eg solutions prepares to welcome institutional investor as CEO sells part of her stake
STAFFORDSHIRE back-office optimisation software supplier eg solutions looks set to welcome a major shareholder following a move by founder and acting CEO Elizabeth Gooch to sell off part of her stake in the business.
In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, the Dunston-based firm said Ms Gooch had sold 1,210,000 ordinary shares in the company at a price of 52p each.
The statement said the sale had taken place “in order to broaden the shareholder base and introduce a prominent new institutional shareholder”.
Of the stake disposed by Ms Gooch, 60,000 of the shares were purchased by Mark Brady, a non-executive director of eg solutions, and 200,000 by Rodney Baker-Bates, the former chairman of the company who stepped down last year.
Additionally, Paul Hoban, the firm’s Chief Financial Officer, has exercised options on 70,000 shares at a price of 36.5p each to be settled by a transfer from the company’s employee benefit trust.
Following the dealings, Ms Gooch remains the firm’s largest shareholder with a 32.2% stake. Chairman Duncan McIntyre at a 2.4% stake, Paul Hoban 0.4%, Mark Brady 0.4% and non-executive director John Broughton also 0.4%.
Non-executive director Spencer Malder does not hold any personal shares but he is chief technology officer of Aspect Software, eg’s US reselling partner. Aspect holds 1,712,392 ordinary shares in eg, representing a 10.4% stake of the business.
The EBT subsequently holds 1,514,285 ordinary shares and Baker-Bates 1,005,000 ordinary shares, representing 9.2% and 6.1% of the company’s issued share capital respectively.
The company has been pursuing additional investment for some time to allow it to develop its software offering and attract new customers in new markets.
Last month it cheered investors by announcing the company expected to deliver a much improved performance than of late.
It said it had recently secured a number of contracts from both new and existing customers and had continued to build a strong pipeline for the remainder of the year and next.
Consequently, its financial performance for the full year to January 31, 2015 is likely to be ahead of the board’s expectations.
Further details are expected when the company announces its interim results in September.
