Acquisition & Placing etc.

Cube8 Group PLC 12 December 2001 THE CUBE8 GROUP PLC ('the Company') Acquisition Of Room Service (UK) Limited, Capital Reconstruction, Capital Reduction, Change Of Name, Placing & Admission To Trading On The Alternative Investment Market INTRODUCTION It was announced on 17 October 2001 that your Board was in discussions regarding a possible acquisition and that consequently trading in the Company's shares on AIM was suspended. Your Board is now pleased to announce that it has conditionally agreed to acquire the whole of the issued share capital of Room Service (UK) Limited ('Room Service') (not already owned by it) from the Vendors, for a consideration of £1,465,950 to be satisfied by the issue of 69,807,145 Shares in Cube8. The company is also seeking to raise approximately £250,000 (before expenses) by way of a placing of 11,904,760 Placing Shares at 2.1p per share. The Board are also proposing to change the Company's name to Room Service Group plc to reflect the change of business of the Company following the Acquisition. The Acquisition and other proposals are conditional on shareholder approval of the Resolutions at the EGM to be held on 4 January 2002 and on Admission. Completion of the Acquisition and other proposals is expected to take place immediately following the EGM. Application has been made for the admission of the enlarged issued share capital to trading on AIM and it is expected that admission will take place on 7 January 2002. BACKGROUND TO AND REASONS FOR THE ACQUISITION The Company was formed in January 2000 as an incubator for investments in internet, telecoms, media and other technology companies and the provision of e-business consultancy services. Since the downturn in the market and the shift in sentiment of the investment community away from internet incubators and technology investment companies generally, the Board has been considering ways in which it can maintain shareholder value and has been looking at various acquisition opportunities. The Group's portfolio of investments is not currently producing any income and the cash position of the Group, which as at 30 June this year was £1.82 million, continues to be eroded by administrative costs. As at 30 November 2001, the latest practicable date prior to publication of this document, cash at bank and in hand stood at £811,320.30. Cube8 initially invested in Room Service in November 200, when it bought a 2.27% stake at a cost of £75,000 the consideration for which was satisfied by the issue of 2,000,000 Existing Ordinary Shares. Room Service, which is principally a supplier of food and drink delivery services, is an established business with a loyal customer base in the London area and in the opinion of the Directors of Room Service is in an excellent position to increase its market penetration in London, expand its range of services and widen its geographic coverage. INFORMATION ON ROOM SERVICE Background and Development Room Service's principal business is the provision of food and drink delivery services to homes and offices in the London area. It also provides additional services including dry cleaning and chauffeur driven cars. Room Service was founded by Ronnie Pearl and Gerald Gold. Ronnie Pearl had seen similar services in the United States and became convinced that there was a market in London for a convenient delivery service offering a varied choice of food and wine for delivery to homes and offices. Gerald Gold already had experience in the catering and restaurant business. Together, Ronnie Pearl and Gerald gold launched the central London delivery service in February 1993, initially with 13 restaurant partners. Room Service distributes brochures with menus from its partner restaurants. The customers place their orders, which can be from one or more of the restaurants, with the Room Service call centre. Room Service then relays the order to the relevant restaurant(s) and arranges for the food to be collected and delivered to the customer's home or office by smartly dressed drivers. In 1993 the North West London and City delivery zones were launched, adding a further 32 restaurants. In late 1993, Room Service Catering service was launched to provide kitchen prepared light lunches and dinners, for meetings and events in the corporate sector. In 1997 the Room Service wine and beer delivery service was launched. The company has a non-wholesale licence which allows it to deliver alcoholic drinks by the bottle or case, anywhere in the country from a mobile drinks store. Today there are 98 restaurants which work exclusively with Room Service. Room Service receives on average over 2,000 orders for food and/or drink delivery every week in 3 London delivery zones. Additional Services With a database of over 200,000 potential customers in London, the Proposed Directors believe that Room Service is well positioned to extend its range of services providing a one-stop-shop for various services to suit different customer requirements. In June this year, Room Service launched a dry cleaning service with free collection and delivery of customers' dry cleaning between 7.00am and 11.00pm within the London delivery zones. In early 2001 Room Service also launched their entertainment service allowing customers to purchase videos, DVDs and CDs for home delivery; it is also intended in the future to offer a rental service. In July 2001 Room Service acquired Bluebird Cars, an executive car hire service which is now being integrated into the main Room Service operations centre. Each additional service is handled by the same call centre team based at the same Room Service offices as the logistics managers. Growth Potential Sales have grown consistently year on year in the 7 years to 31 December 2000. Turnover in the year to 31 December 2000 on an annualised basis exceeded turnover in the previous year by £556,833. Growth in the period from August 1997 to December 2000 has been achieved with relatively low expenditure on marketing and sales. Although Room Service is currently providing on average 10,000 meals a week, the Proposed Directors believe that there is significant potential to increase this number in London alone and further to exploit the dry cleaning, car hire, drink delivery and entertainment services. The Proposed Directors will seek to increase market penetration in London for the current range of services by establishing a sales team, and by increasing the distribution of menu booklets and other promotional materials. As well as recruiting new customers, the sales team will seek to cross-sell additional services to customers. The Proposed Directors will also investigate the possibility of bringing some or all of the services to other cities in the UK. A number of strategies, including franchising, are being considered in order to achieve this geographical expansion. The Target Market The Room Service target market is predominantly: * ABC1's * Those people who dine frequently at restaurants * Business and professional people at their offices * Special business targets - corporate, professional firms, institutions, clinics, production and music studios. The Competitors The Proposed Directors do not believe that a directly comparable service for food and drink delivery on the scale provided by Room Service is currently being offered in the London area. Such competitors as exist are mainly in the fast food delivery sector and retail off licences. Current Trading and Prospects The Proposed Directors believe that Room Service's trading has been affected by certain events during the course of 2001. In particular the tragedy of September 11th had a marked impact on sales in September and October. However, the Proposed Directors consider that trading is improving and is currently steady considering the current economic environment and consumer confidence. By developing its market capacity the Proposed Directors believe it will be possible to expand Room Service's existing business and introduce new products thus better exploiting its potential customer base in London and elsewhere in the UK. Expansion of Room Service's business can be handled by the Company's existing call centre, which is established in West Hampstead, offering an integrated and prompt service whilst achieving economies of scale. CAPITAL RECONSTRUCTION & CAPITAL REDUCTION The consideration of £1,465,950 for the Acquisition is to be satisfied by the issue, credited as fully paid (and at a premium), of the Consideration Shares. The Directors' current valuation of the Group results in a value of 0.21p per Existing Ordinary Share, which is below the nominal or par value of 1p. As shares cannot be issued at below the nominal value it is proposed to carry out the Capital Reconstruction and Capital Reduction. Capital Reconstruction At present the authorised share capital of the Company is £8,000,000 divided into 800,000,000 ordinary shares of 1p each of which 417,988,783 are currently issued and fully paid. It is proposed that each Existing Ordinary Share of 1p be subdivided into one Reconstruction Share of 0.1p and one Deferred Share of 0.9p. It is then proposed to consolidate every ten of the Reconstruction Shares into a single New ordinary Share with a nominal value of 1p. The New Ordinary Shares will replace the Existing Ordinary Shares under the Company's Articles of Association and will carry equivalent rights. The Deferred Shares will have no rights to attend or vote at general meetings of the Company and will not be transferable without the prior consent of the Directors of the Company. Share certificates in respect of Existing Ordinary Shares will be cancelled and new certificates posted to Shareholders in due course. No share certificates will be issued for the Deferred Shares. Capital Reduction The Company has from time to time issued shares at a premium and at 30 June 2001, the sum of £9,371,000 stood to the credit of the share premium account. The Group's unaudited balance sheet as at 30 June 2001 showed an accumulated deficit on its profit and loss account. The Company will be unable, under the Act, to pay dividends or make any other distributions until this deficit is eliminated. In view of the size of the deficit the Board believes that it is unlikely that the deficit will be eliminated by the generation of earnings for some years. The Board therefore considers it appropriate (subject to Shareholders' approval and confirmation by the Court) to cancel the Deferred Shares, which will have rights attaching to them as referred to above, and to reduce the share premium account of the Company for the purpose of enabling the Company to reduce or eliminate the deficit on the Company's profit and loss account. The document regarding these proposals has been sent to shareholders today. For further information please contact: The Cube8 Group plc 020 7479 2712 Tim Dean-Smith / Steve Masters Steve@Cube8.com

Companies

Valirx (VAL)
UK 100

Latest directors dealings