15 May 2024
KR1 plc
("KR1" or
the "Company")
Ordinary Share Buy Back
The
Directors note the significant discount to net asset value at which
the shares currently trade and consider that the share price
significantly undervalues the Company's portfolio and
prospects.
Accordingly,
the Board of Directors ("Board") has resolved to commence share
repurchases in the market where it believes this to be in
shareholders' interests, noting that share buybacks represent an
attractive opportunity to increase the Company's investment
exposure to its existing portfolio at reduced costs compared to
buying the underlying assets on the open market (also noting that
not all assets comprised in the Company's portfolio are available
for purchase on the open market).
The Board
expects buybacks to be accretive to the net asset value per share
of the remaining shares and to improve the prospects for future
returns.
Buybacks
will be funded by the Company's income from digital assets. As it
has done successfully since 2016, the Company will continue to
allocate capital to new investments in decentralised platforms and
protocols that are emerging to form new financial and internet
infrastructures.
Any share
buybacks will be carried out under the existing shareholder
authorisation granted at the Extraordinary General Meeting held on
29 April 2024 for purchases of shares
by the Company in the market for up to 14.99% of the Company's
issued share capital. Buybacks will be conducted at the absolute
discretion of the Board with periodic reviews. The Company has
appointed Singer Capital Markets Securities Limited to conduct the
buybacks.
Any
acquisitions of shares by the Company will be announced to the
market. Any shares acquired will initially be held in treasury and
may be cancelled at a later date.
The
minimum price which may be paid for a share is £0.0019 (being the
nominal value of an ordinary share). The maximum price (exclusive
of expenses) which may be paid for a share is the higher of: (i)
105% of the average of the middle market quotations for the shares
(as derived from the Aquis Stock Exchange) for the five business
days immediately preceding the day on which such share is
contracted to be purchased; and (ii) the higher of the price of the
last independent trade in the shares and the highest then current
independent bid for a share on the trading venue where the purchase
is carried out.
Due to the
limited liquidity in the issued shares, any buyback of shares by
the Company on any trading day may represent a significant
proportion of the daily trading volume in the shares on Aquis and
may exceed 25 per cent. of the average daily trading volume, being
the limit laid down under Article 5(1) of the Market Abuse
Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of United Kingdom domestic law by virtue of the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended, and, in such
circumstances, the Company will not benefit from the exemption
contained in that Article.
The
Company confirms that it does not currently possess any unpublished
price sensitive information, other than that which has been
disclosed above.
For
further information please contact:
KR1 plc
George McDonaugh
Keld van Schreven
Phone: +44
(0)1624 630 630
Email:
investors@KR1.io
Peterhouse
Capital (Aquis
Corporate Adviser)
Mark Anwyl
Phone: +44
(0)20 7469 0930
Email:
info@peterhousecap.com
SEC
Newgate (Financial
Communications)
Bob Huxford
Ian Silvera
Atif Nawaz
Phone:
+44(0)20 3757 6882
Email:
KR1@secnewgate.co.uk
Singer
Capital Markets (Stockbroker
to the Buyback)
Robert Peel (Investment Banking)
Alex Bond (Investment Banking)
James Fischer (Investment Banking)
Sam Greatrex (Sales)
Alan Geeves (Sales)
James Waterlow (Sales)
William Gumpel (Sales)
Phone: +44
(0)20 7496 3000
Email:
enquiries@singercm.com
About KR1 plc
KR1 plc is
a leading digital asset investment company supporting early-stage
decentralised and open source blockchain projects. Founded in 2016
and publicly traded in London on
the Aquis Growth Market (KR1:ASE), KR1 has one of the longest and
most successful track records of investment in the digital assets
space by investing in decentralised platforms and protocols that
are emerging to form new financial and internet
infrastructures.
www.KR1.io
Market
Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure
This
announcement contains inside information for the purposes of
Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation EU 596/2014 as it forms
part of retained EU law (as defined in the European Union
(Withdrawal) Act 2018).
