REG - Metir PLC - Fundraise

MetirAnnouncement

10/06/2025 07:00

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RNS Number : 0972M  Metir PLC  10 June 2025

 

 

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT FOR PUBLICATION, RELEASE OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR
INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO OR FROM THE UNITED STATES OR ANY
OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH PUBLICATION, RELEASE OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE
UNLAWFUL. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT
CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OR AN INVITATION TO ACQUIRE OR DISPOSE OF ANY SECURITIES.
ATTENTION IS ALSO DRAWN TO THE IMPORTANT INFORMATION AT THE END OF THIS
ANNOUNCEMENT.

 

 

10 June 2025

Metir plc

 

("Metir" or the "Company")

 

Fundraise

 

Metir plc (AIM: MET), an international developer and provider of testing
solutions for unique and underserved public health and environmental markets,
is pleased to announce the successful completion of a fundraise (the
"Fundraise"), arranged by the Company's Joint Broker Turner Pope Investment
Limited ("TPI"), to raise (subject to later confirmation of the intended
Director participation) up to £850,000 before expenses to support the
continuing growth of the Company by way of:

·    a placing of £780,000 with investors (the "Placing") at a price of
0.65p (the "Placing Price") per ordinary share of 0.001 pence each in the
Company ("Ordinary Shares"); and

·    the intended participation in the Fundraise of £70,000 by certain
Directors of the Company to be confirmed shortly after the expected
publication of the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December
2024 on or around 25 June 2025 (the "Subscription").

 

Use of proceeds

As announced in the trading update on 29 May 2025, the cost base of the
Company remains very tightly controlled and is supporting strong growth but
management believes that this growth is being constrained by sub-optimal
levels of working capital. The board believes that additional financing would
support stronger growth and move the Company into profitability more quickly.

 

The net proceeds of the Fundraise are intended to provide capital to
accelerate growth of the business including for the following purposes:

·    Working capital to allow the Company to finance an increased
production rate of its MicroTox® LX to improve the margin on future devices
sold in accordance with an increasing order book;

·    Funding to integrate specialist software with the Company's
Continuous Toxic Monitoring (CTM) machines (as used in Qatar) to aggregate and
record data from a network of machines to a single dashboard to include
machine learning (AI) capabilities;

·    Funding to move towards commercial testing for the Company's novel
prototype Pathogen Detector in conjunction with Aptamer Group plc initially
for rapid on-line detection of Cryptosporidium, the primary pathogen found in
sewage polluted potable water in the UK and elsewhere;

·    Allow the Company to provide matching capital as often required to
secure any Innovate UK or similar grants for any proprietary product
development that it may apply for;

·    Funding to support pursuit of large projects for 24/7 monitoring of
potable water in towns and cities building on and similar to our project in
Qatar;

·    Optimisation of our PFAS (forever chemicals) market leading
technology; and

·    Settle outstanding past due creditors.

 

Placing

Pursuant to the Placing, a total of 120,000,000 Ordinary Shares ("Placing
Shares") have been placed, conditional only on admission to trading on AIM
("Admission"), with investors at the Placing Price, equal to the closing
mid‐market price prior to the Placing of 0.65p on 9 June 2025 (being the
last practicable date prior to this announcement). Each Placing Share will
rank pari passu with existing Ordinary Shares.

 

The Placing Shares represent approximately 40.1% of the enlarged issued share
capital of the Company and together with the Broker Warrants (as described
below) would represent approximately 44.6% of the diluted issued share capital
(assuming no other warrants or options are exercised).

 

Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Limited ("Turner Pope" or "TPI") is acting as
broker and placing agent to the Company and Singer Capital Markets Advisory
LLP ("Singer Capital Markets") is acting as Nominated Adviser to the Company.
Under the terms of engagement between TPI and the Company, the Company has
agreed to issue to JIM Nominees Limited (as nominee on behalf of TPI) warrants
to subscribe for 24,000,000 Ordinary Shares in connection with the Placing
exercisable at the Placing Price for 5 years from the date of Admission (the
"Broker Warrants"). The issue of the Broker Warrants is conditional upon
Admission.

 

Intended Participation by Directors in the Placing

Robert Moore, Acting Executive Chairman, and Nigel Burton, Non-Executive
Director, (together the "Participating Directors") have indicated their
intention to subscribe for, in aggregate, £70,000 via the Subscription and,
should the directors decide to proceed with the Subscription, the price per
Placing Share will be the higher of the Pricing Price and a 10% discount to
the closing price of an Ordinary Share on the business day prior to the date
that the directors confirm the Subscription.

 

The intended participations by the Participating Directors are included in the
aggregate Fundraise described in this announcement but they are not expected
to be confirmed until shortly after the publication of the Annual Report and
Accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2024, and their notification
by way of a Regulatory Information Service, on or around 25 June 2025. Should
the Participating Directors decide to participate, their participation will be
regarded as a related party transaction and subject to satisfying, in advance,
the requirements of AIM Rule 13.

 

Admission to trading

Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange plc for admission of the
Placing Shares totalling 120,000,000 Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM. It is
expected that admission will become effective and dealings in the Placing
Shares will commence at 8.00 a.m. on or around 16 June 2025.

 

Total Voting Rights

Following the issue of the Placing Shares as described above, the Company's
issued ordinary share capital will consist of 299,178,185 Ordinary Shares. The
Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in Treasury.

 

Therefore, the above figure may be used by shareholders in the Company as the
denominator for the calculation by which they will determine if they are
required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the
share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and
Transparency Rules.

 

Cash

Following the completion of the Placing, the Company's current net cash
position is expected to be approximately £850,000 and the Company will have
adequate working capital headroom to continue to operate for the foreseeable
future.

 

 

Bob Moore Metir's Acting Executive Chairman & CEO, commented:

 

"The careful allocation of the additional working capital raised at current
market price will enable the Company to grow the business and move towards
prolonged profitability. In addition to the Company's wide range of Modern
Water and Microsaic Systems' proprietary instruments, testing kits and
reagents that it supplies to customers with a growing order book, the capital
will enable the Company to move towards commercial returns for its newly
developed products and to pursue more large toxic water testing and monitoring
projects based on our success in Qatar.

 

We would like to thank our existing shareholders and new investors for the
continuing support they have shown for the Company and its growth plans."

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to
constitute inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market
Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by
virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of
this announcement via the Regulatory Information Service, this inside
information is now considered to be in the public domain.

 

This announcement contains (or may contain) certain forward-looking statements
with respect to certain of the Company's and/or the Directors' current
expectations and projections about future events. These statements, which
sometimes use words such as "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate",
"expect" and words of similar meaning, reflect the directors' beliefs and
expectations and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that
could cause actual results and performance to differ materially from any
expected future results or performance expressed or implied by any such
forward-looking statement. Statements contained in this announcement regarding
past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such
trends or activities will continue in the future. The information contained in
this announcement is subject to change without notice and neither Singer
Capital Markets nor TPI nor, except as required by applicable law, the Company
assumes any responsibility or obligation to update publicly or review any of
the forward-looking statements contained herein. You should not rely on
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this
announcement.

 

 

 Metir plc                                                      +44 (0) 20 3657 0050

 Bob Moore, Acting Executive Chairman & CEO                     via Turner Pope

 Singer Capital Markets (Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker)      +44 (0) 20 7496 3000

 Alex Bond / Oliver Platts

 Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Limited (Joint Broker)           +44 (0) 20 3657 0050

 Andy Thacker / James Pope

 

About Metir

 

Metir is highly experienced in the development, manufacture and supply of
microelectronics instrumentation for markets requiring analytical testing in
public and environmental health markets. The Company has acquired and
integrated the assets of Modern Water with Microsaic Systems' technologies
resulting in comprehensive water testing and other toxic testing capabilities
including world leading PFAS detection technology. Metir's products and
solutions are commercially available through global markets via direct sale
and a network of regional and country specific distributors and partners.

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