REG - Woodbois Limited - Facility with Sydbank A/S ("Sydbank")

WoodboisAnnouncement

19/04/2023 07:15

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RNS Number : 7239W  Woodbois Limited  19 April 2023

19 April 2023

Woodbois Limited

("Woodbois", "the Company")

Facility with Sydbank A/S ("Sydbank")

Woodbois, the Africa-focused forestry, timber trading and afforestation
company, announces that Woodgroup Aps, a wholly owned subsidiary of the
Company, has received a notice from Sydbank, a lender to Woodgroup Aps, that
it is terminating a $6 million debt facility that it holds with Woodgroup ApS
(the "Facility").

Woodgroup ApS has various banking arrangements with Sydbank, including the $6m
Facility that was fully utilised and an ancillary account with a cash balance
of $3.1 million. Sydbank have a floating charge against the assets of
Woodgroup ApS and have offset this $3.1 million in partial repayment of the
Facility.

The reason cited by Sydbank for terminating the Facility was that Woodgroup
ApS generated a loss in Q1 2023. Sydbank believe that, as a consequence, the
circumstances of Woodgroup ApS have changed significantly to their detriment.

As part of the notice Sydbank also requested that the Woodgroup ApS present a
plan for the repayment of the outstanding $2.9 million of the Facility.
Sydbank has verbally indicated that they would be open to working with the
Company to at least the end of May to allow the development of a plan to
refinance the balance.

The Company was shocked to receive this unexpected notice of termination and
has reserved its rights on the basis of the termination and the validity of
the termination notice.

Management do not agree with Sydbank's conclusion and, whilst acknowledging
the poor performance in Q1, believed the Company had been well placed to
deliver a very positive performance for the remainder of the year.

The Company is reviewing its internal cash-flow forecasts following this
unexpected termination and, whilst it expects a difficult trading period in
the short term, management believe that the fundamentals of the business are
sound and it will continue to work actively to find alternative funding
sources in order to continue to grow the business.

The Company has cash balances outside the Sydbank account of $430,000 and net
trade receivables of $1.5m. Management believe that the Company can continue
to operate as a going concern in the short term, and will seek to utilise
existing cash reserves and available working capital to meet its near term
operating obligations. The Company is working with restructuring professionals
and is taking all necessary steps to preserve the business, whilst undertaking
a concerted contingency planning exercise.  The board continues to work with
all other creditors and stakeholders to achieve this.

The Company will make further announcements as necessary.

 

Enquiries

 

 Woodbois Limited                            +44 (0) 20 7099 1940

 Paul Dolan, CEO

 Carnel Geddes, CFO

 Canaccord Genuity, Nominated Adviser        +44 (0) 20 7523 8000

 Henry Fitzgerald O'Connor, Harry Pardoe

 

 

Market Abuse Regulation

The information contained within this announcement would have, prior to its
release, constituted inside information as stipulated under Article 7 of the
Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No.596/2014 as incorporated into UK domestic law
by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 as amended by virtue of
the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 ("UK MAR"). Upon the
publication of this announcement via a regulatory information service, this
inside information will be considered to be in the public domain. For the
purposes of UK MAR, the person responsible for arranging for the release of
this information on behalf of the Company is Carnel Geddes.

 

 

 

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