28th Oct 2008 07:00
Next Fifteen Communications Group plc ('Next Fifteen' or the 'Company') todayannounces that on 27 October 2008, the Company acquired the remaining 13%of Panther Communications Limited ("Panther") that it does not already own, inaccordance with the terms of the sale and purchase agreement between the Companyand Panther's vendors made on 4 August 2005. Panther is the parent company ofthe UK public relations agency Lexis Public Relations Limited ("Lexis"). The Company originally acquired a 25% stake in Panther and had subsequentlyincreased its holding to 87%. The final consideration of £1.77 million has beenpaid to the vendors through the issue of 1,098,591 new ordinary shares of 2.5pence each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") and a cash payment of £1.33million. As the Company recently announced in its preliminary results for theyear ended 31 July 2008, it had net cash of £3.4million following strong cashgeneration during the year. Tim Dyson, CEO of Next Fifteen said "Lexis has been a great addition to the NextFifteen Group. The business has continued to perform well, has broadened ourrange of services and added some excellent executives to the Group. Lexis wasour first significant investment beyond our core technology PR businesses and ithas clearly shown how the Group has the ability and capacity to move into newareas over time. It is our intention to extend the Lexis brand beyond the UKmarket in the next year, assuming the current trading environment remainsfavorable." Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the new OrdinaryShares to be admitted to AIM and it is expected that admission will take placeon 31 October 2008. Enquiries: \* TNext Fifteen Communications Group plcTim Dyson, Chief Executive +1 415 350 2801Mark Sanford, Company Secretary +44 (0)20 7846 0778Canaccord Adams LimitedMark WilliamsAdria Da Breo Richards +44 (0)20 7050 6500\* T Copyright Business Wire 2008Related Shares:
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