Acquisition

International Greetings PLC 26 January 2005 International Greetings purchases business of Napier Industries International Greetings plc ('International Greetings'), the leading designer and manufacturer of private label greetings products and licensed stationery, announced today that it has agreed to acquire, from the receivers of Napier Industries Limited ('Napier'), the business, goodwill, stock and debtors of Napier. Napier manufactures the well known 'Tom Smith' brand of Christmas crackers, and also supplies many of the UK's supermarket groups with own label products. The consideration for the acquisition is approximately £4.8 million, payable in cash, and is being satisfied from International Greetings' own resources. Unaudited management accounts of Napier for the eleven months to 30 November 2004 show turnover of £13.0m and an operating profit of £1.2m. The book value of the assets now being acquired is approximately £3.7m. International Greetings believe that the acquired business will be an excellent fit with its own cracker operations, which were recently expanded with the acquisition of Krakajack. Due to the seasonality of the business, it is anticipated that Napier will make a small loss from the date of acquisition to 31 March 2005, but will make a positive contribution to profits in future years. Commenting on the acquisition Nick Fisher, joint chief executive of International Greetings, said: 'This deal met all our acquisition criteria, enhances our business in this specific area and reinforces our position as the key consolidator within our industry.' For further information, please contact: Tavistock Communications 020 7920 3150 Richard Sunderland Arden Partners Limited 0121 423 8960 Graeme Cull End January 26th, 2005 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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