8PG.L Regulatory News (8PG)

28 March 2018

Legendary Investments PLC("Legendary" or the "Company")

Virtualstock Holdings Limited ("Virtualstock") partners up with Previse Ltd ("Previse") to deliver seamless 'purchase to pay' supply chain model with cash-on-delivery for suppliers

Legendary is pleased to announce that its investee company, Virtualstock has partnered with Previse, the Artificial Intelligence based instant supplier payment decision company, to deliver a fully integrated purchase to pay supply chain system with cash on delivery for suppliers in the UK.

The two British supply chain technology companies will enable clients to merge their accounts payable and procurement functions seamlessly, enabling suppliers to get cash-on-delivery. Buyers will now be able to manage their catalogues, contract pricing, inventory and purchases as well as track deliveries through Virtualstock's The EdgeTM platform, while also ensuring their suppliers are paid instantly with Previse's advanced machine learning technology and network of readily available funding.

Virtualstock has a partnership with NHS Shared Business Services and The EdgeTM platform is used by some of the UK's leading retailers, including Tesco, John Lewis and Argos. Supply chains are becoming ever more complex, with more products than ever being moved faster than ever. This requires seamless real-time data exchange between large organisations and their suppliers, such as that provided through The EdgeTM.

Previse's artificial intelligence will utilise the rich seam of real-time data on The EdgeTM platform to facilitate instant payment from participating buyers to their suppliers as soon as an invoice is issued. With its ability to instantly and accurately score the risk level of each invoice, Previse's technology will also reduce the costs of back office administration for buyers by allowing them to focus on the invoices which are most likely to require human attention.

David Brown, Chief Product Officer at Previse, said:

"Finally, the business to business purchasing landscape is beginning to look like the world of consumer payments that we all enjoy in our daily lives. Through this partnership, companies will be able to see what they've bought and where it is in real time, while suppliers will instantly receive payment for delivering their goods. This is how transactions between businesses should be in the 21st century, fast and efficient from procurement to payment. Through the expert channelling and analysis of data which our two companies provide, that can now be a reality for businesses globally."

Andrew Mills, CEO and Chairman at Virtualstock, said:

"Our aim is to enable frictionless commerce between B2B buyers and suppliers. When we came across Previse's unique model, we instantly saw the synergies with The EdgeTM and the clear benefits for our clients. Now, for the first time, the buyers who use our platform can enable all their suppliers, even the smallest SME they work with, to be paid instantly. The combination of The EdgeTM and Previse is a powerful and highly disruptive proposition, and will be a key partnership as we look to expand together into new markets over the coming years"

Zafar Karim, Executive Chairman of Legendary, said:

"We are delighted at this development. Virtualstock's ability to provide seamless real-time data exchange between disparate systems has been and is being successfully applied in supply chains of the retail and health sectors. With this partnership with Previse, Virtualstock is connecting to the key, fast growing areas of Artificial Intelligence and Fintech thereby further increasing the sector-wide applicability and value add of Virtualstock. The partnership will be key to opening up new markets for Virtualstock in the coming years.'"

- ENDS -

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain. 

About Previse

Previse uses artificial intelligence to give large corporates the tools and incentives to have their suppliers paid instantly on receipt of invoice, in a genuine win/win, and without requiring process changes. Previse's scalable artificial intelligence technology flips the standard model of supply chain finance on its head. The true risk in the payments chain is the small number of problematic invoices which won't get paid, not the credit risk of SME suppliers. Previse's algorithms allow the risk to be identified, measured and controlled. Funding can then be extended to the suppliers instantly, pre-invoice-approval, without having to wait for the buyer's approval of the invoice.

Previse was founded in 2016 by a team of world-class experts in trade finance, artificial intelligence and enterprise technology.

www.previ.se 

About Virtualstock

Virtualstock is a leading, British SaaS company that is transforming global enterprise supply chains and marketplaces. Its game-changing product, The Edge™, has been successful in delivering supply chain optimisation for leading retailers, the NHS, suppliers and, ultimately, their customers. The Edge™ delivers best-in-class eProcurement functionality, including a consumer-style B2B marketplace, full procure-to-pay (P2P), product information management (PIM), catalogue management, order management, inventory and stock management, e-invoicing, track and trace, and analytics. The platform includes a GS1 certified Product Information Management (PIM) module. 

www.virtualstock.co.uk 

About Legendary Investments PLC

Legendary Investments PLC is a proactive investment company that focuses on making investments in and assisting companies which exhibit the potential to generate returns of many multiples through capital appreciation. Typically, Legendary invests in small companies where there are clear catalysts for value appreciation and the companies are operating in sectors exhibiting long term growth. Examples of such sectors include technology, energy and natural resources.

www.leginvest.com