OBC.L Regulatory News (OBC)

1 Feb 2006 07:30

ADVFN PLC01 February 2006 News release 1st February, 2006 ADVFN PLC acquires Equity Holdings Limited ADVFN PLC is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of EquityHoldings Limited (EH) for an aggregate consideration of up to £1,500,000 to besatisfied by an initial payment of £500,000 at completion in cash and ADVFN PLCnew ordinary shares, plus a deferred consideration set by reference to theturnover of EH in the three financial years ending 30 June 2008. We have alsoreceived FSA approval for the change of control of the board of Equity HoldingsLimited. Application has been made for 7,488,108 new Ordinary Shares to beadmitted to trading on AIM and it is anticipated that dealings shall commence on6th February 2006. The deferred payments are based on turnover milestones being achieved for theyears ending June 06, 07 and 08. These payments are in a range from nil to£332,000 a year and will become payable through the issue of Ordinary Shares inADVFN PLC, depending upon the achievement of business goals by Equity Holdingsfor the years ending June 06, 07 and 08. Equity Holdings Limited is the owner of the well known research brand EquityDevelopment which is the City's leading regulated provider of company sponsoredresearch. It has produced analysis on well over 100 companies ranging in sizefrom established 'giants', such as BP, to young companies embarking on a quotedexistence via Ofex. ED has just helped a resources client raise £30m frominstitutions in the UK. Brian Basham, Chairman of Equity Holdings Limited and founder of the company in1997, said: "This is an opportunity to take EH onto the next stage of itsdevelopment. Pioneering change is never easy, but when it works, it is hugelysatisfying. We are pleased to have demonstrated that there is a place in thecomplex world of the City for company-sponsored research that sets out toexplain companies in depth and detail. The challenge has been to stick to ourguns and remain objective. Institutional acceptance is the best demonstration ofour success. ADVFN are proven leaders in their own field of expertise and willbe excellent partners to work with us in expanding on the reputation we havenurtured for our clients' benefit." Clem Chambers, CEO of ADVFN said: "The Equity Development brand and product willbe a great addition to the ADVFN stable of content. The private investor cannever have too much quality research and with the plethora of companies on themarket there has never been a more pressing need for companies to be covered byincisive analysis. We look forward to increasing the reach of Equity Holdings'work and expect everyone; ADVFN users, investors and listed companies tobenefit." - Ends - NOTES TO EDITORS For further press information, please contact: Francesca De Franco on 020 70700932 E-mail francescad@advfn.com About ADVFN ADVFN (www.advfn.com) is Europe's number one stocks and shares Web site. With full real-time coverage of the London Stock Exchange, the euronext-liffe, OFEX,NASDAQ, Amex and NYSE, including FTSE, Dow and S&P indices, ADVFN providesprofessional quality information to the person on the street. ADVFN was established in the last quarter of 1999 and floated on AIM in March 2000. It now has over 650,000 registered users who generate in excess of 38million page impressions a month. We currently cover the following areas in the UK, France and America: * Free real-time prices from the London Stock Exchange * EURONEXT-LIFFE * EURONEXT - Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam * NASDAQ * NYSE * AMEX * CBOT * OFEX * FOREX * GTIS FOREX * NYMEX * COMEX * Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) * Kansas Board of Trade * OneChicago * Russian stocks and indices * Canadian stocks, indices, options and derivatives * German stocks and indices - Xetra * Irish stocks and indices * Mexican Exchange * Chilean Exchange * Greek stocks and indices * Singapore stocks and indices * Helsinki Stock Exchange * Stockholm Stock Exchange * Copenhagen Stock Exchange * Warsaw Stock Exchange * Swiss Indices * Johannesburg Stock Exchange and indices * Level 2 data * Comprehensive fundamental data * Streaming stock charts, historic and intraday * CREST stock loan data * Portfolios * RNS and AFX news * UK's busiest financial bulletin boards * Historical data downloads * Stock monitors and filters * Covered Warrants * Trading signals * Investor Relations Web site solutions * PDA service * SMS stock quote service * Headlines - news headline and archive search For more information please contact: Clement ChambersCEO, ADVFN Plc020 7070 0948clemc@advfn.com Francesca de FrancoPR, ADVFN Plc020 7070 0932francescad@advfn.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange