Investors back manufacturer’s plan to accelerate strategy

Rugby manufacturer Autins has successfully raised £3.5m to help accelerate its strategy through a placing of 17.5m shares.

More than 40% of the placing was taken by three institutional investors – Schroder, Milton and Cavendish – which were already substantial shareholders.

After the placing, the three investors will hold a total of 46% of the group.

Gareth Kaminski-Cook

Gareth Kaminski-Cook, chief executive of Autins, said: “We are delighted to close this placing to help fund automation of various Company processes, to accelerate the Company’s development in certain market segments and to provide for general working capital purposes.”

Four of the five directors took part, investing a total of £75,000 in acquiring 375,000 shares.

Autins will use the investment to fund expansion into new countries and push its key product, Neptune.

The manufacturer supplies acoustic and thermal insulation products to the automotive sector and Neptune is an ultra-fine material that has become critical to the company’s success, accounting for two-thirds of its current £50m pipeline.

It launched the share placing so it can invest £1.4m in geographic expansion and winning new customers, £600,000 in inventory for its Neptune product, £500,000 in automating some of its processes and a further £550,000 in creating a working capital buffer.

The company has confirmed that trading has stayed in line with expectations, despite the ongoing challenges facing car manufacturers.

In June it had highlighted a sales slowdown caused by destocking it linked to Brexit, while industry problems caused by reduced demand from China and uncertainty about diesel engine vehicles also had an impact.

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