Further re. Placing and Investment by Director

12 August 2019

Vela Technologies plc

("Vela" or the "Company")

Further re. Placing and Investment by Director

Further to the announcement made earlier today, the Board of Vela is pleased to announce that Antony Laiker, Executive Director of the Company, has subscribed for 25,000,000 ordinary shares in the Company (the "Antony Laiker Placing Shares") at a price of 0.10 pence per new ordinary shares (the "Placing Price").

Details of the participation by Antony Laiker in the Placing

Antony Laiker has subscribed for the 25,000,000 new Ordinary Shares on the same terms as subscribers who participated in the placing as announcement on 24 April 2019 (the "Placing"). The proceeds of the issue of the Antony Laiker Placing Shares will be applied towards certain of the proposals outlined in the Company's announcement on 24 April 2019.

As announced previously, conditional on the approval of shareholders at a General Meeting, subscribers in the Placing, including Antony Laiker, will be issued with 1 warrant for every 4 shares issued pursuant to the Placing, exercisable at 0.15 pence per placing warrant, for a period of up to 2 years from issue. Following the issue of new Ordinary Shares in May 2019 in relation to the Placing, Vela does not have sufficient allotment authority to enable the placing warrants to be exercised in full.

A circular containing a notice convening a general meeting of Vela will be posted to shareholders shortly with the purpose of, inter alia, putting in place the requisite share authorities to cover the placing warrants being exercised in full. 

Further re. repayment of Loan Notes held by Antony Laiker

As announced on 24 April 2019, Vela entered into an agreement for the repayment of the £200,000 of loan notes (and accrued interest) held by Antony Laiker ("Antony Laiker Loan Note") in accordance with the terms of the loan note agreement. As announced, Antony Laiker intended to use the entire proceeds of the repayment of the Antony Laiker Loan Note to subscribe for new Ordinary Shares in the Company.

Accordingly, Antony Laiker has today conditionally subscribed for 240,985,301 new Ordinary Shares at a price of 0.10 pence per share (the "Antony Laiker Subscription Shares"). The issue and admission to trading on AIM of the Antony Laiker Subscription Shares is conditional on shareholder approval of the requisite authorities to allot shares at a general meeting of the Company, which will be convened in due course.

Details of Admission 

Application will be made shortly for the admission of the Antony Laiker Placing Shares to trading on AIM ("Admission"). It is anticipated that Admission will occur on or around 19 August 2019. The issue of the 25,000,000 new Ordinary Shares has been undertaken under Vela's existing share allotment authorities. On Admission, Antony Laiker will hold 60,190,000 Ordinary Shares, equivalent to 4.07 of the issued share capital of Vela, as enlarged by the Antony Laiker Placing Shares.

The FCA notifications, made in accordance with the requirements of the EU Market Abuse Regulation, are appended below.

Total Voting Rights 

On Admission of the 25,000,000 Antony Laiker Placing Shares, Vela's issued ordinary share capital will consist of 1,477,958,416 Ordinary Shares, with one voting right each. Vela does not hold any Ordinary Shares in treasury. Therefore, on Admission, the total number of Ordinary Shares and voting rights in Vela will be 1,477,958,416.  With effect from Admission, this figure may be used by shareholders in Vela 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 share capital of Vela under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

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About Vela Technologies 

Vela Technologies (AIM: VELA) is an investing company focused on early stage and pre-IPO long term disruptive technology investments. There are currently 12 investments in the portfolio which either have developed ways of utilising technology or developing technology with a view to disrupting the businesses or sector in which they operate. More recently, Vela Technologies has also started to focus on existing listed companies where valuations may offer additional opportunities.