1st Oct 2014 13:06
LONDON (Alliance News) - Audioboom Group PLC said Wednesday that it has raised GBP8 million in a placing of 64 million new shares at 12.5 pence each to fund the growth of its business
Shares in the digital social media platform were trading down 9.8% at 15.00 pence Wednesday afternoon.
The company said the new shares will represent around 12.0% of the enlarged issued share capital. In order to satisfy demand, it has also agreed to release 7digital PLC from lock-in arrangements it entered into when it acquired Audioboo Ltd in May.
7digital has conditionally placed 29.0 million shares through Arden Partners at the same price of 12.5 pence per share, and will retain a 10.9% interest in the company's enlarged share capital.
The company said that since its acquisition of Audiboo it has expanded its content and user base rapidly, it has opened up offices in New York, San Francisco and Australia, and launched a new iOS application for mobile users. It will launch the application for other operating systems in the near future.
Audiboom is looking to use the funds to bolster its headcount and infrastructure. It will expand its content curation teams amongst other hires, taking its staff to 25 by the end of the first quarter of 2015 from 17.
It will also use funds to accelerate its geographic expansion, growing its New York and Sydney offices, and adding a new office in Mumbai. In terms of its products, Audioboom plans to create a bespoke application and website for its Hispanic partners and users, and accelerate the roll-out of its audio advertising network through its content partners.
Audioboom expressed confidence that the placing will leave it adequately funded for the "foreseeable future."
"Our substantial balance sheet will now allow the accelerated global growth of our platform, major expansion of our aggregated audio advertising network and the roll-out of the new Audioboom app, which I believe will revolutionise the digital consumption of audio," said Chief Executive Rob Proctor in a statement.
A group of directors including Proctor acquired shares in the placing as follows:
Director | Number of Director Shares acquired | Total number of Ordinary Shares post Admission | Resultant shareholding as a % of the enlarged capital |
Robert Proctor, Chief Executive | 320,000 | 320,000 | 0.06 |
Roger Maddock, Chairman | 240,000 | 5,513,556 | 1.04 |
Rodger Sargent, Non-Executive | 160,000 | 11,593,334 | 2.19 |
Simon Cole, Non-Executive | 100,000 | 2,100,000 | 0.40 |
| |||
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Audioboom Grp.