Last checked at 2 Feb 2009 09:14
2 February 2009
To be embargoed for release at 8:01 a.m.
The announcement is unchanged and is reproduced in full below.
Avisen plc
("Avisen" or "the Company")
(formerly Z GROUP plc)
Admission to trading on AIM
Further to the announcements made on 7 January 2009 and 30 January 2009, the Company has today completed the acquisition of Avisen Group Limited which was satisfied by the issue of 86,666,667 new ordinary shares in the capital of the Company. The enlarged issued share capital following the transaction was admitted to trading on AIM at 8.00 a.m. this morning with ticker AVI. The Company has 110,412,546 ordinary voting shares admitted to trading on AIM. The legal name of the Company has been changed to Avisen plc with immediate effect.
Avisen provides strategic consultancy and software distribution services in the corporate performance management market. Further information on Avisen and its business is set out below.
Board changes
Following admission, Marcus Hanke, Andrew Turner, Louis Peacock and Keith Jones have been appointed to the board and Ian Smith has resigned from the board. All appointments and the resignation take effect immediately.
Jon Claydon remains Non-Executive Chairman of the Company. In addition, Marcus Yeoman remains a Non-Executive Director and Duncan Neale remains as Finance Director. Marcus Hanke, Andrew Turner, Louis Peacock and Keith Jones have each joined the board. Marcus Hanke has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer. Andrew Turner, Louis Peacock and Keith Jones have each become executive Directors. Mr Turner is responsible for software distribution, Mr Peacock is responsible for European sales and operations and Mr Jones is responsible for African, Middle Eastern and Asian sales and operations.
Brief details on the new directors are set out below:
Marcus Hanke (aged 37), Chief Executive Officer
Marcus Hanke began his career at Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers). He qualified as a chartered management accountant and has since worked in industry with Compass Group Plc and consulting with KPMG and Deloitte. In 2003, he formed an independent Performance Management company which was subsequently acquired by Cognos Inc. in 2004. In 2006, Mr Hanke joined Avisen as Managing Partner and has led the growth of the services business and the diversification into software distribution.
Over the last 10 years Mr Hanke has led several corporate Performance Management programs rolled out in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and has advised some global software application vendors in this area. He specialises in corporate performance management, Value-based Management and the technology enablement of these processes.
Andrew Turner (aged 42), Director
Andrew Turner has over 18 years experience working with Global 2000 organisations, software authors and leading consulting organisations. In his previous role as chief operating officer of Tesco Mobile and as retail operations director, Tesco Telecoms, he was part of the founding team of the new telecoms business unit within Tesco plc from 2003. Prior to telecoms, he spent a number of years in marketing and operations roles within Tesco's financial services joint venture with Royal Bank of Scotland plc.
Prior to Tesco, he worked for MPS Group (NYSE:MPS) as operations director, where he was involved in driving the growth of their e-Business consulting organisation: Idea Integration. Mr Turner has also held senior marketing, product management and sales positions with SAP from 1997 to 1998 and worked with General Electric from 1993 to 1997 across their industrial and services businesses in information management and business change roles in UK and Europe.
Louis Peacock (aged 38), Director
Louis Peacock was born in South Africa where he qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen before moving to the UK in 1996. He has 15 years of commercial, enterprise resource planning ("ERP") systems implementation, corporate performance management and business process re-engineering experience, the majority of this being with Maconomy A.S., the ERP software vendor which is listed in Copenhagen. Prior to joining Avisen, Mr Peacock was managing director of Solution Minds (UK) Ltd, a planning and business intelligence solutions business. Solution Minds (UK) Ltd was acquired by Avisen in January 2008.
Keith Jones (aged 44), Director
Keith Jones is a South African citizen and has over 20 years experience in the IT industry and more than 10 years in the Performance Management market. He has worked across Europe with clients including JP Morgan Chase and UBS before returning to South Africa to co-found Harvey Jones Systems (Proprietary) Limited in 1997. Mr Jones grew the Harvey Jones business to be an international and award winning company which achieved recognition globally with Microsoft prior to its acquisition by Avisen in 2008.
Further information relating to Messrs Hanke, Turner, Peacock and Jones, as required under schedule 2 of the AIM Rule for Companies, is set out below in the section entitled "Additional Information".
Enquiries:
| Avisen plc |
|
| Duncan Neale, Finance Director | 020 7952 4043 |
| Marcus Yeoman, Non Executive Director | |
| John East & Partners Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker) |
|
| Simon Clements | 020 7628 2200 |
| Bishopsgate Communications Ltd | 020 7562 3350 |
| Jenni Herbert |
Background information on Avisen
Avisen is a business and technology consultancy specialising in performance management with a focus on strategy creation, development and implementation. It provides advisory services and software distribution of solutions in the corporate performance management market. Avisen aims to provide specialist advice to enable organisations to build more effective capabilities in order to manage the performance of their business and allow them to achieve their desired targets. The solutions and advice provided by Avisen are used to assist clients in a number of areas including development and implementation of improved business strategies, profitability management and cost reduction services and business or corporate performance management.
Additional information
Under Schedule 2, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules, the following information is disclosed:
Directorships held by Messrs Hanke, Turner, Peacock and Jones in the past five years:
Directorships
| Director | Current Directorships/Partnerships | Past Directorships/Partnerships |
| Marcus Hanke | Avisen Group Limited Healthcare Professionals Limited Solution Minds Ltd Solution Minds (UK) Ltd TagetCPM Limited | Arnke Computing Limited |
| Andrew Turner | Avisen Group Limited Avisen Limited Compton Residents Management Company Limited Cree Limited Dawnglen Investments (Proprietary) Limited Enfourmen Limited Solution Minds (UK) Ltd Solution Minds Ltd TagetCPM Limited Wandisco Limited | Avisen Services Limited Everymind Limited Infokee Limited Intelligent Solutions (Midlands) Limited |
| Louis Peacock | Avisen Group Limited Dawnglen Investments (Proprietary) Limited Solution Minds Ltd Solution Minds (UK) Ltd | Down Under Accounting Limited Dysfunctional Clothing (UK) Limited Formzest Limited Lost Enterprises (Europe) Limited |
| Keith Jones | Altivex 356 (Proprietary) Limited Dawnglen Investments (Proprietary) Limited Harvey Jones Systems (Proprietary) Limited Jazz Spirit 1202 (Proprietary) Limited Ritzshelf 144 (Proprietary) Limited Turquoise Moon Trading 398 (Proprietary) Limited Xanadu Properties 245 (Proprietary) Limited | Salford Ltd Tomahawk Consultants Limited |
Interests of Messrs Hanke, Turner, Peacock and Jones and their connected persons in the share capital of the Company:
| Number of Ordinary Shares | Percentage of Ordinary Shares in issue | |
| Andrew Turner | 28,519,259 | 25.83 |
| Marcus Hanke(1) | 28,569,259 | 25.88 |
| Louis Peacock | 8,767,756 | 7.94 |
| Keith Jones(2) | 7,285,363 | 6.60 |
(1) These Ordinary Shares are held in the name of Strand Nominees Limited
(2) These Ordinary Shares are held by Keith Jones' partner, Odette McMahon
Messrs Hanke, Turner, Peacock and Jones have confirmed there is no additional information under schedule 2, paragraph (g) of the AIM rules which needs to be disclosed.