Venture Finance exit profit

14 Nov 2006 10:30

General Capital Group PLC14 November 2006 Press release 14 November 2006 GENERAL CAPITAL GROUP PLC ("The Company" or "General Capital") Venture Finance Exit Profit General Capital Group plc (AiM: GENC), the independent asset and venture financespecialist, announces that it will take an exceptional profit of approximately£300,000 during the second half of its financial year ending 31 December 2006. This profit follows the successful recent flotation of Proton Power Systems plc("Proton"), whose shares were admitted to trading on AiM on 31 October 2006. Onits first day of dealing, Proton's shares traded at a premium of 15% and remainabove their issue price. Of the £300,000, £125,000 has been realised in cash,and the balance is currently held in Proton shares, valued at the flotationprice. It is General Capital's policy to recognise equity holdings in itsaccounts only when a third party valuation event has occurred. Proton is a fuel cell system developer. In March 2006, Proton acquired thecommercial benefits of the fuel cell technologies owned by its German associate.This acquisition was funded using mezzanine facilities provided by GeneralCapital. The AIM flotation of Proton has allowed the cash repayment of theGeneral Capital loan facility and related interest in full, which amounted to£537,500. Finally, as a consequence of Proton raising £4.67 million in new equity atflotation, General Capital has conditionally agreed to provide further securedfacilities to Proton, and accordingly looks forward to working with Proton inthe future. Commenting on the transaction Jonathan Hill, Executive Deputy Chairman ofGeneral Capital, said: "We congratulate the Proton board and its advisers, withwhom we have worked closely over recent weeks, on achieving admission to AiM. Wepurposefully elected to receive a proportion of our fees in shares as we believethe sector in which Proton is active offers excellent potential returns". David Hickey, Non Executive Chairman of General Capital, added: "This exitfurther underscores the value of General Capital's Venture Finance model which,in this case, has resulted in us achieving an annualised IRR in excess of 100percent. We are working on a number of other Venture Finance exits which havethe potential to offer similar returns and look forward to further relatedannouncements". - ends - For further information, please contact: General CapitalMark Edworthy, Managing Director Tel: +44 (0) 1603 610 610mark.edworthy@generalcapital.co.uk Media enquiriesAbchurch CommunicationsHeather Salmond / Laura Riascos Tel: +44 (0) 20 7398 7700heather.salmond@abchurch-group.com www.abchurch-group.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange