A company looking to produce a fertiliser called potash listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange today after raising around £6m in a significantly oversubscribed placing.
Emmerson Plc, which has attracted high-net worth investors including billionaire Scot and Stagecoach founder Ann Gloag, said it had acquired a potash project in Morocco which was expected to be high margin, and could be in production as soon as 2022.
The firm will focus on fast-tracking the project in Khemisset, in the north of the country, to create a high margin, low capital expenditure operation.
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Potash is used to increase crop yields and improve the quality of plants, which is vitally important as food reserves are at a 50-year low while global populations continue to grow.
The company's market capitalisation on listing will be £18.8m, with Optiva Securities acting as Emmerson's corporate broker and Beaumont Cornish as its financial adviser.
Hayden Locke, Emmerson chief executive, said:
Now is the perfect time to be developing what we believe is an outstanding potash project. Food reserves are at a 50-year low and as the world's population continues to rapidly grow, potash fertiliser becomes increasingly critical to increase crop yields and improve the quality of plants.
With £6m raised in an oversubscribed placing supported by several prominent investors in the growth company arena, we have the funds in place to deliver our near-term value drivers. As a result, we anticipate being able to hit the ground running with high impact newsflow post-listing as we move towards the delivery of a Scoping Study by the end of quarter one 2019.
