Issue of Equity

Ninth Floor (The) PLC 16 September 2002 Rowan Dartington & Co. Limited press release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The Ninth Floor plc Introduction Ninth Floor, the remote video monitoring, e-surveillance and software support services Group, is proposing to raise up to £1.35m (net of expenses) by means of a Placing and Open Offer of up to 150,000,000 New Ordinary Shares at 1p per share. Background to and reasons for the Placing and Open Offer In February 2002 the Company raised £440,956 by a cash placing of 44,095,644 Ordinary Shares at 1p each with three individuals, Robert Davies, John Dalton and Michael James ('the Investors') who also agreed to support an overdraft facility of £200,000. This capital injection was urgently required by the Company to enable it to meet its then current trading obligations. The requirement for cash arose to a significant extent from the legacy of the Company's previous investments and associated high operational costs, including the operating of a London office, and the realisation of its interest in Swansea City Football Club Plc. The Company appointed a new chief executive, Christopher Thomas, in June 2002. Since his appointment the Board has undertaken a thorough review of the Group's financial position and has identified the Group's likely cash and capital requirements. This review has covered the period up until the time the Board expects the Group to have a positive cash flow from its current operations. In addition, an assessment has been made of the resources required to develop AIMS and Farsight and, in particular, to extend the activities of e-Surveillance where the Board believes the Group has a product with real competitive advantages in its markets. Taking together the need to sustain the operations of the Group and the further aim of facilitating a reasonable investment in expanding the operations of the Group, the Company is seeking to raise £1.5 million (before expenses). This is proposed to be achieved by a Placing (subject to clawback to satisfy acceptances under the Open Offer) of £1 million with the Investors, and a firm placing of up to £500,000 with a further group of investors, which includes Christopher Thomas, the new Chief Executive. In order to enable all shareholders to participate in this equity funding, the £1 million of shares placed with the Investors is subject to clawback by existing Shareholders, pro rata to their shareholdings, through the Open Offer. Details of the Placing and Open Offer are summarised below. Once the proceeds of the Placing and Open Offer have been received the Company's overdraft, which is secured by personal guarantees from certain of the Directors and senior management of the Company together with the Investors, will be repaid and the guarantees will lapse. The City Code on Takeovers and Mergers The Investors, who are deemed to be persons acting in concert ('Concert Party'), currently hold 44,095,644 Ordinary Shares representing 29.9 per cent. of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company. Assuming that the Open Offer is fully taken up by qualifying shareholders on the record date of 12 September (' Qualifying Shareholders') and the firm placing is subscribed in full, this will result in the Investors owning in aggregate 73,945,644 Ordinary Shares, representing 24.53 per cent. of the enlarged issued ordinary share capital following completion of the Placing and Open Offer. However, to the extent the Open Offer is not fully taken up by Qualifying Shareholders, the Investors have undertaken to subscribe for additional New Ordinary Shares which could result in them holding (if no other Qualifying Shareholders take up their entitlements and the firm placing is not fully subscribed) in aggregate, 144,095,644 Ordinary Shares, representing 52.88 per cent. of the enlarged issued ordinary share capital following completion of the Placing and Open Offer. The Panel on Takeovers and Mergers has agreed, subject to a resolution being passed on a poll by the independent shareholders at the Extraordinary General Meeting ('the EGM'), to waive the obligation of the Investors to make a general offer to Shareholders under Rule 9 which would otherwise arise upon completion of the Placing and Open Offer ('the Whitewash Waiver'). Details of the Placing and Open Offer The Company intends to issue up to 150,000,000 New Ordinary Shares at 1p per New Ordinary Share ('the Placing and Open Offer Price') to raise up to £1,500,000 before expenses which are expected to be £110,000 (exclusive of VAT) in cash plus £40,000 to be satisfied by the issue of 4,000,000 New Ordinary Shares at the Placing and Offer price. Under the terms of the Open Offer which is being made by Rowan Dartington & Co. Limited on behalf of the Company, Qualifying Shareholders may subscribe for the 100,000,000 New Ordinary Shares ('Offer Shares') (under the clawback arrangement described below) at the Placing and Offer Price on the basis of 1 Offer Share for every 1.47477 Existing Ordinary Shares (rounded down to the nearest whole number). Completion of the Open Offer is conditional, inter alia, on the passing of the resolutions at the EGM to increase the share capital and authorise the Directors to issue the New Ordinary Shares and to approve the Whitewash Waiver. The Offer Shares have been conditionally placed with the Investors, subject to a clawback to the extent necessary to satisfy applications from Qualifying Shareholders under the Open Offer. Irrevocable undertakings to apply for 10,747,328 Offer Shares (representing approximately 10.75 per cent. of the Offer Shares) under the Open Offer have been received from all the Directors who currently hold Ordinary Shares and certain other management. The Record Date for participation in the Open Offer is 12 September and the Existing Ordinary Shares will be marked 'ex' the entitlement to participate in the Open Offer on 16 September 2002. Qualifying shareholders wishing to participate in the Open Offer are notified that it closes at 3 p.m. on 7 October 2002 and that the application form, together with the remittance for payment in full in respect of the New Ordinary Shares applied for, must be returned by that time. Shareholders should note that application forms are personal to shareholders and may not be transferred except to satisfy bona fide market claims. Entitlements of Qualifying Shareholders will be rounded down to the nearest whole number of Offer Shares. Any resulting fractional entitlements of Qualifying Shareholders will not be allocated pursuant to the Open Offer but will be sold to the Investors pursuant to the Placing Agreement for the benefit of the Company. Qualifying Shareholders may apply for up to their pro rata entitlement but shall not be entitled to make applications in excess of their pro rata entitlement. Shareholders should be aware that the Open Offer is not a rights issue and that Offer Shares that are not taken up by Qualifying Shareholders pursuant to the Open Offer will be sold to the Investors pursuant to the Placing Agreement for the benefit of the Company. Of the 50,000,000 New Ordinary Shares that are the subject of the firm placing ('Firm Placing Shares'), 20,000,000 have been placed and 30,000,000 are expected to be conditionally placed firm with new investors, (including Christopher Thomas), who do not currently own shares in the Company. The New Ordinary Shares will, when issued and fully paid, rank pari passu in all respects with the Existing Ordinary Shares including entitlement to all dividends declared made or paid in respect of the Existing Ordinary Shares. Change of name To reflect the change in the emphasis of the Group's activities to concentrating on the IT and security operations of Farsight and AIMS and, in particular, the planned expansion of Farsight's security business through e-Surveillance, it is proposed to change the Company's name to Farsight plc. Share capital reduction Once the Group returns to profitability the Board proposes that the Company should undertake a capital reduction exercise to reduce the share capital of the Company and to eliminate the 442,688,571 deferred shares arising on the capital reduction undertaken in June 2001 ('the Deferred Shares'). This capital reduction exercise would create a reserve against which the deficit on the Company's profit and loss account (which was £8,972,000 as at 31 May 2002) will be written off. A special resolution will be put to shareholders at the EGM for the purpose of giving approval to the cancellation of the Deferred Shares, the reduction of the Company's share premium account and the cancellation of the capital redemption reserve. If the special resolution to reduce the Company's share capital is passed by the shareholders and approved by the holders of the Deferred Shares, the Company will then seek the confirmation of the High Court to the share capital reduction. The High Court will only sanction resolutions for the reduction of a company's share capital if it is satisfied that this will not prejudice the interests of the creditors. This is likely to require the Company entering into an undertaking with the Court to safeguard the interests of the creditors. New EMI Share Option Scheme The Board intends, subject to adoption of the EMI Share Option Scheme at the EGM to grant options under the EMI Share Option Scheme over 11,750,000 Ordinary Shares to certain directors and employees of the Company immediately following the EGM at an exercise price equivalent to the Placing and Open Offer Price. The aggregate awards under the EMI Share Option Scheme and the existing Share Option Scheme will not exceed ten per cent. of the Company's issued share capital from time to time. Extraordinary General Meeting A notice convening an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Company to be held at the offices of AGN Shipleys, 10 Orange Street, Haymarket, London WC2 7DQ 11.15 a.m. on 10 October 2002 is included in the Prospectus being sent to shareholders today. Recommendation The Directors, unanimously have undertaken to vote in favour of the resolutions, in respect of their own beneficial holdings which, in aggregate amount to 5,004,997 Ordinary Shares representing approximately 3.39 per cent. of the Company's Existing Ordinary Shares and the Investors have undertaken to vote in favour of all Resolutions (other than the that in respect of the Whitewash Waiver in which they are interested) in respect of the 44,095,644 Existing Ordinary Shares in which they are interested, representing approximately 29.90 per cent. of the Existing Ordinary Shares. ENQUIRIES: The Ninth Floor plc 0173 331 7614 Chris Thomas Rowan Dartington & Co. Limited 0117 933 0020 Mike Coe This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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