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Monday, August 14, 2006

Charlton to delist from AIM

Charlton Athletic plc have announced an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the company has been called to approve its withdrawal from the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange. The EGM will take place at The Valley at 11am on September 6th, and a circular has been sent to all shareholders giving full details of the meeting.

Plc chairman Richard Murray said: 'We floated the company on the AIM in March 1997 and were able to raise £6m from directors, supporters and institutional investors principally to develop the west stand at The Valley. Since that time, I and my fellow directors - along with other supporters - have invested a further £22m through the issue of additional shares, which we have used to purchase players and to further develop The Valley and the training ground complex in New Eltham.'

'We believe that there is little further prospect of raising additional external funds through the AIM and the costs and administrative burden of maintaining ongoing membership cannot be justified going forward.'

He added: 'We will remain a public company with nearly 4,000 shareholders, and there will still be a mechanism for shareholders to offer their shares for sale and, if we obtain the necessary EGM approval on September 6th, I will be writing to shareholders to explain the trading mechanism in more detail.'

At one time it was all the fashion for the clubs to be listed on the Stock Exchange or AIM, but the number has been declining in step with a trend for companies to go private if possible. Aston Villa is expected to become a private company and delist if the Randy Lerner takeover succeeds.

I doubt whether this move has any implications for the future control of the club, although small shareholders like myself might consider whether it is worth retaining our shares.

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