10th Jun 2025 07:00
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT FOR PUBLICATION, RELEASE OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO OR FROM THE UNITED STATES OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH PUBLICATION, RELEASE OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OR AN INVITATION TO ACQUIRE OR DISPOSE OF ANY SECURITIES. ATTENTION IS ALSO DRAWN TO THE IMPORTANT INFORMATION AT THE END OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.
10 June 2025
Metir plc
("Metir" or the "Company")
Fundraise
Metir plc (AIM: MET), an international developer and provider of testing solutions for unique and underserved public health and environmental markets, is pleased to announce the successful completion of a fundraise (the "Fundraise"), arranged by the Company's Joint Broker Turner Pope Investment Limited ("TPI"), to raise (subject to later confirmation of the intended Director participation) up to £850,000 before expenses to support the continuing growth of the Company by way of:
· a placing of £780,000 with investors (the "Placing") at a price of 0.65p (the "Placing Price") per ordinary share of 0.001 pence each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares"); and
· the intended participation in the Fundraise of £70,000 by certain Directors of the Company to be confirmed shortly after the expected publication of the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024 on or around 25 June 2025 (the "Subscription").
Use of proceeds
As announced in the trading update on 29 May 2025, the cost base of the Company remains very tightly controlled and is supporting strong growth but management believes that this growth is being constrained by sub-optimal levels of working capital. The board believes that additional financing would support stronger growth and move the Company into profitability more quickly.
The net proceeds of the Fundraise are intended to provide capital to accelerate growth of the business including for the following purposes:
· Working capital to allow the Company to finance an increased production rate of its MicroTox® LX to improve the margin on future devices sold in accordance with an increasing order book;
· Funding to integrate specialist software with the Company's Continuous Toxic Monitoring (CTM) machines (as used in Qatar) to aggregate and record data from a network of machines to a single dashboard to include machine learning (AI) capabilities;
· Funding to move towards commercial testing for the Company's novel prototype Pathogen Detector in conjunction with Aptamer Group plc initially for rapid on-line detection of Cryptosporidium, the primary pathogen found in sewage polluted potable water in the UK and elsewhere;
· Allow the Company to provide matching capital as often required to secure any Innovate UK or similar grants for any proprietary product development that it may apply for;
· Funding to support pursuit of large projects for 24/7 monitoring of potable water in towns and cities building on and similar to our project in Qatar;
· Optimisation of our PFAS (forever chemicals) market leading technology; and
· Settle outstanding past due creditors.
Placing
Pursuant to the Placing, a total of 120,000,000 Ordinary Shares ("Placing Shares") have been placed, conditional only on admission to trading on AIM ("Admission"), with investors at the Placing Price, equal to the closing mid‐market price prior to the Placing of 0.65p on 9 June 2025 (being the last practicable date prior to this announcement). Each Placing Share will rank pari passu with existing Ordinary Shares.
The Placing Shares represent approximately 40.1% of the enlarged issued share capital of the Company and together with the Broker Warrants (as described below) would represent approximately 44.6% of the diluted issued share capital (assuming no other warrants or options are exercised).
Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Limited ("Turner Pope" or "TPI") is acting as broker and placing agent to the Company and Singer Capital Markets Advisory LLP ("Singer Capital Markets") is acting as Nominated Adviser to the Company. Under the terms of engagement between TPI and the Company, the Company has agreed to issue to JIM Nominees Limited (as nominee on behalf of TPI) warrants to subscribe for 24,000,000 Ordinary Shares in connection with the Placing exercisable at the Placing Price for 5 years from the date of Admission (the "Broker Warrants"). The issue of the Broker Warrants is conditional upon Admission.
Intended Participation by Directors in the Placing
Robert Moore, Acting Executive Chairman, and Nigel Burton, Non-Executive Director, (together the "Participating Directors") have indicated their intention to subscribe for, in aggregate, £70,000 via the Subscription and, should the directors decide to proceed with the Subscription, the price per Placing Share will be the higher of the Pricing Price and a 10% discount to the closing price of an Ordinary Share on the business day prior to the date that the directors confirm the Subscription.
The intended participations by the Participating Directors are included in the aggregate Fundraise described in this announcement but they are not expected to be confirmed until shortly after the publication of the Annual Report and Accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2024, and their notification by way of a Regulatory Information Service, on or around 25 June 2025. Should the Participating Directors decide to participate, their participation will be regarded as a related party transaction and subject to satisfying, in advance, the requirements of AIM Rule 13.
Admission to trading
Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange plc for admission of the Placing Shares totalling 120,000,000 Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM. It is expected that admission will become effective and dealings in the Placing Shares will commence at 8.00 a.m. on or around 16 June 2025.
Total Voting Rights
Following the issue of the Placing Shares as described above, the Company's issued ordinary share capital will consist of 299,178,185 Ordinary Shares. The Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in Treasury.
Therefore, the above figure may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculation by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
Cash
Following the completion of the Placing, the Company's current net cash position is expected to be approximately £850,000 and the Company will have adequate working capital headroom to continue to operate for the foreseeable future.
Bob Moore Metir's Acting Executive Chairman & CEO, commented:
"The careful allocation of the additional working capital raised at current market price will enable the Company to grow the business and move towards prolonged profitability. In addition to the Company's wide range of Modern Water and Microsaic Systems' proprietary instruments, testing kits and reagents that it supplies to customers with a growing order book, the capital will enable the Company to move towards commercial returns for its newly developed products and to pursue more large toxic water testing and monitoring projects based on our success in Qatar.
We would like to thank our existing shareholders and new investors for the continuing support they have shown for the Company and its growth plans."
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement via the Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
This announcement contains (or may contain) certain forward-looking statements with respect to certain of the Company's and/or the Directors' current expectations and projections about future events. These statements, which sometimes use words such as "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate", "expect" and words of similar meaning, reflect the directors' beliefs and expectations and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results and performance to differ materially from any expected future results or performance expressed or implied by any such forward-looking statement. Statements contained in this announcement regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. The information contained in this announcement is subject to change without notice and neither Singer Capital Markets nor TPI nor, except as required by applicable law, the Company assumes any responsibility or obligation to update publicly or review any of the forward-looking statements contained herein. You should not rely on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this announcement.
Metir plc Bob Moore, Acting Executive Chairman & CEO | +44 (0) 20 3657 0050 via Turner Pope |
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Singer Capital Markets (Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker) Alex Bond / Oliver Platts | +44 (0) 20 7496 3000 |
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Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Limited (Joint Broker) Andy Thacker / James Pope | +44 (0) 20 3657 0050 |
About Metir
Metir is highly experienced in the development, manufacture and supply of microelectronics instrumentation for markets requiring analytical testing in public and environmental health markets. The Company has acquired and integrated the assets of Modern Water with Microsaic Systems' technologies resulting in comprehensive water testing and other toxic testing capabilities including world leading PFAS detection technology. Metir's products and solutions are commercially available through global markets via direct sale and a network of regional and country specific distributors and partners.
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