UNG.L Regulatory News (UNG)

19 Jan 2006 07:00

Universe Group PLC19 January 2006 19 JANUARY 2006 UNIVERSE GROUP PLC HTEC SECURES PACE PETROLEUM WIN Universe Group plc ("Universe" or the "Company"), the AIM listed retail andinformation systems company, is pleased to announce that Pace Petroleum Limited("Pace Petroleum") is to roll out HTEC's Hydra Chip & PIN OPT payment terminalto their unmanned petrol retailing sites. HTEC is a subsidiary of Universe. Part of the new unmanned solution will be the deployment of HTEC'c Internetbased Virtual Back Office (VBO). This will allow Pace Petroleum to manage thestock, sales and activity of the unmanned sites, by accessing a web server andback office application hosted by HTEC. Graham Timbers of Pace Petroleum says: "We evaluated all of the credible systemson the market and chose to expand our involvement with HTEC because of theremarkable range of functionality available." Ray Mackie, Chairman of Universe, comments: "We are very pleased to have directbusiness with Pace Petroleum. Their requirements are extensive and we areconfident that both Pace Petroleum and their customers will benefit from the newunmanned system." For further information: Universe Group plc 020 7287 0888Ray Mackie, Chairman Charles Stanley & Co Limited 020 7739 8200Russell Cook Bishopsgate Communications Limited 020 7430 1600Dominic BarrettoFran Read Note for Editors: Pace Petroleum is the operating name of Refined Holdings Limited which is aJoint Venture Company between Malthurst, Winston Group and the William PearsGroup. The combined networks of Malthurst and Refined Holdings Limited is thelargest independent fuel distributor and retailer in the country. Malthurst already uses the HTEC Petrol EPoS (HydraPOS), which provides a rangeof business controls integrated into one solution, at many of its sites. HTEC'sEPOS system provides Chip & PIN card payment integrated into the EPoS and systemresilience is provided by HTEC's unique duplex pump interface. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange