Business
Capital Reorganisation
Capital Reorganisation.
About this update from Artisanal Spirits Company Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n Artisan (UK) PLC\n12 December 2006\n\n\nARTISAN (UK) PLC\n\n12 December 2006\n\nPROPOSED CAPITAL REORGANISATION\n\nThe Directors have been reviewing the existing shareholding structure of Artisan\nand believe that it would be in the interests of Shareholders and the Company as\na whole to effect a reorganisation of the share capital of the Company.\n\nA circular will be sent to Shareholders shortly setting out the reasons for and\ndetails of the proposed Capital Reorganisation (which are set out below) and to\ngive notice of an extraordinary general meeting of the Company to be held on 19\nJanuary 2007 at which resolutions will be proposed to give effect to the Capital\nReorganisation.\n\n\nBackground to and reasons for the proposed Capital Reorganisation\n\nThe Company's authorised share capital currently comprises 1,000,000,000\nExisting Ordinary Shares of which 328,530,000 Existing Ordinary Shares are in\nissue. The average middle market price for the Company's shares taken from the\nAIM appendix of the Daily Official List for the last five days prior to the\nannouncement of the proposed Capital Reorganisation was 3.25p.\n\nDespite the relatively small market capitalisation, the Company has\napproximately 10,300 Shareholders. The Directors consider that a more\nappropriate capital structure and consequent traded market value for the\nCompany's ordinary capital is now required for the following reasons;\n\n• For Shareholders to realise value for their shares, the dealing costs\nfor many Shareholders would represent a significant proportion of the value of\ntheir investment. For example, over 3,600 Shareholders each have shares worth\n£100 or less;\n\n• The Capital Reorganisation will make it more cost effective for the\nCompany to service its Shareholders by removing the large administrative burden\nand costs of communicating with large numbers of Shareholders who have only a\nsmall number of shares; and\n\n• The Company wishes to establish a dividend policy for Shareholders\nbut, based on possible distributions, the cost of administering a dividend\npayment (the registrar's costs of preparing and posting a cheque) would exceed\nthe likely payments for almost 65 % of Shareholders, making the process\nuneconomic for the Company.\n\nThe Directors are, therefore, proposing to effect the Capital Reorganisation,\ndetails ...