Fishing Republic reels in growth plans after raising £1.3m

Fishing Republic, the Rotherham-headquartered fishing tackle retailer, has raised £1.3m through a placing of 13,000,000 new ordinary shares of 1p each at a price of 10p per placing share to new and existing shareholders, including directors.

The net proceeds of the Placing will be used to further develop the company’s e-commerce operations, logistics and merchandising activities following the recent review of operations.

The money raised will also be used to provide additional working capital to accelerate the rate of growth of online sales.

James Newman, Fishing Republic’s executive chairman, and Iain McDonald, a non-executive director, have subscribed for 50,000 and 600,000 Placing Shares respectively.

On completion of the Placing, Mr Newman will hold 211,906 Ordinary Shares and Mr McDonald will hold 950,000 Ordinary Shares, representing 0.4 and 1.8% of the company’s enlarged share capital immediately following Admission.

In addition, Fishing Republic has issued 1,000,000 Ordinary Shares at the Placing price as part of the payment for consultancy services provided in relation to the recent review of the business and operations, which was recently completed as announced on 11th January 2018.

The participation in the Placing by directors, James Newman and Iain McDonald, and by The Miton UK MicroCap Trust plc, an existing substantial shareholder, which is subscribing for 1,098,500 Placing Shares, are deemed to be related party transactions pursuant to Rule 13 of the AIM Rules.

Immediately following Admission, Miton will hold 5,411,733 Ordinary Shares, representing 10.4% of the enlarged share capital of the company.

James Newman, chairman of Fishing Republic, said: “I am delighted to announce our successful fundraising of £1.3m before expenses, which has been supported by both existing investors, including Miton, and Directors, and a number of new shareholders.

“The proceeds of this Placing will be used to implement our operational improvement plan under the new management team and provide us with the working capital needed to expand our online sales offering and distribution facilities.’’