30 November 2004
Sigma Technology Group PLC
MicroEmissive Displays Group Plc successful £15.7M million placing and admission to AIM
Sigma Technology Group plc (AIM: SGM), an investment management and advisory group that invests principally in private equity in the technology sector, is pleased to announce that MicroEmissive Displays Group plc (’MED’ or ‘the Company ‘), a designer and manufacturer of low power micro-displays using light emitting polymers for portable consumer electronics products, has today been admitted to trading on AIM.
The Company has raised £15.7 million (before expenses) through a successful placing with institutions and existing investors, at a placing price of 150p per ordinary share. MED’s capitalisation on admission is approximately £25.7 million. The press release issued today by MED follows below.
Sigma Technology Venture Fund (’STVF’), managed by Sigma Technology Management Ltd, originally invested £1 million in the Company in May 2004. Further funds were invested at float, taking STVF’s holding in MED to 6.83%.
For more information please contact:
Sigma Technology Group plc
Neil Crabb, Joint Managing Director
www.sigmatech.co.uk
020 7653 3200
30 November 2004
Embargoed for release at 0800
MicroEmissive Displays Group plc
FIRST DAY OF DEALINGS ON AIM
MicroEmissive Displays Group plc (’MED’ or ‘the Company’), a designer and manufacturer of low power microdisplays using light emitting polymers for portable consumer electronics products, announces that the Company’s shares have today been admitted to trading on the AIM (a share dealing market of the London Stock Exchange).
• The Company raised £15.7 million (before expenses) in a placing (the ‘Placing’), by Bell Lawrie White (a division of Brewin Dolphin Securities Ltd), of 9,766,766 new ordinary shares at a price of 150 pence per share (the ‘Placing Price’) and the issue of an additional 695,992 new ordinary shares pursuant to the conversion of a loan
• On Admission, the Company will have 17,131,574 million ordinary shares in issue (7,425,817 Ordinary Shares admitted on 30 November 2004; 9,705,758 Ordinary Shares to be admitted on 1 December 2004) and a market capitalisation, at the Placing Price, of approximately £25.7 million
• The Company’s trading symbol is ‘MED’
• Bell Lawrie White is the Company’s nominated adviser and broker
Commenting on the successful fundraising, Bill Campbell, Chief Executive of MED said: ‘The growth prospects in the low power microdisplays market look to be gaining some momentum at the moment so the timing of our IPO is particularly fitting.
‘There’s a great opportunity for MED to make the most of this growth. These funds will give us the financial strength and flexibility to grow organically, by accelerating the adoption of our products in the fast growing consumer electronics industry.’
Enquiries:
MicroEmmissive Displays Group plc
Bill Campbell, CEO
Alan Bennie, CFO
0131 650 7764
Bell Lawrie White
David Cunningham
0141 314 8105
Corfin Communications
Harry Chathli, Neil Thapar
020 7645 2990
Notes To Editor
Business Highlights:
• Company develops miniature screens based on light emitting polymers (LEP) for use in consumer electronic products such as digital still cameras, digital video cameras and personal viewers for mobile devices
• MED believes it is the first company to combine standard silicon chips in a manufacturing process for LEP-based microdisplays
• Group has its own portfolio of 14 patent applications covering aspects of its product technology and manufacturing processes with access to further patent families from Cambridge Display Technologies Ltd
• Key characteristics of MED’s screens are image quality and low power consumption, which in the directors’ view, typically uses at least 70 percent less power than commonly used LCD microdisplay modules
• The lower power consumption of MED’s screens (i) assist in extending the battery life of the end products and/or (ii) enables feature innovations in new products, such as reduced size or increased functionality which are of particular importance in the markets which the Group is targeting
• Key benefit of the modules is that their image quality and fast switching speed support the increasing demand for video content in digital cameras
• Its products eliminate certain bill of material cost burdens for customers by virtue of the fact that MED’s microdisplays (i) comprise fewer component parts than typical LCD microdisplay modules, (ii) use simple lensing and (iii) reduce chip count by combining the drive electronics within MED’s display chip thereby negating the need for separate chips to control the unit
• MED’s microdisplays can be used both for ‘arms-length’ viewing and as a ‘near-to-eye’ viewfinder, enhancing the sales potential of MED’s products
• The Group has received a provisional purchase order from a Japanese high growth electronics company
Market opportunity:
• In the market for consumer electronic portable devices, the design direction is towards smaller, lighter weight devices with increased functionality
• The target applications for MED’s microdisplay module are as (i) an electronic viewfinder as found in camcorders and an increasing proportion of digital still cameras (DSC) and digital video cameras (DVC) and/or (ii) as a small flat panel microdisplay module in these products
• The market for DSCs alone is expected to increase from 47 million units in 2003 to 94 million units by 2007, according to Techno Systems Research
• The Group’s initial target markets for microdisplay modules are the Japanese, Taiwanese and South Korean DSC and DVC markets
• Microdisplays are also being considered for use in emerging markets for personal viewers in products such as DVD players, hand-held gaming peripherals, and mobile information devices such as PDAs and mobile phones
Dr. Ian Underwood, co-founder of MicroEmissive Displays is named as 