26th May 2005 11:25
Evolution Group PLC26 May 2005 Evolution Group Plc AGM Trading Update At today's Annual General Meeting of Evolution Group Plc, the listed investmentbank and retail fund investment group, Chairman Richard Griffiths gave thefollowing trading update to shareholders: "The Group's three principal operating businesses Evolution Securities,Christows and Evolution Securities China are continuing to make good progress inthe current period. The Evolution Securities investment banking business has made a good start tothe year in its corporate broking, sales and trading activities not withstandingthe recently encountered difficult trading conditions in the UK middle market.We have remained extremely active across all areas of the business and haveconcluded this week the successful fundraising of £42 million of new equity forclients in two transactions. Christows is continuing profitably to plan and Evolution Securities China isbeginning to see transaction flow to confirm the presence of a significantfuture opportunity in this specialist business area. Your Board has noted the recent coverage of issues surrounding one of EvolutionSecurities retained corporate clients Regal Petroleum Plc ("Regal"), for whom werecently raised monies via an equity placing. Naturally we regret the adverseshare price movement of Regal. We can confirm that Evolution, along with itslawyers, followed all necessary regulatory and statutory procedures to ensurethat the placing with shareholders, was carried out in full compliance with theAIM rules. We would emphasise that we are currently working closely with Regalto take the actions necessary to restore shareholder value. We also announced at the time of the preliminary announcement of results ourintention to undertake a significant on-market share buyback program. DuringApril and May we have purchased 20,890,821 shares for cancellation representing8.37% of the shares in issue at the year end. We will now be undertaking furtheranalysis before deciding whether to make further purchases between now and nextyears AGM following the revised permission approved by shareholders at today'sAGM. The Board remains confident of the outlook for the Group for the remainder ofthe year." Ends Enquiries: The Evolution Group Plc 020 7071 4300Alex Snow, Chief ExecutiveGraeme Dell, Finance Director Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial 020 7861 3232Charles CookSarah LandgrebePaddy Blewer This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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