Directors Dealing and Issue of Equity
05 April 2007
STM Group Plc (AIM:STM), the cross border financial services provider, today announces that 15,000 new ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each in the Company (“Ordinary Shares”) have been issued to Mr Bernard Gallagher, the Company’s Non-Executive Chairman, in payment of his Chairman’s fees for the quarter commencing on 1 April 2007. The number of new Ordinary Shares issued is based upon share price of 50 pence per Ordinary Share.
Pursuant to Mr Gallagher’s service contract with the Company, he has elected to receive his quarterly directors’ fee in Ordinary Shares rather than cash. Accordingly, the Company expects to issue new Ordinary Shares to Mr Gallagher at or around the beginning of each of the quarters commencing on April 2007. The number of new Ordinary Shares to be issued to Mr Gallagher in subsequent quarters will be calculated based upon the average mid-market price per Ordinary Share in the five trading days ending on the day prior to the relevant quarter end date.
Following this issue, the total number of Ordinary Shares in issue is 35,215,000 and Mr Gallagher’s total shareholding in the Company will be 237,222 Ordinary Shares, representing 0.67 per cent. of the issued share capital of the Company. 222,222 of these shares are held by Fidecs Nominees Limited.
Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM.
For further information, please contact:
| STM Group Plc | |
| Tim Revill, Chief Executive | Tel: 00 350 51610 |
| Matt Wood, Non-executive director | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7752 0215 |
| Daniel Stewart & Co. Plc | |
| Lindsay Mair / Tessa Smith | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7776 6550 |
Media enquiries:
| Abchurch | |
| Henry Harrison-Topham / Charlie Jack | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7398 7706 |
| henry.ht@abchurch-group.com | www.abchurch-group.com |
Notes to editors
STM was formed in 2007 specifically to become a leading financial services group operating in the Corporate and Trustee Service Provider (CTSP) sector. The Company listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange on 28 March 2007. The traditional business of CTSPs is to administer and manage personal, family and commercial assets and income streams in tax efficient offshore jurisdictions. The Company’s aim is to grow through acquiring and consolidating high quality existing CTSPs which offer complementary products and services and that operate in complementary tax efficient jurisdictions to those provided by STM’s first acquisition, the Gibraltar based CTSP, Fidecs Group Limited (“Fidecs”). Fidecs was acquired by STM upon its Admission to AIM.
Fidecs is the second largest financial services firm in Gibraltar and employs 80 people. It specialises in financial planning for both High Net Worth individuals (“HNWI”) moving to work, living or retiring overseas or making cross-border investments, and for entrepreneurial, predominantly, owner-managed businesses, expanding into or re-locating to other, frequently lower tax, jurisdictions. It also includes an insurance management division, specialising in providing set up and management services to newly formed insurance companies operating out of Gibraltar. In the year ended 31 December 2006, Fidecs reported turnover of £5 million with post tax profit of £1.7 million.
The CTSP market is fragmented in nature, comprising a small number of very large international financial services groups and a large number of relatively small trust and company management businesses regulated by, and operating out of, single offshore jurisdictions. The HNWI market, a key market for CTSPs, has continued to expand strongly, due to buoyant stock markets, rising house prices and global economic growth. Leading surveys estimated that aggregate global high net worth wealth, would grow to ₤40 trillion by 2008, an increase of some 40 per cent. over 2004.