Investor relations Regulatory news Re: Suspension

3 April 12

Merchant House Group
Re: Suspension
RNS Number : 6990A
Merchant House Group PLC
03 April 2012

3 April 2012
Merchant House Group plc
("MHG" or the "Company")

Re: Suspension

Trading in MHG's shares was temporarily suspended at 10:30 a.m. on 29 March 2012 ("Suspension"). The board of MHG provides details as to the background to and reasons for the Suspension.

On 28 March 2012, the board became aware that, between October 2011 and December 2011, 652,333,333 ordinary shares in the Company, representing 14.1 per cent. of the Company's enlarged issued share capital, had been issued without having been announced or admitted to trading on AIM and therefore requested the Suspension pending the outcome of an investigation by the board.

On 27 September 2011, a total of 652,333,333 new ordinary shares of 0.01 pence each in MHG (the "New Ordinary Shares") were approved by the board for issue and were issued on the following dates:

Date of issue 2011 Issued to Issue price Number of shares Percentage of Enlarged Issued Share Capital*
3 October Westward Consultants Limited 0.12p 208,333,333 4.5
5 October Mr Ron Pritchard 0.10p 50,000,000 1.1

5 October 		Mr Michael Robinson 0.10p 50,000,000 1.1
1 November Westward Consultants Limited 0.10p 250,000,000 5.4
20 December Mr Ron Pritchard 0.10p 47,000,000 1.0
20 December Mr Michael Robinson 0.10p 47,000,000 1.0
652,333,333 14.1

The shares issued to Westward Consultants Limited were issued on the instruction of Balfour Consultants Limited ("Balfour") in settlement of £0.5 million of fees due in respect of services provided by Balfour to the Company and Merchant Capital Limited, a wholly-owned FSA registered subsidiary of MHG. The services provided by Balfour relate to the establishment of a digital options platform, which is due to be launched shortly, the creation of new funds, licences for which have been applied for and are in the process of being finalised, and the introduction of new assets under management.

The shares issued to Mr Pritchard and Mr Robinson were in respect of the part-settlement of certain liabilities owed to them. Mr Pritchard and Mr Robinson were formerly executives of The Clarkson Hill Group (in administration) ("CHG"), which was acquired by the Company in December 2010, and assisted in the transfer of the business and assets from CHG to Merchant House Financial Services Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MHG, including the transfer of the relationships with the product providers, the collection of debtors and the successful recruitment of financial advisers.

MHG has today applied for the New Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Admission of the New Ordinary Shares is expected to occur on or around 10 April 2012. The New Ordinary Shares will rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares in the Company.

* Following the issue of the New Ordinary Shares, the issued share capital of the Company comprises 4,603,694,793 ordinary shares of 0.01 pence each.

Following the publication of this announcement, the Company has requested that the Suspension is lifted and trading in the ordinary shares of MHG will resume at 12:00 p.m. today.

For further information:

Merchant House Group plc
James Holmes, Chairman
Christopher Day, CEO
+44 (0) 20 7332 2200

Cairn Financial Advisers LLP
Tony Rawlinson / Avi Robinson
+44 (0) 20 7148 7900

Symvan Securities
Kealan Doyle / Nicholas Nicolaides
+44 (0) 20 7464 4260

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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This press release was issued by Merchant House Group plc and was initially posted at http://www.merchanthousegroup.com/rns/re-suspension . It was distributed, unedited and unaltered, by noodls on 2012-04-03 17:54:34 PM. The issuer is solely responsible for the accuracy of the information contained therein.