REG - Aukett Swanke Group - Sale of John R Harris & Partners Limited

Aukett SwankeAnnouncement

29/04/2022 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20220429:nRSc7900Ja&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 7900J  Aukett Swanke Group PLC  29 April 2022

29 April 2022

Aukett Swanke Group Plc

("Aukett Swanke" or the "Group")

Sale of John R Harris & Partners Limited

Aukett Swanke is pleased to announce the disposal of its interest in John R
Harris & Partners Limited ("John R Harris"), incorporated in Cyprus and
operating out of the Middle East, to the local management team for a maximum
consideration of AED 5.0 million (approximately £1,074,000) (the "Disposal").

The consideration is to be settled by AED 4.25 million (approximately
£913,000) in cash and a deferred payment of AED 750,000 (approximately
£161,000) payable over a fixed five-year period, subject to an early
repayment discount. The Group has also entered into a Marketing Agreement,
covering the use of the Group's project portfolio and associated materials,
over the deferred consideration period for an additional sum in order to
maintain the Group's interest in this important market.

John R Harris made a loss of £162,000 (before amortisation of intangible
assets) in the year ending 30 September 2021 and the value of its net assets
(excluding goodwill and intangible assets recognised in the Group consolidated
balance sheet) was £312,000 as at 30 September 2021.

The Disposal is part of a series of intended actions to restructure the
Group's operations in an orderly manner and to allow the John R Harris
business to fulfil its potential without the burden of a central overhead.

The proceeds of the Disposal will be used to reduce the amount drawn under the
Group's borrowing facility and for general working capital purposes.

Related Party Transaction

As one of the Purchasers is a director of the Middle East branch entity
associated with John R Harris, the Disposal constitutes a related party
transaction pursuant to Rule 13 of the AIM Rules for Companies. Accordingly,
the board of directors of Aukett Swanke (all of whom are independent in
relation to considering the Disposal), having consulted with the Company's
Nominated Adviser, Strand Hanson Limited, considers that the terms of the
Disposal are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's shareholders are
concerned.

 

For further information please contact:

 Aukett Swanke Group Plc
 Nicholas Thompson, Antony Barkwith                       +44 (0) 20 7843 3000

 Strand Hanson Limited (Financial and Nominated Adviser)
 James Spinney, James Bellman                             +44 (0) 20 7409 3494

 

Investor / Media Enquiries

Chris
Steele
             +44 (0) 7979 604687

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation
(EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of United Kingdom domestic law by virtue of
the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended.

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  DISEAALPAFNAEAA