara Limited, replacing Warren Deats who has resigned from the Company

· Carnel Geddes appointed to Obtala Board and confirmed as Obtala Group CFO; Carnel will also serve on Montara and Argento Boards

· Hadi Ghossein appointed Deputy Chairman of Argento Limited and Head of Timber Production division; Jacob Hansen and Zahid Abbas appointed to Argento Board as Co-Heads of Timber Trading division

· Tom Holroyd named as Argento Preference Share Investor Director to Argento Board as and Brian Phang as Non-Executive Director to Argento Board

· Recent Director changes, including those announced today, result in salary cost savings of ~US$100k per annum.

Board Update

Obtala Limited (AIM: OBT), the African focused agricultural and forestry company, is pleased to announce the appointment of several new board members and the establishment of separate agriculture and forestry boards following the enlargement of the Group's forestry activities following the acquisition of WoodBois International ApS.

Appointment of Martin Collins as Deputy Chairman of Obtala Ltd, and Chairman and CEO of the Agriculture Division

Martin John Collins has been appointed to the Obtala Board as Deputy Chairman, and to the Montara Board as Chairman and CEO of the agriculture business with immediate effect. He replaces COO Warren Deats, who has resigned from the Company to pursue his own ventures in Africa.

Martin, aged 53, started his career in London with Tullett & Tokyo, Futures and Options, with 5 years in London, Tokyo and Singapore respectively from 1985-2000, the final 5 years as Managing Director and CEO of Tullett Futures Asia. Upon returning to the UK, he spent 12 years with Natsource Europe Limited, originating and structuring many of the world's first Emission Reduction Transactions based on UNFCCC rules within the Kyoto Protocol. Natsource managed in excess of $1.2bn specifically targeting the emissions market arena. Throughout his time as Managing Director, CEO and Main Board member of Natsource, Martin travelled extensively in Asia and Africa sourcing suitable projects for investment. Since 2014 he has managed his family-owned investment fund. Prior to his appointment as Deputy Chairman, Martin had been acting as Head of New Business for Obtala and involved specifically with the agriculture division in Tanzania.

Martin will assume overall responsibility for the agriculture business from Warren Deats. We would like to thank Warren for his hard work establishing the hybrid cash crop and orchard model now being executed, overseeing the expansion of our existing pack house and the first substantial harvest for the company. Martin and Warren have been working together in Tanzania on the current melon harvest as part of the handover process and it is anticipated Warren will stay with the Company for another 6 months on a consultancy basis.

Martin currently holds or has held the following directorships during the past five preceding years:

There is no further information required to be disclosed in respect of Martin under Rule 17 or Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

Carnel Geddes appointed CFO of Obtala

Carnel Geddes has been appointed to the Obtala Board as Chief Financial Officer, and will also serve as CFO on the agriculture and forestry boards to oversee financial reporting and budgeting. Carnel has been serving as interim-CFO since the retirement of Philippe Cohen as Financial Director in July, having joined Obtala earlier this year as Group Accountant.

Based in South Africa, Carnel, aged 39, is a chartered accountant and certified fraud examiner, dually qualified in the UK and South Africa. She is an elected board member and director of the leading South African pomegranate farm company, Pomona, since 2008. Carnel honed her expertise in all key areas of accountancy and audit during a 15-year career at BDO, the global audit, tax and advisory group, culminating as director, forensic services, of BDO London and partner of BDO Cape Town. She brings invaluable knowledge of the international as well as the African markets, with the highest financial qualifications

Carnel currently holds or has held the following directorships during the past five preceding years:

There is no further information required to be disclosed in respect of Carnel under Rule 17 or Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

Jacob Hansen and Zahid Abbas appointed to the Argento Board as Co-Heads of Timber Trading division; Hadi Ghossein appointed Head of Production for all forestry assets

As part of the terms of the acquisition of WoodBois International ApS, WoodBois' founders Zahid Abbas and Jacob Hansen agreed to remain with Obtala for a minimum of 5 years and Hadi Ghossein, who currently oversees production in Gabon, for a minimum of 3 years. The Board has been impressed by the decades of collective forestry experience demonstrated by WoodBois' senior executives and unanimously determined that their appropriate position be as Directors and Business Heads on the Argento Board. Zahid Abbas and Jacob Hansen will both serve as Co-Heads of Timber Trading division, responsible for growing the trading division revenues once Obtala has secured additional trade finance, recommending strategic investments, growing relationships with key suppliers and maintaining a separate budget and P&L for the trading division. Hadi Ghossein will oversee overall forestry production for Argento, including our forest and sawmill operations in Gabon and Mozambique and the completion of our veneer factory in Gabon which is now underway. Ivan Muir will continue to manage day to day forestry operations in Mozambique while Patrick Green will manage governmental and provincial relations in Mozambique.

Tom Holroyd named to Argento Board as Investor Representative and Brian Phang as Non-Executive Director

We are pleased to announce that Tom Holroyd has been named to the Argento Board as Preference Share Investor Director. Tom is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of the Cherwell Group of companies, a private residential and mixed-use development company with over £130m of combined assets. He brings over 27 years of real estate related experience to the Argento Board, including difficult development site assembly and complex planning and physical construction, which has already proven invaluable in the oversight of our major infrastructure upgrades in Mozambique and Tanzania.

Brian Phang has joined the Argento Board as a Non-executive Director. Brian was formerly Head of the Automotive Division at Hap Seng Consolidated Berhad ("HSCB"), a over $5bn market cap, Malaysian listed conglomerate whose core businesses include plantations, property investment and development, credit financing, automotive fertilizers trading and building materials. HSCB's automotive division is one of the largest dealers of Mercedes commercial vehicles in the world. During his time at HSCB, Brian was instrumental in the introduction of Mercedes' commercial trucks to forestry operators in Africa, proposing modifications to suit off road conditions in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. Before joining HSCB Brian managed logging operations in Malaysia for Tekala Corporation. A trained engineer / certified Caterpillar mechanic with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University, Brian brings invaluable experience in forestry operations, fleet acquisition and management to the Argento Board.

Formation of Separate Agriculture and Forestry Boards

Since the appointment of Chairman Miles Pelham in April 2016, Obtala has sought to dispose of non-core assets to focus on sustainable forestry and agriculture. This process has involved the closure or disposal of numerous subsidiaries to simplify the organizational structure and improve financial reporting and decision making. We are pleased to announce that separate agriculture and forestry boards have now been installed, at Montara and Argento respectively, whose responsibilities will include setting budgets, financial reporting, deciding on key hires, and reviewing M&A and strategic investment opportunities, reporting to the Obtala Board. The forestry business will itself be segregated into forestry production and timber trading. During the past 12 months, it has become evident that a separation of the two boards will strengthen our universe of potential investors and partners, as new funds and/or trade finance facilities can be directed towards specific business lines with their own P&L, board and management teams. The group has also received interest in a potential sale or IPO of its agriculture division, and though not currently under serious consideration, the board separation would facilitate such an event were it to become in the best interests of the business and shareholders.

The Argento Board will consist of Paul Dolan (Chairman and CEO), Jacob Hansen (Co-Head of Timber Trading), Zahid Abbas (Co-Head of Timber Trading), Hadi Ghossein (Head of Production), Carnel Geddes (CFO), Tom Holroyd (Investor Director), and Brian Phang (Non-executive Director).

The Montara Board will consist of Martin Collins (Chairman and CEO), Paul Dolan (Director), and Carnel Geddes (CFO).

Following the departure of Warren Deats and the appointment of Martin Collins and Carnel Geddes, the Obtala Board now consists of Miles Pelham (Chairman), Paul Dolan (CEO), Martin Collins (Deputy Chairman), Carnel Geddes (CFO), Kevin Milne (Non-executive Director), and Jessica Camus (Non-executive Director).

Miles Pelham, Chairman of Obtala, commented: "I would like to welcome the new joiners to the Obtala team, and also thank Warren Deats for the work he has undertaken for us in Africa during the last year, his contribution has been significant and will be lasting.

The new corporate structure, enriched with great depth of talent of its new directors, positions the business for future expansion and allows the thorough assessment of investment and business decisions through all ranks of our organisation. With opportunities being presented to us every day I strongly believe that separate boards staffed with great experience are warranted.

We have recently encountered a number of instances whereby willing investment and collaboration could not be made due to the lack of independence of our business lines. Although our two divisions have many synergies the clear segmentation now in place will enable each Board to pursue funding and partnerships solely dedicated to their operations, including governmental and NGO grants and preferential financing."

This announcement contains information which was previously inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation EU Regulation 596/2014.