Celtic Resources to issue dividend through offshoot

Celtic Resources Holdings plc intends to pay its shareholders a dividend in kind through its Eureka Mining plc.

It will be issued on the basis of one Eureka share for every ten Celtic ordinary shares held at 5pm on March 19, 2004.

Both companies are listed on London's Alternative Investment Market with Eureka being formed specifically to consolidate and develop Celtic’s Kazakhstan precious and base metal exploration assets.

The company raised £7m (€10.32m) by way of a placing and its shares were admitted to trading on AIM in December 2003.

The proposed dividend will transfer 3.53m Eureka shares to qualifying shareholders with the result that Celtic will then hold 4.04m shares representing 23.7% of Eureka’s issued share capital.

Paying a dividend in Eureka ordinary shares allows Celtic shareholders to receive the dividend in a negotiable form and allows Celtic to retain cash.

David Bartley, Chief Executive Officer of Eureka said: "This distribution is positive for both companies because it gives Eureka access to Celtic shareholders and reduces Celtic’s share in Eureka to a more practical level.

"We are extremely well placed to take advantage of the huge resource potential in Central Asia and we intend to distinguish ourselves as a solid, well-run company with outstanding assets such as the Shorskoye molybdenum project and our extensive precious and base metal land holdings in Kazakhstan," Bartley added.