ACC.L Regulatory News (ACC)

6 Jul 2005 07:00

Access Intelligence PLC06 July 2005 FOR RELEASE 7.00AM 6 JULY 2005 ACCESS INTELLIGENCE PLC (Range of companies providing information, advice and services to small and medium sized businesses and the public sector) ACQUISITION OF DUE NORTH Access Intelligence Plc ("Access" or "Company") is pleased to announce theacquisition of Due North Limited ("Due North"), a developer and provider ofe-commerce solutions, primarily to the public sector and emergency services. Therange of products includes an e-tendering module combined with an e-auctionmodule. Due North reported turnover of £695,000 and unaudited operating profitsof £213,000 for the 9 months to 31 May 2005. The initial consideration for Due North is £1.5m, of which £1m has been paid incash and £500,000 has been satisfied by the issue of 4,686,034 new ordinaryshares in Access Intelligence at 10.67p per share. As at 5 July 2005, Due Northhad £160,000 of net assets, including net cash balances of £100,000. Additionalconsideration will be payable dependent upon the results of Due North for the 2years ending 30 November 2007. Deferred consideration of up to £600,000 will bepaid for the year ending 30 November 2006 conditional upon operating profitsexceeding £350,000 and further deferred consideration of up to £750,000 will bepayable conditional upon operating profits in the year ending 30 November 2007exceeding £450,000. The deferred consideration will be satisfied by the issue ofordinary shares in Access Intelligence, although, the vendors of Due North mayinstead elect to receive up to 20% of the deferred consideration in cash. Webelieve the structure of the deal provides an excellent incentive for themanagement of Due North to exploit the current market for e-commerce solutionsin the public sector and build up a significant recurring revenue income streamfor the Access Intelligence group. In a relatively short space of time, Due North has established itself as aleader in its field and it is well positioned to gain market share as the publicsector implements an e-commerce strategy. Currently over 40% of policeauthorities subscribe to the service. Additionally over 7% of local authoritiesand 11% of fire brigades subscribe. The company is in discussions with over 100local authorities plus companies in the private sector. Wired Gov will workclosely with Due North to assist increased penetration within the Governmentsector. For further information: Access Intelligence plcJeremy Hamer (Chairman) 01904 520840Brendan Austin (Chief Executive) 01904 520840Colin Davies (Finance Director) 01904 520840 Beattie FinancialBrian Coleman-Smith / Jo Clewlow 020 7053 6400 Background Note: Following the acquisition of Due North, Access Intelligence has five operatingsubsidiaries: * The Marketing Guild, based in York, which provides marketing adviceand support to small and medium sized businesses. This is in the form ofnewsletters, consultancy, lead generation and member's services. * Wired Gov, based in Stockport, provides an online informationservice delivering press releases from over 100 government and public sectorbodies. Subscribers can customise the service specifying the agency or topicthey require. * Backup and Running, based in York, provides an online data storageand disaster recovery service, which the client can customize to their ownrequirements. The service offers significant advantages over other alternativesystems in that it backs up automatically and can provide a complete backuphistory for at least three years. * Willow Starcom (Ridgeway Technologies), based in Chorley, providesspecialist IT services across a broad range of market sectors that include datastorage, backup and recovery, network design support and consultancy andhardware and software maintenance support services. It has growing recurringrevenues from these activities of over £1million per annum. * Due North, based in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, is a developer andprovider of e- commerce solutions, primarily to the public sector and emergencyservices. The range of products include an e-tendering module combined with ane-auction module. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange