CCC - Admission to Trading on Aquis Stock Exchange

Thursday 3rd November 2022

Cooks Coffee Company (NZX: CCC ), the international coffee focused café chain, has completed its dual listing on the Access Segment of the Aquis Stock Exchange (“AQSE”) Growth Market and trading will commence at 8.00 a.m. Wednesday 2 November 2022. The ordinary shares will trade on AQSE under the ticker “COOK” and ISIN: NZCFGE0001S7.

At admission, Cooks Coffee will have 53,488,307 ordinary shares of no par value trading on the Access Segment of the AQSE Growth Market. The Company will be classified as a Consumer Discretionary company on AQSE. VSA Capital is acting as the Company’s Aquis Corporate Adviser and Broker.

Keith Jackson, Executive Chairman of Cooks Coffee commented: “We are delighted to have achieved our dual listing to support the continued expansion of the Group as it builds a business of ethical coffee brands with community spirit.

“Our Esquires and Triple Two brands continue to perform well and I am delighted with our consistent outperformance of the market, thanks to the efforts of our staff, franchisees and their teams.

“We have a strong pipeline of new stores and are on track to open a net 18 sites this financial year showing a net 21% gain in store numbers for the financial year in the UK and Ireland. The new outlets include innovative offerings reflecting the local environment, including where appropriate an alcohol offering which gives the Company the opportunity to establish a unique market position between a café and restaurant, whilst retaining the essence of the café culture. The addition of mobile vans in October has also opened a new and exciting area of the market for the Company.

“As our strong sales performance and new store pipeline demonstrates, neither the uncertainty in respect of the wider UK and Irish economies nor consumer attitudes towards discretionary spending have to date impacted our sales. We continue to benefit from people staying local, working from home, and supporting their community, which are trends that we believe are permanent.

“In recent weeks despite the turmoil in the markets and the political uncertainties we have seen record sales for our long-established Esquires brand in the UK which gives us confidence about the brands, the consumer offering and the position and will assist the drive to build the position as the fourth largest coffee focussed café chain in the UK.

“We are operating in an inflationary environment and are working hard to mitigate the cost pressures for our franchisees and customers. We continue to take confidence from the positioning of both our Esquires and Triple Two brands and their market-leading track records. We look forward to providing updates on our continued progress in the months ahead.”

ADMISSION TO AQSE

The Company, which is currently listed on the NZX in New Zealand, will, from today, have a dual listing on AQSE with its ordinary shares fully fungible through a Depositary Interest (“DI”) and held in CREST. The DIs will carry the same ISIN as the ordinary shares listed in New Zealand. The Company’s ordinary shares will continue to trade on the NZX.

On 10 October 2022 Cooks Coffee announced it planned to raise up to £1.5 million through a rights issue and private placement. Cooks has raised approximately £0.5 million from the rights issue and private placement, including subscriptions from certain of the Company’s directors. The capital raised will be used by the Company to expand its digital marketing capability, accelerate the opening of new stores, and to potentially acquire dynamic new brands that provide synergies with Cooks Coffee’s existing Esquires and Triple Two outlets.

See the announcement attached for further information.

Cooks - Admission to trading on AQSE

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