Last checked at 13 Mar 2023 07:00
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 which forms part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR").
13 March 2023
Woodbois Limited
("Woodbois", the "Group" or the "Company")
£3 million placing
Appointment of Joint Broker
Woodbois Limited (AIM: WBI), the African focused forestry, timber trading, reforestation and voluntary carbon credit company, today announces the results of the potential fundraise which was disclosed to the market on Friday 10 March 2023.
Gross proceeds of £3 million (approximately $3.6 million) have been raised by way of a conditional placing (the "Placing") of 250,000,000 new ordinary shares of 1p each in the Company ("New Ordinary Shares") at a price of 1.2 pence per New Ordinary Share (the "Placing Price").
Novum Securities Limited ("Novum") acted as broker and placing agent in respect of the Placing which was to new institutional and other investors.
The Placing Shares represent 10 per cent of the existing issued Ordinary Share capital of the Company prior to the fundraise. Proceeds of the Placing will be used for general working capital purposes.
Application will be made to London Stock Exchange plc for the admission of the New Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM. It is expected that Admission will become effective on or before 8.00 a.m. on 17 March 2023.
The New Ordinary Shares will, when issued, be credited as fully paid and will rank pari passu in all respects with each other and with the existing ordinary shares in the capital of the Company, including, without limitation, the right to receive all dividends and other distributions declared, made or paid after the date of issue.
Placing Agreement
The Company has entered into a placing agreement (the "Placing Agreement") with Novum, subject to which Novum have conditionally procured subscribers for the Placing Shares at the Placing Price. The Placing is not being underwritten by Novum as to settlement risk or otherwise. The Placing Agreement contains customary terms and conditions and Novum is entitled to terminate the Placing Agreement at any time prior to Admission in certain limited circumstances.
Share capital
Following admission, the Company's total number of Ordinary Shares in issue will become 2,739,988,873 and this will consist of 2,485,850,726 Voting Ordinary Shares, 19,138,147 Treasury Shares and 235,000,000 Non-Voting Ordinary Shares. The aforementioned figure of 2,485,850,726 Voting Ordinary Shares may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
Chief Executive Officer Paul Dolan said:
"We are pleased to have successfully closed this limited and oversubscribed fundraise which will provide working capital for the Company, including to assist in its further expansion and towards achieving full FSC certification. We have appointed Novum Securities Limited as joint broker to the Company, to act alongside our existing broker Canaccord Genuity, in order to help our positive story become recognised by a wider audience.
As we reported to the market on 12 January 2023, our total revenues for 2022 were $23.1m versus $17.5m in 2021, a 32% increase. Our FY 2022 gross profit was up 69% to $5.9m vs FY 2021 of $3.5m and our FY 2022 gross profit margin increased to 25% vs 20% in FY 2021 (unaudited figures).
This Placing significantly strengthens our balance sheet as we take the Company towards cashflow positivity in 2023 where our overriding priority is to generate consistent, positive cash flow from our substantial forestry assets."
Enquiries:
Woodbois Limited +44 (0)20 7099 1940
Paul Dolan - Chief Executive Officer
Carnel Geddes - Chief Financial Officer
Canaccord Genuity, Nominated Advisor and Joint Broker +44 (0)20 7523 8000
Henry Fitzgerald-O'Connor
Harry Pardoe
Gordon Hamilton
Novum Securities Limited, Joint Broker +44 (0) 20 7399 9427
Colin Rowbury
Jon Belliss
Background on Woodbois
Woodbois Limited (AIM:WBI) is an African-focused forestry company, divided into three distinct, but highly complementary divisions comprising the production and supply of sustainable African hardwood products, the trading of hardwood and hardwood products, and a reforestation and carbon credit division.
Woodbois' forestry division has production facilities in Gabon and Mozambique, managing a total of c470,000 hectares of natural forest concessions. The trading division comprises a highly experienced team of timber specialists, who source and supply sustainable timber to a global customer base. Its proprietary technology developed in house, captures, stores and presents data, providing a matching engine to build scale and optimise trading opportunities with its global customer base.
The Company's carbon sequestration and trading division aims to generate voluntary carbon credits for corporate partners through the delivery of large-scale reforestation projects.
The Company's focus on the transparency and sustainability of its timber operations has been recognised by The Zoological Society of London, which ranked Woodbois joint sixth in its Sustainability Policy Transparency Toolkit ('SPOTT'') ESG policy transparency assessments for the worldwide timber and pulp industries for 2021.