ISG PLC Response to Cathexis (0849N)

TIDMISG

RNS Number : 0849N

ISG PLC

27 January 2016

27 January 2016

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN, INTO, OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF THAT JURISDICTION

ISG plc ("ISG" or the "Company")

Continued rejection of the offer from Cathexis UK Holdings Limited ("Cathexis") of 143p per share (the "Offer") and Trading Update

The Board of ISG notes the announcement made by Cathexis on 26 January 2016 that the Offer has been extended to 1.00pm (London time) on 1 February 2016. The Board also notes once again the very low level of acceptances to the Offer (843,422 shares equating to 1.7% of the Company's current issued share capital), a clear indication that Shareholders agree with the Board in its continued rejection of the Offer.

As a consequence of being in an offer period, the Board has advanced its initial internal review of the interim results and reports the following:

   --      The interim results for the Group will be published on 8 March 2016 

-- Overall Group trading results for the financial year ending 30 June 2016 are expected to be in line with the Board's expectations following the pre-AGM statement on 1 December 2015

-- Trading in UK Fit Out and Engineering Services continues to outperform and will exceed the Board's expectations, however the costs to close out certain remaining contracts in UK Construction that were entered into during the challenging tendering market conditions between 2011 and 2013 are expected to rise by an offsetting amount

-- Progress on the turnaround plan for UK Construction continues. All but three of the c.360 contracts entered into during the period 2011-2013 are now complete on site

-- The costs to date of defending the Offer (which are non-underlying costs) will be provided for at the half year

-- The overall results for the current financial year will have a greater second half weighting

-- The order book as at 31 December 2015 was GBP1.1bn, in line with the level disclosed on 1 December 2015

   --      The Board reaffirms its intention to pay an interim dividend 

ALL ISG SHAREHOLDERS ARE ADVISED TO CONTINUE TO TAKE NO ACTION WHATSOEVER AND TO IGNORE THE OFFER.

Enquiries:

ISG plc

 
David Lawther, Chief Executive Officer     020 7392 5250 
Jonathan Houlton, Group Finance Director 
 

Numis

 
Michael Meade                     020 7260 1000 
Stuart Ord 
Ben Stoop 
 
  Instinctif 
Matthew Smallwood, Helen Tarbet   020 7457 2020 
 

Disclaimer

Numis Securities Limited, which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority, is acting exclusively for ISG and no one else in connection with the Offer and the contents of this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than ISG for providing the protections afforded to its clients nor for providing advice in connection with the Offer or any matter referred to herein.

Publication on Website

A copy of this announcement will be available on the Company's website (www.isgplc.com) by no later than 12 noon (London time) on 28 January 2016. The content of the website referred to in this announcement is not incorporated into and does not form part of this announcement.

Responsibility statement

The Directors of ISG accept responsibility for the information contained in this announcement. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the Directors, who have taken all reasonable care to ensure such is the case, the information contained in this announcement is in accordance with the facts and does not omit anything likely to affect the import of such information.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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January 27, 2016 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)