Watchstone Group PLC Settlement with Slater & Gordon (UK) 1 Limited (4636Q)

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RNS Number : 4636Q

Watchstone Group PLC

21 October 2019

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (EU) NO. 596/2014 ("MAR")

Watchstone Group plc

("Watchstone" or the "Company" or the "Group")

Settlement with Slater & Gordon (UK) 1 Limited

Watchstone Group plc (LON:WTG) announces that it has agreed terms for the settlement of the claims made by Slater & Gordon (UK) 1 Limited ("S&G") in the High Court proceedings issued by S&G in June 2017 (the "Settlement").

Under the Settlement, which is made without admission of liability by either party, all of S&G's claims or potential claims for alleged breaches of warranty, deceit and fraudulent misrepresentation against Watchstone its present and former directors officers and agents relating to the historic sale of the Group's professional services division ("S&G Claims") in May 2015 have been unconditionally withdrawn. Watchstone has also agreed not to pursue its counterclaim against S&G (details of which were announced on 29 August 2019).

The Settlement provides for GBP11m of the GBP50m currently held in escrow to be released to S&G with the balance of GBP39m and accrued interest being released to Watchstone. No application for costs will be made by either party.

Watchstone does not accept that there was a proper basis for the S&G Claims and S&G does not accept that there was a proper basis for the counterclaim.

Richard Rose, Non-executive Chairman of Watchstone said: "We are pleased with the resolution of this matter. Whilst Watchstone remains firmly of the view that the legal action commenced by the other side was without merit, the board believes that a settlement at this level is in shareholders' interests as it brings certainty. It also releases a significant cash sum that has been locked in escrow and unavailable to us for some considerable time. The decision was made with consideration of the costs of pursuing the Company's defence and counterclaim at trial and to the inherent uncertainty of the outcome of any legal process."

The release of this announcement has been authorised by Stefan Borson, Group Chief Executive Officer and Company Secretary of the Company.

For further information:

 
 Watchstone Group plc                                  Tel: [phone] 
  Stefan Borson, Group Chief Executive Officer 
  Alex Nekrassov [e-mail] 
 WH Ireland Limited, Nominated Adviser and broker          Tel: [phone] 
  Chris Hardie                                                      1666 
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October 21, 2019 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)