Acquisition of Paynet Limited

LonZim PLC 05 March 2008 5 March 2008 LonZim Plc LonZim acquires Paynet Limited LonZim Plc ('LonZim' or the 'Company'), which has been established for the principal purpose of making investments in Zimbabwe and the Beira corridor in Mozambique, is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement to acquire a 100 per cent. shareholding in Paynet Limited, which in turn is the beneficiary of Lanuarna Trust Zimbabwe ('Lanuarna'). The consideration is US$3,187,000, which LonZim will pay in cash out of its own resources. Included in the acquisition is the newly built, modern commercial property in Harare from which Paynet Zimbabwe operates, valued at US$1,025,000, and other fixed and current assets valued at $371,500. Based on the Zimbabwe Dollar monthly earnings for Lanuarna for 2007, converted to US Dollar figures using the Old Mutual Implied Rate, the profit before tax for 2007, after removing non-realised exchange rate losses and non-recurring expenses, was US$569,000, giving a PBT multiple of 3.15. Lanuarna wholly owns three operating companies in Zimbabwe - Paynet Zimbabwe, Paywell and Autopay - and holds 100 per cent of the property holding company, Le Har. It also has a 51 per cent stake in a joint venture company, Tradanet. Lanuarna has been established and successfully operating in Zimbabwe for ten years and has experienced growth in its core businesses in the past four years, despite the current economic situation. The Paynet Zimbabwe system is an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) system that automates the process of companies transmitting bulk payment instructions to their corresponding banks and financial institutions such as salary transfers, supplier/trade payments and direct debits. This creates a cost-effective and efficient means of transferring funds that is advantageous to both the company and the bank, which has contributed greatly to the rapid success of Paynet Zimbabwe in the past few years, particularly as more basic manual fund transfer methods have become more expensive and error-ridden. In addition to the provision of software systems Paynet Zimbabwe provides a complete outsourced service to its clients for the management of the systems and for providing all training and ongoing technical support to corporate users. AutoPay is Zimbabwe's largest private sector outsourced salary bureau, processing salaries for corporate clients across Zimbabwe. Apart from simply calculating and processing salaries, Autopay provides a complete end-to-end service for managing salary payments, third party payroll creditors, submission of statutory returns, medical aid returns, pension payments, printing of pay slips and production of hard and soft copy accounting reports. Paywell in Zimbabwe is an agent for the Paywell payroll system, licensed out of South Africa. Paywell sells and supports the payroll software to Zimbabwe's largest companies. The company offers both support and training to users either through its own in-house staff or through a number of consultants that have the necessary skills. Tradanet is a 51% owned joint venture company with Ottonby (Pvt) Ltd. Tradanet provides a service for client employees to access small loans at reduced interest rates from the Central Africa Building Society. Le Har is a property owning company and holds the title deeds for the modern and up-market Lanuarna offices in the Mt Pleasant Business Park. David Lenigas, Executive Chairman of LonZim, commented: 'The purchase of Paynet, strategically complements LonZim's previous investment in the Zimbabwean publicly listed company Celsys. These are businesses that are already successful in the current economic environment, demonstrating their strength and potential, and are incredibly well positioned to benefit significantly from an economic upturn in Zimbabwe. With low overheads and a strong and established client base we believe that the acquisition adds considerable value to the growing LonZim portfolio of companies and we look forward to building the LonZim stable of financial companies in this exciting market.' It should be noted that the figures used in this announcement have been derived from Zimbabwe Dollar based accounts; Lanuarna operates in a hyper-inflationary environment subject to exchange rate fluctuations making its financial statements (and those of its subsidiaries) and conversion to US Dollar figures open to wide differences in interpretation. In an effort to quantify the transaction values, Ernst & Young Zimbabwe have calculated a US Dollar earnings figure for Lanuarna by converting the Zimbabwe Dollar monthly earnings figures for 2007 to US Dollar figures using the Old Mutual Implied Rate. ENQUIRIES Lonrho Plc +44 (0)20 7016 5105 David Lenigas, Executive Chairman +44 (0)7881 825 378 Geoffrey White, Chief Executive Officer +44 (0)7717 307 308 Emma Priestley, Executive Director +44 (0)7867 785 177 Pelham PR Charles Vivian +44 (0) 20 7743 6672 +44 (0) 7977 297903 James MacFarlane +44 (0) 20 7743 6375 +44 (0) 7841 672831 Collins Stewart Europe: NOMAD Helen Goldsmith +44 (0) 20 7523 8350 NOTES TO EDITORS About LONZIM: LonZim Plc ('LonZim') is a company focused on developing and acquiring business opportunities primarily in Zimbabwe and the region of Mozambique known as the Beira Corridor, which links Zimbabwe to the coast. LonZim was listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange on 11th December 2007 after raising £29.16 million. LonZim is 20 per cent. owned and managed by Lonrho Plc (AIM: LONR) a company strategically focused on the development of business opportunities in infrastructure, transportation, support services and natural resources throughout Africa. Since listing in December 2007, LonZim has invested in or acquired control of: Celsys Limited www.celsys.co.zw Gardoserve (Private) Ltd t/a Millpal Chemicals Aldeamento Turistico de Macuti, SARL., a company owning land in central Beira on the Mozambique coast This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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