REG - Gusbourne PLC - Short term Unsecured Loan & Extension of Warrants

GusbourneAnnouncement

14/11/2023 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:20231114:nRSN2910Ta&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 2910T  Gusbourne PLC  14 November 2023

14 November 2023

Gusbourne Plc

("Gusbourne", the "Company" or the "Group")

Short term Unsecured Loan Facility and Extension of the final exercise date of
the Company's Warrants

Short term Unsecured Loan Facility

The Company announces that it has agreed a short-term unsecured loan facility
of £1.5m ("the Loan") with a company associated with Lord Ashcroft ("the
Lender"). The Loan is repayable on demand (and in in any event within 364 days
of the agreement) and carries an interest rate of 2.5% per annum above Base
Rate (being the base rate of the Bank of England). The proceeds of the Loan
will be used for working capital and to support the ongoing growth strategy of
the Company.

Lord Ashcroft holds an interest in 66.3% of the Company's ordinary shares of 1
pence each ("Ordinary Shares") and is a Substantial Shareholder in the Company
as defined by the AIM Rules for Companies ("AIM Rules"). The provision of the
Loan constitutes a related party transaction pursuant to AIM Rule 13. The
directors of the Company, having consulted with the Company's nominated
adviser, Panmure Gordon, consider that the terms of the Loan are fair and
reasonable insofar as shareholders are concerned.

Extension of the final exercise date of the Company's Warrants

On 17 December 2021, the Company issued transferrable one-year warrants to
subscribe for 4,002,259 Ordinary Shares at 75p per Ordinary Share to all
Shareholders on the register on 16 December 2021. Such warrants have a final
exercise date of 16 December 2023 (the "Warrants"). The Company has now agreed
to extend the final exercise date of the Warrants by 12 months, being to 16
December 2024.

Unexercised Warrants at 10 November 2023 amount to 3,888,671 Ordinary Shares
with 113,588 Warrants having been exercised to date including 57,740 by the
directors of the Company.

Of the unexercised Warrants, 2,660,158 (68.4%) are held by the Company's
largest shareholder, Belize Finance Limited, a related party of Lord Ashcroft,
and 20,617 Warrants 0.5%) are held by Directors of the Company.

The extension of the final exercise date of the Warrants, as set out above,
constitutes a related party transaction pursuant to AIM Rule 13. The
independent directors for the purpose of the extension of the Warrants (Jim
Ormonde, Mike Paul, Katharine Berry and Lord Arbuthnot PC), having consulted
with the Company's nominated adviser, Panmure Gordon, considers that the terms
of the Warrant extension are fair and reasonable insofar as shareholders are
concerned.

Enquiries:

Gusbourne Plc

Katharine Berry CFO
                                    +44
(0)12 3375 8666

Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Nomad and Sole Broker)
 

James Sinclair-Ford / Ailsa Macmaster / Lauren Riley           +44
(0)20 7886 2500

Hugh Rich / Rauf Munir

 

 Media

 Kate Hoare / Ben Robinson / India Spencer (Houston)  +44 (0)20 4529 0549

 gusbourne@houston.co.uk

 

Note: This and other press releases are available at the Company's website:
www.gusbourneplc.com (http://www.gusbourneplc.com)

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of article 7 of
the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as amended by regulation 11 of the
Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019/310. With the publication
of this announcement, this information is now considered to be in the public
domain.

Note to Editors

Gusbourne produces and distributes a range of high quality and award winning
vintage English sparkling wines from grapes grown in its own vineyards in Kent
and West Sussex.

The Gusbourne business was founded by Andrew Weeber in 2004 with the first
vineyard plantings at Appledore in Kent. The first wines were released in 2010
to critical acclaim. Following additional vineyard plantings in 2013 and 2015
in both Kent and West Sussex, Gusbourne now has 93 hectares of mature
vineyards. The NEST visitor centre was opened next to the winery in Appledore
in 2017, providing tours, tastings and a direct outlet for our wines.

Right from the beginning, Gusbourne's intention has always been to produce the
finest English sparkling wines. Starting with carefully chosen sites, we use
best practice in establishing and maintaining the vineyards and conduct green
harvests to ensure we achieve the highest quality grapes for each vintage. A
quest for excellence is at the heart of everything we do. We blind taste
hundreds of samples before finalising our blends and even after the wines are
bottled, they spend extended time on their lees to add depth and flavour. Once
disgorged, extra cork ageing further enhances complexity. Our winemaking
process remains traditional, but one that is open to innovation where
appropriate. It takes four years to bring a vineyard into full production and
a further four years to transform those grapes into Gusbourne's premium
sparkling wine.

Gusbourne's luxury brand enjoys premium price positioning and is distributed
in the finest establishments both in the UK and abroad. Our wines can be found
in leading luxury retailers, restaurants, hotels and stockists, always being
aware that where we are says a lot about who we are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  IODNKNBDOBDDBDD