4th Feb 2014 07:00
For release 7am 4 February 2014
Quindell Plc
("Quindell", the "Company" or the "Group")
Telematics Update, Contract Wins and Acquisition Options
Quindell Plc (AIM: QPP.L), the provider of sector leading expertise in software, consultancy and technology enabled outsourcing in its key markets, being Insurance, Telecommunications and their related sectors is pleased to provide an update and announce contract wins together with further significant developments in the Group's telematics opportunity.
· Additional £200 million of outsourcing business contracted since pre-close in mid January 2014
· Telematics growth exceeding all market expectations
· Notice given to exercise Himex option to increase investment to over 75% within next 10 days
· Ingenie investment increased to 49% and option obtained to acquire at least 80%, potentially 100%
Trading update
On 14 January 2014, in the Group's most recent trading update, the Group confirmed over £100 million of new business since the conclusion of the successful £200 million fundraise (net of expenses) in mid November 2013 and that it was at late stage negotiation for new contracts which in combination represented over £300 million per annum. The Group is now pleased to confirm that of the £300 million in late stage negotiation, over £200 million is now fully contracted. New volume has been won across a number of brands, including revenues associated with claims from an associate brand of one of the UK's largest motor insurers. The Group expects that volumes resulting from these new contracts should reach full run rate by the end of the first half of the current financial year.
The Directors believe that it is clear that current market expectations for its technology revenues are likely to be significantly exceeded in 2014, and that these revenues are expected to grow significantly towards the second half of 2014 as the telematics subscriber base grows within client implementations. This is through both the initiatives the Group is announcing today and from the performance of the Group as announced at the pre-close. Both the growth in the Group's technology business and the nature of the broking business conducted by ingenie have a very favourable cash profile compared to that of the improving profile of the Group's Services Division, and this is expected to provide further support to the growth in the Services Division, further reducing overall Group trade debtor days.
Telematics update
The Group has previously highlighted the opportunity to build a 10 million subscriber base each paying between $5 to $15 per month, equating to $600 million to $1.8 billion per annum in high margin recurring technology revenues in the medium to long term. This is led by the Group's telematics insurance and its other Connected Car initiatives. In addition, it has also illustrated the opportunity to further improve the margin on this revenue if the Group was to increase its shareholding in its Himex investment to a majority position and with the expansion of its distribution agreement with Himex from the UK and Canada onto a global basis.
The Group's position in insurance based telematics is already well advanced in the UK where Quindell currently enjoys a dominant market share. Over the last year, the UK market has seen a growth in the number of telematics policies sold by circa 116,000, with ingenie representing approximately 20% of black box insurance growth. Further, in combination with its other clients, the Group is providing technology to leading brands in the telematics space that in combination represent approximately 80% of the growth over the last year in the UK. On a global basis, the Group's strong positioning is supported by the findings of Ptolemus Consulting, which in its 2013 Global Study into Usage Based Insurance the Himex/Quindell proposition was the only solution out of the 77 providers surveyed that was listed in the top three in all categories globally being black box, OBD dongle and smartphone.
Increase in Himex investment
As previously communicated, the Group's rationale for activating its option to acquire over 75% of Himex Limited ("Himex") is that it was in live implementations with three out of the top 20 US insurers and in pilots with a further four, as well as being in joint work in the UK and in Canada and seeing initial successes in continental Europe.
The Group is pleased to confirm that it has now given formal notice of its intention to activate its option to acquire Himex (the "Himex Option") and has also made an offer to take a direct holding in some associated and related entities to Himex. These transactions will ensure that the Group can fully leverage the unique market lead it has been establishing in the UK, Canada and the US. It will also help maximise the potential from the significant traction that the Group is now seeing in continental Europe, as well as ensuring it possesses all the key components to support a distribution arrangement that is being negotiated for key territories within Asia and the Middle East.
On the completion of the Himex Option and dependent upon the level of take up of these offers, which will result in the Group attaining ownership of at least 75%, the Group will pay up to £23 million in cash and issue up to 325 million new shares over the next 10 days as the transactions are concluded. The Directors expect that this acquisition will be earnings enhancing in 2014 and significantly earnings enhancing in the longer term as subscriber levels continue to grow. The shares issued as part of the Himex Option, which will represent circa 5% of the fully diluted share capital of the Company, will be subject to multi year lock up and ongoing orderly market.
Increased investment and option over remaining shares in ingenie Limited
The Group is also pleased to announce that it has increased its investment in ingenie Limited ("ingenie") by 6% to circa 49% ("ingenie Investment"). The terms of the ingenie Investment were satisfied by the issue of 15,348,836 Quindell shares. In addition, the Group has been granted a formal option from shareholders, who in combination with Quindell represent over 80% of the shares in ingenie, and is expecting confirmation back from the remaining holders which, once confirmed, would see the Group having an option over 100% of the shares (the "ingenie Option"). The terms of the ingenie Option would see the Group issuing a maximum of 190 million shares to achieve 100% ownership.
The ingenie Option can be exercised up to 31 January 2015, but it is the Group's intention to activate it earlier as the Group reaches final contracts in a number of territories with major insurers to support ingenie's UK and global expansion plans, and once the Board is confident of being able to demonstrate significant shareholder value creation. All shares issued under the ingenie Investment and those relating to the ingenie Option will be subject to lock in for between 12 months and three years, and ongoing orderly market thereafter.
The Company also announces today that on 3 February 2014, following an exercise of warrants, the Company has issued and allotted 4,048,583 new Quindell shares of 1 penny each.
Application has been made for the 19,397,419 new shares to be admitted to trading on AIM, with Admission of the shares expected to occur on 11 February 2014. Following Admission, Quindell will have 5,861,974,429 ordinary shares in issue. The Company has no ordinary shares held in treasury. The total of 5,861,974,429 ordinary shares may therefore be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
For further information:
Quindell PlcRob Terry, Founder and Executive Chairman
Laurence Moorse, Group Finance Director
| Tel: 01489 864201 terryr@quindell.com Tel: 01489 864205 moorsel@quindell.com |
Cenkos Securities plcJoint Broker and Nominated AdvisorStephen Keys/Bobbie Hilliam
Canaccord Genuity Limited Joint Broker and Financial Advisor Simon Bridges Bruce Garrow |
Tel: 020 7397 8900
Tel: 020 7523 8000
|
Media EnquiriesRedleaf Polhill Limited Rebecca Sanders-Hewett Jenny Bahr |
Tel: 020 7382 4730 quindell@redleafpr.com
|
Notes to Editors:
About Quindell Plc
Quindell Plc is a provider of sector leading expertise in software, consultancy and technology enabled outsourcing in its key markets being insurance, telecommunications and their related sectors. Quindell enters 2014 with a run rate of gross sales approaching £600 million and approaching £200 million of EBITDA. Our award winning business transformational, software, consultancy and outsourcing solutions are recognised as delivering significant savings and additional sales to our customers every year. For further information, please visit www.quindell.com.
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