RNS Number : 3791U
Promethean PLC
24 June 2009
PROMETHEAN PLC
24 June 2009
Shareholder Update
Following the successful return of £25 million to Shareholders in April 2009 the Board of Promethean plc (the 'Company') is today issuing a shareholder update for the 6 month period to June 2009.
Return of £25 million to Shareholders
In view of the Company's strong cash position at the end of 2008, the Directors, following consultation with Shareholders, decided to return £25 million to investors. The Company offered a range of options to shareholders in order to balance the wishes of those who wished to partially or completely exit and those who wished to retain their unchanged interest in the Company. Following the EGM on 1st April 2009, the £25 million was successfully returned during the course of April.
Portfolio Update
The Company's investment portfolio is performing relatively well despite the difficult economic environment. The Manager is working hard to continue to build value in the portfolio and remains committed to maximising the value of the investments over time.
Intermediactive Group continues to perform well and is currently trading ahead of budget. The Heads of Terms signed with a potential trade buyer earlier this year have expired but the Manager is continuing to explore alternative exit options for this business. Cambria Automobiles is continuing to perform very well relative to its peer group despite being in a market which has seen unprecedented problems.
TIS Group and Enterprise Group are also operating in difficult markets and the management teams of these businesses have taken significant steps to reduce costs. TIS continues to generate significant cashflow and has made an early repayment of a portion of its bank debt. Enterprise's performance has been impacted by the downturn in the mortgage market and that market needs to recover before any improvement can be expected. The Manager also reports a small recovery in the value of its other investments.
The Manager remains confident that there is good value in the Company's investment portfolio but the effects of the economic down-turn on the portfolio cannot be avoided in the short to medium-term.
Net Asset Value
After the EGM in April 2009, the Company announced that the unaudited pro forma Net Asset Value ('NAV') per share (adjusted for the £25 million returned to shareholders) was approximately 90 pence per share. The Directors expect that the pro forma Net Asset Value per share for the period to 30th June 2009 will be marginally in excess of this figure when the results for the year to 30th June 2009 are released in September 2009.
Review of Future Options for the Fund
During the process of returning £25 million to shareholders, a number of shareholders indicated that they would be in favour of further returns of capital from the Company. Over the coming weeks shareholders will be consulted regarding whether they would be in favour of the return of all realised capital from investments and not just the capital gains from realised investments. The Directors expect to be able to put a proposal to the shareholders at the AGM expected to be held in the final quarter of 2009, following the consultation.
Conclusion
To date Promethean has successfully returned up to 55 pence per share to continuing shareholders (including carried interest distributions paid to eligible shareholders) and those continuing shareholders have an unaudited NAV per share of approximately 90 pence per share compared to the original placing price of 100 pence per share. The Directors look forward to continuing to build on this track record of successful returns to shareholders in the future. The Directors would also like to thank the shareholders for their support during the last year.
Enquiries
Sir Peter Burt / Mike Biddulph
Promethean Investments LLP +44 (0) 207 479 7660
James King / Gillian McCarthy +44 (0) 207 598 5368
Fairfax I.S. PLC
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