MBL buys OutNow

Troubled home entertainment products distributor MBL Group has acquired the assets of OutNow Entertainment from its administrator. OutNow (www.outnow.co.uk) is a DVD rental business that competes with LoveFilm, which was recently acquired by Amazon.com. MBL carries out the fulfilment services for OutNow, which has 8,000 customers. There is a catalogue of more than 65,000 titles available to customers. The MBL share price has slumped since it warned on trading last year and then admitted that it is no longer in bid talks at the beginning of this week. The shares have halved in the past month. MBL has to enter into a competitive tender in order to retain its home entertainment products logistics business with Morrisons after the contract expires in September. The outcome of the tender should be known in March.