8th Mar 2006 08:14
Cohort PLC08 March 2006 For Immediate Release 8 March 2006 Not for release, publication or distribution in, or into, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and the Republic of South Africa Cohort PLC ("Cohort" or the "Company") First day of Dealings on AIM Cohort is pleased to announce the commencement of trading in its shares on AIM.The ordinary shares will trade on AIM under the RIC code "CHRT". Cohort has been established to capitalise on opportunities to grow, bothorganically and through acquisition, in the defence technical services market.The directors of Cohort believe that the accessible UK market for such servicesis large and offers scope for expansion, whilst a portion of the supplier baseis fragmented and provides opportunities for consolidation. Cohort will seek tomake targeted acquisitions of complementary businesses. Cohort's sole initial trading subsidiary, Systems Consultants Services Limited("SCS"), is a leading independent defence technical services business based inHenley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom. SCS provides a range oftechnical services to clients in the defence and security sectors, its principalclient being the UK Ministry of Defence ("MOD") and its agencies. Its otherclients include other UK government departments, NATO, major defence contractorsand non-defence businesses. Investec Investment Banking and Securities is acting as Nominated Adviser andBroker to the Company. Placing Statistics Placing Price 123 pence Total Placing £9.5 millionTotal number of New Ordinary Shares being placed on behalf of theCompany 4,065,041 Total number of Sale Shares to be sold pursuant to the Placing 3,669,105 Number of New Ordinary Shares to be issued under the EmployeeShare Offer 217,976 Number of Ordinary Shares in issue immediately following thePlacing and Admission 22,121,497 Market capitalisation at the Placing Price immediately followingAdmission £27.2 million Net proceeds of the Placing receivable by the Company £4.1 million For further information please contact: Cohort PLC 020 7190 1705Nick Prest, Chairman Investec 020 7597 5970Michael Ansell, Martin Smith Gainsborough Communications 020 7190 1705Andy Cornelius/Julian Walker The Company accepts responsibility for the information contained in thisannouncement. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the Company (which hastaken all reasonable care to ensure that such is the case) the informationcontained in this announcement is in accordance with the facts and does not omitanything likely to affect the import of such information. Investec Investment Banking, a division of Investec Bank (UK) Limited, which isauthorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is a member ofthe London Stock Exchange, is acting exclusively for Cohort in connection withthe proposed admission to AIM and placing and is not acting for any person otherthan Cohort. Investec Investment Banking will not be responsible to any personother than Cohort for providing the protections afforded to its customers, inrelation to these matters, the contents of this announcement or any other matterreferred to in this announcement. The subject matter of this announcement is directed only (i) at persons who arein the United Kingdom and have professional experience in matters relating toinvestments falling within Article 19(1) of the Financial Services and MarketsAct 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 and (ii) to persons to whom it mayotherwise be lawful to distribute it (all such persons together being referredto as "relevant persons"). This announcement must not be acted on or relied onby persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activityto which this announcement relates is available only to relevant persons andwill be engaged in only with relevant persons. This announcement does not constitute an offer of, or the solicitation of anyoffer to buy, any of the ordinary shares which are proposed to be offered to anyperson in any jurisdiction to whom or in which such offer or solicitation isunlawful. The distribution of this announcement in certain jurisdictions may berestricted by law and therefore persons into whose possession this announcementcomes should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Anyfailure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of thesecurities laws of such jurisdiction. The ordinary shares which are proposed tobe offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United StatesSecurities Act of 1933 (as amended) (the "Securities Act") and may not beoffered or sold, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States absentregistration or an exemption from registration. There will be no public offerof securities in the United States or any other jurisdiction. This announcement does not constitute or form part of an offer, or anysolicitation of an offer, for securities and any purchase or application forshares in the placing should only be made on the basis of information containedin the formal AIM admission document issued by the Company in connection withthe Placing. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Cohort