REG - SRT Marine Systems - SYSTEM CONTRACT FINANCE SUPPORT PACKAGE

SRT Marine SystemsAnnouncement

28/10/2024 11:30

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RNS Number : 8859J  SRT Marine Systems PLC  28 October 2024

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF
THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (EU) 596/2014 AS IT FORMS PART OF UK DOMESTIC LAW
BY VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018 ("MAR"), AND IS
DISCLOSED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE COMPANY'S OBLIGATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 17 OF
MAR.

 

 

SRT MARINE SYSTEMS PLC

(AIM: SRT)

("SRT" or the "Company")

 

SYSTEM CONTRACT FINANCE SUPPORT PACKAGE

SRT Marine Systems plc ('SRT'), a global provider of maritime domain awareness
systems and technologies for security, safety and environmental protection is
pleased to announce that it has agreed a substantial investment and short-term
finance bridge support package from existing shareholder Ocean Infinity (OI),
together worth approximately £31 million.

This new financing allows SRT to immediately satisfy the need for the
substantial performance bond required under the terms of the recently
announced $213m contract, which is expected to be signed and commence on
Thursday 31(st) October 2024, as well as providing a foundation to support
simultaneous proceeding of three other contracts worth an additional $210m
during the next quarter. All four contracts will have parallel implementation
periods over the next two years, with follow on support phases of up to 10
years.

The finance package has multiple interlinking components as defined below.

1)   SRT will issue up to 21.5m new ordinary shares at an issue price of 35p
per share by way of a placing which is entirely underwritten by OI, raising
gross proceeds of £7.5m. Existing shareholders will be given the right to
acquire up to a maximum of 7.5m shares in aggregate, with OI reserved a
minimum of 14m shares. Subject to shareholder approval, the Company has agreed
to complete the fundraising at the earliest opportunity in November. A further
announcement will be made in due course.

 

2)   OI has provided a $21.4m guarantee to SRT to enable SRT to issue a
contract performance bond of similar value. The OI guarantee is initially
provided as a cash loan of $21.4m with an interest rate of 0.75% per month.
The loan is expected to be repaid by SRT with a period of approximately one
month and replaced with a bank guarantee on OI's behalf.  The OI bank
guarantee itself will then be replaced within the next 6 months using a
combination of SRT's own resources and UKEF export guarantee program. In
return for providing this guarantee, OI is being granted 20,000,000 warrants
at a strike price of 35p, with an exercise period of 3 years, which when
exercised will inject a further £7m equity for SRT. In the event that SRT
does not replace the OI guarantee within 8 months, a further 4m warrants per
month will be issued with a strike price equal to a 15% discount on the share
price at the relevant time.

 

3)   Oliver Plunkett, board member and CEO of OI, will join SRT's board as a
non-executive director following the completion of the placing.

 

Simon Tucker, CEO of SRT Marine Systems, commented:

"This financing package enables SRT to make a truly transformational
commercial leap and very significantly accelerate the financial performance of
the Company through the simultaneous delivery of over $400m of contracts and
with capacity for more.

Besides the obvious product and technology synergies between OI and SRT in the
MDA space, we are fortunate to have this level of support which enables us to
confidently deliver on these contracts whilst also taking full advantage of
our growing pipeline of future opportunities which we expect to continue to
grow, and deliver a flow of more new contracts."

Oliver Plunkett, Group CEO of Ocean Infinity, commented;

"This contract awarded to SRT in which Ocean Infinity will play a key
supporting role is precisely the kind of opportunity to work together that we
foresaw when we first invested in the Company.  We strongly believe in the
relationship, the wider market opportunity for maritime data and systems, and
the long-term potential for both companies to continue working together for
the benefit of our clients and each other.

That long term vision is why we have seized this opportunity to provide
additional equity funding to SRT as well as help out in the short term with a
bridge guarantee which will facilitate SRT providing the necessary up front
contractual guarantees to their customer as they wait for UKEF to complete
their processing."

 

 

 For further information, please contact:
 SRT Marine Systems plc                                      www.srt-marine.com (http://www.srt-marine.com)

                                                             + 44 (0) 1761 409500
 Simon Tucker (CEO)                                          simon.tucker@srt-marine.com (mailto:simon.tucker@srt-marine.com)
 Kevin Finn (Chairman)                                       Kevin.finn@srt-marine.com
 Ocean Infinity                                               www.oceaninfinity.com (https://oceaninfinity.com/)
 Oliver Plunkett (CEO)                                       michelle@themtmagency.com (mailto:michelle@themtmagency.com)
 Michelle Cross (The MTM Agency)
 Cavendish Capital Markets Limited (NOMAD & Broker)
 Jonny Franklin-Adams / Teddy Whiley (Corporate Finance)     +44 (0) 20 7220 0500
 Tim Redfern / Ondraya Swanson (Corporate Broking)
 Blackdown Partners (Advisor to Ocean Infinity)
 Julian Collett                                              + 44 (0) 7734 898 389

                                                             Julian.collett@blackdown.com
 Yellow Jersey PR
 Charles Goodwin / Annabelle Wills                           +44 (0)774 7788 221

                                                             srt@yellowjerseypr.com (mailto:srt@yellowjerseypr.com)

About SRT Marine Systems plc:

SRT Marine Systems PLC is an established technology driven leader in the
growing global market for maritime domain awareness. We provide products and
systems endowed with SRT proprietary technology that enables the marine domain
to be more secure, sustainable and safer. Our systems division provides
sophisticated national scale integrated maritime surveillance, monitoring and
management systems used by Coast Guards, Border Forces, Fishing Authorities
and Ports & Waterway authorities. Our transceivers division provides
navigation safety and communication systems to commercial and leisure vessel
operators through a global network of over 4,500 distributors and dealers.
National agencies and hundreds of thousands of mariners rely on SRT systems
daily for their safety and security and the sustainability of their marine
domain.

ABOUT OCEAN INFINITY

Ocean Infinity is a fast-moving marine technology company specialising in the
development and deployment of robotics for large-scale, maritime data
acquisition. Purpose driven from day one, Ocean Infinity is developing a range
of innovative technologies to transform operations at sea, enabling people and
the planet to thrive.

Today, Ocean Infinity

The company's ethos is that there are almost no offshore activities, whether
they take place above or below the waves, that cannot be made significantly
more efficient, greener and safer thanks to robotics, and is taking its
ambitions a big step further by creating a fleet of robotic ships.  Ocean
Infinity's Armada fleet is set to be the largest fleet of remotely operable
ships in the world, representing one of the most ambitious maritime
innovations ever seen.

Ocean Infinity employs more than 500 technology and data specialists
worldwide, spread across Europe, South East Asia, North America and
Australasia who work together to serve governments, energy organisations and
scientific institutions, which have included RWE, SSE, Ørsted, bp, Energinet,
Shell, Australian government, Equinor, NOAA, BOEM and Total.. .

 

 

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