Acquisition of Business and Assets of Technologo
7 March 2011
AIM: ALT
Altitude Group plc
("Altitude" or the "Group")
Trade Only Limited acquires strategic technology assets of Technologo
The board of directors of Altitude (the "Board"), the promotional merchandise and marketing solutions group, announces that its software solutions and information services subsidiary, Trade Only Limited ("Trade Only") has entered into an agreement to acquire the business and assets of Technologo, a leading supplier of virtual sample technology solutions to the promotional product industry.
Trade Only has agreed terms with Landmark Corporate Marketing Services Ltd, which wholly owns the Technologo business, to acquire the technology, customer contracts, supplier product database, trading name, goodwill, and certain other assets of Technologo for US$1.9m in cash. Technologo is headquartered in Toronto, Canada and specialises in the development and licensing of virtual sample technology solutions to distributors and suppliers of promotional merchandise. Its customer base extends beyond Canada to the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands and other key markets.
The acquisition is a key step towards Trade Only's strategic goal of becoming a leading provider of Cloud-based business software solutions and information services to the promotional merchandise industry globally. Technologo provides both a valuable information service between suppliers of promotional merchandise and independent distributors, as well as easy to use web-based virtual sample technology, which provides customers with enhanced operational efficiency. Trade Only has been a licensed user of Technologo technology for several years.
The Board believes that Technologo's technology and services strengthen Trade Only's Cloud-based business solution offerings. The acquisition will also accelerate Trade Only's expansion activities in North America that have been underway since the launch of Vision, its latest version of its Cloud-based Ecommerce solution in January at the PPAI Expo in Las Vegas, NV. The Board expects Technologo's experienced team of sales and customer service staff to help support Trade Only's growing user numbers.
The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions and is expected to complete by mid April 2011, at which time a further announcement will be made.
For the year ended 31 December 2010, the unaudited management accounts of Technologo show revenues of approximately US$800,000 and underlying operating profits of approximately US$150,000. From completion, the founder and CEO of Technologo will enter into an 18-month consultancy agreement with Trade Only and it is expected that all other Technologo staff will become employees of Trade Only Technology Services Ltd. a Canadian wholly owned subsidiary of the Group.
Colin Cooke, Chairman of Altitude, commented:
"I am delighted that we have agreed terms to purchase the business and assets of Technologo. This represents an important step in our strategy to reposition Trade Only as a stand-alone business within Altitude, and to develop its business in the provision of Cloud-based business solutions and information services. I welcome the highly experienced employees from Technologo who will help us to deliver our solutions to existing and prospective customers within the substantial North American market".
Martin Varley, Chief Executive of Altitude and President of Trade Only, commented:
"The promotional merchandise industry is highly fragmented and underserved from an integrated business solutions and information services perspective. Trade Only's Cloud-based services facilitate both operational efficiency gains to our customers as well as the ability to drive new customer acquisition and revenue growth. I believe the combination of Technologo and Trade Only will create a compelling offering for the North American market."
Contact:
Altitude Group plc
Colin Cooke (Chairman) Tel: + 44 (0) 870 224 6677
Martin Varley (Chief Executive) UK Tel: + 44 (0) 7912 599 012
US Tel: +1 305 639 0252
Merchant Securities
Lindsay Mair / Bidhi Bhoma Tel: 020 7628 2200
Notes:
Altitude Group plc has two distinct but related businesses. The Promotional Marketing division is one of the UK's leading suppliers and distributors of promotional merchandise to corporate and trade customers
The Exhibitions and Technology division (Trade Only) provides a range of Cloud-based Ecommerce, Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management and web-based solutions to both suppliers and distributors operating in the promotional merchandise industry. Trade Only also provides information services to the industry including product data flow between suppliers and independent distributors, and the UK's largest trade show for promotional merchandise industry.
This information is provided by RNS