Acquisition
365 Corporation PLC
15 November 2000
365 Corporation plc acquires assets of Ringback Communications Limited
and RBC Services Limited for £570,000
365 Corporation plc (365), the digital media and communications company,
announces that it has acquired the assets of Ringback Communications Limited and
RBC Services Limited (together Ringback) for a cash consideration of £570,000.
Both companies have been involved in the sale of voice and data hardware,
related installation and the provision of support and maintenance services to
small and medium sized businesses for the past 11 years, and bring with them a
contracted customer base of 506 in the North London area.
This acquisition has been made as part of 365's Business Division's ongoing
strategy to become the leading UK provider of multiple telecommunications
services to the SME market, and builds on the recent acquisitions of Compass
Technical Services, Essential Voice and Data, Systematic Telecoms and Phones
Express. 365 will continue to seek further complimentary acquisitions to
accelerate the execution of these plans.
Ringback management Richard Stretch, John Murphy and Martin Hough are to enter
into long-term service contracts with 365 to further develop 365's Business
Division in the South East of England.
Commenting on the acquisition, Dan Thompson, Chief Executive Officer of 365,
said:
'We are delighted at the acquisition of these assets which will expand our
customer base in the South East. We feel that the breadth of experience being
brought to us by the incoming management of Ringback will further enhance the
capability of our Business Division to provide first class telephony sales and
support services to both existing and new customers. We look forward to
welcoming the Ringback team and working with them.'
Enquiries:
365 Corporation plc
Martin Turner, Finance Director
Mark Jones, MD Business Division
Tel: 01442 283300
www.365corp.com
Financial Dynamics Tel: 020 7831 3113
Fiona Meilklejohn
Ben Atwell
365 Corporation plc (www.365corp.com)
Consumer Division
365's consumer division provides high quality digital content across three
different categories - lifestyle, sport and entertainment. Each of these in
turn, have several different content services, which are accessible to consumers
on a multi platform basis (internet. mobile phone, fixed line. TV, PDA etc).
- Sport
Football - www.footba11365.com (English), www.futbol(365.com (Spanish),
www.footba11365.fr (French). www.soccer365.com (North American soccer biased
content).
International.football365.com - a dedicated service, covering international
footbal.
Cricket - www.cricketline.com (a leading site for International cricket),
www.cricinfo365-com (daily e-mail publication in joint venture with Criclnfo)
Rugby - www.planet-rugby.com, a market leading online rugby resource including
breaking news and unique statistics, www.rugby365.com (produced in four
language versions - English, French, Spanish, Afrikaans), www.rugbyrugby.com
(North American rugby website).
Racetips - www.racetips365.com, a site dedicated to Horse Racing giving the
inside track on news, form and the horses to follow).
Formula 1 - www.planet-fl.com (English) www,francais planet-fl.com (French),
www.deutech.planet-fl.com (Dutch), www.espanol.planet-fl.com, (Spanish),
Italiano.planet-fl.com (Italian), website featuring news, features and a
searchable archive of every race in F1 history.
Sports Overview - www.sportszine.co.uk - complete guide to sport on the Internet
through a searchable database of over 40,000 individually reviewed websites,
www.sportonair.com - UK's first dedicated sports audio website with hourly news,
features and interviews, www.livesport.com - mult-sport website.
- Entertainment
Music - www.music365.com (English), www.music365.fr (French).- reviews of albums
and singles, interviews with artists and personalities and topical stories,
on-line chat forum, on-line shopping facilities for concert tickets, CDs and
videos.
Competitions - www.win365.co.uk - a cross-platform competition based product.
Games - www.trivia365.com - a network of live, multiplayer trivia games where
users can compete in real time against anyone else in the world on a variety of
topics including television, education, history, entertainment and sport and win
prizes.
365Television - www365television.com, the first production, a documentary on
boxer Mike Tyson's UK. fight, was commissioned by BBC Choice and recently aired
on BBC Choice and BBC2.
- Lifestyle
Companionship - www.personals365.com, an on-line companionship product,
www.theswitch.co.uk, a multi-platform product using the web and telephone for
chat. Future - www.future365.com - a site dedicated to covering the past,
present and future
Gardening - www.gardening365.com
Gay - www.gay365.com
Advisory services - telephone-based services to users. 365 provides telephone
lines and systems and Infogenie procures the advisory services, currently for
legal services and veterinary services.
Business Division (www.symphony.com)
365 acquired its Business Division as part of the purchase of Symphony
Telecommunications plc (Symphony Telecom) in February 1999. Its focus is
to act as a 'one-stop-shop' and single point of contact for all of its
customers' communications requirements. Increasingly, this includes the
provision of internet-related applications and solutions.
www.business365.co.uk - designed to give SME's within the UK quick and easy
access to the facts and communication services they need to help run their
business. Business365 draws on Symphony's resources to provide independent,
Interactive business solutions,
Telephone systems - 365 sells and maintains a range of telephone systems and
related solutions.
Fixed-line resale - 365 provides branded fixed line telecommunications
services and chooses to route traffic over a selection of blue chip carriers
including Energis and Viatel. It also provides non-geographic numbers (premium,
national and local rates) and routes ISDN traffic
Mobiles - 365 sells mobile handsets, airtime and ongoing support to SME's
via the Cellnet: or Vodafone mobile networks.
Internet services - 365's internet products include network access devices,
ISDN-2-dial-up, web hosting and web design services.