Seeing Machines Limited
("Seeing Machines" or "the Company")
Results of Australian and Overseas Offers ("the Offer")
Seeing Machines Limited (AIM:SEE), the AIM-listed technology company with a focus on computer vision based operator monitoring and intervention technology and services, is pleased to announce that it has finalised the Offer and raised £1 million through the issue of 20,000,000 new Ordinary Shares at a price of 5 pence per share to Seeing Machines Share and Depositary Interest holders who were on the record at 28 November 2013. This raising follows an earlier successful raising of £15 million from mainly institutional investors in December 2013.
The Offer to Seeing Machines Share and Depositary Interest holders was oversubscribed by nearly ten times. Because of this, the Directors were compelled to scale back allocations significantly. All underlying Depositary Interest holders who applied for less than 23,486 shares will receive the full number of shares they have applied for. All other qualifying applicants and underlying Depositary Interest holders will receive 23,486 shares*. (*Because the share issue was limited to 20 million, some applicants were allocated one share less than this number.) The Board believes that this was the fairest way to allocate the shares available, particularly in order to allocate the Company's smaller shareholders the same sized parcel of shares as the largest shareholders.
The Company's original plan was to raise up to £15 million in new equity in two tranches over 9-12 months. It was intended that the additional equity would be used to:
a. increase working capital to fund inventory and debtor growth to satisfy increased demand for Seeing Machines DSS systems in the mining and resource sectors,
b. accelerate development of the next generation of DSS technology targeted at the long distance road transport and coach markets,
c. accelerate development of technology targeted at the auto industry, aviation and mobile broadband markets,
d. undertake deeper market research to test the Company's hypothesis on size, price points and optimal distribution to reach these markets,
e. invest in the infrastructure to sell to and support the Company's growing global customer base and its deployment of employees closer to its main markets.
However, the confidence shown by the new investors first and then existing shareholders has allowed the Company to more quickly and certainly confirm its strategic direction without undertaking a delayed two tranche program and positions the Company to implement its plans in the knowledge that it has the capital in place to do so.
Commenting on the results of the Offer, Seeing Machines Chairman, Terry Winters said: "I am delighted to announce that the offer made to existing shareholders has been well received and oversubscribed. Together with the £15 million raised from new and existing shareholders in December 2013, Seeing Machines is now well placed to accelerate growth of its mining business through the Caterpillar alliance and enter new attractive markets from which demand is already being received. The shareholder interest in this issue reflects the excellent progress the Company has made in the last year."
Application has been made for the Offer shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and admission is expected to take place on or about 28 February 2014. It is also expected that Computershare will mail notifications and refund the balance of application moneys by cheque to all applicants on or about 28 February 2014.
Following the admission of the Offer shares, the Company will have 822,226,253 Ordinary shares on issue, all of which will carry voting rights. This figure may be used by shareholders of the Company as the denominator for calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or change their interest in, the ordinary share capital of the Company.
Enquiries:
About Seeing Machines
Seeing Machines, (AIM: SEE), is an AIM-listed technology company that specialises in operator monitoring and intervention technologies and services. Its software and engineering services are used in products and applications that range from devices that improve driver safety and save lives to assessing trainees in simulators and simplifying the relationships between people and technology. Seeing Machines technology is used worldwide across the automotive, mining, transport and aviation industries; as well as many of the leading academic research groups and transportation authorities. Seeing Machines is headquartered in Australia and has offices in Tucson, Arizona and San Francisco, California. The Company counts Caterpillar, BHP Billiton, Freeport McMoran, MIT, Boeing and General Motors amongst its customers.
