WANdisco applies to resume share trading following $30m equity fundraise
WANdisco has successfully completed a $30m (£24m) equity fundraising and applied for the suspension of trading in its shares on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM sub-market to be lifted.
Trading in the Sheffield firm’s shares have been suspended since 9 March. The company is being investigated after millions of pounds worth of false purchase orders were made by one of its senior sales employees.
It said it expected trading to resume on Friday, 7 July. It plans to release its FY22 annual report this week. A preliminary report on unaudited results released last week indicated an EBITDA loss of $30.3m (£24m), when interim chief executive Stephen Kelly described it as a “wasted year”.
“Having got off to a bad start, FY23 will be different. I am determined that it will serve as a real transition year towards a sustainable, growth-focused future for our business,” he said. “We are building the platform for growth from FY24 and the classic ingredients for success are now in place. We have an attractive market and a good competitive position but need greater discipline and focus to capitalise on it. The early results of our turnaround plan show we can bring this focus to bear.”
The big data firm announced plans for the fundraising in May and won the backing of more than 97% of existing shareholders in June.
The fundraising saw 21.6m new shares offered at 50p to third party investors through Liberum Capital and Stifel Nicolaus Europe, acting as joint bookrunners, which raised $13.6m.
A further 26m new shares were offered through direct subscription to directors and managers, raising $16,.4m.
The new shares amount to 70.7% of WANdisco’s share capital.
In May, the firm confirmed it would be slashing its global headcount by about 30%.
