Acquisition Completed
365 Corporation PLC
28 April 2000
365 Corporation plc becomes a market leader in chat and companionship
services with acquisition of Teletalk Limited
365 Corporation plc ('365') announces that it has completed the acquisition of
the entire issued share capital of Teletalk Limited ('Teletalk') for a total
consideration of £6,034,000 making 365 a market leader in chat and
companionship services.
Formerly owned by the Financial Times, telemarketing company Teletalk was the
subject of a management buyout in 1997, since which time it has established
itself as one of the leading providers to newspapers of audiotext and
telephone dating services. Many of the principal clients under contract are
large national and regional newspaper groups, including titles such as The
Glasgow Herald, Yorkshire Post and Wolverhampton Express & Star. Many of these
titles are also expanding into the online environment.
The acquisition of Teletalk will expand the companionship sector of 365's
lifestyle product portfolio which the directors believe will make 365 the
largest single provider in that field in the UK. Teletalk's products are
already being enhanced for distribution across multi-platforms such as the
Internet and WAP. It is intended that these products will be syndicated to
some of Teletalk's existing customers who have been anticipating receiving new
multi-media products.
The total consideration for Teletalk is £6,034,000 to be satisfied as to
1,308,900 in shares, which will rank pari passu with existing 365 shares, £3
million in cash and a further £1 million to be paid in cash over the following
two years subject to performance targets being met. According to audited
accounts of Teletalk, the company had net assets of £220,496 and made a pre-
tax profit of £525,013 for the year ending 31 December 1999.
The current directors of Teletalk, Ian Waight and Jackie Ware, will now join
the 365 lifestyle management team and remain the driving force behind
Teletalk's core business and customer relations.
Commenting on the acquisition, Nik Philpot, Director of 365 said:
'365 is one of the principal players in the chat and companionship sector and
the addition of Teletalk's business now enables us to capitalise on the
synergies between the two companies to allow us to become a market leader.
365 is committed to a convergence strategy and this acquisition has the
potential for 365 to increase revenue streams across new and existing media.'
Jackie Ware, Director of Teletalk added:
'We are very excited about the prospect of working with 365, which will give
us the opportunity to increase the services we can provide to our clients.
There are already two more significant contracts we have won this year and
this can only improve with the wider range of new media products we can now
offer to our clients and prospective clients.'
Enquiries:
365 Corporation plc Tel: 01442 28 33 58
Nik Philpot, Director www.365corp.com
Financial Dynamics Tel: 020 7831 3113
Fiona Meiklejohn
Ed Bridges
NOTES FOR EDITORS
365 Corporation plc
CURRENT SERVICE AND CONTENT OFFERINGS
365 Corporation operates two divisions:
Consumer
+ 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).
Gardening - www.gardening365.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.
+ Sport
Football - www.football365.com (English), www.futbol365.com (Spanish),
www.football365.fr (French), www.talkfootball365.com (Football content on a
cross platform basis via TalkFootball365, a telephone and Internet service).
www.eurofinals365.com (a dedicated service, in five languages, covering the
European Championships 2000).
Cricket - www.cricinfo365.com (daily e-mail publication in joint venture with
CricInfo), www.cricketline.com (a leading site for International cricket)
Rugby - www.rugby365.com (produced in four language versions - English,
French, Spanish, Afrikaans), www.rugbyrugby.com (North American rugby
website), www.planet-rugby.com (a market leading online rugby resource
including breaking news, unique statistics).
Racetips: www.racetips.com (a site dedicated to Horse Racing giving the inside
track on news, form and the horses to follow).
Formula 1: www.planet-f1.com (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).
+ Entertainment
Music - www.music365.com (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.planet-trivia.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 - 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.
Business
The Business Division provides a 'one stop shop' of telecommunication services
and Internet applications to small and medium sized enterprises in the UK,
France and Ireland. 365 currently provides fixed line voice and data access,
telephone systems, mobiles, Internet access and related services.
In order to work towards national coverage, 365 has formed equity joint
ventures with 12 telecom systems dealers across the UK. Under these
arrangements, 365 contributes its expertise and access to its customer service
and billing infrastructure, while the dealer contributes local sales and
marketing expertise. The existing customer base of the joint venture partners
provides the initial target for 365's marketing efforts.
In February 2000, 365 acquired the entire issued capital of Fenfones
Communications Limited, an established telephone systems supplier located in
Newmarket serving the SME market. Total consideration paid was £4,520,000.
On the same day, 365 acquired the 50% shareholding in Datacom Networks Limited
(a joint venture) owned by Fenfones for £500,000.
The formation of equity joint ventures with telecom system dealers, and
acquisition of Fenfones, underlines 365's strategy of securing distribution
and long-term customer retention though partnership with, or ownership of, the
telephone system supply channel. The telephone system represents the key
product around which value-added telecommunication and internet services can
be developed and sold to SME customers.