24th Mar 2015 08:26
LONDON (Alliance News) - NCC Group PLC Tuesday said it will buy Accumuli PLC for GBP55 million in a cash and shares, a deal that will bolster NCC's security offering and boost its earnings.
The two companies have agreed the terms of the deal and the Accumuli board has recommended it. NCC said it already has irrevocable undertakings from holders of 57.3% of Accumuli's stock to accept the offer of 0.1218 shares in the new company and 5.97 pence in cash per Accumuli share.
The offer values each Accumuli share at about 32.8 pence based on the closing price of NCC shares on Monday, a roughly 19.1% premium to Accumuli's closing price of 27.5 pence on Monday.
Accumuli shares were up 9.1% at 30.00 pence early Tuesday, one of the best-performing stocks on the AIM All-Share index, while NCC shares were down 5.9% at 207.00 pence.
NCC said that the cash consideration will be funded from revised banking facilities with Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC.
The two companies have already been bidding together on a number of projects, and NCC thinks it'll be better placed to bid for complex projects in a sole capacity.
"This earnings enhancing acquisition is another important step in our ambition to provide a comprehensive package of security solutions and services - our customers' need for an organisation with a wider range of cybersecurity capabilities continues to grow," said Chief Executive of NCC Rob Cotton in a statement.
"The Accumuli board is pleased to recommend this acquisition, and feels that the structure of the offer should allow Accumuli shareholders to benefit from the potential advantages of the two businesses combining. The deal should also be highly beneficial to our existing customer base," Accumuli Non-Executive Chairman Nick Kingsbury said.
In a separate trading update, Accumuli said it expects to post earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in line with its expectations for the year to end-March, on a rise in revenue to GBP27 million from GBP16.6 million.
Revenue growth was boosted by a strong performance from its Technology Solutions business, an in line performance from its Professional Services and Managed Services arms, and stronger than it had expected performance from Armstrong Adams, which it acquired last June.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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