28 May 2014
Minoan Group Plc
(the "Group" or the "Company" or "Minoan")
Placing & Progress Update
Minoan Group Plc is pleased to announce a placing of new equity raising gross proceeds of £687,000 and an update on the progress of the Group's buy and build strategy for its Travel and Leisure ("T&L") Division.
Placing
WH Ireland, as agent for the Company has placed, conditional upon admission to AIM, 5,725,000 new ordinary shares of 1 pence each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") (the "Placing Shares") at a price of 12 pence per share (the "Placing Price") with institutional and other investors raising £687,000 before expenses. The Placing Price represents a discount of 11.9 per cent on the closing middle market price on 27 May 2014. It is intended that the net proceeds will be used to provide general working capital to support the development of the Group, including its resort project in Crete (the "Project") and, together with other resources, further acquisitions.
Application has been made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission") and it is expected that Admission will take place on 30 May 2014.
T&L Buy & Build Strategy
Following the announcement on 17 March of the conditional acquisition of Martin Singer Travel the Group has continued to actively pursue acquisition opportunities.
It is presently in advanced discussions with a number of potential targets, and has identified other prospective acquisition candidates compatible with the Group's acquisition criteria. Potential acquisitions the subject of advanced discussions range in annual historical revenues (on a total transaction value ("TTV") basis) from £200k to over £30 million, with commission rates and operating profit margins reflective of the travel agency and leisure sector. Further, prospective acquisition targets have been identified with annual historical revenues (on a TTV basis) of up to £90 million. Whilst the Group has been active in identifying and progressing acquisition opportunities, it remains committed to the rigorous application of quantitative and qualitative acquisition criteria, and will proceed to completion of any particular potential acquisition only when it is confidently expected that these will be satisfied.
The confirmatory due diligence and other matters necessary for the completion of the acquisition of Martin Singer Travel are proceeding in accordance with the Group's expectations. As previously noted, a further announcement will be made in due course.
Total Voting Rights
Following Admission of the Placing Shares, there will be a total of 171,749,704 Ordinary Shares in issue. This figure may be used by shareholders 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, Minoan under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
Christopher Egleton, Chairman of Minoan and Duncan Wilson, CEO, commented:
"With the future prospects of the Project, which has seen the achievement of major milestones in the past few months, and the possibility of adding more businesses to the Group's already successful travel and leisure division, we look forward to reporting further progress."
For further information visit www.minoangroup.com or contact:
Minoan Group Plc |
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Christopher Egleton |
[email protected] |
Duncan Wilson |
0141 226 2930 |
Bill Cole |
020 8253 4305 |
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WH Ireland Limited |
020 7220 1666 |
Adrian Hadden / Nick Field |
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Morgan Rossiter |
020 3195 3240 |
Richard Morgan Evans / James Rossiter |
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