Velocity Comp Regulatory News (VEL)

25 Oct 2007 07:01

Velti PLC25 October 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 25 October 2007 Velti plc PLACING OF SHARES Velti plc ("Velti" or "the Company"; LSE-AIM: VEL), a leading provider of mobileplatforms, applications and services for advertising agencies, media and mobileoperators, has raised approximately £7.5 million (€10.7 million) beforeexpenses, via a placing of 3,580,000 new ordinary shares of 5 pence each, at aprice of 210p per share, to institutional investors in the UK, Europe and NorthAmerica. Since coming to the AIM market in May 2006 Velti has experienced robust growth.For the six months ended 30 June 2007, revenues increased by 83 per cent to€7.41 million (2006: €4.04 million) and profit before tax by 63 per cent to€1.16 million (2006: €0.71 million). The key drivers of this positiveperformance were successful repeat business from major customers and demand fromnew customers, as well as the extended geographical footprint of the company. In July 2007, the Company announced the creation of Ansible, a joint venturewith Interpublic Group to enable brands, agencies and content providers todevelop and deploy mobile advertising and marketing solutions on a global scale.Since starting operations and with numerous proposals submitted to potentialclients, the Board is very encouraged by the early response to Ansible,confirming the Board's belief in the substantial future of the business. Velti anticipates using the proceeds of the placing to accelerate thedevelopment of Ansible, grow its business with mobile operators in mobilemarketing and advertising, further enhance its products and operatinginfrastructure, and fund working capital needs stemming from rapid growth.Additional development will be primarily around Velti's market-leading mobilemarketing and advertising offering, in the areas of mobile user-generatedcontent and social networks. Velti will also strengthen its operatingcapabilities and infrastructure which includes increasing the capacity of itsoperator-grade data centres. Velti plans to expand its sales force to provide mobile marketing andadvertising platforms to operators in Western Europe, North America and Asia, aswell as to expand its indirect sales channels through relationships with majorsystems integrators. Over the next six months, the company will be expanding itsLondon offices and will be opening new ones in San Francisco, Dubai and Beijing. Alexandros Moukas, Velti's Chief Executive said: "We are delighted with thepositive response to the placing we have received from both new and existingshareholders and will use the funds raised to continue our strong and profitablegrowth." Application has been made for the new ordinary shares to be admitted to tradingon AIM and dealings are expected to commence on 26 October 2007. Following theplacing, there will be a total of 32,774,138 ordinary shares of 5 pence each inissue. Ends CONTACTS Velti:Alexandros Moukas, Chief Executive Officer +44 (0) 20 7633 5000 Pantelis Papageorgiou, Director of Finance Bankside: +44 (0) 20 7367 8888 Simon Bloomfield or Steve Liebmann RBC Capital Markets: +44 (0) 207 653 4667 Sarah Wharry About Velti Founded in 2000, Velti is a leading mobile platforms and services provider thatenables mobile advertising, marketing and mobile content. With offices inLondon, New York, Boston, Athens and Sofia, Velti is already serving customersin 12 countries including leading mobile network operators, advertising agenciesand media groups. Velti, which currently employs more than 220 people, 150 ofwhom are software engineers, is a publicly traded company listed on the LondonStock Exchange (AIM) with sustainable growth in revenues and profits. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange