Consortium to Invest in Prominent Information Plc
NewMedia SPARK PLC
9 February 2000
PROMINENT INFORMATION PLC (CHANGING ITS NAME TO
CLIPSERVER.COM PLC) RAISES £1.5M OF NEW EQUITY
A consortium of investors led by Intrinsic Value PLC, the
investment trust, NewMedia SPARK plc, the internet
investment company, and COBA Technology Partners has agreed
to invest £1.5 million for a holding of 29.9% (5 million
shares) in Prominent Information Plc ('Clipserver.com')
(www.newsserver.co.uk). NewMedia SPARK's contribution to
the investment is £550,000, giving SPARK a shareholding of
approximately 11% in the Company. The subscription price for
the new shareholders is 30p and as part of the investment
the consortium will also receive one warrant for every two
new shares. The funds raised will be used to establish an
operation in the US, to continue the development of its
technology offering and to broaden its value added services.
Clipserver.com is one of the UK's leading online news
monitoring businesses. It monitors over 400 European
publications, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and alerts its
clients to major published stories by the provision of
editorial summaries delivered over the Internet.
Clipserver.com aims to establish the largest brand in this
area, combining high quality editorial content, broad
geographic coverage and electronic delivery.
Clipserver.coms management team has a proven track record
in on-line business and credibility amongst the large, multi-
national companies that are the core of its customer base.
Gary Forrest, co-founder of Clipserver.com, has established
a reputation in the news monitoring business by leading the
application of technology to a previously low tech industry.
The management team includes Roger P. Williams who has
worked closely with several leading UK news and media
monitoring companies.
Roger P. Williams, Chairman of Clipserver.com, said 'We
welcome the involvement of our new directors Luke Johnson
and Mark Farrer-Brown. The involvement of Intrinsic Value
and NewMedia SPARK will give Clipserver.com additional
credibility with investors and customers.'
Clipserver.com currently has a team of 15 full time
editorial staff, 49 production staff supported by 14
administrative and software staff, all producing high
quality 'content' for its clients. Currently Clipserver.com
has over 50 large corporate clients within which 70,000
people access Clipserver.com's information. These clients
have been gained largely since Clipserver.com launched its
Internet service in November 1999.
Luke Johnson, co-manager of Intrinsic Value and non-
executive director of NewMedia SPARK, who is to join the
Board of Clipserver.com as a non-executive director, said:
'We believe that in this age of intense competition and
information overload the specialist on-line services that
Clipserver.com offers will help keep their customers a step
ahead. Clipserver.coms technology offering is superior to
its competitors and we will be looking to exploit that
advantage and to expand Clipserver.coms value added
services focusing on the Internet.'
Clipserver.com was established in 1997 by merging the assets
of two established press cutting agencies and is quoted on
Ofex. It is likely to move onto AIM shortly. The business
began as a supplier of information packs of clippings by
courier or fax. It has migrated to electronic delivery and
is increasingly moving to the supply of information over
corporate intranets and the Internet.
Intrinsic Value PLC is an authorised investment trust whose
objective is to achieve growth by investing primarily in
smaller quoted and unquoted companies, principally in the
UK. The co-managers of Intrinsic are Luke Johnson, Mark
Horrocks and Mark Farrer-Brown.
NewMedia SPARK plc is one of Europe's leading early stage
Internet investment companies with a market capitalisation
of approximately £250m. Clipserver.com is the fourteenth
investment by SPARK since its shares began trading on the
Alternative Investment Market on 28th October 1999.
Coba Technology Partners ('CTP') is a subsidiary of The COBA
Group, a specialist strategy consultant focusing on
technology and e-commerce. CTP provides investment
screening and due diligence services to private equity
providers and corporates, as well as business development
and fund-raising support for e-entrepreneurs.
For further information:
Roger P. Williams/Gary Forrest 'Clipserver.com PLC'
0171 959 1204/0171 959 1202
Luke Johnson/Mark Farrer-Brown 'Intrinsic Value PLC and
NewMedia SPARK plc' 0171 499 5311
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