TIDMVRE
RNS Number : 2900H
VR Education Holdings PLC
12 March 2018
VR Education Holdings plc / AIM: VRE; ESM: 6VR/ Sector:
Technology
12 March 2018
VR Education Holdings plc ('VR Education' or the 'Group')
First Day of Dealings on AIM and ESM
VR Education Holdings plc, a leading virtual reality ('VR')
technology company focused on the education space, is pleased to
announce that today, its ordinary shares have, at 08.00 hours,
commenced trading on AIM under the ticker VRE and on the ESM of the
Irish Stock Exchange under the ticker 6VR ('Admission'). As part of
the Admission process, the Company has raised GBP6 million before
expenses, through an oversubscribed placing of 60,000,000 new
ordinary shares at a placing price of 10p each, implying a market
capitalisation of circa GBP19.3 million on Admission.
Shard Capital Partners LLP is Joint Broker to the Group, Cairn
Financial Advisers LLP is acting as Nominated Adviser, while Davy
is Joint Broker and acting as ESM Adviser.
Overview
-- VR software and technology group focused on transforming the
delivery and effectiveness of digital education and corporate
training
-- GBP6 million (gross of expenses) raised to further develop
virtual social learning and presentation platform, ENGAGE, advance
its marketing strategy and produce new showcase VR content
-- ENGAGE, to be rolled out during 2018, allows educators and
trainers to hold lessons, meetings and presentations in a safe,
virtual, multi-user environment as well as create pre-recorded or
live content
-- Current early revenues from showcase VR experiences including
award-winning Apollo 11 VR and Titanic VR
-- Blue-chip partners include Oxford University, the Royal
College of Surgeons in Ireland and the BBC
-- Strong market dynamics with rapidly increasing use of VR as
well as Augmented and Mixed Reality
-- Highly experienced and successful management team
David Whelan, CEO, said, "The VR/AR market is growing at a fast
rate; as hardware becomes more affordable, this growth will
undoubtedly gain further traction and we are at the forefront of
this.
"As a VR software and technology group operating in the niche
education sector, we provide students, educators and corporate
trainers with a real alternative to attending brick and mortar
institutes; benefits include cost-savings and course completion
rates amongst others. Having raised GBP6 million and with the
support of our new shareholders, our focus is now on strengthening
our network of educational institutions and corporations, which
already includes the likes of Oxford University and the BBC, and
building our sales team to roll out and position ENGAGE as the
go-to platform of choice for digital education and simulated
training globally. Furthermore, we aim to strengthen our portfolio
of compelling content, replicating the success of our revenue
generating, award-winning experiences including Apollo 11 VR and
Titanic VR, whilst also helping others to create content for their
own lessons.
"Given the anticipated high volume of activity and steady stream
of news ahead, I am confident that we will deliver value to
shareholders."
Richard Cooper, Non-Executive Chairman, said, "The board is
delighted that investors have been so supportive of our IPO and the
presentations made by the management team in the last few weeks. We
look forward to having a regular dialogue with these shareholders
over the coming years as the business seeks to rapidly develop its
VR education offering."
-S-
The full Admission document and further information can be found
on the Group's website: www.vreducationholdings.com.
Sandra Whelan VR Education T: +353 (0)87 665
Chief Operating Holdings plc 6708
Officer E: info@vreducationholdings.com
---------------------- ------------------- -----------------------------------
Damon Heath / Shard Capital T: +44 (0)20 7186
Erik Woolgar Partners LLP 9952
Joint Broker E: damon.Heath@shardcapital.com
E: erik.woolgar@shardcapital.com
---------------------- ------------------- -----------------------------------
Fergal Meegan/Ronan Davy T: +353 1 679 6363
Veale/Barry Murphy Joint Broker E: fergal.meegan@davy.ie
& ESM Adviser E: ronan.veale@davy.ie
E: barry.murphy2@davy.ie
---------------------- ------------------- -----------------------------------
James Caithie/Liam Cairn Financial T: +44 (0) 7213 0880
Murray/Richard Advisers LLP
Nash Nominated Adviser
---------------------- ------------------- -----------------------------------
Isabel de Salis St Brides Partners T: +44 (0)20 7236
/ Priit Piip Ltd 1177
UK Financial E: isabel@stbridespartners.co.uk
PR E: priit@stbridespartners.co.uk
---------------------- ------------------- -----------------------------------
Peter O'Brien Wilson Hartnell T: +353 1 669 0030
Frans Van Cauwelaert Irish Corporate E: peter.o'brien@ogilvy.com
PR E: frans.vancauwelaert@ogilvy.com
---------------------- ------------------- -----------------------------------
FURTHER INFORMATION
VR Education, together with its wholly owned subsidiary,
Immersive VR Education limited, is an early stage VR software and
technology group based in Waterford, Ireland, dedicated to
transforming the delivery methods of education and corporate
training by utilising VR technologies to deliver fully immersive
virtual learning experiences. The Group's core focus is the
development and commercialisation of its online virtual social
learning and presentation platform called ENGAGE, which provides a
platform for creating, sharing and delivering proprietary and
third-party VR content for educational and corporate training
purposes.
In addition to the ongoing development of the ENGAGE platform,
the Group has also built two downloadable showcase VR experiences,
being the award-winning Apollo 11 VR experience and an early access
version of the Group's Titanic VR experience.
DIRECTORS
Richard Quentin Mortimer Cooper, Chairman and Non-Executive
Director (aged 57)
Richard was appointed as Chairman and Non-Executive Director of
the Group on 1 November 2017. He also serves as a Non-executive of
Sportech plc. From December 2008 to February 2017, Richard was the
Group Finance Director of GVC Holdings plc, the multinational
online sports betting and gaming group. During his tenure at GVC
Holdings plc, the value of the company grew from GBP29m to GBP2.4bn
and became a constituent member of the FTSE 250 on 19 September
2016. He has experience of public markets including AIM, Standard
List and Premium List. He spent the early part of his career in the
financial markets where he was Finance Director at the principal UK
subsidiary of the Tullett and Tokyo Group (a forerunner of Tullett
Prebon plc) and Chief Financial Officer at Fidelity Brokerage. He
then undertook a number of restructuring roles, including working
as Finance Director at Patsystems Group plc, a financial software
company. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants
in England and Wales, having trained and qualified with Saffery
Champness in London.
David Patrick Whelan, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder
(aged 37)
David is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of the Group
and previously the editor-in-chief of Virtual Reality Reviewer and
a founding member of the Virtual Reality Awards. Prior to founding
Virtual Reality Reviewer with Sandra Whelan, David was the owner
and web developer of Whelan Web Design, where he offered web
development services to small and medium clients from 2008 to 2014;
David subsequently sold the business to a local competitor.
Sandra Margaret Whelan, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder
(aged 36)
Sandra is the Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of the
Group. From 2010 to 2015, Sandra was a Senior Operations Analyst at
eDrive Group where she was primarily responsible for logistical
planning of engineers for corporate clients in the logistics
industry. While at eDrive Group, Sandra co-founded and edited the
Virtual Reality Reviewer website together with David Whelan. Upon
leaving eDrive Group, Sandra began working for IVRE full time.
Sandra is the common law wife of David Whelan.
Séamus Patrick Larrissey, Chief Financial Officer (aged 32)
Séamus became the Chief Financial Officer of the Group on 21
August 2017. He previously served as a Senior Project &
Management Accountant at Telecommunications Software and Systems
Group ("TSSG") from 2013 to 2017. At TSSG he worked across projects
to support the commercialisation process by developing business and
financial models for new product/spinout launches. During this
period, he was also the Financial Controller at Fuseami Limited, a
start-up conference networking service company. Prior to joining
TSSG, Séamus was an Audit Assistant Manager at Ernst & Young
where he gained significant auditing and accounting experience
across a broad spectrum of industries for nearly seven years.
Séamus holds a Bachelor of Business Studies in Accountancy from
Waterford Institute of Technology and is part of the Institute of
Chartered Accountants.
Michael Joseph Boyce, Independent Non-Executive Director (aged
45)
Michael has extensive experience in the education space having
taken on various roles in the sector. Since June 2017, Michael has
been the Educational Sales Manager at Capita One Education where he
works with Local Education Authorities to support their strategic
objectives and data intelligence from their schools. He has also
worked for GL Education since April 2005 and currently acts as the
Business Development Manager of the Academy Chains South. Michael
has also worked as a Sales Executive for Serco Learnings from June
2003 to April 2005 and as a Sales Consultant for Viglen Ltd, a
supplier of IT, technology, hardware, software and technical
support to Education from September 2000 to June 2003.
Antony Christopher Hanway, Independent Non-Executive Director
(aged 50)
Anthony is an experienced Senior Executive having worked on
boards in five European countries. He has been the CEO of Virgin
Media and Chairman of TV3 since 2015 where he is responsible for
all VM Cable and Broadcasting assets. Prior to Virgin Media other
roles include working as Chief Commercial Officer for Telefonica O2
Germany plc from 2013 to 2015, and as CEO of O2 Ireland from
2011-2014. He has held Director roles at Telefonica technology
start-up accelerator Wayra Academy from 2013-2015, Spanish etravel
company Rumbo from 2010-2012 and Tesco Mobile Ireland from
2013-2015. Anthony also served as the Chairman of the Irish Telecom
and Internet Federation from 2013-2014.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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