AO World PLC announced on August 1, 2024, that several transactions were executed by the Company's persons discharging managerial responsibilities (PDMRs) and persons closely associated (PCAs). John Roberts, the Chief Executive Officer, sold 6,000,000 shares at 117.3p per share, resulting in an aggregate consideration of £7,038,000 and a resultant beneficial holding of 97,643,526 shares, representing 16.83% of the holding. Chris Hopkinson, a Non-Executive Director, sold 2,000,000 shares at the same price, resulting in an aggregate consideration of £2,346,000 and a resultant beneficial holding of 22,280,429 shares, representing 3.84% of the holding. Sally Roberts, a person closely associated with John Roberts, sold 882,350 shares at 117.3p per share, resulting in an aggregate consideration of £1,034,996.55.
The sales by John Roberts and Sally Roberts, and Chris Hopkinson constitute material related party transactions pursuant to the profit test referred to in DTR 7.3. The shares were purchased by the AO World Employee Benefit Trust (EBT), funded by a gift from the Company. The beneficial holding for John Roberts excludes 6,348 Ordinary Shares held by Crystalcraft Limited, a company of which he is a director and shareholder. Similarly, the beneficial holding for Chris Hopkinson excludes 350,877 Ordinary Shares held by Gayle Halstead, his wife, and also 1,999,999 of the Hopkinson Consultants Pension Scheme of which Chris is a trustee and one of the beneficiaries.
The Notification of Dealing Forms provided in accordance with the requirements of MAR in relation to the transactions listed above are also included in the announcement. The transactions were conducted on the London Stock Exchange (XLON) on August 1, 2024.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR. Upon the publication of this announcement via the Regulatory Information Service, any inside information will be considered to be in the public domain.