Acquisition

6th Nov 2006 07:01

6th November 2006 Acquisition of Service Graphics Limited The Board of St Ives plc ("St Ives") is pleased to announce that St Ives hasacquired the whole of the issued share capital of Service Graphics Limited("Service Graphics" or "the Company") for an initial consideration of ‚£18million.Established in 1961 Service Graphics is the UK's market leading independentlarge format graphics producer. It provides a wide range of large formatdigital print services and offers a fully comprehensive consultancy,manufacturing and installation service to the exhibition, retail, creative,live event and leisure sectors. Particular areas of expertise include theprovision of all kinds of display products, modular and custom designedexhibition stands, full service retail solutions and giant media production.Service Graphic's current clients include: RBS, Berkeley Homes, BAA and Boots.The Company has some 400 employees located in offices and production facilitiesin London, Bristol, Edenbridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hayes (Middlesex),Nottingham, Salisbury, Skelmersdale and Wales giving it extensive UK geographiccoverage. Following the acquisition it will continue to be managed by theexisting management team as part of the Commercial Products Segment of St Ivesunder the leadership of Simon Ward. The acquisition gives both Service Graphicsand St Ives the opportunity to cross sell a wider product offering to a broadercustomer base. There is minimal product or customer overlap and the technicalcapabilities and product offerings of the two businesses are complementary.In the financial year ended 31st December 2005, Service Graphics generatedprofit before interest, amortisation of goodwill and exceptional items of ‚£1,768,210 on turnover of ‚£36,075,061. At the date of acquisition, assets areexpected to be approximately ‚£9 million and it is being acquired on a debt freebasis.The consideration for the acquisition consists of an initial ‚£18 million,payable in cash on completion, provided that the profit before interest afterexcluding certain non recurring expenses for the year ending 31st December 2006exceeds ‚£2.67 million. Additional consideration will be paid to certaindirector shareholders if profit (as defined above) exceeds ‚£2.97 million foreach of the years ending 31st December 2007 and 2008.The cash consideration will be financed out of St Ives' available bankfacilities.Commenting on the announcement, Simon Ward the Chief Executive of Direct andPoint of Sale activities at St Ives said: "Service Graphics is focused on thedelivery of exceptional service and represents a real catch in today's digitalmarket place. The acquisition significantly extends our digital capabilitiesand reinforces our strategy of developing further specialist print relatedservices, increasingly through digital technology."Announcing the acquisition, Brian Edwards, Managing Director of St Ives, said:"This acquisition represents a further investment in our digital capabilities.Digital technology is at the forefront of our future strategy and we now offerthe widest range of digital format printing and related services in the UK."For further information contact:St Ives plcBrian Edwards, Managing Director 020 7928 8844SmithfieldJohn Antcliffe 020 7360 4900Rupert TrefgarneENDST IVES PLC

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