Roxboro Plc, the Newmarket, Berkshire-based component manufacturing group, is planning a flotation for November, allegedly to clean its balance sheet of debt. The flotation, sponsored by banker Samuel Montagu and made through broker James Capel, will be via an offer and placing and could value the company at up to UKP70m, with half the shares being new. The dilution of the current management’s equity could leave them with as little as a 20% shareholding. The flotation follows a restructuring in the US, in which operations were consolidated into one plant in Roxboro, North Carolina. this plant is a major supplier of light-emitting diodes used in the telecommunications and data communications markets, and are starting to erode the console light bulb market. The UK part of the group builds solenoids, relays and filters. Roxboro, which releases interim results in two weeks, reported UKP4.3m operating profit last year on UKP36m turnover. The group, which is majority-owned by venture backers Schroder Ventures, was formed after the management bought the Components Division of the Cambridge Electronic Industries Plc in 1990. Cambridge, which later changed its name to Graseby, sold off Belling Lee Ltd, PED Ltd, CEI Component Holdings Inc, CRL Components Inc, Dialight Corp. Roxboro, which has holdings in the UK and the US, also has a sales outfit in France. It employs some 650 people, having cut its head-count from 1,200.
