GHT.L Regulatory News (GHT)

28 Aug 2009 07:01



Embargoed until 28 August 2009 7.01am

Gresham Computing plc

("Gresham" or "the Company")

Disposal of Subsidiary

Gresham Computing plc (LSE:GHT), the specialist provider of real-time financial solutions and storage solutions, today announces the disposal of its subsidiary Gresham Software Labs Pty Limited ("GSL"), the HP NonStop software and support business.

On 27 August 2009, Gresham signed and completed an agreement to effect the disposal of GSL, a company in which Gresham holds a 100% equity share interest. Together with the payment of £120,000 for GSL shares, the purchaser paid £9,000 for the benefit of certain contracts and settled the inter-company debt owed by GSL to the Company to the value of approximately £341,000, a total of £470,000. The consideration is satisfied as to £235,000 in cash on completion and £235,000 on 31 December 2009. There are no performance conditions attached to payment of the deferred element of consideration. The profit arising on the disposal of GSL is approximately £220,000. The gross assets of GSL as at 30 June 2009 were £450,000 and the profits of GSL for the year to 31 December 2008 were £40,000. The sale proceeds will be used for working capital.

GSL sells software and support into the HP NonStop market globally. The purchaser is comForte GmbH, a German registered company that assists enterprises in deploying secure, manageable and cost-effective HP NonStop server access across the enterprise.

Andrew Walton-Green, Gresham CEO, commented:

"We are pleased to announce the disposal of GSL, whose employees and customers will benefit from being owned by a company that is dedicated to the NonStop market. The deal allows us to further focus our attention on core and strategic business."

Dr Michael Rossbach, CEO comForte GmbH, added:

"We are very excited about the acquisition of GSL as the company, its people and its products are very much complementary to comForte's product and solution offering. The addition of GSL marks an important step in the execution of our growth strategy. 

"This acquisition is great for comForte's customers as we are now able to offer real, global 24*7 support through the addition of product support staff in Australia. And, it is re-assuring for the existing GSL customers as comForte will provide continued support for the product 'The Operations Pack', or 'TOP'. For many years, comForte has been a well respected and trusted partner in the NonStop space and we will continue to be dedicated to the NonStop platform."

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About Gresham Computing plc

Gresham Computing plc is an expert in delivering real-time financial services, specialising in providing banks and their customers with value-added solutions. Founded in 1969, Gresham Computing plc has been listed on the London Stock Exchange (GHT) since 1991 and has offices in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Many of the Fortune Global 500 choose Gresham to help improve their competitive edge and bottom line performance in the challenging market sectors of Deposit Acquisition, Real-Time Liquidity, Risk, Cash and Treasury Management, Supply Chain Financing and Electronic Invoicing.

For more information please visit www.gresham-computing.com.