4^th September 2018

Bilby Plc

("Bilby" or the "Group")

Retirement of and share sale by Founder, appointment of CEO and Board changes

Bilby Plc (AIM: BILB.L), a leading gas heating, electrical and building services provider, announces that its founder and Deputy Chairman, Phil Copolo, aged 65, has decided to retire from the business and has resigned from the Board.  Phil founded P&R Installation ("P&R") in 1978 and grew the business into a leading gas heating business in the South East. P&R was acquired by Bilby at the time of its IPO in 2015.   

Concurrently Phil Copolo and Leigh Copolo have sold their entire holdings in the Group comprising of 12,596,896 ordinary shares of 10p each ("Ordinary Shares"), representing 31.26% of the Group's total issued share capital, at a price of 100p to a number of new institutional shareholders, who are fully supportive of the Group's stated organic and buy and build growth strategies.

Following these disposals, Janet Copolo retains a holding of 2,886,396 Ordinary Shares representing 7.2% of the Group's issued share capital. Janet Copolo is subject to a hard lock-in agreement prohibiting the sale of her shares until 3rd September 2019.

The Group announces the following board changes that take place with immediate effect:

·      David Ellingham, formerly Group Finance Director, has been appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer.  David led the IPO of Bilby and has overseen its buy and build strategy which has enabled the Group to achieve considerable growth with annualised revenues of £78 million and underlying EBITDA of £6.3m from its four subsidiary companies.

·      Lee Venables, Managing Director of the Group's largest subsidiary Purdy Contracts Limited ("Purdy"), has been appointed to the Board as Executive Director. Lee's new role will see him responsible for all service and maintenance work undertaken by the Group.

·     Chris Webster, founder of subsidiary DCB Kent Limited ("DCB"), has been appointed to the Board as Executive Director. Chris's new role will see him responsible for all building services work conducted by the Group.

·      Leigh Copolo, Group Operations Director, has resigned from the Board and has left the business.

·      The Group has started the process to appoint a new Finance Director and will make a further announcement in due course.

Sangita Shah, Non-Executive Chairman commented:

"On behalf of the Board I would like to thank Phil for his significant contribution to Bilby.  Having founded P&R over 40 years ago, he has played a vital role in its growth and success.  P&R's strong reputation in London and the South East is in no small part a result of Phil's long-term commitment to ensure that P&R's entire workforce go above and beyond the norm in delivering the utmost in customer service. It is also a testimony to his proud legacy that these values remain firmly embedded in all quarters of the Bilby Group.  We wish him the very best for the future.          

We are delighted at David's appointment as CEO of the Group. Under his auspices we are confident that the business will continue to perform and grow. Equally, we are pleased that Lee and Chris are joining the Board.  As the driving forces behind the success of Purdy and DCB they are ideally placed to ensure the Group continues to effectively take advantage of the significant opportunities that the market continues to present.  We welcome our new shareholders to Bilby who have recognised these opportunities and fully support our strategy to capitalise on them."

Stanford Capital Partners acted as sole book runner in respect of the share sale and is a party to the hard lock-in agreement, dated 3^rd September 2018, between the Group and Janet Copolo. 

Additional Information on Lee Venables and Chris Webster

Lee John Venables (aged 44) has worked for Purdy for 28 years.  During his tenure as Managing Director, which began in April 2016, he has expanded its service offering, customer footprint and geographic reach that in turn has led to a significant rise in revenues and profitability. Lee's entire career has been in the electrical, heating and building services sector.

Lee currently holds 300,000 options over the Group's Ordinary Shares.

Christopher David Webster (aged 46) started his career in the construction industry in 1988 before moving into quantity surveying and going on to set up DCB in 1998. Chris has grown the DCB business from minor refurbishment projects and kitchen and bathroom upgrades to high-quality new build projects, major refurbishments and corporate and property maintenance for companies in London and the South East.  In 2016, with revenues of £18.5 million, Chris sold DCB to Bilby for £4 million.  He has continued to run and grow the business since its acquisition by Bilby and has been instrumental in helping cross sell DCB's high quality building services to existing and new Bilby customers.

Chris is currently the beneficial holder of 705,482 Ordinary Shares in the Group, representing 1.88% of the Group's total issued share capital.

Save as disclosed above, there are no further disclosures required to be made in respect of the appointment under Schedule 2(g) or Rule 17 of the AIM Rules for Companies.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 596/2014. Market soundings, as defined in MAR, were taken in respect of the share sale with the result that certain persons became aware of inside information, as permitted by MAR. That inside information is set out in this announcement and has been disclosed as soon as possible in accordance with paragraph 7 of article 17 of MAR. Therefore, those persons that received inside information in a market sounding are no longer in possession of inside information relating to the Group and its securities

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