14th Jun 2007 14:55
Speedy Hire PLC14 June 2007 SPEEDY HIRE Plc Result of equity placing 14 June 2007 Further to its announcement earlier today, Speedy Hire Plc ("Speedy Hire" or the"Company") announces that it has successfully placed 4,359,800 new ordinaryshares of 5 pence each (the "Placing Shares") at 1250 pence per share withinstitutional investors to raise approximately £54.5m, before expenses (the " Placing"). The Placing Shares represent approximately 9.5 per cent. of the Company's existing issued share capital. The Placing is to help fund theproposed acquisition of the trade and assets of the tool hire division of HewdenStuart Plc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Finning International Inc. (the " Acquisition") and to ensure that Speedy Hire has the flexibility to continue to invest at appropriate levels in its business. The Placing comprises two tranches. The first tranche of 2,179,900 new ordinaryshares of 5p each (the "Firm Placing Shares") is not conditional on theAcquisition and has been underwritten by Oriel Securities Limited. The FirmPlacing Shares represent approximately 4.7 per cent. of the Company's existingissued share capital. The Firm Placing Shares will be issued credited as fullypaid and will rank equally in all respects with the existing ordinary shares ofSpeedy Hire, including the right to receive all future dividends and otherdistributions, including, for the avoidance of doubt, the proposed finaldividend of 11.5 pence per share payable to shareholders on the Company'sregister on 22 June 2007. Application will be made for the Firm Placing Sharesto be admitted to the Official List and to be admitted to trading by the LondonStock Exchange on its market for listed securities ("First Admission"). Theplacing of the Firm Placing Shares is conditional only on First Admission, whichis expected to take place on 20 June 2007. The second tranche of 2,179,900 new ordinary shares of 5p each (the "ConditionalPlacing Shares") also represents approximately 4.7 per cent. of the Company'sexisting issued share capital. The Conditional Placing Shares will be issuedcredited as fully paid and will rank equally in all respects with the existingordinary shares of Speedy Hire, including the right to receive all futuredividends and other distributions, but excluding, for the avoidance of doubt,the proposed final dividend of 11.5 pence per share payable to shareholders onthe Company's register on 22 June 2007. Application will in due course be madefor the Conditional Placing Shares to be admitted to the Official List and to beadmitted to trading by the London Stock Exchange on its market for listedsecurities ("Second Admission"). The placing of the Conditional Placing Sharesis conditional upon the following: - Resolutions being passed at Speedy Hire's forthcoming annual general meeting(expected to take place on 17 July 2007) to authorise Speedy Hire's directors toallot and issue the Conditional Placing Shares on a non pre-emptive basis; - Completion of the Acquisition; and - Second Admission. Completion of the Acquisition is expected to take place on 31 July 2007 andSecond Admission is expected to be on 2 August 2007. For further information, please contact: Speedy Hire PlcSteve Corcoran, Chief ExecutiveNeil O'Brien, Finance DirectorTelephone: 01942 720 000 RothschildRichard BaileyTelephone: 0161 827 3800 Oriel Securities LimitedAdrian McMillanNatalie FortescueTelephone: 0207 710 7600 Hudson SandlerNick LyonWendy BakerKate HoughTelephone: 0207 796 4133 Note to editors: Speedy Hire is the number one provider of equipment hire services in the UK,operating from 361 depots throughout the UK. The Group is focused primarily ontool hire, with complementary businesses specialising in portable accommodation,lifting equipment, surveying and measurement instruments and compressed air andpower generating equipment. Further information is available on the company's website: www.speedyhire.plc.uk N M Rothschild & Sons Limited ("Rothschild"), which is authorised and regulatedby the UK Financial Services Authority, is acting for Speedy Hire and no oneelse in connection with the subject matter of this announcement and will not beresponsible to anyone other than Speedy Hire for providing the protectionsafforded to clients of Rothschild or for providing advice in relation to thesubject matter of this announcement. Oriel Securities Limited ("Oriel"), which is authorised and regulated by the UKFinancial Services Authority, is acting for Speedy Hire and no one else inconnection with the subject matter of this announcement and will not beresponsible to anyone other than Speedy Hire for providing the protectionsafforded to clients of Oriel or for providing advice in relation to the subjectmatter of this announcement. This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of anoffer to acquire ordinary shares in the share capital of Speedy Hire ("Shares"). The information contained in this announcement is not for release, publicationor distribution to persons in the United States, Australia, France, Canada,Japan, New Zealand or the Republic of South Africa. This announcement is not anoffer of securities for sale into the United States. The Shares have not beenand will not be registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended, andmay not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, in the United States absentregistration or an exemption from registration. The Shares have not been andwill not be registered with any regulatory authority of any state within theUnited States. There will be no public offer of securities in the United States. Certain statements in this announcement are forward-looking statements. Theseforward-looking statements speak only as at the date of this announcement. Suchstatements are based on current expectations and beliefs and, by their nature,are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that couldcause actual results and performance to differ materially from any expectedfuture results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-lookingstatement. There are several factors which could cause actual results to differmaterially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements.These factors include Speedy Hire's ability to successfully combine thebusinesses of Speedy Hire and Hewden Tools and to realise expected synergiesfrom that combination, changes in global, political, economic, business,competitive, market or regulatory forces, future exchange and interest rates,changes in tax rates and future business combinations or dispositions. Theinformation and opinions expressed in this announcement are subject to changewithout notice and none of Speedy Hire, Rothschild or Oriel assumes anyresponsibility or obligation to update publicly or review any of theforward-looking statements contained herein, regardless of whether thosestatements are affected by the results of new information, future events orotherwise. No statement in this announcement is intended to be a profit forecast and nostatement in this announcement should be interpreted to mean that Earnings perShare for the current or future financial years would necessarily match orexceed the historical published Earnings per Share. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Speedy Hire