ACE.L Regulatory News (ACE)

27 Sep 2005 07:04

Accident Exchange Group PLC27 September 2005 27 September 2005 Accident Exchange Group plc Re: Agreements Highlights • Agreement with Colebrook and Burgess - 80 car commitment • Agreement with JCT 600 for its eight BMW, Porsche and Mercedes dealerships - 150 car commitment • Agreement with Beechwood Group • Renewal and extension of agreement with Park Lane BMW - 100 car commitment • Joint marketing initiative with BMW UK Accident Exchange Group plc ("Accident Exchange" or "the Company"), the leadingprestige vehicle replacement company, has today signed a two year agreement withColebrook and Burgess on behalf of Wearside Audi, Newcastle Audi, Tyneside Audiand Teeside Audi. The contract is for the provision of Credit Hire services totheir customer base and involves the purchase of 80 vehicles over the two yearcontract, 15 of which will be taken in September to satisfy existing utilisationneeds. Accident Exchange is also pleased to announce three further agreements andrenewals. We are delighted to announce that we have signed a two year agreementwith JCT 600 for its eight BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes dealerships as well as forits body repair centre in Bradford. The agreement involves the purchase of 150cars over the period and will include the roll out of our Accident Managementproposition to their customers. The agreement is an extension of an existingrelationship with the JCT body repair centre in Bradford. We are also pleased to announce an agreement with Beechwood Group which has fourAudi dealerships trading as Beechwood Audi Halesowen, Wolverhampton Audi, SuttonColdfield Audi and Shrewsbury Audi. Beechwood has signed a one year contractfor credit hire and accident management services. Finally, Park Lane BMW, the largest BMW dealer in the UK and wholly owned by BMWhas renewed its contract for the management of credit hire services and agreedto extend the relationship with the roll out of Accident Management to all ofits BMW, Mini and Motorcycle customers. We have made a commitment for 100vehicles over the course of the contract. In addition, Accident Exchange has agreed a significant joint marketinginitiative with BMW UK. The "BMW and Accident Exchange Dealership Promotion"will run over a six month period and will give us a strong strategic positionwith the entire BMW network. For the next six months this promotion will helpAccident Exchange market its Credit Hire and Accident Management services intoBMW dealerships in a promotion which will see up to half of the BMW networkvisit the World Cup Finals in Germany in 2006. The promotion is fully endorsedby BMW UK and has been launched with co-branded promotional materials. Steve Evans, Chief Executive of Accident Exchange Group plc said: "Today's agreements are extremely significant for our business and underpin ourgrowth expectations. Whilst the marketing activities of one of our competitorshas increased over recent weeks it is encouraging to report that we are stillachieving significant contract wins, extensions and renewals." "We are absolutely thrilled to have signed the promotional agreement with BMW.It is core to our strategy of building stronger relationships with manufacturersand demonstrates our clear understanding of the need to continually thinkoutside of the box and to deliver innovative solutions to retain competitiveadvantage. We believe that the BMW promotion is one of the biggest joint venturecampaigns ever launched by BMW and we are confident that it will strengthen thequality and broaden the range of our relationships with BMW dealers across theUK." "We expect to derive enormous longer term value from this agreement as fromexperience we know the importance of manufacturer endorsements and we lookforward to working with all of our new partners." ENDS For more information please contact: Steve Evans, Chief Executive, Accident Exchange Group plc, Tel: 08700 116719 Martin Andrews, Finance Director, Accident Exchange Group plc,Tel: 08700 053649 Jonathon Brill/Billy Clegg, Financial Dynamics, Tel: 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. Having listed on AIM in April 2004, the Company has grown its car rental fleetrapidly from 250 to 1029 at the year ended 30th April 2005. The Companyreported maiden full year results for the period ended 30th April 2005.Earnings per share rose 500% to 7.2p (2004 pro forma*: 1.2p, 2004 statutory:0.8p): Adjusted earnings per share rose 592% to 8.3p (2004 pro forma*: 1.2p).Adjusted profit before taxation and goodwill rose 573% to £7.4 million (2004 proforma*: £1.1 million, 2004 statutory: £0.1 million). Turnover increased by 429%to £21.7 million (2004 pro forma*: £4.1 million, 2004 statutory: £0.3 million).Profit before taxation rose 509% to £6.7 million (2004 pro forma*: £1.1 million,2004 statutory: £0.1 million). The Company recommended a first final dividendproposed at 1.0p (2004: nil) making 1.5p for the year (2004: nil). This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange