Released: 03/04/2008
RNS Number:4951R
Spiritel PLC
03 April 2008
3 April 2008
SPIRITEL PLC
("Spiritel" or "the Company")
ACQUISITION OF MOBILE RESELLER, WN1 LIMITED
Spiritel makes fifth acquisition completing the Spiritel Business product set
with leading mobile reseller
Spiritel plc, (AIM:STP), the business communications service provider, is
pleased to announce the acquisition of WN1 Limited ("WN1"), for a total
consideration of up to £2.02 million.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Spiritel has agreed to pay a total
consideration of £2.02 million comprising £1.47 million in cash and
performance-related earn-out payments of up to £0.55 million payable by 31 May
2009. The initial cash payment is financed by an increase to Spiritel's senior
debt facility with Clydesdale Bank plc and the subscription by the vendors for
£0.3 million of unsecured zero coupon loan notes redeemable on 1 May 2009. The
vendors of WN1 will also receive a payment, equal to WN1's net cash balance on
completion of £1.09 million. As at 28 February 2008, WN1 had net assets of
approximately £1 million, including a net cash balance of £1.1 million.
In the year to 31 October 2007, WN1 reported revenues of £2.25 million and
operating profits of £0.6 million. The acquisition is expected to become
earnings enhancing from the point of acquisition.
WN1 is a leading accredited reseller of mobile voice, data and Blackberry
services, and holds key industry contracts as an O2 Advance Partner, T-Mobile
Business Partner and a Blackberry Alliance Member. WN1 targets its operations
exclusively towards business clients, which include a number of blue chip
companies such as Lufthansa, Servisair and Topps Tiles.
The purchase of WN1 is Spiritel's fifth acquisition in 18 months and adds mobile
services to the Company's product set, completing Spiritel's fully integrated
voice and data offering which includes VoIP, data networking, telephone systems
and ISP services. It is anticipated that the acquisition will be earnings
enhancing immediately upon completion. WN1, to be rebranded as Spiritel Mobile,
will be relocated to Spiritel's Wigan office in order to deliver operational
synergies and cost savings.
Commenting on the acquisition, Alastair Mills, Chief Executive of Spiritel said:
"WN1 is a strategic and highly profitable acquisition that allows us to complete
our business communications offering by adding mobile voice and data services.
WN1 has an impressive track record of revenue and profit growth and the
incremental earnings will further enhance our recently reported turnaround in
financial performance."
He added: "The acquisition supports our strategy of cross selling additional
products to our customer base, increasing customer spend, reducing churn and
thereby driving our organic growth. WN1 has a particularly strong performance in
sales of converged Blackberry solutions to business customers and we look
forward to offering WN1's full range of mobile voice and data services to
Spiritel's existing customers."
Darren Halliwell, Managing Director of WN1 added: "This is a very exciting
partnership for WN1's staff and customers. Spiritel is recognised as a leading
provider of converged communications to business customers and we are looking
forward to building on WN1's recent success alongside such a well established
and respected B2B service provider. We are confident that as part of Spiritel's
Business Division, we will further capitalise on the opportunity of an
accelerating migration to converged fixed and mobile services."
For further information please visit www.spiritelplc.com or contact:
Spiritel plc Tavistock Communications Daniel Stewart & Co.
Alastair Mills Simon Hudson Simon Leathers
Chief Executive Clemmie Carr Stewart Dick
Tel: +44 20 7160 0100 Tel: +44 20 7920 3150 Tel: +44 20 7776 6550
Notes to Editors
Spiritel is a fully integrated business communications group which enables its
customers totake advantage of the opportunities created by rapidly changing
telecoms markets as the migration to Internet Protocol (IP) based services
accelerates. The Group is a consolidator of the highly fragmented UK telecoms
reseller market and is building a substantial customer base and scale through
selective acquisitions. We are organised into two divisions, Spiritel
Technologies - focused on networking and IP products and services - and Spiritel
Business, which provides services directly to our Business customers.
Spiritel offers fixed and mobile voice and data communications solutions
including Voice over IP (VoIP), data networking, telephone systems and ISP
services to a rapidly expanding customer base. We are a leader in the provision
of new, but proven, Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions that are firmly based on the
old-fashioned service values which run throughout the Group.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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