Carpetright gets go-ahead from shareholders for recovery plan
Published: 6 June 2018 - Fiona Garcia
Flooring specialist, Carpetright has secured shareholder approval for emergency plans to keep the business trading using money raised through a conditional placing.
The placing and open offer, which took place on June 5, raised around £60million. Following a general meeting with shareholders at 4pm on June 6, Carpetright announced it had the backing of the requisite majority in order to issue 232,463,221 new ordinary shares under the planning and open offer.
Applications have been made to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the London Stock Exchange, respectively, for the new ordinary shares to be admitted to the premium listing segment of the Official List, with trading expected to start at 8am on Friday June 8.
The new ordinary shares issued in connection with the Placing and Open Offer will be issued fully paid and will, upon issue, rank pari passu in all respects with the Existing Ordinary Shares.
Following Admission the total issued share capital of Carpetright will increase to 303,787,164 ordinary shares.
Carpetright announced its intentions to raise the emergency funding earlier this month, as part of a restructuring plan set out in March this year, along with the closure of 92 stores. The announcement came as Carpetright issued its second profit warning of the year and said "ongoing weak consumer confidence is forcing the group to examine a variety of other options to strengthen its balance sheet".
Carpetright CEO Wilf Walsh said: “Successful completion of the fundraising is a major milestone in our recovery plan and we would like to thank our existing shareholders and new investors for their strong support. The £60million net proceeds give us the resources we need to accelerate our turnaround by creating a right-sized portfolio of stores on sustainable rents, modernising our store estate and upgrading our digital platform. Carpetright remains the clear market leader and our strengthened balance sheet provides a solid platform on which we can build our recovery for the benefit of customers, colleagues, shareholders, suppliers, and landlords.”