3rd Oct 2005 08:00
Travelzest plc03 October 2005 Travelzest plc ("Travelzest" or the "Company") Travelzest joins AIM Travelzest, the specialist travel group, announces that its ordinary shares of2p each ("Ordinary Shares") have been admitted to trading on AIM today under thetrading symbol "TVZ". Travelzest is the parent company of a travel group with ahigh quality brand offering specialist holiday programmes. Its shares werepreviously traded on OFEX. As previously announced on OFEX on 8 September 2005,Travelzest has acquired Holiday Express Group Limited ("Holiday Express"). The Company has raised £5.15 million (before expenses and VAT) through a placingof 4,087,477 Ordinary Shares (the "Placing Shares") at a placing price of 126pper share (the "Placing"). Travelzest's market capitalisation will beapproximately £10.15 million following admission to trading of all issuedOrdinary Shares assuming a share price of 126p. In addition to the Placing, the Company has issued: (a) 624,217 Ordinary Shares arising as part of the consideration for HolidayExpress; (b) 450,000 Ordinary Shares arising as a result of the conversion of deferredshares ("Deferred Shares") on a one for one basis (there are no more DeferredShares in issue); and (c) further warrants to warrant holders as a result of the conversion of theDeferred Shares, the issue of the Initial Consideration Shares and the issue ofthe Placing Shares. Background information on Travelzest Travelzest, is the parent company of a travel group (the "Group") with a highquality brand offering specialist holiday programmes. The Company changed itsname to Travelzest from VFB Group plc at the Annual General Meeting held on 27April 2005. VFB Holidays Limited ("VFB"), the Group's principal subsidiary company wasincorporated on 5 February 1974 with Michael Bruce-Mitford and his wife asdirectors. In the financial year to 31 October 2004 VFB provided holidays forapproximately 24,000 passengers and reported turnover of £11.5 million. VFB is currently contracted with the owners of approximately 350 holidaycottages throughout France for the summer 2005 season, and has bookingarrangements with over 150 hotels, most of which are privately owned and arelocated in rural or semi-rural locations. VFB undertakes inspections of thecottages to ensure that standards are maintained. VFB specialises in cottage holidays in France, but also has a number of otherholiday programmes including: France a la Carte (hotel accommodation), Corsica,Short Breaks, Escorted Tours and River Cruises. Acquisition Holiday Express is a travel agent specialising in online travel fulfilmentservices and online travel sales. Holiday Express' retail business (acting astravel agent), providing package holidays, charter flights and ski bookingservices, accounts for the vast majority of its revenue and the remainder of itsrevenue is generated through acting as a tour operator. The supply of package holidays to the travel agency market is dominated by the'big four' tour operators, namely Thomas Cook, Airtours, First Choice andThomson. Approximately 60 per cent. of Holiday Express' commission arises fromholidays booked with these tour operators. Holiday Express (UK) Limited was incorporated on 11 May 2001 and purchased itscall centres along with a number of other assets from First Choice plc for£430,000. Holiday Express was incorporated on 11 July 2001 and later acquiredHoliday Express (UK) Limited and Digital Travel Services Limited. Holiday Express indirectly owns through its subsidiaries the rights to a numberof travel website domain names, including: - www.holiday.co.uk- www.flight.co.uk- www.discountholidays.com Travelzest has acquired Holiday Express for an aggregate initial considerationof £2,188,000 of which £1,243,774 has been paid in cash and 624,217 InitialConsideration Shares have been issued. £157,713 cash will be deducted from theinitial consideration and deposited in a joint retention account. Contingentconsideration of a maximum of £2,262,000 will be payable, depending on thefuture performance of the business, in a mixture of cash and deferredconsideration shares. Strategy Travelzest intends to continue to acquire specialist niche travel businesses inorder to create a new travel group which would include high quality brands. TheDirectors are looking for companies which are able to demonstrate a successfultrack record during the last two years which has been a difficult period for thetravel industry. The Directors intend that companies which join Travelzest inthe future will be specialist by virtue of the types of travel that they sell.This may be by destination, by type of holiday (for example skiing or golf), orby customer type. Travelzest is also interested in acquiring internet basedtravel distribution companies. Daniel Stewart & Co plc is nominated advisor and broker to the Company. ADMISSION STATISTICS Placing Price per Ordinary Share 126p Number of Placing Shares 4,087,477 Number of Ordinary Shares in issue on Admission 8,058,376 Market capitalisation of the Company on admission of all issued £10.15million Ordinary Shares at the Placing Price Approximate gross proceeds of the Placing (excluding VAT) £5.15 million Directors' interests in the enlarged share capital 36.8 per cent. Commenting on Travelzest plc's admission to AIM, Chris Mottershead, ChiefExecutive, said: "We have been delighted with investors' reaction to the Travelzest story.Travelzest has a focused buy and build strategy designed to create a group of specialist travel businesses servicing the holiday needs of a wide range of people outside the core Spanish package market. The rapidly growing online travel retail market is also of particular interest. We intend to grow the Company through the acquisition of high calibre teams and businesses seeking to leverage the synergistic benefits of being part of a diverse group of specialistcompanies. We believe that having the Company's shares traded on AIM willprovide us with an attractive currency with which we can implement our growthstrategy." - Ends - Enquiries to: Chris Mottershead 020 7747 7231Travelzest plcwww.travelzestplc.com Emma Kane/Duncan McCormickRedleaf Communications 020 7955 1410 Paul ShackletonDaniel Stewart & Co. plc 020 7776 6578 Notes to Editors • Travelzest is the parent company of a travel group with a highquality brand offering specialist holiday programmes. The Company changed itsname to Travelzest from VFB Group plc at the Annual General Meeting held on 27April 2005. • Further information is available on Travelzest at www.travelzestplc.com • Publication quality photographs of Chris Mottershead areavailable through Redleaf Communications or are downloadable through theTravelzest website. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
TVZ.L