Rotherham’s Fishing Republic to cast out expansion plan after raising £3.75m

Fishing Republic, the Rotherham-headquartered fishing tackle retailer, has raised £3.75m through a placing of 10,714,288 new ordinary shares of 1p each at a price of 35p per placing share to new and existing shareholders (the “Placing”).

The £3.75m will be used to support Fishing Republic’s expansion plan as it seeks to establish a significant market presence in the fishing tackle sector.

The new funds will also be used to develop Fishing Republic’s online platform and digital strategy, and to support further store openings, including potential acquisitions.

The Placing was undertaken by the broker Northland Capital Partners and the placing price of 35p represents an 8.7% discount to Fishing Republic’s 30 day volume weighted average price prior to 23 June 2016.

Amongst the new shareholders participating in the Placing, Fishing Republic announced that Bill Currie, Iain McDonald and Sir Terry Leahy have agreed to subscribe for, in aggregate, 6,014,286 Placing Shares in the company, which will equate to a combined shareholding of 15.9% of the company’s issued share capital immediately following the admission of the Placing Shares to trading on AIM (“Admission”).

Following Admission, these shares will be held by Tilney Nominees.

James Newman, Fishing Republic’s chairman, has also subscribed for 28,571 placing shares. Following Admission, James will hold 161,906 ordinary shares in the company, which will account for 0.43% of the company’s issued share capital.

Following Admission, the company’s issued share capital will consist of 37,826,788 ordinary shares with each share carrying the right to one vote.

There are no ordinary shares held in treasury. Therefore, in accordance with the FCA’s Disclosure and Transparency Rule 5.6.1, the company confirms that, immediately following Admission, the total number of voting rights in the Company will be 37,826,788.

James Newman, chairman of Fishing Republic, said: “I am delighted to announce our successful share placing to raise £3.75m gross. The placing, which was heavily oversubscribed, was well supported by existing investors and we are also pleased to welcome a number of new shareholders. These include Bill Currie, Iain McDonald and Sir Terry Leahy.

“This placing is a significant step forward in Fishing Republic’s ongoing development and we remain very excited about the growth opportunities ahead.’’

Steve Gross, chief executive of Fishing Republic, added: “We will be using the net proceeds of the Placing to implement our growth strategy.

“In particular, we will be focusing on developing our online and digital capability, whilst continuing to expand our store network. Our long term goal is to consolidate the fishing tackle marketplace and build a significant market presence and we remain very positive about the opportunity for us to do so.”

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