Agreement

Actif Group PLC 10 July 2000 ACTIF GROUP plc ('ACTIF' OR THE 'COMPANY') Announcement of agreement with major European producer of underwear and associated initial equity investment of £2.1m Actif Group is currently the European licensee for both the JOE BOXER brand for underwear and sleepwear categories and the ELLE brand for clothing products including underwear and sleepwear categories. ELLE merchandise worldwide retail sales exceed 1 billion USD and JOE BOXER is now the third largest underwear brand in the United States. These licences are in line with the Group's strategy to acquire clothing rights for international quality brands and to develop those brands through a variety of routes to market in the UK and Europe. The Board of Actif Group PLC is pleased to announce it has today entered into a sourcing and strategic investment agreement with Hatzioannou Holdings S.A., a major European producer of underwear. Highlights: * Establishes a preferred supplier and customer relationship between Actif Group plc and Hatzioannou Holdings S.A. for the provision of underwear for ELLE and JOE BOXER brands * Strategic investment by Hatzioannou Holdings S.A - initial investment of £2.1 million by Hatzioannou Holdings S.A for 7,000,000 new Ordinary Shares at 30p per share, representing 10.7 per cent of the enlarged issued share capital. - Hatzioannou Holdings S.A has the option, within 18 months, to subscribe for a further 7,500,00 new Ordinary Shares at an exercise price of 42p representing a further £3.15 million investment and would result in a total holding of 20 per cent in the Company. * This agreement supports Actif Group's planned expansion into underwear for both ELLE and JOE BOXER in UK and European markets. Commenting today, Martin Lent, Chief Executive, said: 'We are delighted to have established this valuable relationship with one of Europe's largest and prestigious manufacturers of underwear. Our commitment to the ELLE and JOE BOXER brands means that we require a strong partner to help with both garment manufacture and development of a European distribution network. The injection of capital into our business demonstrates the faith Hatzioannou has in our strategy and in our brands and we look forward to a long and profitable relationship for both parties. 'The combination of the investment by Hatzioannou and the strength of the ELLE and JOE BOXER brands gives us encouragement for next year's trading. Recent trading on the high street has been slightly disappointing and, as we have suffered short delays to our planned store and concession opening programme, we anticipate our profits for the year ending 31 July 2000 to be a little below expectations.' Enquiries: Actif Group PLC Tel: 020 7436 3330 Martin Lent, Chief Executive Simon Banfield, Finance Director Hudson Sandler Tel: 020 7796 4133 Piers Hooper / Wendy Baker ACTIF GROUP PLC ('ACTIF' OR THE 'COMPANY') Announcement of agreement with major European producer of underwear and associated initial equity investment of £2.1m. Actif Group's strategy is to acquire the clothing rights for quality brands and to use its management experience to develop those brands through a variety of routes to market in the UK and Europe. Actif Group's management believe that there is a large potential market for development of further underwear business in Europe. In order to support the Group's planned expansion into underwear for both the ELLE and JOE BOXER brands, the board of Actif Group PLC is pleased to announce that it has entered into a conditional agreement with Hatzioannou Holdings S.A., a major European producer of underwear. Under this agreement, Hatzioannou Holdings S.A. is identified as being the Group's preferred supplier of underwear and will make an initial strategic investment of £2.1 million in Actif Group. The agreement provides for an initial equity investment of £2.1 million by Hatzioannou Holdings S.A. for 7,000,000 new Ordinary Shares at 30p per share (representing approximately 10.7 per cent. of the enlarged issued share capital of the Company following completion of the Investment). The agreement also establishes a preferred supplier and customer relationship between the parties. In addition the Company has agreed to grant Hatzioannou Holdings an option to subscribe for a further 7,500,000 new Ordinary Shares at an exercise price of 42p per share within 18 months. If this option was exercised in full the Company would receive a further £3.15 million and Hatzioannou Holdings S.A. would then hold approximately 20 per cent of the enlarged issued share capital of the Company. Hatzioannou Holdings S.A. is a public company listed on the Athens Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of £383 million and an annual turnover of £55 million. Hatzioannou Holdings S.A. has technically advanced and high quality production capabilities for seam-free lingerie and hosiery and is already a supplier to the Group. As well as underwear Hatzioannou Holdings S.A. manufacturers swimwear, fitnesswear and casual clothing in both jersey and other knitted products. This strategic investment by Hatzioannou Holdings S.A. will enable Actif Group to undertake a more rapid expansion of its underwear business for both ELLE and JOE BOXER across the growing European market. The preferred supplier/customer agreement provides the Group with the benefits of long term access to high quality, competitively priced, fast turn around production sources for underwear to aggressively target the significant European underwear market. The Investment and the Option are each conditional upon the shares to be issued being admitted to trading on AIM and the agreement with Hatzioannou Holdings S.A. is conditional upon shareholders approving the disapplication of pre-emption rights to enable the Option to be granted. There will be an EGM of Shareholders, to be held at 20 Little Portland Street, London W1N 5AE, at 10 am on 31 July 2000. The Company has agreed, subject to shareholder approval, that Hatzioannou Holdings S.A. may nominate one suitable non- executive director for appointment to the Board. NOTES TO EDITORS: Actif Group's strategy is to acquire the clothing rights for international quality brands and to use its management experience to develop those brands through a variety of routes to market in the UK and Europe. It now has two brands under management and expects to add additional brands in the future. Actif Group's existing activities comprises the design and distribution, both wholesale and retail, of clothing under the ELLE brand in the UK and Europe and for JOE BOXER in the same territories. JOE BOXER Actif announced in May 2000 that it had entered into a 15 year master licence agreement with JOE BOXER Corp, a leading US designer and manufacturer of underwear and sleepwear, for all European territories. In addition, the Group intends to launch a new e-commerce site to support the brand throughout Europe. The licence agreement, which will be held by Actif subsidiary, changedaily.co.uk ltd, covers Joe Boxer underwear and sleepwear product lines for men, women and children. Design origination and overall control of the development of the brand will remain with JOE BOXER in the US. Joe Boxer product lines also include loungewear, home furnishings, bedroom slippers, casual at-home footwear, and sun and optical eye wear for men, women and children. JOE BOXER is distributed throughout the US in over 4,000 department stores, speciality shops and catalogues. Product is also currently produced under license in Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico and New Zealand. Current wholesale volumes worldwide exceed $100m. The license will initially run for 5 years, from 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2005, ('the initial term') with a renewal option for the licensee, subject to the achievement of certain performance criteria. Actif will pay royalties based upon sales volumes at different rates for both wholesale and retail. There will be a minimum royalty payment per annum, increasing through the term of the agreement. ELLE The Company holds the ELLE brand, under license from Hachette, currently until 31 December 2008. The ELLE brand includes activewear, sportswear, nightwear, swimwear and underwear. The ELLE brand is recognised throughout the world, particularly through the magazine of the same name, which has a global readership of 80m worldwide. ELLE clothing is targeted at fashion conscious, independent woman in the 18 to 35 year range. The brand is supported by a new marketing campaign underpinned by the slogan 'ELLE - When trends come to life.' The Group's in-house team designs the ELLE clothing lines, in consultation with Hachette's designers. More than half of the Group's clothing is currently manufactured in Portugal with the balance in the Far East, UK, Turkey and Greece. Group sales have increased from £1.3m in 1995 to £10.2m in 1999, representing a compound growth rate over the period of 67%. Routes to market include: * Wholesale through John Lewis, Debenhams, Karstat, Kaufhof, Globus and Printemps and independent fashion boutiques. Actif introduce dedicated ELLE shop fittings to create 'stores within stores'. It is anticipated that over 50 department stores will be added to the portfolio within the next 2 years. * Retail through the Company's own shops in Bluewater, Kent and Leeds with two new stores opening this month in the Trafford Centre, Manchester and The Metro Centre, Gateshead. The Company has retail concessions in Bentalls, Brown Thomas and Beatties and is opening 18 concessions in House of Fraser by August 2000. The Company also retails through designer outlet centres in Bridgend, Braintree, Portsmouth, Castleford and Cheshire Oaks. The Directors intend to open further dedicated ELLE retail outlets across the UK by July 2002. Lifestyle content, including juice bars, internet access screens, health and beauty facilities will be introduced to stores where appropriate. * Mail order business is strong through Freemans, Empire, Littlewoods, Otto Versand, Spengler and Spiegel. Actif Group will shortly announce the launch of its own dedicated investor relations website. In the meantime all corporate information can be sourced through its Financial and Corporate PR advisers, Hudson Sandler Limited. Please contact either Piers Hooper or Wendy Baker on 020 7796 4133 or at name.name@hspr.co.uk.
UK 100

Latest directors dealings