Acquisition of Serengeti

RNS Number : 0339N

Netcall PLC

25 September 2012

 



25 September 2012

NETCALL PLC

("Netcall", the "Company", or the "Group")

Netcall acquires Serengeti for up to £2.9m

Netcall plc (AIM: NET), a leading customer engagement software provider, has acquired Serengeti Systems Ltd ("Serengeti"), a provider of Enterprise Content Management ("ECM") software to the UK public sector, for a maximum consideration of £2.9m. The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in the current financial year.

Serengeti, which provides a suite of Document and Contact Management solutions, has an established customer base of over 40 public sector organisations, including the University of Cambridge, Trafford Council, Forestry Commission and Metropolitan Housing Partnership.

ECM tools allow the management of an organisation's information such as paper documents, forms, emails, instant messages, electronic documents, spreadsheets, wherever that information exists. Adoption of ECM solutions gives organisations the ability to reduce operating costs, increase productivity, increase customer satisfaction and improve business continuity.  The Board sees an opportunity to integrate Serengeti's ECM product suite with Netcall's Business Process Management and intelligent contact handling capabilities, allowing customers to improve and automate business processes.

With the addition of over 40 customers, the acquisition provides opportunities to cross-sell both product suites to an enlarged customer base and Serengeti will benefit from access to Netcall's sales and marketing platform.

Netcall will pay an initial consideration of £2.0m in cash subject to a completion account adjustment. In addition, a performance related consideration of up to £0.9m will be payable in a mixture of cash and shares dependent upon the achievement of certain targets in 2012 and 2013 by the acquired Serengeti business. Any new shares allotted as consideration will be priced on the average mid-market price preceding issue. The cash element of the consideration is to be funded from Netcall's existing resources.

Serengeti reported revenue of £1.6 million and profit before tax of £0.3 million in the year ended 30 November 2011. Its total assets less current liabilities were valued at £0.7 million for the same period.

Henrik Bang, CEO of Netcall, commented,

"This earnings-enhancing acquisition is an important part of our growth strategy. Serengeti expands our product portfolio and increases the opportunity to drive further cross-selling across the Group's 700 strong customer base. The combination of Serengeti's ECM solutions together with our BPM and intelligent contact handling portfolio provides a compelling value proposition for our customers.  

"The Board continues to evaluate opportunities for further consolidation in the marketplace."

For further enquiries, please contact:

Netcall plc	Tel. [phone]
Henrik Bang, CEO Michael Jackson, Chairman James Ormondroyd, Group Finance Director
finnCap Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker)	Tel. [phone]
Stuart Andrews, Corporate Finance
Victoria Bates / Simon Johnson, Corporate Broking
Newgate Threadneedle	Tel. [phone]
Caroline Evans-Jones / Hilary Millar / Heather Armstrong

About Netcall plc

Netcall is a UK company quoted on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. Netcall's software product suite provides compelling business process solutions for end-to-end customer engagement, incorporating intelligent contact handling, workforce optimisation, business process management and enterprise content management. Our target markets comprise organisations of all sizes, including many blue-chip companies with global contact centre operations. The Netcall software platform helps organisations meet the growing demands of their customers and prospects whilst improving internal efficiencies, thereby increasing profitability and customer satisfaction.

Netcall's customer base contains over 700 organisations in both the private and public sectors. These include over 65% of the NHS Acute Health Trusts, major telecoms operators such as BT and Cable & Wireless and leading organisations including Interflora, Lloyds TSB, Odeon, Interserve, Orange, Prudential, British Sugar, and Thames Water.

 

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