Utilitywise plc Acquisition of ICON (7376F)
29 April 2014 - 4:01PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMUTW
RNS Number : 7376F
Utilitywise plc
29 April 2014
29 April 2014
Utilitywise Plc
("Utilitywise" or "The Company")
Acquisition of ICON
Utilitywise PLC (AIM:UTW), a leading independent utility cost
management consultancy, is pleased to announce the acquisition of
the entire issued share capital of ICON Communication Centres
("ICON"), a leading international provider of contact centre
services based in the Czech Republic.
ICON is an established provider of multilingual contact centre
services for the international market. Founded in 2003, the company
currently operates one call centre in the Czech Republic with 150
employees and the capacity to expand to 300 seats. For the year to
31 December 2013, ICON reported revenue of GBP3.0m and EBITDA of
GBP0.13m.
The initial consideration payable is EUR1.08 million in cash
with a commitment to issue 30,701 new ordinary shares in
Utilitywise at an issue price of 321.7p per new ordinary share,
being the average mid market price of a Utilitywise share in the 30
trading days to 25 April 2014 (the "Initial Consideration Shares").
Up to a further EUR1.2 million will become payable by 30 April 2015
in cash and shares (the "Deferred Consideration Shares") subject to
meeting certain EBITDA performance targets in the 12 month period
ending 31 December 2014. Both the Initial Consideration Shares and
the Deferred Consideration Shares will be issued following
publication of Icon's audited financial statements for the 12 month
period ending 31 December 2014.
Geoff Thompson, Chief Executive of Utilitywise, commented: "Our
initial testing of the European market is showing early positive
results and the addition of ICON to the Group provides us with a
European footprint from which to expand our services in Europe to
the full intermediary procurement model that we employ in the UK.
While the opportunity in the UK remains large and our primary
focus, we are encouraged with the positive reception to our
offering in the European energy markets and look forward to
pursuing this opportunity."
Utilitywise is pleased to announce an immediate opportunity for
its new acquisition which underlines the synergies that exist
between its UK operations and the new Prague business.
Utilitywise has enjoyed a long standing relationship with Oil
& Gas major TOTAL through its Total Gas & Power (TGP)
energy supply activities. Since 2008 the Company has marketed TGP
products and services as part of its product catalogue of energy
related services to B2B clients in a number of European markets.
Utilitywise has also, since 2012, provided a telesales service to
TGP in France.
TGP and Utilitywise have now agreed, subject to contract, to
further expand their co-operation. Two contracts are envisaged for
delivery by the new Prague operation, each with an initial term
running to end of 2016.
Under the first, Utilitywise will implement the final expansion
phase of the existing TGP telesales service contract to France from
its Prague operation. This is expected to add an additional 20 seat
telesales capacity resulting in a total commitment approaching 65
seat capacity.
The second contract relates to co-operation in the German B2B
market. Utilitywise will offer its clients, as part of its energy
service packages in Germany, exclusive TGP energy products. The two
organisations are expecting the combination of products and
services to result in very attractive customer propositions that
will allow greater market penetration for both businesses. A team
of up to 100 Utilitywise resources will be engaged in this joint
marketing project over a 2.5 year contract.
On target revenues from these contracts will assure the medium
term growth for the new Prague operation and will help the
Utilitywise Group to fully exploit the additional capacity created
by the Prague acquisition.
TGP Senior Vice President Jon Shead said: "These proposed new
co-operations between TGP and Utilitywise re-affirms our confidence
in the ability of Utilitywise. We believe in their ability to
deliver the types of telephone based services that we need to
support our continued growth and delivery of strong customer
services. We have worked with Utilitywise over a number of years
and we appreciate the strength of their business model and the
performance focus of their management."
For further information:
Utilitywise plc 0870 626 0559
Geoff Thompson (CEO)
Andrew Richardson (CFO)
finnCap (NOMAD and broker) 020 7220 0500
Matt Goode / Charlotte Stranner /
Henrik Persson (Corporate Finance)
Simon Johnson (Corporate Broking)
Newgate Threadneedle 020 7653 9850
Josh Royston / John Coles / Hilary
Millar
About Utilitywise
Utilitywise is a leading independent utility cost management
consultancy based in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. The Company has
established trading relationships with a number of major UK energy
suppliers and provides services to its customers designed to assist
them in achieving better value out of their energy contracts,
reduced energy consumption and lower carbon footprint.
Businesses large and small rely on Utilitywise for their energy
management needs. Clients range in size from high street shops to
multinationals with thousands of sites and cover the whole of the
UK. In total, Utilitywise has over 17,000 customers and manages an
overall energy consumption of approaching 20 terra watt hours per
annum.
Utilitywise is a UK company quoted on the AIM market of the
London Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit
www.utilitywise.com.
About TGP Marketing
TGP Marketing is the Total division involved in the marketing of
gas, power, coal and related services to B2B clients through its
wholly owned subsidiaries in UK, France, Germany, Netherlands and
Belgium. It has a turnover approaching 4Bn Euros and 700 staff.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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