Business
Acquisition of Minority Inter
Acquisition of Minority Inter.
About this update from Altitude Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n RNS Number : 3456Y Altitude Group PLC 21 December 2010 \n \n\nAIM: ALT\n21 December 2010\n \nAltitude Group plc \n(\"Altitude\" or \"the Company\")\n \nAcquisition of Remaining Minority Interest in PromoServe Business Systems Limited (\"PromoServe\")\n \nAltitude is pleased to announce that it has agreed to acquire the remaining 20% of PromoServe's share capital, of which it currently owns 80%. The consideration for the acquisition of the remaining shares in PromoServe is £200,000 in cash, which will be satisfied from the Company's existing cash resources. Completion is expected to take place on 4 January 2011.\n \nAltitude first acquired an interest in PromoServe in July 2006 when it acquired 80% of Promoserve's share capital for £160,000. At the time of this acquisition, a put option was agreed between the Company and the vendors of PromoServe which was eligible to be exercised by the vendors no earlier than the 5th anniversary of the date of completion of the acquisition and no later than the 10th anniversary of completion. \n \nThe exercise price was agreed at ten times the average pre-tax profit attributable to the 20% minority interest in Promoserve for the two financial years immediately preceding the exercise, subject to a maximum payment of £10 million (payable in new Ordinary Shares or bank guaranteed loan notes, at the discretion of the Company). In view of the importance of PromoServe to Altitude's business, the Company has agreed to acquire the minority interest early for £200,000 in cash.\n \nPromoServe is part of Altitude's 'Trade Only' division, which provides marketing and technology tools to both suppliers and distributors operating in the promotional merchandise industry. PromoServe offers a suite of \"Cloud\" and Server based software to corporate gift and clothing distributors and suppliers, and is aimed at helping them increase revenues and improve business processes.\n \nMartin Varley, Altitude's CEO, commented:\n \n\"I am delighted that we have agreed to purchase the remaining 20% of PromoServe. The business has seen significant improvements in both profitability and cash generation over the last 12 months and by acquiring the minority interest now, we are better able to integrate the business fully with the rest of the Trade Only bus...