Northcoders, the Manchester-based independent provider of training programmes for software coding, is to raise approximately £2.1 million through a placing of almost 700,000 new ordinary shares at a price of 300 pence per share.
The Placing Price represents a discount of approximately 4.8 per cent to the closing price of 315 pence per Ordinary Share on November 18, 2022 – the latest practicable business day prior to the publication of the announcement.
Following Northcoders’ significant expansion since IPO in July 2021, with increasing consumer and corporate demand for the group’s technology training across the UK, the net proceeds of the placing will be used to further accelerate the company’s growth strategy by introducing four new technology training courses across cyber security, platform engineering, quality assurance and agile project & product management.
These new disciplines will sit alongside the company’s current offerings of software development and data engineering, resulting in the potential growth of technology bootcamp student numbers alongside a broader service offering for corporate clients engaging with the Northcoders Business Solutions division. The new courses are expected to be developed and launched over the course of 2023.
Investment of £0.5 million will also be made into NCore, the group’s core technical delivery platform, in order to further improve cost of sale efficiencies. This investment is expected to be capitalised and to qualify for R&D tax credits. The directors believe that the placing will help the company achieve this.
In the event of the placing being oversubscribed, David Llewellyn, a substantial shareholder, Chris Hill (CEO) and Amul Batra (COO) have each indicated that they would be prepared to sell some of their existing ordinary shares. In addition, certain option holders have indicated that they would be prepared to sell up to 50,000 new Ordinary Shares which would be issued pursuant to the exercise of share options.
CEO Hill said: “Northcoders has delivered significant financial and operational progress since our IPO and we continue to cement our reputation as one of the UK’s leading technology training providers. We are delighted with the positive response we have so far received, from both new and existing investors, for our plans to accelerate this growth.
“The digital skills gap and a shortage of Tech talent in the UK continues to grow, which only serves to increase demand for our services. We believe investment into new technical discipline areas, as well as development of Ncore, our core technical delivery platform, will support us in our mission to provide the UK with the technologists it needs while creating life-changing opportunities for individuals from all walks of life.”
WH Ireland and Peterhouse are acting as Joint Bookrunners in connection with the placing.
