REG - Sondrel (Holdings) - First Day of Dealings on AIM

PearsonAnnouncement

21/10/2022 08:15

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20221021:nRSU5670Da&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 5670D  Sondrel (Holdings) plc  21 October 2022

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS RESTRICTED AND IS
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR
INDIRECTLY, IN, INTO OR FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (THE "UNITED STATES"
OR THE "US"), AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY
OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE
UNLAWFUL (EACH A "RESTRICTED JURISDICTION").

21 October 2022

Sondrel (Holdings) plc

("Sondrel", the "Company" and together with its subsidiaries the "Group")

First Day of Dealings on AIM

Sondrel (Holdings) plc, the fabless semiconductor business providing turnkey
services in the design and delivery of 'application specific integrated
circuits' ("ASICs") and 'system on chips' ("SoCs") for leading global
technology brands, is delighted to announce the admission of its entire issued
ordinary share capital to trading on AIM, a market operated by the London
Stock Exchange plc ("Admission").

Admission will take place, and dealings in the Company's ordinary shares of
£0.001 each ("Ordinary Shares") will commence, at 8.00 a.m. today under the
ticker 'SND'.

In conjunction with Admission, gross proceeds of £20 million have
successfully been raised by way of a placing with institutional investors
of 36,363,636 new Ordinary Shares (the "Placing") at a price of 55 pence per
Ordinary Share (the "Placing Price").

Cenkos Securities plc ("Cenkos") is acting as Nominated Adviser, sole broker
and sole bookrunner to the Company.

 

Key Highlights:

·    The Placing received strong support from institutional investors and
raised gross proceeds of £20 million.

·    The market capitalisation of the Company will be approximately £48.1
million on Admission. The Company has 87,461,772 Ordinary Shares in issue and
a free float of approximately 41.1 per cent.

·    Sondrel has grown over a period of 20 years and its previous designs
have been included in well-known products such as Apple iPhone, Sony
PlayStation, Meta's Oculus Quest virtual reality headset, Samsung, Google and
Sony smartphones, JVC prosumer camcorders and Tesla and Mercedes-Benz cars.

·    The net proceeds of the Placing will enable the Company to:

o  increase the number of engineers it employs;

o  invest further in developing its Architecting the Future IP platforms;

o  accelerate sales in the USA and in other geographies; and

o  strengthen the Group's balance sheet in, inter alia, the delivery of
project-based designs and customer supply management contracts.

 

·    As at 31 July 2022, the Group's pipeline of revenue opportunities
stood at more than £300 million( 1 ) (excluding potentially material related
production/supply revenues).

 

·    The Directors have ambitions to grow revenues to over £100 million
in the medium term.

 

·    The Company's admission document is available for viewing at
https://ir.sondrel.com/investors (https://ir.sondrel.com/investors)

 

·    The ISIN of the Ordinary Shares will be GB00BJN54579, the SEDOL of
the Ordinary Shares BJN5457 and the Company's LEI number 984500D6E7L2A9A54935.

 

Graham Curren, Chief Executive Officer of Sondrel, commented:

"I am delighted with the strong institutional support we received to enable us
to successfully complete our IPO and welcome our new investors.  Sondrel is
well positioned to benefit from a number of industry and geopolitical
megatrends and has a clear strategy to grow revenues to over £100 million in
the medium term as demand for our highly complex ASIC chip solutions continues
to grow. The differentiated design capability we have developed, designing
down to 5nm, makes this a highly significant IPO for the UK semiconductor
industry. Our focus is now on increasing the number of engineers we employ,
investing further in developing our Architecting the Future IP platforms, and
accelerating growth in the USA and other geographies.

"I look forward to providing updates on our progress in the months ahead as we
accelerate our growth and deliver value for our shareholders."

Investor Presentation

Sondrel will be presenting via the Investor Meet Company platform on Tuesday,
1 November 2022 at 15:00 UK Time. The meeting will be hosted by Graham Curren
(CEO) and Joe Lopez (CFO) who will provide an introduction to Sondrel and
there will be an opportunity for Q&A at the end of the session. Questions
can either be submitted pre-event via the Investor Meet Company dashboard up
until 9.00 a.m. the day before the meeting or at any time during the live
presentation. To sign up for the Sondrel (Holdings) plc presentation via
Investor Meet Company please click the following link:

https://www.investormeetcompany.com/sondrel-holdings-plc/register-investor
(https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.investormeetcompany.com_sondrel-2Dholdings-2Dplc_register-2Dinvestor&d=DwMGaQ&c=24Pv9SDmf15C3K1GQEblf0-dR4hG0m_5jejOBrkAV6M&r=vfmQ8RKo5BMosze7VQWZrZbq3k6eIUdc0laoMwGedFg&m=2yddB-BtrZqGzu0jb3WIMfZa5CG2MLwPXVsno03o9KvI0T9fZoIiGPP9KMi670GI&s=n-r6wImNZw5El27gGpir35GmVU-Pjq-qu2SWk5l0qdA&e=)

 

FOR FURTHER ENQUIRIES:

 

 Sondrel (Holdings) plc                                        Via Buchanan
 Graham Curren, CEO                                            Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466 5000
 Joe Lopez, CFO

 Cenkos Securities plc                                         Tel: +44 (0)20 7397 8900
 Ben Jeynes / Katy Birkin / George Lawson - Corporate Finance
 Alex Pollen / Michael Johnson - Sales

 Buchanan Communications                                       Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466 5000
 Chris Lane                                                    sondrel@buchanan.uk.com

 Stephanie Whitmore
 Jack Devoy
 Abby Gilchrist

 

To find out more, please visit: https://ir.sondrel.com/investors
(https://ir.sondrel.com/investors)

 

Overview of Sondrel

Sondrel is a UK founded and headquartered fabless semiconductor business
providing turnkey services in the design and delivery of complex, high end
ASICs and SoCs for leading global technology brands. Sondrel's capabilities
are provided to customers seeking competitive advantage by including
customised ASIC/SoC devices enabling differentiation of their end products
when addressing fast growth technology megatrends.

 

Delivering designs down to 5 nanometre process nodes and now working on 3
nanometres

·    This level of engineering capability is limited to Sondrel and a
small number of Asian competitors and positions Sondrel to benefit from
megatrends driving the increasing use of ASICs globally and the production of
products utilising increasingly complex design geometries.

 

·    Positioned to benefit from the geopolitical and business drive to
shorten geographically stretched and complex supply chains.

 

Geographic reach in fast-growth end markets

·    Sondrel provides leading edge ASIC/SoC designs to a global customer
base in advanced end markets with significant structural growth drivers
including high performance computing, automotive, artificial intelligence,
VR/AR, video analytics, image processing, mobile networking and data centres.

 

Deeply rooted within the semiconductor industry

·    Established relationships with semiconductor IP and electronic design
automation ("EDA") providers, materials and equipment companies and
fabrication partners. Sondrel has a long-standing partnership with and
capability approval from Arm; is one of only 22 global partners in TSMC's
Design Centre Alliance; and has comparable relationships with Samsung, and
Global Foundries.

 

·    Sondrel is able to provide customers with the ability to de-risk the
design of ASICs/SoCs through the use of Sondrel's 'Architecting the Future' IP
platforms.

 

Full-service product for customers seeking a reliable route to market

·    Sondrel's customers are able to differentiate their end products with
Sondrel's market leading design capabilities at the forefront of technology
whilst also leveraging Sondrel's expertise and relationships throughout the
semiconductor industry. In doing so, Sondrel's customers are able to remove
the requirements for multiple counterparties in the ASIC/SoC supply chain and
for supply chain management.

 

·    With OEMs and OEM suppliers increasingly focused on semiconductor
supply chain resilience and efficiency, customers are able to contract Sondrel
as a single counterparty in the design, supply chain management and production
of ASIC/SoC devices.

 

Strong track record

·    Sondrel has grown over a period of more than 20 years and delivers
complex ASIC/SoC designs for a wide range of leading multi-national corporate
customers.

 

·    Sondrel has delivered revenue growth from inception to 31 December
2021 at a CAGR of 20 per cent. As at 31 July 2022, the Group's pipeline of
revenue opportunities stood at more than £300 million 1  (#_ftn1) (excluding
potentially material related production and supply revenues).

 

Clear growth strategy

·    The Directors have ambitions to grow revenues to over £100 million
in the medium term.

 

·    Sondrel's organic growth strategy is focused on increasing its
engineering headcount and investing in IP to further enhance its competitive
position, accelerating its growth in key geographies including the USA and
Asia.

 

Highly skilled and experienced team

·    Sondrel has a team of 137 engineers that are located across 5 design
centres globally; the UK, USA, China, India and Morocco. This enables Sondrel
to be one of only a handful of companies worldwide with the scale, capability
and strength of industry relationships to deliver projects in leading
technologies.

 

·    Sondrel has a proven and experienced founder-led management team.

 

CURRENT TRADING AND PROSPECTS

Since the year ended 31 December 2021, the Group has traded strongly in
receiving new customer orders with an aggregate value of £19.4 million in the
six months ended 30 June 2022 and in securing and commencing work on a
material turnkey design and supply engagement in Q2 2022 for a multi-billion
dollar European customer. Unaudited Group revenues generated in the six month
period ended 30 June 2022 of £8.0 million were significantly ahead of the
prior period, with full year revenues generated in the full year ended 31
December 2021 of £8.2 million.

Given the positive momentum following the Group's transition in business model
and the Directors' positive assessment of the strength of the Group's growth
strategy, the Directors have confidence in the Group's prospects for the
current and upcoming financial years.

 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Executive Directors

Graham Curren - Chief Executive Officer

Graham founded Sondrel in 2002 after identifying a gap in the market for an
international company specialising in complex digital IC design.

Prior to establishing Sondrel, Graham graduated in Electronic Engineering from
Leeds University and worked in both ASIC design and manufacturing before
joining electronic design automation ("EDA") company, Avant Corporation.
There, he managed the technical and marketing teams across EMEA, supporting
products across the whole range of IC design.

In 2010, Graham accompanied the UK prime minister at the time, David Cameron,
in his business delegation to China. He also acted as a non-executive director
for the China-Britain Business Council between 2011 and 2017.

 

Jose ("Joe") Lopez - Chief Financial Officer

Joe joined Sondrel in April 2019. His career began as a Business Services
Manager for Grant Thornton LLP between 1993 and 1999 where he qualified as a
Chartered Accountant.

After leaving Grant Thornton, Joe worked in a variety of directorship roles
and has over 12 years' experience as a Chief Financial Officer, ranging from
start-ups to corporate multi nationals. Prior to joining Sondrel, Joe was
Finance Director of ShopperTrak Limited, a provider of data analytics aimed at
helping retailers improve their in-store customer experience, between 2012 and
2017, before joining Airways Aviation Academy Limited as Chief Financial
Officer for two years.

 

Non-Executive Directors

Nigel Vaughan - Independent Non-Executive Chairman

Nigel joined the board of Sondrel in 2011. He has 30 years of international
Board level experience acting for businesses in both an executive and
non-executive capacity. He has held Board level positions in businesses of
varying sizes, including UK public limited companies and US multinationals,
and he also built an early-stage business, Sifam Limited, that was sold for
US$100 million after 7 years.

He most recently acted as non-executive director of Quantex-Arc Limited
between 2018 and 2021. In addition to founding and owning a management
consulting business, Vaughan Management Solutions Limited, Nigel currently
also acts as Chairman to the Global Advisory Board of the Walsn Group.

 

Gordon Orr - Independent Non-Executive Director

Gordon currently acts as a Senior Advisor to management consultancy firm,
McKinsey & Company, having previously acted as Chairman of its Asia
division. Gordon also sits on the boards of Chinese multinational technology
company, Lenovo Group Limited, and conglomerate, Swire Pacific Limited. In
addition, he works with the CEOs of a number of China's globalising companies,
is an advisor to Oxford University and Harvard Business School in Asia and is
a Board Member of the China Britain Business Council.

Gordon spent the majority of his career at McKinsey & Company having
joined in 1986. He opened McKinsey's Beijing office in the early 1990s and led
its Greater China practice for many years and McKinsey Asia between 2009 and
2014. Gordon was on McKinsey's global board of directors between 2003 and 2015
with responsibilities for Asia, Governance and Risk, before retiring from the
firm.

 

Sherry Madera - Independent Non-Executive Director

Sherry is currently Mastercard's Senior Vice President of Global Public Policy
and Government Affairs. A Canadian and British national, Sherry joined
Mastercard from the London Stock Exchange Group where she held the position of
Chief Industry & Government Affairs Officer. She has also worked for the
City of London Corporation where she was Economic Ambassador and Special
Advisor to Asia, and also acted as a Minister-Counsellor at the British
Embassy in Beijing, responsible for promoting trade and investment between the
UK and China.

Recognised as an expert on green and sustainable finance as well as on data
policy, Sherry continues to hold the role of Chair of the Future of
Sustainable Data Alliance, a global alliance dedicated to working with the
financial industry to use data to build a sustainable future.

 

Adrian Carey - Independent Non-Executive Director

Adrian has more than 35 years of board experience across listed, AIM, private
equity, venture backed and private businesses, primarily in the technology,
legal and educational service sectors. Adrian acted as CEO for three companies
over a 17 year period, prior to which he was a finance director, venture
capitalist and Chartered Accountant. He most recently acted as Executive
Chairman for AIM quoted Melorio plc before being appointed as a non-executive
director until it was bought by Pearson plc in June 2010.

Adrian has had significant additional non-executive experience, including
acting as a non-executive director for Impellam Group and, more recently,
Oxford Metrics plc, both quoted on AIM. He currently acts as a non-executive
director for Blacktrace Holdings Limited.

 

 

 

 

 1  Based on Sondrel's internal sales forecasting system reports

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  MSCBGBDGUGDDGDG