16th Mar 2016 08:20
LONDON (Alliance News) - Education support services company Tribal Group PLC on Wednesday saw its shares sink in early trade after it announced a discounted rights issue to shore up its financial position as its loss for 2015 widened significantly.
Tribal said it will raise GBP21.0 million through a fully-underwritten rights issue in order to reduce its debt pile. It will issue 94.8 million shares at 22.00 pence per share to raise the funds. Shares in the group were down 11% early Wednesday to 38.44p, one of the worst performers in the FTSE All-Share.
The move came as the group's pretax loss for the year to the end of December widened to GBP47.3 million from a GBP6.3 million loss a year earlier, primarily due to impairment charges as it restructured its operations.
Revenue fell to GBP106.7 million from GBP123.7 million, with slower sales momentum and delays on several key contracts which pushed sales into 2016.
Tribal scrapped its final dividend but expects to resume payouts once its financial performance improves. Its total payout for the year will be 0.70 pence per share, a 61% fall on the 1.80p paid out a year earlier.
"2015 was a challenging year for Tribal," said Chief Executive Ian Bowles. "We must now bring greater focus to ensure we deliver value for our customers, enhance our operational efficiency, target our investment programmes to enable our long term success and drive returns for shareholders."
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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