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Actual Experience plc (AIM: ACT), the analytics-as-a-service company, is pleased to announce the proposed fundraising of a minimum of £3 million (before expenses) (the "Placing") via an accelerated bookbuild (the "Bookbuild") with institutional investors, by way of a placing of new ordinary shares (the "Placing Shares") at a price of no less than 135 pence per Placing Share (the "Placing Price") to be determined following the completion of the Bookbuild.

FY18 and the start of FY19 have seen considerable progress in execution of the Company's business strategy, not only in the acceleration of momentum with the Company's Channel Partners and the strength of its pipeline of opportunities, but also in terms of the level of customer engagement and the increasing speed, efficiency and reducing cost of customer deployments.

At this pivotal stage of Actual's development, it is intended that the proceeds of the Placing will be used primarily to increase the Company's sales resources, augment development and support teams as needed, strengthen the Group's balance sheet to enhance credibility with prospective Channel Partners and to fund general working capital requirements.

The Placing is being managed by Nplus1 Singer Advisory LLP ("N+1 Singer") and Baden Hill (a trading name of Northland Capital Partners Limited) ("Baden Hill") (together, the "Joint Bookrunners"). The Placing Price and the final number of Placing Shares to be placed will be confirmed by the Joint Bookrunners at the close of the Bookbuild, and the result of the Placing will be announced as soon as practicable thereafter. The timing for the close of the Bookbuild will be at the absolute discretion of the Joint Bookrunners.

As part of the Placing, the Company is seeking to raise funds by the issue of the EIS Placing Shares to investors seeking the benefit of relief under the Enterprise Investment Scheme. The EIS Placing Shares will be unconditionally issued to the relevant Placees at EIS Admission (being one Business Day prior to the anticipated date of General Admission) so that those Placees investing as part of the EIS Placing shall potentially be able to benefit from tax advantages pursuant to the Enterprise Investment Scheme as governed by HMRC. No assurance has been obtained from HMRC that a subscription for Ordinary Shares is a "qualifying holding" under EIS legislation.

The Placing is now open with immediate effect.

Defined terms used in this Announcement are defined and explained at the end of this Announcement in the section headed "Definitions".

Dave Page, CEO of Actual Experience plc, commented:

"The success of our first two large scale deployments implemented in 2018 has given our respective Channel Partners the confidence to commit dedicated resources for the first time, which has led to a new pipeline of further opportunities. The first of this new pipeline converted into revenue as announced with our 'Land & Expand' announcements in May 2019. 

Along with this momentum, Vodafone announced the successful evaluation of our software to be built-in to hardware.  If we execute together successfully, this will provide the potential to deliver digital quality to all sites and all customers of Vodafone.  In addition, we are in active discussion with major new potential partners.

These additional funds will enable us to invest in additional sales resources alongside our existing partners to complement their increasing engagement, whilst making the most of the opportunity that our potential new partners and the built-in to hardware model presents."

This Announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014 ("MAR"). In addition, market soundings (as defined in MAR) were taken in respect of the Placing with the result that certain persons became aware of inside information (as defined in MAR), as permitted by MAR. This inside information is set out in this Announcement. Therefore, those persons that received inside information in a market sounding are no longer in possession of such inside information relating to the Company and its securities. The person responsible for arranging the release of this Announcement on behalf of the Company is Steve Bennetts, Chief Financial Officer, of the Company.

Enquiries:

Actual Experience plc	via Alma PR
Dave Page, Chief Executive Officer Steve Bennetts, Chief Financial Officer
N+1 Singer Advisory LLP	Tel: +44 (0)207 496 3000
Shaun Dobson / Lauren Kettle / Iqra Amin (Corporate Finance) Tom Salvesen (Corporate Broking)
Baden Hill	Tel: +44 (0)207 903 7004
Craig Fraser
Alma PR
Josh Royston Caroline Forde Helena Bogle	Tel: +44 (0)7780 901979 Tel: +44 (0)7779 664584 Tel: +44 (0)7580 216203

 

About Actual Experience

Actual Experience enables its partners to proactively optimise the end user experience for an entire digital business.  The Company's User Experience Management Analytics are human centric and digital supply chain aware, helping its partners and their customers transform inconsistent digital services into reliable, productive, high quality digital services. 

By proactively analysing a digital business in this way, Actual Experience provides actionable evidence to its partners and their customers, helping them make the right investment decisions to actively manage their users' experience, resulting in improved digital services, staff productivity, online brand reputation and ultimately success for their business.

Actual Experience is listed on the London Stock Exchange (AIM: ACT). Our corporate headquarters is in Bath, UK, and we also have offices in London. Actual Experience's unique and patented digital analytics-as-a-service is founded on ten years of cutting-edge research at Queen Mary University of London.

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