UNG.L Regulatory News (UNG)

AIM: UNG

Universe Group plc

("Universe" or "the Group")

Major New Contract with Morrisons

Universe (AIM: UNG.L), a leading developer and supplier of point of sale, payment and on-line loyalty systems announces a major new contract with Morrisons, the UK supermarket chain. The contract, for the design and build of the loyalty platform for Morrisons new price match and points card 'Match & More', commenced earlier in the year and the roll-out of the new bespoke loyalty platform has now been completed across all Morrisons outlets. The new contract represents a significant extension of Universe's existing contract with Morrisons and a further deepening of the relationship. It helps to support current market forecasts for the Group in the current financial year and beyond.

Morrisons 'Match & More' points card is the UK's most comprehensive price match and points scheme to date and further underpins Morrisons value-for-money guarantee to customers. Universe subsidiary, HTEC, was responsible for the development of the purpose built loyalty platform and will provide ongoing technology, hosting and maintenance support. The solution is capable of automatically crediting Morrisons cardholders with the difference between Morrisons price match guarantee and any competing lower offer. Shoppers will also be able to collect extra points on hundreds of featured products and fuel, and after 5,000 'March & More' points are accumulated, customers receive a £5 voucher at the till. Customers will also receive offers tailored to their previous shopping habits as captured by the card. 

Crawford Davidson, Customer Services Director of Morrisons, said:

"Match & More is the most comprehensive price match and points scheme in the UK. HTEC has been a trusted technology supplier to us for many years and has a long history of delivering sophisticated loyalty platforms. We naturally turned to them for our Match & More offering."

Jeremy Lewis, Chief Executive of Universe, added:

"Universe's relationship with Morrisons is long-standing and we have a well-established understanding of the group's technology and customer needs. We were delighted to partner with Morrisons over such a ground-breaking loyalty scheme. It is testament to our expertise in designing innovative retail solutions and our passion for customer care."

For further information:

About Universe Group plc:

Universe provides some of the world's leading retailers, particularly in the petrol forecourt and the food retail markets, with point of sale, payment and loyalty solutions. The Group's solutions are based on its own proprietary software and are offered out of the Cloud on a 'software as a service' model with its data centres processing in excess of 1.5 billion transactions every year. For further information, see www.universeplc.com.

About Morrisons plc:

Mainly food & grocery, Morrisons uniquely source and process most of the fresh food that they sell through their own manufacturing facilities. Every week, 12 million customers pass through their doors and 125,000 colleagues across the business work hard each day to deliver great service, covering almost nine million households with their Morrisons.com service. With competitive, permanently low prices and their price matching facility, Morrisons are committed to helping customers save money every day, see www.morrisons.com.

'Match & More' is the first programme of its kind to provide a price match guarantee against Aldi and Lidl as well as Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda with users automatically getting the difference back in points on their card. Shoppers will also be able to collect extra points on hundreds of featured products and fuel. When 5,000 'Match & More' points are accumulated the customer receives a £5 voucher at the till. Morrisons will use insight from the card to tailor offers to customers' individual needs.