Stobart announces that it has agreed in principle to acquire the remaining 33% interest in Propius Holdings Limited (“Propius”) from Aer Lingus for a cash consideration of $14.7m. The parties are currently negotiating contracts and the transaction is expected to complete during 2016. Following the acquisition of this stake, Stobart will own 100% of the share capital of Propius.

The aggregate consideration for the purchase along with associated transaction costs will be funded by a sale to an institutional investor of ordinary shares of 10p each in the capital of the Company, which are currently held in treasury (“Treasury Shares”). The Group has sold 10,081,778 Treasury Shares, representing 2.8 per cent. of the Company’s existing issued share capital, at 155 pence per share, a premium of 1.8 per cent. to the closing mid-market price of 152.25 pence on 17 November 2016, to raise £15.6 million before expenses. To the extent not applied as consideration for the remaining stake in Propius, proceeds will be used to fund a refinancing and for expenditure within Stobart’s aviation portfolio.

Propius recorded profits before tax of $7.5 million (adjusted profit of $2.0 million) for the year ended 31 December 2015 and had gross assets at that date of $154.6 million (adjusted gross assets of $151.8 million). The adjustments reflect the sale of two aircraft by Propius in 2015 which would have amounted to a Class 2 transaction for Propius under the Listing Rules.

The capital of the Company now consists of 354,328,831 ordinary shares of 10p each, no shares are held in treasury. Therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company is 354,328,831 which may be used by shareholders or other persons as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA’s Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.