Agreemt with Energis Comms
365 Corporation PLC
29 June 2000
365 Corporation announces major partnership with Energis
365 Corporation plc, the digital media and communications company, today
announces a major three year agreement with Energis Communications Ltd, a
wholly owned subsidiary of Energis plc.
A key component of this relationship will be the ability for 365 to take
advantage of Energis' high quality broadband network without incurring the
associated costs of network ownership. 365 will also benefit from improved
service provision, access to Energis' extensive technical resources and the
ability to take full advantage of further deregulation of the UK
telecommunications market later this year.
365's Business Division has successfully worked with Energis over the past
three years as its preferred supplier of high quality voice and data services,
which forms part of 365's highly successful portfolio of telecommunication
products for the SME marketplace. Turnover of the 365 Business Division
increased by 48% during the fourth quarter of the last financial year, and
continues to grow strongly.
This relationship will also allow 365 to introduce a range of voice and data
services to its large consumer base, complementing mobile and internet service
offerings. As at April 2000, 365's Consumer Division had 1.8 million unique
users.
Dan Thompson, CEO of 365, said:
'Securing a strong telecom network partner is essential to meeting our future
growth plans. This co-operation with Energis moves us from being a switchless
reseller to having immediate access to Energis' suite of voice and data
services, leveraging the qualities of the Energis national network with
significant flexibility to meet customers' needs. We are delighted to be
working with a company of Energis' standing and reputation.'
Bob Taylor, Managing Director of Energis Communications Limited, said:
'We actively seek to grow our business relationships with customers like 365
to sell our voice, data and internet services to SME and Consumer customers.
We are delighted to have strengthened our relationship with 365 who have
proven ability to build large customer bases, and see this new agreement as a
major opportunity for both companies.'
For Further Information Please Contact:
Dan Thompson, Chief Executive Officer 0207 505 7800
Martin Turner, Finance Director 01442 283 310
365 Corporation plc
Fiona Meiklejohn, Ben Atwell
Financial Dynamics 0207 831 3113
NOTES FOR EDITORS
365 Corporation plc (www.365corp.com)
Consumer Division
365 creates and owns destination content assets. It earns revenues from
providing access to its content; from providing third parties with access to
its audiences; and from selling its own services to its audiences. It takes
advantage of convergence by leveraging its content, brands and audiences
across multiple channels, thereby minimising costs and maximising revenues.
Destination content assets have been extensively developed within the areas of
Sport, Entertainment and Lifestyle. Meanwhile My365 provides a common point
for consumers to access 365's content, for 365's commercial partners to access
its network audience and for 365 to promote its services to this audience.
While 365 is best known for its internet sports sites, such as Football365, it
is building a balanced portfolio of content assets. Complementing its
content, 365 also provides an expanding range of commercial and community
services, which are either integrated into specific content (such as betting
services on Football365, or the sale of music CDs on Music365) or offered to
the entire customer base through My365 (such as consumer telecoms services).
365 has found that building large audiences is key to maximising revenues from
its various content services. Not only do large audiences command
disproportionate advertising and sponsorship revenues, but they also create
community content which, in turn, increases the audience and loyalty.
365 produces global content that is available in a number of key languages
including English, French, Spanish, German and Italian. It has primary
offices in the UK, France, Chile, South Africa and the USA, which are involved
in creating foreign language services that have global reach, but local
'feel'.
+ 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.soccer365.com (North American soccer biased content),
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.racetips365.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.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 - 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 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. With its head offices in Hemel
Hempstead, England, it continues to trade under the Symphony brand.
365 believes that while small and medium-sized enterprises ('SMEs') want the
benefits that new technology - and particularly the internet - can bring to
their businesses, few have the knowledge or time to implement a successful
integrated communications strategy. 365's approach has therefore been to
focus on understanding customer requirements, develop quality solutions with
tangible customer benefits and build channels to market to deliver the
necessary service and support.
An important element of 365's strategy is recognition that the customer's
telephone system (which is quickly converging with computer-based
technologies) is the gateway product to the sale of additional value-added
telecommunication and internet services. Control of the telephone system,
through supply and ongoing maintenance, is central to 365's plans to maximise
profit from its customer base and maintain customer loyalty.
In order to gain fast access to large and established customer bases, 365 has
supplemented its traditional sales efforts with a series of strategic joint
ventures with a number of telephone system resellers across the UK. 356 has
formed 11 such joint ventures.