Recent Developments
13 January 2004 - 9:29PM
UK Regulatory
RNS Number:1557U
Brainspark PLC
13 January 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 13 January 2004
BRAINSPARK PLC ("Brainspark" or the "Company)
Brainspark plc ("Brainspark" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the
following recent developments:
INVESTEE COMPANIES
(A) On 4 December 2003, according to the Company's strategy to retain only
significant minority participations, Brainspark sold its stake (4.16%) in Propex
(a company providing an internet exchange for commercial property) for
#77,287.25 based upon a company valuation of two times revenue.
(B) On 4 December 2003, the Company increased its percentage ownership in
Fortune Cookie (a company which offers strategic thinking, design and build
services in web and wireless technologies) from 25% to 29.44% by capitalising
#48,176.39. This transaction puts Fortune Cookie in a better financial position
to enter into discussions for potential mergers to enlarge its market share and
to participate in a large innovation project overseas.
(C) From November 2003 to January 2004, Brainspark made a further investment in
Geosim Systems Limited (www.GeosimCities.com) (51.75% owned by Brainspark) of
US$50,000. GeoSim is an Israeli company, whose main business purpose is the
creation of 3D models of cities and other areas of special interest. GeoSim's
management believes its state-of-the-art technological tools allow cost and time
saving in data collection and 3D modeling process. GeoSim realised revenues in
2003 of about US$400,000 (#240,000) mostly in the second half of the year and is
expecting to make further progress in 2004, particularly in the USA where the
main focus will be on developing Homeland Security applications and in Italy
where the Company is in discussions with local authorities in a number of
historic cities.
(D) The Company's interest in Ludonet has reduced from 35% to 14.875% as a
result of Ludonet receiving Euro 230,000 (# 162,000) from investors including
PlugIt, an Italian Telecom operator, which now holds majority control of
Ludonet.
FUNDING
(A) On 12 December 2003 Brainspark repaid #100,000 of the #200,000 loan granted
by Cross Atlantic, a major shareholder of the Company.
(B) On 29 December 2003, the Company agreed to issue up to #500,000 of
convertible loan notes (the "Notes"). Gabbrielli & Associati S.p.A., an Italian
financial advisor in Milan, established by former top Italian bank and fund
managers, will use reasonable endeavours to provide introduction to potential
investors.
An initial allotment of #50,000 Notes has already been issued.
The Notes bear interest at 5 per cent per annum. The Notes may be redeemed at
par value at any time by the Company. Unless redeemed earlier, the Notes mature
on 1 September 2004 when principal and interest will be repaid in full. If
redeemed early, the holders of the Notes will be granted warrants exercisable at
any time prior to 1 September 2006 into ordinary shares of 1p each in the share
capital of Brainspark ("Shares") at an issue price of 1p per Share. If the Notes
are not redeemed on the due date, the holders are entitled to convert the Notes
either (i) into Shares of the Company at a conversion price of 1p per Share, or
(ii) into some of Brainspark's 16.21% holding in ACS (Advanced Computer Systems
S.p.A., a private Italian company which develops software and advanced
technology solutions in the field of Earth Observation, Large Digital Archives
and Virtual Reality) at a valuation to be established by an independent mutually
agreed expert.
The proceeds will be used for general working capital purposes.
APPOINTMENT TO INVESTMENT COMMITTEE
The Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor John Campbell to
its Investment Committee.
Professor John Campbell (Professor of Computer Science at University College
London) is a specialist in artificial intelligence, with particular interests in
systems of autonomous agents, multilingual natural-language processing, and the
use of physical and biological processes for computation. He has 20 years of
experience in organising and managing European Union research and development
projects and programmes in many aspects of information technology.
For further information:
Alberto Agosta, Brainspark plc 020 7843 9838
Roland Cornish, Beaumont Cornish Limited 020 7628 3396
Nominated Advisers
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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