Issue of Equity

RNS Number : 0640D

Judges Scientific PLC

10 May 2012

 

10 May 2012

Judges Scientific plc

("Judges Scientific", "Judges", the "Company" or the "Group")

£3 MILLION PLACING

The Directors of Judges Scientific plc are pleased to announce that the Company has raised £3.0 million (before expenses) through a placing (the "Placing") of 500,000 new ordinary shares of 5p (the "Placing Shares") at a price of 600p (the "Placing Price") per Placing Share. The Placing, which was almost three times subscribed, involved the participation of one existing and several new institutional investors together with private investors. In addition, 10,000 of Alex Hambro's ordinary shares were placed with one of the institutional placees at the same price.

The net proceeds from the Placing will serve to restore the Company's ability to complete further acquisitions. Global Digital Systems, acquired in March, was financed entirely by debt and, although the Group's gearing is modest, the Board took the view that further M&A activity would be constrained in the absence of an equity issue.

Commenting on the Placing, Alex Hambro, Chairman of Judges Scientific, said:

"We are delighted by the success of the Placing and by the quality of new investors who have joined our register. There has been a considerable appetite for the Company's equity during the past two years and we hope that the Placing will improve the liquidity in our shares."

Admission

The Placing Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares. Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on the Alternative Investment Market ("AIM") and admission is expected to take place on 16 May 2012. Following admission of the Placing Shares, the enlarged issued share capital will amount to 4,830,967 ordinary shares of 5p each.

The Company does not hold any shares in treasury and the above figure may therefore be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculation to determine whether they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the Financial Services Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Holdings on Completion of the Placing

The Directors' interests in the Group's issued share capital following completion of the Placing are set out below.

		Following the Placing
Director	Position	Number of Ordinary Shares	Percentage of Issued Share Capital
Alexander Hambro	Non-executive Chairman	90,000	1.9%
David Cicurel	CEO	538,841	11.2%
David Barnbrook	Chief operating Officer	15,000	0.3%
Ralph Cohen	Finance Director	15,000	0.3%
Ralph Elman	Non-executive Director	75,791	1.6%
Glynn Reece	Non-executive Director	3,000	0.1%

Enquiries:

David Cicurel, CEO, Judges Scientific:                          Tel: [phone]

Pascal Keane, Shore Capital:                                        Tel: [phone]

Melvyn Marckus, Cardew Group:                                 Tel: [phone]

 

END

 

 

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