Sandal plc
First day of trading
The Directors of Sandal plc ("the Company") are pleased to announce that all the Company's issued ordinary shares have this morning been admitted to trading on the ISDX Growth Market ("ISDX").
The Company's current operations are divided into two distinct divisions, PowerConnections, a long established wholesaler and retailer of a successful range of converter plugs and power cables; and Energenie which sells a newer product range that includes energy saving products, portable charging devices and other products aimed at the Home Automation marketplace.
| No. of shares admitted | 16,384,422 ordinary shares of 2p each |
| Anticipated admission price | 19p |
| Anticipated Market Cap | £ 3,113,040 |
| ISIN Reference | GB00BVV 23242 |
| Incorporation Details: | Sandal plc registered in England (company number 3206855) |
Background to the Company
Sandal plc commenced business in December 1996 when the founder and principal shareholder, Alan Tadd, undertook a leveraged buy-out of the PowerConnections business of Greenbrook Electrical plc whose parent, Greenbrook Industries Limited, remains a significant long term and supportive shareholder of the business.
Sandal's current operations are divided into two distinct product groups, PowerConnections, a long established wholesaler and retailer of a successful range of converter plugs and power cables, and Energenie, which sells a newer product range that includes energy saving products, portable charging devices and other products aimed at the Home Automation marketplace. Alan Tadd believes that the recently developed Energenie brand has the potential to become a world leader in the "Internet of Things" market place and is seeking to secure early mover advantages and the rapid growth of the business that this could bring.
PowerConnections
The PowerConnections division grew and developed its extensive range of convertor plugs and power cables from a single product at the time of the buy-out, to the range that now covers markets in the UK, USA, Europe, Switzerland, South Africa and Australia. Many of these products are covered by international patent and trademark protections. The business is profitable and cash generative and in recent years this cash has been used to develop the Energenie brand and product range. The Company's products are manufactured in the Far East from the Company's own tooling and are manufactured and tested to appropriate global standards.
The strategy for the PowerConnections brand is to continue to provide its extensive range of products to customers directly in the UK and internationally through a network of distributors. Unless there are changes either in countries' plug systems or legislative changes it is not anticipated that there will be further significant investment in product development. New customers, products and marketing channels are always being sought for the product range but the marketing investment required is low.
Energenie
The Energenie brand and division was created approximately five years ago. The initial product development focus was on energy saving power products which are still a core part of the product range. The brand has UK retail store listings with Homebase, Maplin, Toolstation and ASDA, a significant listing with Amazon and has also been shown on QVC. As with PowerConnections, products have been developed by, and tooling is owned by, Sandal. Energenie has also taken manufacturers products and rebranded them to provide a greater breadth of range.
After the initial energy saving power products were put on sale the Company developed a range of portable charging devices that can recharge handheld devices including cameras, mobile phones, tablets and laptops the range extending from 2500mAh to 20000mAh. The Company has an Apple development licence and with this developed charging sleeves for the iPhone 3 and the iPhone 4. The Company has also launched a universal portable charger for non-Apple phones which all use the micro USB input charging port. In 2014 the Company launched this Universal Charger with a patented design and also produced a portable charger for iPhone 5 and iPhone 6 which uses the same technology.
Supply Chain
All products are manufactured in the Far East from the Company's own tooling and are manufactured and tested to appropriate global standards. The Company carries business interruption insurance and has the ability to relocate manufacturing to other Far Eastern countries in the event of a severe disruption to its supply chain.
New Product Development
The Company has a defined roadmap of potential new products for the Home Automation sector which is continually being refined. This roadmap is reviewed and refined following discussions with consumers and retail partners as well as internally generated ideas. The aim is to make available the most comprehensive range of Home Automation/Internet of Things products that provide monitoring and control capability for household electrical appliances, lighting and heating, security, personal care and environmental care.
Energenie and the Home Automation marketplace
The Energenie brand is considered by the Directors to be perfectly positioned to take forward the Company's push into the rapidly growing Home Automation/Internet of Things sector and to act as the engine for growth of Sandal. The new Home Automation MiHome Range to be launched Q1 2015 will be a large part of this growth. The Company has invested in excess of £250,000 in the last 30 months to create what is felt by the Directors to be a market leading product offering for resellers and consumers.
Future Prospects of the Company
The Company's strategy is simple; it intends to reinvest currently available cash flows (and any additional capital raised) to further develop and market leading world class Home Automation Products for sale worldwide. The future growth prospects of the Company will be dependent on the success of this new product group although its core business will not be impacted by these developments.
DIRECTORS
Alan Tadd - Chief Executive (aged 59)
Alan Tadd originally trained as a Chartered Accountant with what is now Giess Wallis Crisp in Harlow. In 1980 he left the profession for industry and joined Greenbrook Electrical plc ("Greenbrook") which was going through a reorganisation. Whilst there he streamlined the accounting function, integrated the IBM system 34 computer and created efficiency savings by reducing the accounting staff from 12 to 5.
In October 1985 he became Finance Director of Greenbrook. Where he was initially responsible for financial strategy before expanding his role to include responsibility for procurement and all legal and patent matters. The Company through its inventions of Portable RCD's grew rapidly creating the PowerBreaker, KingShield and Safetysure brands which were aimed at both the retail and electrical wholesale markets. The Company successfully acquired and integrated two businesses thus increasing the overall value of the business. The business continued to develop and Alan was at the centre of the change process which eventually entailed the closure of the UK manufacturing facility and moving it to the Far East. At this stage he assumed responsibility for the logistical, warehousing and fulfilment functions.
In September 1993 Alan became Managing Director of PowerBreaker plc and continued to grow and develop the focus of the business which included working with Non-Executive Directors. In December 1996 Alan resigned from Greenbrook when the MBO of the PowerConnections division into Sandal plc had been completed.
Since completing the MBO the PowerConnections' business Alan has further developed the business and has concentrated on developing dependable manufacturing capacity in China as well as expanding the distribution network in the UK and internationally.
Oliver Tadd - Commercial Director (aged 28)
Oliver has been employed at Sandal plc since May 2010, starting as Commercial Manager and becoming Commercial Director in October 2013. He has a degree in Economics from Birmingham University and a Masters in International Business and Marketing from The European Business School. He has also been selected for a UKTi Scholarship at Kellogg's University Chicago for a short intense course on marketing and export strategy in the U.S.A.
In his current role Oliver has concentrated on developing his project management skills, obtaining his Prince 2 qualification in Project Management in 2011. He has, managed a number of projects for Sandal ranging from an overhaul of the back-end computer system to the project management of the development of an extension to the range of Energenie's products. The development of these patented mobile device chargers, which were added to the portfolio in 2013 and 2014 involved obtaining an Apple MFI license for the iPhone 3 and 4 charger and the development of the iPhone 5 and 6 charger, as well as a Universal Charger for all non- Apple smart phones. Most recently Oliver has led the design and development of the Home Automation range which Energenie will be launching in Q1 of 2015.
Oliver's responsibilities include managing the marketing and digital assets of Sandal plc. Recently he has managed the improvement of the PowerConnections website which has had to be integrated in to the back office system to create an EDI customer ordering platform which will reduce manual order inputting time.
Tom Rodger MBA Dip IoD - Independent Director (aged 60)
Tom has over 30 years' experience working with a diverse portfolio of companies as a member of the board or in an advisory capacity. Assignments have includes high growth companies, turnarounds, acquisitions and company sales.
Prior to starting his first business in 1987 Tom trained as an engineer working with large public companies including Motherwell Bridge Engineering, James Howden and GEC. During this time Tom's responsibilities were mainly focused in areas of sales and contract management. Contracts were multi-disciplinary and for clients including Lockheed in the US and Kvaerner in Norway. Contract sizes were up to £10 million and for complex, multi-disciplinary projects including missile handling systems and a novel "bosun's chair" type emergency evacuation systems for oil rigs.
In 1987 Tom started his first business running it until its successful sale in 1995. Between 1995 and 2008 Tom worked with different investors in the acquisition, turnaround and development of a number of companies.
In 2002 Tom completed a Master of Business Administration and in 2011 a diploma in company direction from the Institute of Directors. Tom is experienced at working with company boards and has a high awareness of strategic planning and implementation, corporate governance, change management, finance, operations, marketing and HR.
Currently Tom is working with a number of high growth companies. Tom brings to Sandal plc a wealth of experience across several business sectors.
Reasons for Admission
The Directors believe that admission will offer the following benefits to the Company:
- access to funding - the Company should be able to access development and working capital at later dates more effectively than if it were an unquoted company;
- increased company profile - the Directors believe that the status of the Company of being a company whose shares are traded publicly should enhance the credibility of the Company;
- ability to attract and retain staff - the Company believes that by being publicly traded the Company's ability to attract, motivate and retain staff by means of the grant of share options is enhanced.
Further Background
| Brand names | trades principally under the brands "PowerConnections" and "Energenie"; |
| Sector Classification | Electronic and Electrical Equipment |
| Website | www.sandal-plc.co.uk |
| Shares in public hands | 10.12% |
A copy of the Admission Document is available from www.sandal-plc.co.uk and from the offices of City & Merchant.
Substantial Shareholdings at Admission:
| Name | Number of Ordinary Shares on Admission | % of Ordinary Shares on Admission |
| Alan Tadd | 9,116,700 | 56.86% |
| Greenbrook Industries Limited | 3,883,300 | 23.55% |
| Oliver Tadd | 1,550,000 | 9.46% |
| City & Merchant Limited* | 655,377 | 4.00% |
*this figure includes holdings of the directors of City & Merchant and persons connected to them
City & Merchant currently holds 420,311 warrants to subscribe for Ordinary Shares at 19p and is entitled to additional warrants so as to maintain the number of warrants at 2.5% of the issued share capital of the Company.
The directors of the issuer accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement
For further information please contact:
| SANDAL PLC | |
| Alan Tadd | 01279 422022 |
| Unit 5 Harold Close | |
| The Pinnacles | |
| Harlow, Essex | |
| CM9 5TH | |
| CITY & MERCHANT LIMITED | |
| David Papworth | 0207 101 7676 |
| Helen Brown | info@cityandmerchant.co.uk |
| Salisbury House | |
| 29 Finsbury Circus | |
| London | |
| EC2M 5QQ |
Note to Editors:
Sandal plc commenced business in 1996 and designs, develops and manufactures consumer electronics products. Its business is divided into two distinct product groups, PowerConnections, a long established wholesaler and reseller of a successful and patented range of converter plugs and power cables, and Energenie, which sells a newer product range that includes energy saving products, portable charging devices and the new MiHome range of products aimed at the "Home Automation" and "Internet of Things" marketplace.
PowerConnections is a supplier to customers, in the UK and abroad, of single-phase electrical connection products. The products are manufactured in three partner factories in the Far East and have distributors worldwide for its range of patented converter plugs. The Company's product portfolio consists of International Power Leads, Rewireable Plugs, Converters and Connectors. These products are stocked in the Far East, Australia and UK. The business is profitable and cash generative and the company holds patents and trademark protections over many of these products.
Energenie offers Eco and electrical, travel and energy saving products for homes and offices, reducing energy usage and is now targetting the Home Automation sector. It has store listings for its current products with several large retailers including Homebase, Maplin, Amazon, Toolstation and ASDA. The new range of MiHome home automation products enables the remote operation of everyday household appliances and energy monitoring more accessible to consumers owing to better affordability and simplicity of control through smartphone and tablet connectivity.