Proposed Acquisition of Huddled Group Limited
28/09/2023 07:01
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RNS Number : 9190N Let's Explore Group PLC 28 September 2023
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28 September 2023
Let's Explore Group plc
("Let's Explore", the "Company" or the "Group")
Proposed acquisition of Huddled Group Limited, Authority to issue
Consideration Shares, Proposed Off-Market Buy Back, Substantial Property
Transaction, Rule 9 Waiver, Change of Name and Notice of General Meeting
Let's Explore Group plc is pleased to announce it has entered into a
conditional sale and purchase agreement, for the acquisition of the entire
issued share capital of Huddled Group Limited, and its wholly-owned
Subsidiaries for a total consideration of £3,950,000 (the "Proposed
Transaction"). The Company will pay an initial payment of £3,450,000 and a
deferred payment, subject to adjustment as provided in the Acquisition
Agreement, of £500,000 due and payable around 30 April 2025. Both payments
will be satisfied by the allotment and issue of the Consideration Shares for
the entire share capital of Huddled and its Subsidiaries.
Highlights
· Proposed Acquisition of the Huddled Group Limited ("Huddled"), to create a new
enlarged group focused on growing a portfolio of e-commerce brands.
· Significant opportunity for growth through Huddled's trading business -
Discount Dragon
- A fast-growing direct-to-consumer e-commerce business focused on the sale of
branded FMCG - predominantly dry and tinned groceries, and beverages.
- Differentiated offering selling surplus, mis-packaged, and items close to
their best before date for significant discounts to mainstream grocery
market
- Strong track record of growth since founding in 2020, growing monthly revenues
500% over the period from August 2022 to August 2023
- Enlarged group well positioned to capture market share in a growing market
segment: the market share for discounters in the UK having increased more than
fourfold in the last 15 years
- Opportunity to optimise and grow the business through investment into
marketing, warehousing and provision of deeper product offering in key
categories
· Group well-resourced for growth - cash resources of £6.8m as at 30 June 2023
with additional cash due in February 2024 of approximately £1m pursuant to
repayment of loan note.
· Proposed Rule 9 Waiver, subject to shareholder approval, for the Concert Party
who following the Acquisition and Off-Market Buy Backs, will hold a maximum of
53.45% of the Enlarged Share Capital.
· Proposed change of name to Huddled Group plc.
Further details of the Proposed Transaction are set out below.
Background to Acquisition
Following the sale of the Location Based Entertainment VR business ("LBE"),
and the conclusion of the Tender Offer, the Company had, at 30 June 2023,
approximately £6.8m of cash on hand along with further cash of $1.25m
receivable via a loan note issued by the buyer of LBE, which is due for
repayment in February 2024.
With a strong balance sheet, and the Home Based Entertainment ("HBE")
business, the Company set about looking for acquisition opportunities. Whilst
there were discussions with several potential targets, these have not been
consummated for a variety of reasons, including timing, valuation or
alternative options available to counterparties.
At the same time, Huddled, a company in which the executive team of the
Company already have an investment, was showing exciting growth potential and
was proposed to the Independent Directors as a potential acquisition target.
Following a review and due diligence exercise, supported by the Company's
advisers, the Independent Directors concluded that this business has
significant growth potential and that the Company has the cash resources, as
well as the e-commerce and other management skills and experience, to
accelerate its growth. Accordingly, the Company has agreed, subject to various
shareholder approvals, to acquire the business.
Pursuant to the Acquisition Agreement, the Company will pay an initial payment
of £3,450,000 and a deferred payment of £500,000, subject to adjustment,
payable within 5 business days of on the date of filing of the consolidated
financial statements of the Group for the financial year ending on 31 December
2024. Both payments will be satisfied by the allotment and issue of the
Consideration Shares for the entire share capital of Huddled and its
Subsidiaries. The Completion Consideration Shares will be subject to a
12-month firm lock-in and 12-month orderly market provisions thereafter. The
Withheld Consideration Shares will be subject to a 6-month orderly market lock
in.
As part of the transaction, the Company will discharge loans and accrued
interest which amounted, as at 31 July 2023, to £612,500.
Huddled, founded in 2020, is focused on building a portfolio of e-commerce
brands. It has built a solid track record in digital marketing and e-commerce.
It is dedicated to delivering value and great service, in the growing world of
e-commerce.
In August 2022, Huddled acquired the business and assets of an e-commerce
retailer and rebranded it as "Discount Dragon". This has become Huddled's sole
trading business and for the time being has incorporated the BeerMonster
business.
Discount Dragon is a direct-to-consumer e-commerce business, which focuses
pre-dominantly on the sale of branded FMCG, predominantly dry and tinned
groceries and beverages. Its particular focus is selling surplus, end of
line, mispackaged, and items close to best before dates at significant
discounts versus full retail prices, via the website
https://discountdragon.co.uk/.
In terms of marketing, the business engages regularly by email with its
growing database of customers with regular offers to stimulate sales and
operates an affiliate marketing programme, through a network of websites. It
has also run successful test campaigns on both paid Google and Facebook
marketing and will look to use these and other channels as a means of scaling
the customer base. The cash held by the Group will allow for rapid scaling of
the marketing activity, along with deepening the product offering, and the
warehouse investment which will be needed in time.
Discount Dragon has seen significant growth in unaudited revenue from a modest
£75,000 in August 2022, the month of acquisition of the related assets by
Huddled, to over £450,000 in August 2023. For the year ended 31 May 2022,
Huddled recorded a loss before tax of £160k on revenue of £465k. In the year
to 31 July 2023, Discount Dragon's unaudited results showed an EBITDA loss of
£0.7m on revenue of £3.3m. Net current liabilities of Huddled, as at 31 July
2023, were circa £335,000 (after the shareholder loans and accrued interest
of £612,500).
During the past 12 months, Huddled has invested heavily in Discount Dragon
including a complete rebrand and new warehouse management system. It has also
invested in developing the product range and strengthening supplier
relationships, along with providing all the working capital needed to support
the business.
This investment has allowed the business to begin to scale, forming the
foundations for future growth. The website has been featured in numerous
publications including exclusive features in The Sun and The Daily Mirror. The
business has also featured on ITV's 'This Morning' -
https://www.itv.com/thismorning/articles/our-coupon-queens-weekly-deals.
Discount Dragon operates out of a third party owned warehouse in Leigh, near
Manchester. It takes all orders through its website, which runs on a proven
e-commerce platform. All orders are picked and fulfilled in-house. It has 35
employees, split between 6 executive management and finance and 29 across all
warehouse functions. The directors believe that the current warehouse and
fixed cost operating structure in Leigh is scalable and can support north of
1,000 orders per day.
Between 1 January and 31 August 2023, Discount Dragon's website had circa 3m
visits with 3.6% making a purchase, generating £2.9m in revenue from 107,000
orders at an average basket value of over £27. Discount Dragon has over
20,000 Trustpilot reviews, being rated 'Excellent' by its customers. Average
order value has continued to improve with August 2023 reporting an average
order value of £32.46. Unaudited Revenue for the month was £454,843.
The business currently has an active database of circa 72,000 users who have
been active within the last 120 days. Of those, 12% have purchased within
the last 30 days, 20% in last 60 days, and 27% in last 90 days. In August
2023, it added 3,588 new customers with very limited marketing expenditure.
On 8 September 2023, Huddled entered into agreements with Motatos UK to
acquire the entirety of its stock and for Motatos to promote Discount Dragon
to its database. Motatos was previously Discount Dragon's main direct
competitor.
To enable Huddled to move rapidly on the Motatos opportunity and to provide
additional working capital for the Discount Dragon business, a further
shareholder loan facility has been agreed of up to £300k. This facility (to
the extent drawn) and associated interest will also be repaid at or around
completion of the acquisition of Huddled by the Company.
With the benefit of the Motatos stock, Discount Dragon will, subject to
ongoing sales, have aggregate stock at original bought-in cost in excess of
£1m, leaving it well invested for growth. To date, there has been encouraging
conversion of Motatos customers making purchases at Discount Dragon.
The Directors believe that Discount Dragon has a very large addressable market
and is well placed with an attractive proposition for consumers, and that
there is an opportunity to scale the business rapidly.
It is the intention of the Company to begin looking for a new warehouse
facility during the early part of 2024 allowing it to scale further and to
operate more efficiently on a 24/7 basis.
The market for discounters has, over the last few years, been expanding
significantly - Mintel research shows that 95% of all consumers now shop, to
some degree, at a discount retailer. According to Nielsen, the market share of
discounters in the UK has increased more than fourfold in the last 15 years,
from 4.6% in 2008 compared to 19.6% in 2022.
The Board has discussed the proposals with a number of its major institutional
investors who are supportive. Accordingly, it has received irrevocable
undertakings to vote in favour of the proposals from Shareholders in respect
of 67,533,832 Ordinary Shares (35.39% of the Voting Share Capital) who can
vote on Resolutions 1-7 and 33,305,257 Ordinary Shares (17.45% of the Voting
Share Capital) who can vote on Resolution 8.
A brief summary of the key terms of the Acquisition Agreement is set out in
paragraph 8 of Part V of the Circular.
Rule 9 Waiver
Under presumption 10 of the definition of "acting in concert" of the Takeover
Code shareholders in a private company who sell their shares for the issue of
new shares in a company to which the Takeover Code applies are considered to
be "acting in concert" and therefore constitute a concert party unless clear
evidence has been presented to the Takeover Panel to "break up" the concert
party.
The Existing Concert Party (which includes Martin Higginson, Daniel Wortley,
David Marks, and Megafone (UK) Limited Retirement Benefit Scheme (being Martin
Higginson's pension scheme)) have an interest equating to, in aggregate,
19.75% of the Voting Share Capital.
The Company has agreed with the Takeover Panel that the Existing Concert Party
shall be joined with the Huddled Concert Party as a consequence of common
participants. The Concert Party, upon Completion of the Acquisition, will have
an interest in 53.45% of the Enlarged Share Capital. Further details of the
Panel Waiver are contained in paragraph 5 of the Circular.
Therefore, the Company is seeking approval of the Allotment Resolution and the
Rule 9 Waiver Resolution which will allow it to proceed with the Acquisition
without the Existing Concert Party having to make a mandatory offer pursuant
to Rule 9 of the Takeover Code.
The Acquisition is also deemed a related party transaction under AIM Rule 13 -
see paragraph 7 of the Circular.
The Company will today post a circular to Shareholders regarding the Proposed
Transaction, which sets out a Notice of General Meeting (the "Circular"), and
a Form of Proxy for the proposed resolutions. These documents will also be
available on the Company's website.
Business and prospects of the Company
Shareholders are referred to a separate announcement today in which, the
Company published its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2023.
On 28 February 2023, the Company completed the sale of its core Location Based
Entertainment ("LBE") business. The majority of the sale proceeds were
returned to Shareholders and the balance retained to pursue acquisition
opportunities.
Since the sale of the LBE business, and prior to any acquisitions, the Group's
only remaining trading activity has been its Home Based Entertainment ("HBE")
business, which is comprised of the Let's Explore themed 'Immersive Learning'
products, as well as the 'Vodiac' VR headset, an affordable smartphone-powered
VR headset and companion app which provides the user with 75 different virtual
reality experiences to try across seven channels. These products retail to
consumers via a variety on channels including QVC, Amazon as well as direct to
consumer offering via Facebook and other social media channels.
HBE is predominantly a Q4 focused business, with the first half of the year
being about investment into the development and planning of new products.
During H1 the Group has developed three new Let's Explore products to be
launched in Q4 of this year: a revamped 'Let's Explore Oceans' offering, as
well as 'Let's Explore Space' and 'Let's Explore Wildlife' which are two
completely new products.
Each pack is focused on delivering immersive learning, coming complete with
the new and improved smartphone-powered VR headset, a range of VR experiences,
a holographic cube which unlocks a selection of in-app augmented reality
experiences, a full-colour hardback fact book, a sticker book, a giant poster,
and an interactive model.
The Company has produced an initial run of 7,500 units of each offering
(22,500 units in total) in conjunction with a respected publisher on a
profit-sharing basis. The recommended retail price of each pack will be £99,
or $125. Sales will be focused around the busy Q4 period and will, as in
previous years, be offered via either a direct sale, or through Amazon both in
the UK and USA.
Following a successful TV airing in August 2023 on QVC USA, some 4,000 Vodiac
headsets were sold. In addition, the Group has received additional orders for
circa 26,000 Vodiac units to be sold predominantly through QVC USA, and UK, as
well as two tests on QVC Canada, and Australia, and a select number of
retailers, all to be fulfilled in Q4.
If the Acquisition is approved, the Directors believe the Company will be well
positioned to further develop and grow Discount Dragon, as well as the
Company's own Let's Explore and Vodiac product ranges.
Related Party Transaction
Martin Higginson, Daniel Wortley, M Capital Investment Properties Limited (a
company controlled by Martin Higginson) and Lanton Investments Limited (a
company controlled by the family of David Marks) as directors of the Company,
and in the case of M Capital Investment Properties Limited and Lanton
Investments Limited an associate of a director of the Company, are considered
to be related parties pursuant to Rule 13 of the AIM Rules as they are also
shareholders and Sellers in Huddled.
The participation in this Acquisition by Martin Higginson, Lanton Investments
Limited and Daniel Wortley is considered to result in a related party
transaction under AIM Rule 13 of the AIM Rules due to these individuals being
directors or associates of directors of the Company. The Independent Directors
of the Company, having consulted with Cavendish Securities PLC, the Company's
Nominated Adviser, consider that the terms of the Acquisition are fair and
reasonable insofar as the Company's Shareholders are concerned.
In addition, as a result of the interests held by Martin Higginson and the MH
Connected Persons (being approximately 21.63%) in the Huddled Sale Shares, the
Acquisition constitutes a substantial property transaction for the purpose of
section 190 of the Act and, accordingly is also subject to shareholder
approval at the General Meeting.
The Company is therefore seeking approval of the SPT Resolution at the General
Meeting which will allow it to proceed with the Acquisition.
The Proposals are being voted on by Shareholders at the forthcoming General
Meeting.
Change of Name
The Directors feel it makes sense to change the name of the plc to Huddled
Group plc to reflect its focus in building a group of e-commerce brands.
The name change will therefore be put to shareholders at the General Meeting
on 16 October 2023.
Recommendation
The Independent Directors, who have been so advised by Cavendish, consider
that the Acquisition and the issue of the Consideration Shares are fair and
reasonable and in the best interests of the Independent Shareholders and the
Company as a whole. In providing advice to the Independent Directors,
Cavendish has taken into account the Independent Directors' commercial
assessments.
The Independent Directors unanimously recommend that Shareholders vote in
favour of the Rule 9 Waiver Resolution, as they have undertaken to do in
respect of their own beneficial Holdings of 219,360 Ordinary Shares,
representing approximately 0.11 per cent. in aggregate of the Voting Share
Capital. Martin Higginson, David Marks and Daniel Wortley, who are members of
the Concert Party, are not deemed to be independent for the purpose of this
recommendation.
The Directors believe that the Resolutions (excluding the Rule 9 Waiver
Resolution) to be considered at the General Meeting are in the best interests
of the Company and its shareholders as a whole and unanimously recommend that
Shareholders vote in favour of each of the Resolutions, as the Directors who
are Shareholders intend to do in respect of their beneficial shareholders
representing, in aggregate, over 12.07 per cent. of the current issued share
capital of the Company.
Commenting, Martin Higginson, CEO of Let's Explore, said:
"We believe the acquisition of Huddled will be transformational for the Group
and further strengthens our e-commerce position. The growth in Discount
Dragon, over the last 12 months has been exciting and we can see with
additional capital, the opportunity to drive growth quickly and a clear route
to profitably.
"The market for discounted groceries has never been more relevant and we're
excited as to what the future holds and are confident that we can drive value
for shareholders."
Enquiries:
For further information please visit www.LetsExploreGroup.com, or contact:
Let's Explore Group plc Martin Higginson investors@letsexplore.com
David Marks
Dan Wortley
Cavendish Securities plc Adrian Hadden Tel + 44 (0) 207 7397 8900
(Nomad and Sole Broker) Charlie Combe
Alma Rebecca Sanders-Hewett Tel: +44 (0) 20 3405 0205
(Financial PR) Sam Modlin letsexplore@almapr.co.uk
Kieran Breheny
Introduction
After the conclusion of the Tender Offer, the Company announced on 29 June
2023 that it had entered preliminary due diligence on a possible target. The
Board is pleased to report that the initial discussions have progressed and
that the Company has entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement,
for the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Huddled Group
Limited, and its wholly-owned Subsidiaries.
The proposed Acquisition requires certain approvals from Shareholders which
are dealt with in the Proposals.
The purpose of the Circular is to provide you with information about the
Proposals and to explain why the Board considers the Proposals to be in the
best interests of the Company and its Shareholders as a whole. The Board is
making no recommendation to Shareholders in respect of the Proposals but the
Independent Directors unanimously recommend that you vote in favour of the
Resolutions to be proposed at the General Meeting. Shareholders should note
that, unless the Resolutions are approved at the General Meeting, the
Consideration Shares Issue, the Acquisition, the Off-Market Buy Backs, the
Panel Waiver, the Substantial Property Transaction and the Change of Name will
not take place.
The General Meeting that will be held at the offices of Cavendish at 1
Bartholomew Close, London EC1A 7BL at 2 p.m. on 16 October 2023 to consider
the Resolutions that will be put to Shareholders to approve them.
Part II of the Circular contains definitions of words and terms that have been
used throughout it. Please refer to Part II as you review the Circular.
Background to the Acquisition and the Panel Waiver
Following the sale of the Location Based Entertainment VR business ("LBE"),
and the conclusion of the Tender Offer, the Company had, as at 30 June 2023,
approximately £6.8m of cash on hand along with further cash of $1.25m
receivable via a loan note issued by the buyer of LBE, which is due for
repayment in February 2024.
With a strong balance sheet, and the Home Based Entertainment ("HBE")
business, the Company set about looking for acquisition opportunities. Whilst
there were discussions with several potential targets, these have not been
consummated for a variety of reasons, including timing, valuation or
alternative options available to counterparties.
At the same time, a company in which the executive team of the Company already
have an investment, Huddled, was showing exciting growth potential and was
proposed to the Independent Directors as a potential acquisition target.
Following a review and due diligence exercise, supported by the Company's
advisers, the Independent Directors concluded that this business has
significant growth potential and that the Company has the cash resources, as
well as the e-commerce and other management skills and experience, to
accelerate its growth. Accordingly, the Company has agreed, subject to various
shareholder approvals, to acquire the business.
Pursuant to the Acquisition Agreement, the Company will pay an initial payment
of £3,450,000 and a deferred payment of £500,000 subject to adjustment,
payable within 5 business days of the date of filing of the consolidated
financial statements of the Group for the financial year ending on 31 December
2024. Both payments will be satisfied by the allotment and issue of the
Consideration Shares for the entire share capital of Huddled and its
Subsidiaries. The Completion Consideration Shares will be subject to a
12-month firm lock-in and 12-month orderly market provisions thereafter. The
Withheld Consideration Shares will be subject to a 6-month orderly market lock
in.
As part of the transaction, the Company will discharge loans and accrued
interest which amounted, as at 31 July 2023, to £612,500.
Huddled, founded in 2020, is focused on building a portfolio of e-commerce
brands. It has built a solid track record in digital marketing and e-commerce.
It is dedicated to delivering value and great service, in the growing world of
e-commerce.
In August 2022, Huddled acquired the business and assets of an e-commerce
retailer and rebranded it as "Discount Dragon". This has become Huddled's sole
trading business and for the time being has incorporated the BeerMonster
business.
Discount Dragon is a direct-to-consumer e-commerce business, which focuses
pre-dominantly on the sale of branded FMCG, predominantly dry and tinned
groceries and beverages. Its particular focus is selling surplus, end of
line, mispackaged, and items close to best before dates at significant
discounts versus full retail prices, via the website
https://discountdragon.co.uk/.
In terms of marketing, the business engages regularly by email with its
growing database of customers with regular offers to stimulate sales and
operates an affiliate marketing programme, through a network of websites. It
has also run successful test campaigns on both paid Google and Facebook
marketing and will look to use these and other channels as a means of scaling
the customer base. The cash held by the Group will allow for rapid scaling of
the marketing activity, along with deepening the product offering, and the
warehouse investment which will be needed in time.
Discount Dragon has seen significant growth in unaudited revenue from a modest
£75,000 in August 2022, the month of acquisition of the related assets by
Huddled, to over £450,000 in August 2023. For the year ended 31 May 2022,
Huddled recorded a loss before tax of £160k on revenue of £465k. In the year
to 31 July 2023, Discount Dragon's unaudited results showed an EBITDA loss of
£0.7m on revenue of £3.3m. Net current liabilities of Huddled, as at 31 July
2023, were circa £335,000 (after the shareholder loans and accrued interest
of £612,500).
During the past 12 months, Huddled has invested heavily in Discount Dragon
including a complete rebrand and new warehouse management system. It has also
invested in developing the product range and strengthening supplier
relationships, along with providing all the working capital needed to support
the business.
This investment has allowed the business to begin to scale, forming the
foundations for future growth. The website has been featured in numerous
publications including exclusive features in The Sun and The Daily Mirror. The
business has also featured on ITV's 'This Morning' -
https://www.itv.com/thismorning/articles/our-coupon-queens-weekly-deals.
Discount Dragon operates out of a third party owned warehouse in Leigh, near
Manchester. It takes all orders through its website, which runs on a proven
e-commerce platform. All orders are picked and fulfilled in-house. It has 35
employees, split between 6 executive management and finance and 29 across all
warehouse functions. The directors believe that the current warehouse and
fixed cost operating structure in Leigh is scalable and can support north of
1,000 orders per day.
Between 1 January and 31 August 2023, Discount Dragon's website had circa 3m
visits with 3.6% making a purchase, generating £2.9m in revenue from 107,000
orders at an average basket value of over £27. Discount Dragon has over
20,000 Trustpilot reviews, being rated 'Excellent' by its customers. Average
order value has continued to improve with August 2023 reporting an average
order value of £32.46. Unaudited Revenue for the month was £454,843.
The business currently has an active database of circa 72,000 users who have
been active within the last 120 days. Of those, 12% have purchased within
the last 30 days, 20% in last 60 days, and 27% in last 90 days. In August
2023, it added 3,588 new customers with very limited marketing expenditure.
On 8 September 2023, Huddled entered into agreements with Motatos UK to
acquire the entirety of its stock and for Motatos to promote Discount Dragon
to its database. Motatos was previously Discount Dragon's main direct
competitor.
To enable Huddled to move rapidly on the Motatos opportunity and to provide
additional working capital for the Discount Dragon business a further
shareholder loan facility has been agreed of up to £300k. This facility (to
the extent drawn) and associated interest will also be repaid at or around
completion of the acquisition of Huddled by the Company. The total amount to
be repaid under the initial loan and the additional working capital loan will
not exceed £936,500 including repayment of principal, interest and
arrangement fees.
With the benefit of the Motatos stock, Discount Dragon will, subject to
ongoing sales, have aggregate stock at original bought-in cost in excess of
£1m, leaving it well invested for growth. To date, there has been encouraging
conversion of Motatos customers making purchases at Discount Dragon.
The Directors believe that Discount Dragon has a very large addressable market
and is well placed with an attractive proposition for consumers, and that
there is an opportunity to scale the business rapidly.
It is the intention of the Company to begin looking for a new warehouse
facility during the early part of 2024 allowing it to scale further and to
operate more efficiently on a 24/7 basis.
The market for discounters has, over the last few years, been expanding
significantly - Mintel research shows that 95% of all consumers now shop, to
some degree, at a discount retailer. According to Nielsen, the market share of
discounters in the UK has increased more than fourfold in the last 15 years,
from 4.6% in 2008 compared to 19.6% in 2022.
The Board has discussed the proposals with a number of its major institutional
investors who are supportive. Accordingly, it has received irrevocable
undertakings to vote in favour of the proposals from Shareholders in respect
of 67,533,832 Ordinary Shares (35.39% of the Voting Share Capital) who can
vote on Resolutions 1-7 and 33,305,257 Ordinary Shares (17.45% of the Voting
Share Capital) who can vote on Resolution 8.
A brief summary of the key terms of the Acquisition Agreement is set out in
paragraph 8 of Part V of the Circular.
Under presumption 10 of the definition of "acting in concert" of the Takeover
Code shareholders in a private company who sell their shares for the issue of
new shares in a company to which the Takeover Code applies are considered to
be "acting in concert" and therefore constitute a concert party unless clear
evidence has been presented to the Takeover Panel to "break up" the concert
party.
The Existing Concert Party (which includes Martin Higginson, Daniel Wortley,
David Marks, and Megafone (UK) Limited Retirement Benefit Scheme (being Martin
Higginson's pension scheme)) have an interest equating to, in aggregate,
19.75% of the Voting Share Capital.
The Company has agreed with the Takeover Panel that the Existing Concert Party
shall be joined with the Huddled Concert Party as a consequence of common
participants. The Concert Party, upon Completion of the Acquisition, will have
an interest in 53.45% of the Enlarged Share Capital. Further details of the
Panel Waiver are contained in paragraph 4 of this Part III.
Therefore, the Company is seeking approval of the Allotment Resolution and the
Rule 9 Waiver Resolution which will allow it to proceed with the Acquisition
without the Existing Concert Party having to make a mandatory offer pursuant
to Rule 9 of the Takeover Code.
The Acquisition is also deemed a related party transaction under AIM Rule 13 -
see paragraph 6 of this Part V of the Circular.
Business and prospects of the Company
The Company published its interim results for the 6-months ended 30 June 2023
on 28 September 2023.
On 28 February 2023, the Company completed the sale of its core Location Based
Entertainment ("LBE") business. The majority of the sale proceeds were
returned to Shareholders and the balance retained to pursue acquisition
opportunities.
Since the sale of the LBE business, and prior to any acquisitions, the Group's
only remaining trading activity has been its Home Based Entertainment ("HBE")
business, which is comprised of the Let's Explore themed 'Immersive Learning'
products, as well as the 'Vodiac' VR headset, an affordable smartphone-powered
VR headset and companion app which provides the user with 75 different virtual
reality experiences to try across seven channels. These products retail to
consumers via a variety on channels including QVC, Amazon as well as direct to
consumer offering via Facebook and other social media channels.
The HBE business is predominantly a Q4 focused business, with the first half
of the year being
about investment into the development and planning of new products.
During H1 the Group has developed three new Let's Explore products to be
launched in Q4 of this year: a revamped 'Let's Explore Oceans' offering, as
well as 'Let's Explore Space' and 'Let's Explore Wildlife' which are two
completely new products.
Each pack is focused on delivering immersive learning, coming complete with
the new and improved smartphone-powered VR headset, a range of VR experiences,
a holographic cube which unlocks a selection of in-app augmented reality
experiences, a full-colour hardback fact book, a sticker book, a giant poster,
and an interactive model.
The Company has produced an initial run of 7,500 units of each offering
(22,500 units in total) in conjunction with a respected publisher on a
profit-sharing basis. The recommended retail price of each pack will be £99,
or $125. Sales will be focused around the busy Q4 period and will, as in
previous years, be offered via either a direct sale, or through Amazon both in
the UK and USA.
Following a successful TV airing in August 2023 on QVC USA, some 4,000 Vodiac
headsets were sold. In addition, the Group has received additional orders
for circa 26,000 Vodiac units to be sold predominantly through QVC USA, and
UK, as well as two tests on QVC Canada, and Australia, and a select number of
retailers, all to be fulfilled in Q4.
If the Acquisition is approved, the Directors believe the Company will be well
positioned to further develop and grow Discount Dragon, as well as the
Company's own Let's Explore and Vodiac product ranges.
The Concert Party and Takeover Code
As set out in paragraph 2 of Part I of the Circular, the Acquisition gives
rise to certain considerations under the Takeover Code. The Takeover Code
applies to the Company. Under Rule 9 of the Code, any person who acquires an
interest in shares which, taken together with shares in which that person or
any person acting in concert with that person is interested, carry 30% or more
of the voting rights of a company which is subject to the Code is normally
required to make an offer to all the remaining shareholders to acquire their
shares.
Similarly, when any person, together with persons acting in concert with that
person, is interested in shares which in the aggregate carry not less than 30%
of the voting rights of such a company but does not hold shares carrying more
than 50% of the voting rights of the company, an offer will normally be
required if such person or any person acting in concert with that person
acquires a further interest in shares which increases the percentage of shares
carrying voting rights in which that person is interested. An offer under Rule
9 must be made in cash at the highest price paid by the person required to
make the offer, or any person acting in concert with such person, for any
interest in shares of the company during the 12 months prior to the
announcement of the offer.
Should the Acquisition complete, each of the individuals and entities listed
in the table below are together considered to be acting in concert for the
purposes of the Takeover Code (together the "Concert Party"). Their interests
at Admission and assuming all of the Withheld Consideration Shares are
allotted and issued are set out in the table below:
Name of beneficial owner Number of Ordinary Shares held at Completion ≠ Percentage of the Enlarged Voting Share Capital (%)
York House Investment Company Limited 7.00%
23,591,212
Martin Higginson 23,174,346 6.87%
M Capital Investment Properties Limited 5.84%
19,700,126
Talia Stevens 5.77%
19,450,758
Peter Edmondson 4.36%
14,713,935
Robbi & Anais Kersh 2.88%
9,725,379
Charlotte Shepherd 2.41%
8,118,184
David Marks 2.15%
7,255,487
Lanton Investments Limited 2.14%
7,231,692
Deborah Karavias 2.14%
7,213,880
Samuel Higginson 1.77%
5,969,522
Daniel Wortley 1.45%
4,898,314
Conrad Lewcock 1.12%
3,788,486
Joe Williams 0.91%
3,084,910
Charles Stemp 0.78%
2,614,305
Oliver Kenyon 0.73%
2,449,157
Andy Haskins 0.73%
2,449,157
Leonie & William Dobbie 0.70%
2,351,684
Matthew Stemp 0.55%
1,843,286
Paul Hepworth 0.49%
1,653,715
Emma Stanyon 1,426,742 0.42%
Sarah Wilkinson 0.41%
1,374,975
Dominic Benton 0.37%
1,244,788
Heyfield Park Investments Ltd 0.31%
1,041,663
Dimitrios Georgiou 0.27%
920,261
Napier Brown Holdings Limited 0.25%
839,830
Mark Hepworth 0.23%
783,410
John Hepworth 0.21%
721,228
Megafone (UK) Limited Retirement Benefit Scheme 0.10%
321,101
John Alexander Glynne Davies 0.08%
282,915
Garry Lucas 0.01%
37,749
Total 180,272,193 53.45%
≠ assumes all of the Withheld Consideration Shares are issued at Withheld
Consideration Shares Admission
Assuming the Acquisition and Off-Market Buy Backs completes, the maximum
potential controlling position that the Concert Party will have will be
180,272,193 Ordinary Shares, representing 53.45% of the Enlarged Share
Capital.
Following the Acquisition, the members of the Concert Party will hold shares
carrying more than 50% of the voting rights of the Company and (for so long as
they continue to be acting in concert) may accordingly increase their
aggregate interests in shares without incurring any obligation to make an
offer under Rule 9, although individual members of the concert party will not
be able to increase their percentage interests in shares through or between a
Rule 9 threshold without Panel consent.
In order to enable the Company to effect the Acquisition without triggering
the risk of a mandatory offer obligation for the Concert Party, the Company
has consulted with the Takeover Panel and the Takeover Panel has agreed to
waive the requirement for the Concert Party to make a general offer to all
Shareholders under Rule 9 of the Takeover Code in circumstances where,
following the completion of the Acquisition, the aggregate percentage holding
of the Concert Party increases above 30% or more of the voting rights in the
Company (the "Panel Waiver"). This Panel Waiver is subject to the approval by
a vote of Independent Shareholders of the Company on a poll at the General
Meeting. The Rule 9 Waiver Resolution seeks this approval. Accordingly, should
Independent Shareholders approve the Rule 9 Waiver Resolution, they will be
waiving the requirement for the Concert Party to make a mandatory general
offer under Rule 9 of the Takeover Code as a result of the Acquisition and the
members of the Concert Party may acquire further interests in Ordinary Shares
without incurring any further obligation under Rule 9 of the Takeover Code.
Further information on the Concert Party is set out in Part V of the Circular.
Intentions of the Concert Party
The Concert Party has no intention of making an offer for the Company but, if
it chooses to, it will not be restricted from making an offer.
The individual members of the Concert Party have each confirmed to the Company
that they are not proposing, following any increase in their percentage
interests in the Voting Share Capital as a result of the Tender Offer, to make
any change in the general nature of the Company's business. The Concert Party
has further confirmed that it has no intention to change the Company's plans
with respect to: (i) the composition of the Board, nor the Company's plans
with respect to the continued employment of employees and management of the
Company and its subsidiaries (including any material change in conditions of
employment) or any material change to the balance of skills and functions of
the employees and management; (ii) the Company's future business and its
strategic, research and development plans; (iii) the location of the Company's
headquarters or headquarter functions or the location of the Company's place
of business; (iv) employer contributions into any of the Company's pension
schemes, the accrual of benefits for existing members, nor the admission of
new members; (v) redeployment of the Company's fixed assets; or (vi) the
continuation of the Ordinary Shares being admitted to trading on AIM.
The Independent Directors approve of the above statements of intention.
Your attention is drawn to Part V of the Circular which sets out certain
further information and financial information respectively that is required to
be disclosed in the Circular pursuant to the rules contained in the Takeover
Code.
In accordance with the requirements of the Takeover Code, members of the
Existing Concert Party are not permitted to vote on the Rule 9 Waiver
Resolution in respect of their aggregate holding of 37,688,269 Ordinary
Shares.
Related Parties Transaction
Martin Higginson, Daniel Wortley, M Capital Investment Properties Limited (a
company controlled by Martin Higginson) and Lanton Investments Limited (a
company controlled by the family of David Marks) as directors of the Company,
and in the case of M Capital Investment Properties Limited and Lanton
Investments Limited an associate of a director of the Company, are considered
to be related parties pursuant to Rule 13 of the AIM Rules as they are also
shareholders and Sellers in Huddled.
The participation in this Acquisition by Martin Higginson, Lanton Investments
Limited and Daniel Wortley is considered to result in a related party
transaction under AIM Rule 13 of the AIM Rules due to these individuals being
directors or associates of directors of the Company. The Independent Directors
of the Company, having consulted with Cavendish Securities PLC, the Company's
Nominated Adviser, consider that the terms of the Acquisition are fair and
reasonable insofar as the Company's Shareholders are concerned.
In addition, as a result of the interests held by Martin Higginson and the MH
Connected Persons (being approximately 21.63%) in the Huddled Sale Shares, the
Acquisition constitutes a substantial property transaction for the purpose of
section 190 of the Act and, accordingly is also subject to shareholder
approval at the General Meeting.
The Company is therefore seeking approval of the SPT Resolution at the General
Meeting which will allow it to proceed with the Acquisition.
The Proposals are being voted on by Shareholders at the forthcoming General
Meeting.
Background to the Off-Market Buy Backs
On 5 June 2023, the Company announced that it had received requests from a
small number of longstanding overseas shareholders who were not able to
participate in the Tender Offer for regulatory reasons to be put in the same
position as the vast majority of shareholders who were able to participate.
The four shareholders in question have held their shares prior to the
Company's IPO in July 2018.
In order to put them in the same position as other shareholders who accepted
the Tender Offer, the Company has conditionally agreed to acquire 65% of their
respective holdings of Ordinary Shares at a price of 4.75 pence per share. The
aggregate consideration for the Ordinary Shares to be bought back via the
Off-Market Buy Backs is £153,261.03.
On the 27 September 2023 the Company entered into the Off-Market Buy Back
Agreements which are conditional upon (amongst others) the Company having
sufficient distributable profits to fund the acquisitions of the Ordinary
Shares and Shareholder approval. Further details of the Off-Market Buy Back
Agreements are set out in Part IV of the Circular and copies of each of the
Off-Market Buy Back Agreements are available for inspection at the registered
office of the Company for a period of 15 days ending on the date of the
General Meeting.
The Company is seeking approval of the Off-Market Buy Backs as part of the
Proposals.
General Meeting and Resolutions
The Notice of General Meeting is set out in Part VII of the Circular.
The General Meeting will take place at the offices of Cavendish at 1
Bartholomew Close London EC1A 7BL at 2 p.m. on 16 October 2023. At the General
Meeting, the Resolutions set out in Part V of the Circular will be proposed to
Shareholders.
An ordinary resolution will be passed if 50% or more of the votes cast (in
person or by proxy) at the General Meeting are in favour of it. A special
resolution will be passed if 75% or more of the votes cast (in person or by
proxy) at the General Meeting are in favour of it.
The Resolutions, are summarised below:
Resolution 1 - this is an ordinary resolution to approve the Gary Martin Buy
Back Agreement.
Resolution 2 - this is an ordinary resolution to approve the John Ketcham Buy
Back Agreement.
Resolution 3 - this is an ordinary resolution to approve the Janice Ritchie
Buy Back Agreement.
Resolution 4 - this is an ordinary resolution to approve the Griffin Stenger
Buy Back Agreement.
Resolution 5 - this is an ordinary resolution to seeking approval for the
Acquisition by the Company of the Huddled Sale Shares from certain individual
sellers which include Martin Higginson (a director of the Company) and the MH
Connected Persons. It constitutes a substantial property transaction under
sections 190 and 191 of the Act, and therefore requires prior approval of the
Shareholders in accordance with section 190 of the Companies Act. This
resolution is conditional on the passing of resolutions 6 and 7 below.
Resolution 6 - this is an ordinary resolution to specifically authorise the
Directors to allot relevant securities up to an aggregate nominal amount of
£60,011.07, being equal to 149,621,212 Ordinary Shares (i.e. the number of
Consideration Shares to be issued).
Resolution 7 - this is an ordinary resolution to approve the waiver
conditionally granted by the Takeover Panel for the disapplication of Rule 9
of the Takeover Code following the Acquisition. The Takeover Panel has
confirmed that, subject to the Rule 9 Waiver Resolution being passed by the
requisite majority of the Independent Shareholders on a poll, no mandatory bid
obligation on the Concert Party under Rule 9 of the Takeover Code would be
triggered by virtue of the Acquisition. The Rule 9 Waiver Resolution seeks the
approval of the Panel Waiver by Independent Shareholders.
Resolution 8 - this is a special resolution to authorise the Change of Name
from Let's Explore Group plc to Huddled Group plc which is conditional upon
the passing of resolutions 4-7(inclusive) and the completion of the
Acquisition.
In accordance with the requirements of the Takeover Code, members of the
Concert Party are not permitted to vote on the Rule 9 Waiver Resolution in
respect of their aggregate holding of 39,715,944 Ordinary Shares, but may vote
on the remainder of the Resolutions.
Action to be taken in respect of the General Meeting
Shareholders will find a Form of Proxy enclosed with the Circular for use at
the General Meeting. Whether or not you intend to be present at the General
Meeting, you are requested to complete and return the Form of Proxy in
accordance with the instructions printed thereon as soon as possible. To be
valid, completed Forms of Proxy must be received by the Company's Registrars,
Neville Registrars Limited, by not later than 2p.m. on 16 October 2023, or 48
hours (excluding any part of a day that is not a Business Day) before any
adjourned General Meeting. Completion of the Form of Proxy will not preclude
you from attending the meeting and voting in person if you so wish.
Recommendation
The Independent Directors, who have been so advised by Cavendish, consider
that the Acquisition and the issue of the Consideration Shares are fair and
reasonable and in the best interests of the Independent Shareholders and the
Company as a whole. In providing advice to the Independent Directors,
Cavendish has taken into account the Independent Directors' commercial
assessments.
The Independent Directors unanimously recommend that Shareholders vote in
favour of the Rule 9 Waiver Resolution, as they have undertaken to do in
respect of their own beneficial Holdings of 219,360 Ordinary Shares,
representing approximately 0.11 per cent. in aggregate of the Voting Share
Capital. Martin Higginson, David Marks and Daniel Wortley, who are members of
the Concert Party, are not deemed to be independent for the purpose of this
recommendation.
The Directors believe that the Resolutions (excluding the Rule 9 Waiver
Resolution) to be considered at the General Meeting are in the best interests
of the Company and its shareholders as a whole and unanimously recommend that
Shareholders vote in favour of each of the Resolutions, as the Directors who
are Shareholders intend to do in respect of their beneficial shareholders
representing, in aggregate, over 12.07 per cent. of the current issued share
capital of the Company.
DEFINITIONS
The following definitions apply throughout this announcement, unless the
context requires otherwise:
"Acquisition" the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Huddled Group Limited
and its Subsidiaries;
"Acquisition Agreement" the conditional sale and purchase agreement for the Acquisition entered into
on 27 September 2023 between (1) the Sellers (as defined therein), (2) the
Warrantors (as defined therein) and (3) the Company;
"Act" Companies Act 2006;
"Admission" admission to trading on AIM of the Completion Consideration Shares;
"AIM" AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange;
"AIM Rules" the AIM Rules for Companies published by the London Stock Exchange from time
to time;
"Allotment Resolution" the resolution to be proposed at the General Meeting providing authority to
the Directors to issue the Consideration Shares which is set out in full in
the Notice of General Meeting at resolution 6;
"BeerMonster" BeerMonster Online Limited, company number 13431824, whose registered office
is at 76 Church Street, Lancaster, England, LA1 1ET, a wholly owned subsidiary
of Huddled;
"Board" or "Directors" the directors of the Company or any duly appointed committee thereof as set
out in paragraph 4.1 of Part V of the Circular;
"Cavendish" Cavendish Securities plc, a company incorporated in England and Wales with
registered number 05210733;
"Change of Name" the proposed change of name of the Company to Huddled Group plc;
"Change of Name Resolution" the resolution to be proposed at the General Meeting to change the name of the
Company to Huddled Group plc which is set out in full in the Notice of General
Meeting at resolution 7
"Company" or "LEG" Let's Explore Group plc, a company incorporated in England and Wales with
registered number 10964782;
"Completion" completion of the Acquisition, pursuant to the terms of the Acquisition
Agreement;
"Completion Consideration Shares" 130,681,818 Consideration Shares to be issued to the Sellers at Completion;
"Concert Party" the Existing Concert Party (excluding Sir Robin Miller, Nicholas Lee) and the
Huddled Concert Party;
"Consideration Shares" 149,621,212 Ordinary Shares, being the aggregate of the Completion
Consideration Shares and the Withheld Consideration Shares to be issued
pursuant to the Acquisition Agreement as consideration to the Sellers;
"Consideration Shares Issue" the allotment and issue of the Consideration Shares to the Sellers pursuant to
the terms of the Acquisition Agreement;
"CREST Regulations" the Uncertificated Securities Regulations 2001 (as amended);
"CREST" the relevant system (as defined in the CREST Regulations) in respect of which
Euroclear is the Operator (as defined in the CREST Regulations);
"Discount Dragon" Discount Dragon Limited, company number 12732998, whose registered office is
at 76 Church Street, Lancaster, England, LA1 1ET, a wholly owned subsidiary of
Huddled;
"Enlarged Share Capital" 337,244,537 Ordinary Shares, as enlarged by the Consideration Shares and
reduced by the Off Market Buy Backs;
"Existing Concert Party" the current concert party in the Company comprising Sir Robin Miller, Nicholas
Lee, John Alexander Glynne Davies, Leonie Dobbie, William Dobbie, Peter
Edmondson, Dimitrios Georgiou, John Hepworth, Mark Hepworth, Paul Hepworth,
Martin Higginson, Samuel Higginson, Nicholas Lee, Garry Lucas, David Marks,
Megafone (UK) Limited Retirement Benefit Scheme, Napier Brown Holdings
Limited, Emma Stanyon, Daniel Wortley and York House Investment Company
Limited as more fully described in Part V;
"Form of Proxy" the form of proxy accompanying the Circular relating to the General Meeting;
"FSMA" the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, as amended;
"Gary Martin Buy Back Agreement" the off-market buy back agreement entered into on 27 September 2023 between
Gary Martin and the Company in relation to the buy back by the Company of the
GM Shares;
"General Meeting" the general meeting of the Company, notice of which is set out at the end of
the Circular and including any adjournment(s) thereof;
"GM Shares" the 2,286,803 Ordinary Shares issued and registered in the name of Gary
Martin;
"Griffin Stenger Buy Back Agreement" the off-market buy back agreement entered into on 27 September between Griffin
Stenger and the Company in relation to the buy back by the Company of the GS
Shares;
"Group" the Company and its subsidiaries and subsidiary undertakings (in each case as
defined in the Act);
"GS Shares" the 124,397 Ordinary Shares issued and registered in the name of Griffin
Stenger;
"Huddled " Huddled Group Limited, a company incorporated in England and Wales with
registered number 12596498;
"Huddled Sale Shares" 16,800 ordinary shares of £1 each in the share capital of Huddled, comprising
the entire issued share capital;
"Huddled Concert Party" the concert party comprising the following Sellers: Dominic Benton, Peter
Edmondson, Andrew Haskins, Paul Hepworth, John Hepworth, Mark Hepworth,
Heyfield Park Investments Ltd, Deborah Karavias, Oliver Kenyon, Anais Kersh,
Robbi Kersh, Conrad Lewcock, Martin Higginson, Samuel Higginson, Lanton
Investments Limited, M Capital Investment Properties Limited, Charlotte
Shepherd, Emma Stanyon, Charles Stemp, Matthew Stemp, Talia Stevens, Sarah
Wilkinson, Joe Williams, Daniel Wortley and York House Investment Company
Limited as more fully described in Part V;
"Independent Directors" Sir Robin Miller and Nicholas Lee;
"Independent Shareholders" Shareholders excluding members of the Concert Party;
"Janice Ritchie Buy Back Agreement" the off-market buy back agreement entered into on 27 September between Janice
Ritchie and the Company in relation to the buy back by the Company of the JR
Shares;
"JK Shares" the 620,348 Ordinary Shares issued and registered in the name of John Ketcham;
"John Ketcham Buy Back Agreement" the off-market buy back agreement entered into on 27 September between John
Ketcham and the Company in relation to the buy back by the Company of the JK
Shares;
"JR Shares" the 195,000 Ordinary Shares issued and registered in the name of Janice
Ritchie;
"Last Practicable Date" the last practicable date prior to publication of the Circular being, 27
September 2023;
"London Stock Exchange" London Stock Exchange plc;
"Market Abuse Regulation" the Market Abuse Regulation (2014/596/EU) (incorporating the technical
standards, delegated regulations and guidance notes, published by the European
Commission, London Stock Exchange, the FCA and the European Securities and
Markets Authority) as retained in the UK pursuant to section 3 of the European
Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018;
"MH Connected Persons" Samuel Higginson, Emma Stanyon, Megafone (UK) Limited Retirement Benefit
Scheme and M Capital Investment Properties Limited;
"Notice of General Meeting" the notice of General Meeting, set out in Part VI of the Circular;
"Off-Market Buy Back Agreements" the Gary Martin Buy Back Agreement, the John Ketcham Buy Back Agreement, the
Janice Ritchie Buy Back Agreement and the Griffin Stenger Buy Back Agreement;
"Off-Market Buy Back Resolutions" the resolutions to be proposed at the General Meeting in relation to the
proposed Off-Market Buy Backs which are set out in full in the Notice of
General Meeting at resolutions 1 - 4 (inclusive);
"Off-Market Buy Backs" the proposals contemplated in the Gary Martin Buy Back Agreement, the John
Ketcham Buy Back Agreement, the Janice Ritchie Buy Back Agreement and the
Griffin Stenger Buy Back Agreement;
"Ordinary Shares" ordinary shares of 0.040108663 pence each in the capital of the Company;
"Panel Waiver" the waiver granted by the Takeover Panel, conditional on the approval by
Independent Shareholders of the Rule 9 Waiver Resolution, of any obligation
which would otherwise be imposed on members of the Concert Party, either
individually or collectively, to make a general offer to all Shareholders
under Rule 9 of the Takeover Code as a result of the Acquisition and the issue
of the Consideration Shares;
"Proposals" (i) the Off-Market Buy Backs;
(ii) the Change of Name;
(iii) the Substantial Property Transaction;
(iv) the Consideration Shares Issue; and
(v) the Panel Waiver,
all as set out in the Resolutions;
"Registrars" Neville Registrars Limited, registrars to the Company;
"Related Parties" Martin Higginson, Daniel Wortley, M Capital Investment Properties Limited (a
company controlled by Martin Higginson) and Lanton Investments Limited (a
company controlled by the family of David Marks);
"Resolutions" the Off-Market Buy Back Resolutions, the Change of Name Resolution, the
Allotment Resolution, the SPT Resolution and the Rule 9 Waiver Resolution set
out in full in the Notice of General Meeting;
"Rule 9 Waiver Resolution" the resolution to be proposed at the General Meeting in relation to the Panel
Waiver which is set out in full in the Notice of General Meeting at resolution
7.
"SPT Resolution" the resolution to be proposed at the General Meeting providing approval for
the Substantial Property Transaction which is set out in full in the Notice of
General Meeting at resolution 5;
"Sellers" the shareholders of Huddled, as defined in the Acquisition Agreement;
"Shareholders" holders of Ordinary Shares;
"Subsidiaries" Discount Dragon Limited and BeerMonster Online Limited;
"Substantial Property Transaction" the proposed Acquisition involving Martin Higginson and the MH Connected
Persons;
"Takeover Code" the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers published by the Takeover Panel (as
amended from time to time);
"Takeover Panel" the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers;
"Tender Offer" the tender offer conducted by the Company and announced on 9 May 2023;
"US" the United States of America;
"UK" the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;
"Voting Share Capital" 190,849,873 Ordinary Shares comprising the entire issued share capital of the
Company;
"Warrantors" certain shareholders of Huddled providing warranties and various other
obligations to the Buyer in and as defined in the Acquisition Agreement;
"Withheld Consideration Shares" 18,939,394 Consideration Shares to be issued on the Withheld Release Date,
subject to adjustments against any warranty, indemnity and tax claims in
accordance with the Acquisition Agreement;
"Withheld Consideration Shares Admission" admission to trading on AIM of the Withheld Consideration Shares
"Withheld Release Date" date of filing of the consolidated financial statements of the Group
(including Huddled and its Subsidiaries) for the financial year ending on 31
December 2024, with the Registrar of Companies in England.
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