ACE.L Regulatory News (ACE)

7 Jul 2005 13:24

Accident Exchange Group PLC07 July 2005 7 July 2005 Accident Exchange Group Plc Agreement with Hartwell plc ("Hartwell") Accident Exchange Group Plc ("Accident Exchange" or the "Company"), the leadingprestige vehicle replacement company, has signed an agreement with Hartwell forthe exclusive provision of credit hire, accident management and business supportservices to all of its dealerships and underlying customer base. Hartwell is aprivately owned UK franchised dealer group. The agreement includes the provision by Accident Exchange of vehicle replacementfor Hartwell's customers following road traffic accidents, and marks theCompany's first significant move in to the mainstream credit hire market place. In order to handle the increased volume of referrals expected, Accident Exchangeintends to increase their vehicle fleet by 270 primarily mainstream vehiclesalthough this number may increase dependent on referral volumes. The Company's vehicle fleet stands at 1,083 today, up from 1,029 last reportedon 10 June within the Company's preliminary announcement of results for the yearended 30 April 2005. The Company's AGM is scheduled for 21 July 2005 on whichday a trading update will be given. Steve Evans, Chief Executive of Accident Exchange said: "We are absolutely delighted about extending our services within Hartwell. Wehave already worked successfully with a small number of Hartwell dealerships andwe take this significant contract extension to be both an endorsement of ourbusiness support and service proposition and of our high levels of customerservice." Ends For more information please contact: Steve EvansChief Executive, Accident ExchangeTel: 08700 116719 Martin AndrewsGroup Finance Director, Accident ExchangeTel: 08700 053649 Jonathon Brill/Billy CleggFinancial DynamicsTel: 020 7831 3113 Notes to Editors About Accident Exchange Accident Exchange was formed in 2001 to provide ABI (Association of BritishInsurers) approved car hire on credit to motorists of prestige cars involved innon-fault accidents. The Company currently operates a fleet of 1,083 vehicles. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange