Further investment in Pressfit Holdings Plc

RNS Number : 5862E

Craven House Capital PLC

01 June 2012

 



1 June 2012

CRAVEN HOUSE CAPITAL PLC

("Craven House" or the "Company")

Further investment in Pressfit Holdings Plc

The Company are today pleased announced that on 31 May 2012, it had agreed to purchase 10,093,556 shares in Pressfit Holdings Plc ("Pressfit") (representing approximately 32.5 per cent. of the Company's issued share capital) from existing shareholders at 12.84p per share, amounting to an aggregate consideration of circa £1.3 million. This purchase of shares is conditional upon the shareholders subscribing for 103,963,626 new ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") for 1.25p per share, equating to an aggregate subscription of approximately £1.3 million. This investment follows the Company's previous investments into Pressfit in September 2011 and January 2011. Craven House now owns 36.9 per cent, in aggregate, of Pressfit with a further 3 per cent. of the share capital of Pressfit available to Craven House, should Craven House choose to convert the outstanding convertible loan made to Pressfit in September 2011. 

Pressfit is an unquoted UK public limited company with Hong Kong and Chinese subsidiaries, which utilises proprietary technology to manufacture high-precision, thin walled stainless steel and carbon steel pipes and fittings used for plumbing and heating applications in the commercial, residential, industrial and agricultural sectors.  Distribution of these products is tightly controlled by rigorous certification standards, which vary according to jurisdiction. Pressfit has successfully obtained the appropriate certification to distribute its products into the UK, the EU, Hong Kong, China and Macau. It expects to receive its US certification imminently.

Given these certification standards and the complexity of production methods, the global market for press-fittings is controlled by a very small number of participants. Pressfit's principal competitors manufacture in Europe, providing Pressfit the advantage of a much lower cost-base. In addition, Pressfit is the only manufacturer in China who currently possesses the technology required to produce press-fittings and has obtained the required certification to distribute its products into Western markets.  Pressfit has received initial orders from distributors in the UK, EU and Hong Kong since September 2011 and the Company's directors believe that Pressfit is extremely well placed to make inroads into the market for these products, which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year and growing.

Mark Pajak, Acting Chairman, commented, "We are very pleased to be able to report Craven House's largest, and possibly its most exciting, investment to date as we take a significant stake in Pressfit Holdings.

This follows our most recent visit to Pressfit's facility in Shandong in March 2012. We are very impressed with the efficiency and professionalism of the management team, as well as the quality of the facilities and manufacturing techniques and, most importantly, the breadth and quality of the Pressfit product line.

We believe that Pressfit is poised to acquire a substantial market share in this growing segment of a multi billion-dollar industry. The confluence of very high specification manufacturing that meets the rigorous standards of the international governing bodies' certification process and the low cost production is a rare and valuable combination.  We believe Pressfit has the potential to achieve high margins while offering customers a more competitively priced product. We believe this sets the stage for rapid growth of both revenue and profits. We applaud the management and engineers at Pressfit for its rapid development.  

We are very pleased to have secured this investment utilising our shares as currency - a clearly defined and central aspect of our investment strategy, with the Company's shares again valued at 1.25p per share. Craven House's continued ability to secure transactions which value its shares at a premium to the current market price, such as the previous investments in Pressfit and the recent $801,892.50 investment in Farm Lands of Africa (Ticker: FLAF.OB), reinforce our belief in Craven House's future growth prospects.  We continue to seek opportunities where we can leverage our knowledge and capital market experience to the advantage of portfolio companies and Craven House shareholders.

Craven House is now Pressfit's largest shareholder and we look forward to continuing to work closely with management as a long-term strategic shareholder and supporting this company further as they deliver on their plans for expansion."

Further information about Pressfit can be found at http://pressfitholdings.com/.

Application is being made to the London Stock Exchange for the new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Admission is expected to take place on Monday 11 June 2012. The shares will rank pari passu with the existing issued ordinary shares.

Following the issue of the new ordinary shares, the Company's total issued share capital will consist of 435,145,221 ordinary shares with each share carrying the right to one vote. The Company has no ordinary shares held in treasury. The total of 435,145,221 ordinary shares may therefore be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they 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 Transparency Rules.

 

END

 

 

MSCSDIFWFFESELI