Marlowe Regulatory News (MRL)

1 April 2016

Marlowe Plc

("Marlowe" or the "Company")

Completion of Acquisition and New £5m Debt Facilities with Lloyds Bank plc

First Day of Dealings on AIM

Further to previous announcements, the Company is pleased to confirm that it has completed the Acquisition of Fire & Security (Group) Limited ("Swift") and that 21,084,999 ordinary shares of 50p in Marlowe plc have today commenced trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

The acquisition of Swift represents the first major step for Marlowe towards building a dynamic business-to-business service group focused on critical asset maintenance services. Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Manchester, Swift is one of the UK's leading national fire protection and security systems installation and maintenance business with a broad range of capabilities to design, install and service fire protection and security solutions. Marlowe intends to make further strategic acquisitions in the future and has identified a number of companies which the Directors believe are complementary to Swift. Marlowe will continue to be focussed on investment targets within the business services sector in areas where companies:

· possess annuity-type recurring revenues which are underpinned by long-term contracts and a degree of operational complexity that the Board believes can provide attractive margins and high barriers to entry;

· occupy legislative and regulatory driven markets and provide services which could be described as 'essential' or 'critical' to the customer which results in a high level of non-discretionary customer spend which the Board believes should be relatively resilient to both a change in ownership and economic cycles;

· provide services which customers invariably prefer to outsource rather than conduct in-house because of their specialist and technical nature, the levels of regulatory compliance which govern them, and the cost savings and the improved efficiency which can result from outsourcing; and

· occupy fragmented markets which the Directors believe present the potential for a quickly executed consolidation.

As intended and set out in its Admission Document, the Company also confirms that it will today enter into a 3 year Term Loan Facility for £3 million, a £1.5m Revolving Credit Facility with an interest rate of 2.75 per cent. plus 3 month LIBOR per annum and a £0.5m overdraft facility with an interest rate of 1.75 per cent plus 3 month LIBOR per annum with Lloyds Bank plc. The facilities are currently undrawn and are intended to provide resources to support Marlowe's growth strategy.

Alex Dacre, Chief Executive of Marlowe plc, commented:

"The acquisition of Swift is the first step for Marlowe as we start to build a leading support services company focussed on critical asset maintenance services. Since May 2015, when Charles Skinner, Derek O'Neill and I joined Peter Gaze on the Board we have, I believe, developed a deeply considered and tested strategy. During our search for targets we came to realise that Swift, led by industry veteran Nigel Jackson, was an ideal platform for growth in our chosen markets. Swift benefits from a broad base of annuity-type recurring revenues in a market which is underpinned by stringent legislation and is displaying growing barriers to entry. I am confident that Swift will form the foundation of a dynamic business-to-business service group as we look to enhance shareholder value and generate consistent returns."

The above figure (21,084,999) may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules. 

Defined terms used in this announcement shall have the same meaning as ascribed to them in the Admission Document relating to the Company dated 29 February 2016, available to view on the Company's website at www.marloweplc.com.