3rd Dec 2012 07:00
Embargoed for release 7.00 am 3 December 2012
Quindell Portfolio Plc
("Quindell", the "Group", or the "Company")
Partnering Agreement, Funding & Acquisitions
Quindell Portfolio 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 announce an exclusive partnering agreement, with immediate effect, with Abstract Legal Holdings ("ALH"), the parent company of Accident Advice Helpline ("AAH") a leading ethical online consumer brand providing access to justice for victims of non-fault accidents under a no-win, no-fee agreement.
Partnering agreement and acquisition of Abstract Legal Holdings Limited
The partnership agreement, which comes into immediate effect, will result in Quindell being the exclusive provider of all legal services to AAH, with Quindell, in turn benefiting from certain revenue and profits of AAH and working with AAH's existing legal panel members to provide legal services where capacity requires. In addition, the Group has entered into an acquisition agreement enabling Quindell to acquire ALH ("the Acquisition") on or after 2nd April 2013 ("Completion"), subject to approval from the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Financial Services Authority. Quindell has paid a non-refundable deposit of £19.75 million towards this transaction, satisfied by the issue of 28,571,429 new shares and the payment of £14.97 million in cash. The balance of the consideration for the Acquisition will be satisfied with the issue on Completion of 267,800,000 Quindell shares, which will be subject to lock in arrangements ranging from 12 to 36 months. In return, the vendors of ALH have warranted a business plan for ALH covering the 24 month period to November 2014. In the year ended 31 May 2012, ALH recorded revenues of circa £20 million, EBITDA of circa £5.1 million and net assets of circa £4.7 million.
Accident Advice Helpline is one of the UK's leading ethical online consumer brands, acting as the 'consumer champion' through which the general public can gain access to justice via its panel of law firms. Established in 2000, AAH has a proven track record of identifying and preparing the initial documentation necessary for a legal services firm to pursue a claim on behalf of its consumer client and uses a no-win, no-fee model that is consistent with the models that will survive post the legislative changes due to come into effect in April 2013.
Quindell has already been working as part of the AAH panel through its relationship with Silverbeck Rymer, and during this period has validated the quality of the pack preparation, the level of anti-fraud screening conducted, provided key parts of its ICE Challenger Technology platform and ultimately validated AAH's overall value to the Group. Quindell therefore sees working with Accident Advice Helpline as a great opportunity to ensure that those claims submitted directly by the consumer are channelled through a managed and ethical process such as Quindell's, and in so doing lower the cost of claims for the industry as a whole. Furthermore, when combined with the additional revenues that will be earned by the Group as a result of the combination of the two businesses, the Board is extremely confident that this Acquisition will be significantly and immediately earnings enhancing for the Group when taking into consideration both the profit of ALH and the profit that will be made by the Group by performing the legal, medical and rehabilitation services ALH consumers require.
Agreement with The Compensation Lawyers
Having become the exclusive provider of all legal services to AAH, Quindell has with immediate effect entered into a separate partnering agreement with The Compensation Lawyers ("TCL"), in providing a joint outsourcing offering to the UK insurance claims market, primarily in the areas of personal injury and also other consumer related services. Prior to today, the sole source of cases for TCL, which has circa 90 staff, had been as one of the panel lawyers to ALH.
The agreement enabling Quindell Legal Services Limited to acquire The Compensation Lawyers ("the Acquisition"), which is subject to approval from the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Financial Services Authority, is to be satisfied by the payment of £30,000 in cash and the issue of 2,200,000 Quindell shares which will be subject to lock-in arrangements ranging from 12 to 36 months. This transaction will further expand Quindell's legal services capacity.
Further Funding update
In order to fund the cash element of the above transactions, and reserve the Group's existing funds to support organic growth in 2013, the Group has today raised £17.0 million through the placing of 97,142,857 ordinary shares of 1p each at a price of 17.5p.
Esther Rantzen, renowned Consumer Champion commenting on Accident Advice Helpline: "I promise that as a consumer you will receivefree and impartial advice. Take my advice, you can trust Accident Advice Helpline to look after you. I have complete faith in Accident Advice Helpline as a thoroughly honest and caring company, working on the side of the consumer."
Rob Terry, Chairman and Group Chief Executive of Quindell said: "We are extremely excited to be working alongside the team at Accident Advice Helpline. The addition of a proven, trusted, direct consumer channel to our business model allows us to manage claims from the full range of sources through a managed, ethical supply chain, driving down the cost of claims for the industry.
Since its formation, Accident Advice Helpline has helped thousands of victims claim the compensation to which they are entitled. The principles on which their business is based fit well with our own ethical stance towards working in the insurance industry and underlining their commitment to ensuring injury victims have access to a simple, accountable and impartial compensation claims process, Accident Advice Helpline have been recommended by renowned consumer champion Esther Rantzen for many years. I am confident that having such a high profile and respected brand within the Quindell stable will support our broader extension into consumer advice services, and our partnership to date has been greeted with enthusiasm by the insurance brands that we partner with. I am also pleased to announce that we have raised a further £17m to fund these immediately earning enhancing acquisitions thereby reserving our £80m of available working capital to support organic growth throughout 2013."
Application has been made for 125,714,286 shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Admission of the shares is expected to occur on 7 December 2012. Following Admission, Quindell will have 3,434,435,774 ordinary shares in issue. The Company has no ordinary shares held in treasury. The total of 3,434,435,774 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 change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FSA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
For further information:
Quindell Portfolio PlcRob Terry, Chairman & Group Chief Executive
Laurence Moorse, Group Finance Director |
Tel: 01329 830 501 Tel: 01329 830 543 [email protected] |
Cenkos Securities plcNominated Adviser and BrokerStephen Keys / Adrian Hargrave (Corporate Finance) Alex Aylen / Andy Roberts (Sales)
| Tel: 020 7397 8900
|
Media EnquiriesRedleaf Polhill Limited Rebecca Sanders-Hewett Jenny Bahr |
Tel: 020 7566 6720 |
Notes to Editors:
About Quindell Portfolio Plc
Quindell Portfolio Plc is a provider of sector leading expertise in Software, Consulting and Technology Enabled Outsourcing in its key markets being Insurance, Telecommunications and their Related Sectors.
Quindell joined the market through Mission Capital Plc, now renamed Quindell Portfolio Plc. The Company was readmitted to the market on 17 May 2011 following the acquisition of Quindell Limited prior to the immediate acquisition of Quindell's technology and outsourcing partners. In December 2011, Mobile Doctors Group Plc was acquired increasing 2012 run-rate revenue to over £50 million. On the 1 April 2012, Ai Claims Solutions Plc became a subsidiary of Quindell, increasing run rate revenue to over £150 million.
Our Industry Sectors
In today's digital world the line between traditional industry sectors continues to blur, however the focus on tight service management is common to them all. We believe that excellent customer service, tight cost control and integrated supply chain management is not the prerogative of any single industry sector and with our solutions in multiple industry sectors savings of over 20% against industry norms are being delivered to the bottom line.
Our Solutions
The pressures on an organisation can come simultaneously from multiple directions including the need to add customers, increase wallet share, reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction. At Quindell we have the People, the Processes and the Supply Chains, underpinned by our sophisticated Champion and Challenger Business Process Management Technology Platform and Industry Solutions to help our customers tackle these efficiently and effectively.
With a clear understanding that having the best products and services on offer is not always enough and that getting your customers to use or adopt them is key, effective conversion lies at the core of our unique Champion and Challenger tools and techniques. Using these solutions Quindell has helped its customers achieve sales and service conversion rates ranging from 75% to 90%, way above industry norms. But life does not stand still, and complacency can kill any business, so the embedded Champion and Challenger continual improvement focus of our Learning Solutions is at the heart of all we offer. Using our industry insight and expertise, Quindell takes the holistic view of our client's challenges.
For example, when considering the Insurance industry today where 50% of the cost of an auto claim is associated with Personal Injury, including legal services, medical reporting and rehabilitation, it is clear that an organisation will not be able to achieve the levels of savings and customer satisfaction desired without addressing the injury to the driver as well as the repair of the vehicle. This is why at Quindell we have designed our insurance solutions and supply chains to address the full end to end cycle, with the ability and expertise to treat an injured party as well as repairing their vehicle. This makes Quindell a truly unique and ethically based proposition for the insurance industry today.
Our Customers
Quindell Portfolio's companies have worked with over 2000 brands from Small to Medium Enterprises and Blue-chip organisations around the globe. Today we count a number of the world's top Insurance and Telecommunications blue chip companies within our client base, as well as hundreds of customer centric organisations working in both the distribution and supply of their services.
Our award winning Business Transformational, Software, Consulting 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
About Accident Advice Helpline
Accident Advice Helpline was established in 2000 to provide access to justice for victims of non-fault accidents under the no-win, no-fee agreement. Since then we have helped thousands of victims, injured in all types of accidents, claim the compensation to which they are entitled.
High quality customer service has gained Accident Advice Helpline an enviable and unrivalled reputation for providing complete satisfaction. We have thrived and put our success down to adhering strictly to four key principles: integrity, dependability, reliability and accountability. To underline our commitment to ensuring injury victims have access to a simple, accountable and impartial compensation claims process, we are recommended by renowned consumer champion Esther Rantzen. In a long and prominent career in the public eye, Esther has campaigned tirelessly for various worthy causes and is happy to offer her support to Accident Advice Helpline.
As one of the most established companies in the industry we at Accident Advice Helpline have worked to ensure that making a claim with our help is simple, fast and efficient.
For further information, please visit www.accidentadvicehelpline.co.uk
Related Shares:
WTG.L