30th Jan 2009 14:06
30 January 2009
Hertford International Group PLC
("Hertford" or "the Company")
Acquisition of Cheque Exchange Limited
("CEL")
Hertford is pleased to announce the completion of the acquisition of CEL, a profitable nation-wide cheque cashing and money remittance business from Provident Financial Plc, for a total maximum consideration of £3.1 million to be satisfied in cash. The acquisition, which for the purposes of the AIM Rules, constitutes a reverse take-over was approved by shareholders at the general meeting of the Company on 22 December 2008.
CEL provides Hertford with an established operational infrastructure, a sales force, and positive cash-flow. It also presents the opportunity to reduce the cost of some currently outsourced services and will enable the Company to acquire a distribution network which will be utilised to sell existing and other planned Hertford products and services.
Importantly, as part of this transaction, Hertford has signed, subject to successful completion of a pilot currently being run, a three year agreement, to be the exclusive provider of door-to-door cheque cashing services through the Provident network, potentially targeting over 1.7 million home consumer credit customers.
Commenting on the acquisition, Lewis Findlay, Chief Executive of Hertford said, "This is a transformational deal for Hertford. We believe that Cheque Exchange currently represents approximately 5% of the entire UK third party cheque cashing market, as well as being the largest independent MoneyGram agent.
He added, "We look forward to building upon this superb business, and are confident that Hertford can substantially increase this market share, as well as capitalising upon further significant opportunities to cross-sell a range of complementary products and services, including a new suite of Crewcard Network pre-paid debit card products which will be launched imminently.
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Contacts:
Hertford International Group Plc Tel: +44 (0) 20 3178 4444
Paul Marks, Non-Executive Chairman
Lewis Findlay, Chief Executive Officer www.hertfordinternationalgroup.com
Zimmerman International Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7060 1760
Graeme Thom
Thilo Hoffmann/Charity Walmsley www.zimmint.com
Hythe Securities Tel: +44 (0) 20 7713 6688
Menaz Metha
Tavistock Communications Tel: +44 (0) 20 7920 3150
Jeremy Carey
Matt Ridsdale www.tavistock.co.uk
Related Shares:
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