Warning to shareholders

As a holder of shares in a public company, certain information about you and your shares may be held in the public domain. As a consequence, fraudsters may attempt to contact you offering to purchase your shares, or to sell shares to you.

Please be vigilant if you receive an unsolicited offer to purchase your shares or to sell shares to you. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued its ScamSmart guidance on how to protect yourself from fraud. The FCA’s guidance can be viewed by clicking on the link below:

fca.org.uk/scamsmart/resources

The FCA website also contains a list of unauthorised firms and individuals they have received complaints about. However, if the person/firm contacting you isn’t on the list don’t assume that they must be legitimate, they just may not have been reported to the FCA yet.

You can assist the FCA to keep their lists updated by reporting any suspicious activity by contacting their Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768.

The FCA and Fevara plc strongly recommend that you get independent professional advice before making any decisions in respect of your shares.

If you are contacted, remember

• If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
• Never assume that anyone offering to buy or sell shares is genuine, even if they appear to know some basic information about you.
• Scammers usually contact people out of the blue via phone, email, text, or even advertise online. Treat all unexpected calls, emails and text messages with extreme caution.
• Scammers design attractive offers to persuade you to buy or sell your shares.
• Scammers will contact you repeatedly.
• Scammers will tell you that the offer is only available for a limited time in an effort to rush you into making a decision.
• Scammers may tell you that the offer is only available to you and will ask you to keep it a secret.
• Scammers frequently offer ‘social proof’, that is to tell you that other people want in on the deal.
• Always double-check the URL and contact details of a firm in case it’s a ‘clone firm’ pretending to be a real firm, such as your bank or a genuine investment firm.
• Be aware of future scams. If you have already been scammed by fraudsters they are likely to target you again or will sell your details to other criminals. The follow-up scam may be completely separate or related to the previous fraud, such as an offer to get your money back or to buy back the investment after you pay a fee.
• Fraudsters will use flattery to make potential victims feel good, such as praising you for being a knowledgeable investor.