Acquisition

Ten Alps Communications PLC 27 September 2002 Ten Alps acquires TV animation company Red Welly Ten Alps Communications PLC ('Ten Alps') announces the acquisition of 100% of the issued share capital of Red Welly Studios Limited ('Red Welly'), a digital effects and animation production company. Since its formation in 1999, Red Welly has produced projects for some 30 clients such as Lego, Warner Brothers, BAE Systems, Virgin, Bentley, Honda, BP, Chrysler, Canon, Barclays, BT and Samsung - either contracted directly, or as subcontractors. Red Welly already supplies Ten Alps with TV graphics sequences and advertising graphics. The Derby-based company will be renamed Ten Alps Red Welly and continue its corporate work as well as focussing on new TV animation projects. 'This is vertical integration which makes sense from both the cost and revenue sides,' said Ten Alps Chief Executive Alex Connock. 'Red Welly produce excellent work on a very low cost base, plus we aim to use our marketing network to drive more business their way. Almost every one of the clients we have as a group, from Microsoft to The Boat Show to the BBC, sees design as the critical component in the work we do. We see a lot of opportunity.' Financial Terms In the financial year to November 2001 Red Welly produced an after-tax profit of £23,028 on turnover of £130,603. The balance sheet as at 30.11.01 showed net assets of £28,442. The initial payment will be £50,000 in cash, for assets valued at £50,000. For the period to March 2003 a further consideration of 50% of after-tax profits will be payable, half in shares at prevailing market price, and half in cash. For the year end March 2004 and 2005, payments will be triggered only beyond thresholds of £10,000 and £15,000 respectively. 'We have valued Red Welly conservatively, based on its financial actuals, and excluding any synergy benefits. But this is also a future play for us, enabling us to extract real synergies in events pitches, advertising and TV graphics,' said Ten Alps Finance Director Nitil Patel. 'The company will retain its cost-effective offices in Derby, where the annual rent is only £4000, but they will have a presence at our office in London, and finance functions will be taken on by our team without additional resources.' Commercial opportunity 'Design, design, design - that's the focus of the communications business at the moment,' said Red Welly joint Creative Director James Harpham, 27. 'Having the chance to bring our design credentials through Ten Alps to prestige customers such as Flextech, NCR and SONY is a huge opportunity for us.' Animation projects Over a horizon of the next two years, Ten Alps also plans to develop animation projects with Red Welly for broadcast, in which Ten Alps would hope to retain significant rights. 'Creating a Bob the Builder project is clearly a Holy Grail in the broadcast business,' said Connock. 'We are not necessarily modelling any business plans on success like that, but nonetheless this is a game where we believe we have all the editorial expertise, and which we very much want to play in. With Red Welly we have the right excellence and an extremely competitive cost-base to take the market on.' 'We've always wanted to do animation projects and indeed games. We believe we have some exciting properties in development, and are keen to use Ten Alps as a route to financing them,' said Paul Biver, 30, joint Creative Director. More information www.tenalps.com www.redwellystudios.com Contact Press: Sheila Gunn 07884 437934 Alex Connock Chief Executive Ten Alps Communications PLC 0207 089 3686 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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