Marston's gets shareholder nod for £175m rights issue

Executives at Midlands brewer Marston's breathed sigh of relief this morning after the group's proposed £176m rights issue was given the go-ahead by shareholders.

At an extraordinary general meeting held this morning in London the resolution covering the rights issue proposal was carried by a show of hands, with 35.3 million proxy votes cast in favour of the move, and 8.5 million against.

Marston's announced the rights issue last month, announcing that funds would largely go towards a programme of building up to 70 new pubs.

According to City observers there had been concerns among some Marston's investor's that the issue would not generate enough in the way of profits to compensate for the dilution of existing shareholder's holdings.

However the brewer did not experience the tight margin of acceptance seen by Punch Taverns last week, when the pubco just about scraped through a shareholder vote for its own £375m share placing.

Marston's shares were down 4.25p this morning at 129.75p. Trading in the new shares is expected to start tomorrow (Tuesday).