19th Apr 2023 12:23
(Alliance News) - Premier Miton Group PLC sold its stake in Woodbois Ltd on Wednesday, in the wake of the forestry, timber and afforestation company announcing its lender is terminating a debt facility.
Sydbank AS is terminating the USD6 million debt facility of Woodbois subsidiary Woodgroup ApS.
Shares in Woodbois were down 63% to 0.38 pence each in London on Wednesday around midday. Over the past 12 months, the stock is down 91%.
Premier Miton is a Surrey, England-based asset manager. It shares are also listed in London, and were down 0.5% to 95.07p each.
According to a regulatory filing, Premier Miton Group held just under a 10% stake in Woodbois prior to the disposal.
"The reason cited by Sydbank for terminating the facility was that Woodgroup ApS generated a loss in Q1 2023. Sydbank believe that, as a consequence, the circumstances of Woodgroup ApS have changed significantly to their detriment," Woodbois explained.
Woodbois said it was "shocked" by the decision, and will explore alternative funding sources.
"Whilst it expects a difficult trading period in the short-term, management believe that the fundamentals of the business are sound," Woodbois affirmed. It believes the company is "well placed to deliver a very positive performance for the remainder of the year."
Woodbois said that Woodgroup has "various" banking arrangements with Sydbank, including the USD6 million facility that was fully utilised and an ancillary account with a cash balance of USD3.1 million.
It added that Sydbank have a floating charge against the assets of Woodgroup and have offset this USD3.1 million in partial repayment of the facility. As part of the notice, Sydbank has also requested the Woodgroup to present a plan for the repayment of the outstanding USD2.9 million.
"Sydbank has verbally indicated that they would be open to working with the company to at least the end of May to allow the development of a plan to refinance the balance," Woodbois said.
Woodbois has cash balances of USD430,000 outside the Sydbank account and net trade receivables of USD1.5 million.
By Sophie Rose, Alliance News reporter
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