British
Smaller Companies VCT plc (the "Company")
Issue of
Equity
On 17 October 2024 British Smaller
Companies VCT plc and British Smaller Companies VCT2 plc (together
the "Companies") launched offers for subscription (the "Offers")
seeking to initially raise £50 million in aggregate for the 2024/25
tax year, with an over-allotment facility of £25 million, which was
subsequently utilised in full. The Offers were closed to new
applications on 8 January 2025.
The Company announces that today, 30
January 2025, it has made the first issue of ordinary shares
pursuant to the Offers by allotting 18,882,044 ordinary shares of
10 pence each, raising gross proceeds of £15.2 million. This
allotment was made in respect of the tax year 2024/25. In
accordance with the pricing formula set out in the Prospectus, the
new ordinary shares were allotted at offer prices of between 80.13
pence and 84.09 pence per share depending on the adviser charge (if
applicable) and the number of shares issued pertaining to each
application. Applicants received additional New Shares
equivalent to receiving a 3.35 per cent per annum rate of return on
funds awaiting allotment, calculated by reference to the number of
days between the acceptance of an Application (including full
receipt of cleared funds) and the date of allotment.
The net asset value ("NAV") used for
the calculation of the issue price on 30 January 2025 is the last
reported NAV of 78.55 pence per ordinary share, being the unaudited
NAV as at 30 September 2024 of 81.80 pence per ordinary share,
adjusted for the interim dividend of 2.00 pence per ordinary share
paid on 20 December 2024 and the special dividend of 1.25 pence per
ordinary share paid on 27 January 2025.
Together, the Companies have in
total allotted shares relating to gross proceeds of £25.0 million
under the Offers, of which £15.2 million has been raised by the
Company and £9.8 million has been raised by British Smaller
Companies VCT2 plc.
In this allotment Adam Bastin,
non-executive Director of the Company, has been allotted 7,449
ordinary shares of 10 pence in the Company, bringing his aggregate
total holding to 20,696 ordinary shares.
In this allotment the employees and
members of the Manager, YFM Private Equity Limited, have been
allotted 41,901 ordinary shares of 10 pence each in the Company,
bringing their aggregate total holding to 1,084,774 ordinary
shares.
Applications are now being made by
the Company for the ordinary shares which were allotted on 30
January 2025 to be admitted to the Official List of the Financial
Conduct Authority and to trading on the London Stock Exchange's
main market for listed securities. Dealings are expected to
commence on or around 13 February 2025.
The Companies have issued a
prospectus relating to the Offers (the "Prospectus"). The proceeds
will be allocated between the Companies in accordance with the
terms set out in the Prospectus.
The second and final allotment of
the Offers is expected to take place between 1 - 4 April
2025.
Following the allotment of
18,882,044 ordinary shares, the Company's issued share capital
consists of 321,059,791 ordinary shares with voting rights ("Voting
Capital") and 32,317,862 shares held in treasury.
The above statement of Voting
Capital may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the
calculations by which they will determine if they are required to
notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in the
Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency
Rules.
30 January 2025
For further information, please
contact:
Marcus
Karia
YFM Equity
Partners
Tel: 0113 244 1000
Alex
Collins
Panmure Liberum
Tel: 0207 886 2767
