Issue of Equity

7 Apr 2008 07:00

Earthport PLC07 April 2008 7 April 2008 Earthport plc ("Earthport" or the "Company") Issue of Equity and Exercise of Warrants Earthport is pleased to announce that it has raised £3.5m for the Companythrough the issue of 5,000,000 new Ordinary Shares of 10p each in the Company at70p per Ordinary Share ("the Placing"). Furthermore, application has been made for an additional 406,150 Ordinary Sharesto be admitted to trading on AIM. Of this amount, 386,150 Ordinary Sharesrelate to the exercise of warrants of 10p each in the Company at 35p per share,which has raised a further £135,153 for the Company and 20,000 Ordinary Shareshave been issued pursuant to the exercise of options by an employee of theCompany. In total, application has been made for 5,406,150 Ordinary Shares of 10p each ("the New Ordinary Shares") in the Company to be admitted to AIM. The NewOrdinary Shares will rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares in theCompany. It is expected that trading in the New Ordinary Shares will commenceon Tuesday 15 April 2008. James Bergman, a director of the Company, has subscribed for 28,571 ordinaryshares as part of the Placing. Mike Harrison, Chairman of Earthport commented: "The Company is delighted toreceive such a vote of confidence from existing and new shareholders. TheCompany is particularly pleased that this substantial sum has been raised incurrent market conditions at more than double the price of our last fundinground. Three new institutions participated in addition to existing investors.The funds will be used to improve the balance sheet, which, the Board believesto be important when pursuing our target market of top tier financialinstitutions, providing the €1m reserve required for the full e-money licencewhich is being progressed and for expansion of the business. " Following the admission of the new Ordinary Shares, the Company's issued sharecapital will consist of 73,880,624 Ordinary Shares of 10p each, with votingrights. This figure may be used by shareholders in the Company, to determine ifthey are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in,the share capital of the Company under the FSA's Disclosure and Transparencyrules. - Ends - Earthport plcMike Harrison, Executive Chairman +44 (0)20 7220 9700James Bergman, Executive Director +44 (0)20 7220 9700 Dawnay, Day Corporate FinanceNick Lovering +44 (0)20 7509 4570 Dawnay, Day Corporate BrokingAdam Pollock +44 (0)20 7630 4100 Financial DynamicsJonathon Brill / Annie Evangeli +44 (0)20 7831 3113 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange