NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR
DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN, INTO
OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A
VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF SUCH
JURISDICTION.
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE
INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF THE MARKET ABUSE
REGULATIONS (EU) NO. 596/2014 WHICH FORMS PART OF DOMESTIC UK LAW
PURSUANT TO THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018 ("UK MAR").
UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, THIS INSIDE INFORMATION
IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
Armadale Capital
Plc
("Armadale" or the
"Company")
Proposed Cancellation of
admission of Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM
Proposed Re-registration as a
Private Limited Company
Adoption of New Articles of
Association
and
Notice of General
Meeting
Armadale Capital Plc (AIM: ACP), the
AIM quoted investment company focused on natural resource projects
in Africa, today announces the proposed cancellation of the
admission of its ordinary shares to trading on AIM (the
"Cancellation"), re-registration of the Company as a private
limited company (the "Re-registration") and the adoption of new
articles of association (the "New Articles").
A circular ("Circular") will
tomorrow be sent to Shareholders, setting out the background to and
reasons for the proposed Cancellation and the Re-registration and
associated adoption of the New Articles. The Circular will also
contain a notice convening a general meeting ("General Meeting"),
at which Shareholders are invited to consider and, if thought fit,
approve the proposed Cancellation and the Re-Registration and the
associated adoption of the New Articles.
The General Meeting will be held at
Suite 23, Railway Road, Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia 6008 on
31 October 2024 at 8:00 a.m. GMT (4:00 p.m. AWST).
The Directors consider that the
proposals are in the best interests of the Company and its
shareholders as a whole and, therefore, unanimously recommend that
you vote in favour of the Resolutions at the General Meeting
as each of the Directors intends to vote, or procure the vote, in
respect of, in aggregate, 62,068,988 Ordinary Shares to which they
or their connected persons are beneficially entitled, representing
approximately 9.5% of the Company's issued ordinary share
capital.
The Circular and the notice of
General Meeting will be made available shortly on the Company's
website at http://armadalecapitalplc.com
and defined terms used in this announcement shall
have the meaning ascribed to them in the Circular.
Process for Cancellation
Under the AIM Rules, it is a
requirement that the Cancellation must be approved by Shareholders
holding not less than 75 per cent. of votes cast by Shareholders at
the General Meeting. Accordingly, the notice of General Meeting set
out in the Circular contains a special resolution to approve the
Cancellation (the "Cancellation Resolution").
Furthermore, Rule 41 of the AIM
Rules requires any AIM company that wishes the London Stock
Exchange to cancel the admission of its shares to trading on AIM to
notify shareholders and to separately inform the London Stock
Exchange of its preferred cancellation date at least 20 clear
business days prior to such date. In addition, a period of at least
five clear business days following Shareholders' approval of the
Cancellation is required before the Cancellation may become
effective.
In accordance with AIM Rule 41, the
Directors have notified the London Stock Exchange of the Company's
intention, subject to the Cancellation Resolution being passed at
the General Meeting on 31 October 2024, to cancel the Company's
admission of the Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM. Accordingly, if
the Cancellation Resolution is passed by the Shareholders, the
Cancellation will become effective at 7.00 a.m. on 13 November
2024.
The full timetable of expected
events is set out at the end of this announcement.
Process for Re-registration
Following the Cancellation, the
Directors believe that the requirements and associated costs of the
Company maintaining its public company status will be difficult to
justify and that the Company will benefit from the more flexible
requirements and lower costs associated with private limited
company status. It is therefore proposed to re-register the Company
as a private limited company. In connection with the
Re-registration, it is proposed that the New Articles be adopted to
reflect the change in the Company's status to a private limited
company. The principal effects of the Re-registration and the
adoption of the New Articles on the rights and obligations of
Shareholders and the Company will be summarised in the Circular.
Under the Companies Act 2006, the Re-registration and the adoption
of the New Articles must be approved by Shareholders holding not
less than 75 per cent. of votes cast by Shareholders at the General
Meeting (the "Re-registration Resolution").
If the Cancellation Resolution and
the Re-registration Resolution are approved at the General Meeting,
an application will be made to the Registrar of Companies for the
Company to be re-registered as a private limited company.
Re-registration will take effect when the Registrar of Companies
issues a certificate of incorporation on Re-registration. The
Registrar of Companies will issue the certificate of incorporation
on Re-registration when it is satisfied that no valid application
can be made to cancel the Re-registration Resolution or that any
such application to cancel the Re-registration Resolution has been
determined and confirmed by the Court.
Directorate Changes
The current directors will remain in
place after the proposed Cancellation and Re-registration
process.
Trading in the Ordinary Shares before and after
Cancellation
Should Cancellation be approved by
Shareholders at the General Meeting, the Company will consider
implementing a matched bargain facility which would facilitate
Shareholders buying and selling Ordinary Shares on a matched
bargain basis following Cancellation.
Shareholders should however be aware
that the implementation of a matched bargain facility is only under
consideration at this stage and there can be no guarantee that the
Company will conclude that putting such a matched bargain facility
in place is beneficial for Shareholders. Shareholders
should therefore also be aware that should a
matched bargain facility ultimately not implemented, it may be
difficult to buy and sell Ordinary Shares in Armadale following the
Cancellation should they wish to do so.
For further information
contact:
Enquiries:
|
|
Armadale Capital Plc
Matt Bull, Director
|
+44 (0)
20 7236 1177
|
Nomad and Broker: Cavendish Capital Markets
Limited
Neil McDonald / Seamus
Fricker
|
+44 (0)
20 7220 0500
|
Expected Timetable of Principle
Events
Event
|
Time and/or
date
|
Announcement of proposed Cancellation, Re-registration and
adoption of New Articles
|
14 October
2024
|
Publication
and posting of this Document
|
15 October
2024
|
Latest time
for receipt of proxy appointments in respect the General
Meeting
|
8:00 a.m.
on 29 October 2024
|
General
Meeting
|
8:00 a.m.
on 31 October 2024
|
Announcement of result of General
Meeting
|
31 October
2024
|
Last day of
dealings in Ordinary Shares on
AIM
|
12
November 2024
|
Cancellation
|
7:00 a.m.
on 13 November 2024
|
Expected
re-registration as a private company
|
Week commencing 25 November 2024
|
Notes:
1)
All of the times referred to in this Document refer to London time,
unless otherwise stated.
2)
The timetable above assume that the Resolutions set out in the
Notice of General Meeting are passed. Events listed in the above
timetable following the General Meeting are conditional on the
Resolutions being passed at the General Meeting without
amendment.
3)
Each of the times and dates in the above timetable is subject to
change. If any of the above times and/or dates change, the revised
times and dates will be notified to Shareholders by an announcement
through a Regulatory Information Service.
Background to and reasons for the Proposed Cancellation and
Re-registration
As part of the Company's stated
strategy, and after careful consideration and consultation with key
stakeholders, the Directors have unanimously concluded that being
publicly listed is not currently to the benefit of the Company and
that the Cancellation is in the best interests of the Company and
its Shareholders as a whole. The Directors believe that,
despite the quality of the Company's assets and their potential for
development, it is no longer financially viable for Armadale to
continue as an AIM quoted business given the associated costs which
could be directed towards the development of the Company's
projects.
In reaching this conclusion, the
Board has considered the following key factors (amongst
others):
·
The Company's
need to minimise cash burn in advance of development funding being
available and the elimination of all non-core costs to help achieve
that. A continued AIM listing has
become disproportionately costly and burdensome from a regulatory
perspective given the Company's current stage of
development.
·
The lack of
liquidity in the Company's shares and the volatility of its share
price as a result, which, in turn, has a materially adverse impact
on the perception of the Company by all
stakeholders. The Directors do
not believe the current market valuation reflects the underlying
strength of the Company's projects and is negatively impacting the
Company's ability to raise the capital required for development of
its assets.
·
The impact of the
regulatory regime on strategic flexibility.
The Board believes that, as an unlisted company,
it can take and implement decisions more quickly than is possible
as publicly listed entity.
Therefore, as a result of this
review, the Board has unanimously concluded that the proposed
Cancellation and Re-registration is in the best interests of the
Company and its Shareholders as a whole.
General Meeting
The Company is convening the General
Meeting to consider and, if thought fit, pass: (i) a special
resolution to approve the Cancellation, and (ii) special resolution
to approve the Re-registration (including approving the New
Articles).
The General Meeting will be held at
Suite 23, Railway Road, Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia 6008 on
31 October 2024 at 8:00 a.m. GMT (4:00 p.m. AWST).
Formal notice convening the General
Meeting and setting out the resolutions to be considered is set out
at the end of this Document. Shareholders are requested to
complete, sign and return the form of proxy accompanying this
Document to the Company's Registrar, Share Registrars Limited, as
soon as possible but in any event so as to be received by no later
than 8:00 a.m. GMT (4:00 p.m. AWST) on 29 October 2024 or, in the
event of an adjournment of the meeting, 48 hours before the
adjourned meeting (excluding non-working days). To be valid, forms
of proxy should be completed and returned in accordance with the
instructions set out therein to Share Registrars Limited, 3 The
Millennium Centre, Crosby Way, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 7XX, (by post)
or Share Registrars Limited, 3 The Millennium Centre, Crosby Way,
Farnham, Surrey, GU9 7XX, (by hand) as soon as possible and, in any
event, no later than 8:00 a.m. GMT (4:00 p.m. AWST) on 29 October
2024, being 48 hours (not counting any part of a day that is not a
Business Day) before the time appointed for the holding of the
General Meeting.
A copy of the Circular, the notice
of General Meeting and the New Articles will be made available on
the Company's website at www.armadalecapitalplc.com.