Northern Bear Regulatory News (NTBR)

13 Nov 2007 07:01

Northern Bear Plc13 November 2007 Northern Bear PLC ("Northern Bear" or "the Company") Acquisition of Jennings Properties Limited The board of Northern Bear, the integrated North of England based buildingmaterials and services supplier, is pleased to announce the acquisition ofJennings Properties Limited and its subsidiary Jennings Roofing Limited (beingtogether "Jennings"). Jennings, based in Leeds, is a roofing contractorspecialising in both commercial and residential work. The directors of NorthernBear believe that this acquisition is a good strategic fit for the Northern Beargroup. In the financial year ended 30 April 2007, Jennings achieved an aggregateaudited turnover of £7.1 million and a combined profit before tax of £0.68million, after payments to directors of £0.7 million, of which in excess of £0.5million will no longer be payable following the acquisition. As at 30 April2007, Jennings had aggregate net assets of £1.4 million. The maximum consideration to be paid for the entire issued share capital ofJennings is £5.1 million ("the Consideration"). The Consideration is to besatisfied by the payment of £3.23 million in cash from the Company's existingresources at completion. Up to a further £0.6 million is payable in cash, £0.3million of which is dependent upon the achievement of certain performancecriteria. The balance of £1.27 million will be satisfied by the issue of1,025,744 new ordinary shares in the capital of the Company ("Shares").Application will be made for the Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM, suchadmission expected to be effective on 19 November 2007. As a result of the issue of the Shares, the issued share capital of the Companywill comprise 16,950,089 ordinary shares of 1p each, with each ordinary sharecarrying the right to one vote. John Pither, Chairman of Northern Bear, commented "We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Jennings which brings with it ahigh calibre management team, and which we believe further strengthens ourspread of North East based businesses." Enquiries please contact: Northern Bear PlcGraham Forrest, Chief Executive0191 371 2934 Strand Partners LimitedJames Harris / Braden Saunders020 7409 3494 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange