Acquisition

7 Sep 2006 07:03

4imprint Group PLC07 September 2006 4imprint Group plc Purchase of the Supreme Group 4imprint Group plc ("4imprint") announces today that it has agreed, subject toShareholder approval, to acquire Supreme Holdings Limited from Blue 11 Limited.The Supreme Group, ("Supreme") based in Blackpool, specialises in themanufacture and wholesaling of promotional products. Unaudited management accounts for the year ending 31 July 2006 show Supreme'ssales were £12 million and operating profits were around £1.4 million. The total consideration is £5 million. £4 million will be payable in cash oncompletion and the remaining £1 million, plus interest of £0.09 million, will bedeferred to 1 July 2008. 4imprint will also assume responsibility for the netdebt in Supreme at completion, expected to be around £7 million. 4imprint intends to merge its complementary Trade Division with Supreme tocreate a business which is expected to have sales of around £25m and operatingprofits around £3.0m. In addition, synergies arising from the merger areexpected to be around £1.5m/annum. The combined business will be managedseparately from the rest of the 4imprint Group. It will have its own Board ofDirectors whose Chairman will be Ken Minton and whose Chief Executive will beRussell Vaughan. Mr Vaughan, the present CEO of Supreme, is 46 years old andhas wide and successful experience of the promotional products business.4imprint intends in the medium term to separate the combined Supreme/Tradebusiness from the 4imprint Group, by way of de-merger or flotation. The proposed acquisition constitutes a Class 1 transaction for the purposes ofthe Listing Rules of the UKLA. Accordingly, completion is subject to theapproval of 4imprint Shareholders. Details of the time, date and venue of theExtraordinary General Meeting of 4imprint to consider the acquisition will beset out in a circular which will be prepared and posted to Shareholders in duecourse. The Supreme Group made a profit before tax of £0.8 million for the year ended 31July 2005 and at that date had gross assets of £16.2 million (including tradeand intercompany receivables of £1.8 million and £2 million, respectively, whichare excluded from the acquisition). Ken Minton, 4imprint Executive Chairman said: "We are very pleased that Supreme and Russell Vaughan and his team are to jointhe 4imprint Group. Supreme has a record of strong organic growth of sales andprofits. The merger of Trade and Supreme, together with the intended subsequent exit ofthe combined business from 4imprint, should provide greater focus and benefitsfor our customers and increase in value for 4imprint shareholders."For further information, please contact: 4imprint Group plc Ken Minton, ChairmanGillian Davies, Group Finance Director Tel: +44 (0) 161 786 0424 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange