10
February 2025
Gusbourne
Plc
("Gusbourne" or the
"Company")
Notice of Requisition of
General Meeting
End of Offer
Period
Gusbourne Plc (AIM: GUS), the
premium English sparkling wine producer, announces that on 7
February 2025 it received a letter from Belize Finance Limited on
behalf of the Company's majority shareholder, Lord Ashcroft,
holding an interest in 40,628,009 ordinary shares, representing
66.8% of the issued share capital in the Company
("Letter").
The Letter requests that the Company
convene a General Meeting of the Company's shareholders pursuant to
section 303 of the Companies Act 2006 (the "Act") and consider a
resolution to delist the Company from the AIM market.
The Board of Directors intends to
comply with its obligations in accordance with section 304 of the
Act which requires it to call a General Meeting within 21 days of
receipt of a valid requisition and to hold such a General Meeting
on a date no more than 28 days after the date of the notice
convening such General Meeting.
Shareholders are advised to take no
action at this time. Further announcements will be made in due
course.
Offer Period Update
Following receipt of the Letter, and
as agreed by Lord Ashcroft, the Board of Directors has concluded
its review of strategic options for Lord Ashcroft's shareholding
announced on 22 July 2024.
The Company has terminated
discussions with other parties in relation to a transaction and is
no longer in receipt of any approaches. Consequently, as the review
of strategic options has now concluded, the Company is no longer in
an "offer period" as defined by the City Code on Takeovers and
Mergers (the "Takeover Code") and the disclosure requirements
pursuant to Rule 8 of the Takeover Code are no longer applicable
from the time of this announcement.
For further information
contact:
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Gusbourne Plc
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Jonathan White, CEO
Katharine Berry, CFO/COO
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+44
(0)12 3375 8666
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Phil Clark, Investor
Relations
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|
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Panmure Liberum Limited (Nomad and Sole
Broker)
|
|
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James Sinclair-Ford / Ailsa
Macmaster
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+44 (0)20 7886 2500
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Tom Scrivens
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Media:
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Kate Hoare / Ben Robinson / India
Spencer (Houston)
gusbourne@houston.co.uk
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+44
(0)20 4529 0549
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This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as
amended by regulation 11 of the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit)
Regulations 2019/310. With the publication of this announcement,
this information is now considered to be in the public domain. The
person responsible for arranging for the release of this
announcement on behalf of the Company is Katharine Berry, Chief
Financial Officer.
Note: This and other press releases
are available at the Company's
website: www.gusbourne.com/investors
Note to Editors
Gusbourne produces and distributes a
range of high quality and award winning vintage English sparkling
wines from grapes grown in its own vineyards in Kent and West
Sussex.
The Gusbourne business was founded
by Andrew Weeber in 2004 with the first vineyard plantings at
Appledore in Kent. The first wines were released in 2010 to
critical acclaim. Following additional vineyard plantings in 2013
and 2015 in both Kent and West Sussex, Gusbourne now has 93
hectares of mature vineyards. The Nest visitor centre was opened
next to the winery in Appledore in 2017, providing tours, tastings
and a direct outlet for our wines.
Right from the beginning,
Gusbourne's intention has always been to produce the finest English
sparkling wines. Starting with carefully chosen sites, we use best
practice in establishing and maintaining the vineyards and conduct
green harvests to ensure we achieve the highest quality grapes for
each vintage. A quest for excellence is at the heart of everything
we do. We blind taste hundreds of samples before finalising our
blends and even after the wines are bottled, they spend extended
time on their lees to add depth and flavour. Once disgorged, extra
cork ageing further enhances complexity. Our winemaking process
remains traditional, but one that is open to innovation where
appropriate. It takes four years to bring a vineyard into full
production and a further four years to transform those grapes into
Gusbourne's premium sparkling wine.
Gusbourne's luxury brand enjoys
premium price positioning and is distributed in the finest
establishments both in the UK and abroad. Our wines can be found in
leading luxury retailers, restaurants, hotels and stockists, always
being aware that where we are says a lot about who we
are.
For more information, visit
www.gusbourneplc.com
