Disposal

RNS Number : 9160A

IPPlus PLC

02 January 2015

 

For immediate release

2 January 2015

IPPlus PLC

("IPPlus" or the "Group")

Disposal

Agreed sale of Ancora Solutions to Restore PLC

IPPlus PLC (AIM: IPP), the Ipswich based services company covering call centre services, call centre software, archiving, disaster recovery, telephony and payment card industry ("PCI") compliant solutions, announces the disposal of the trade and assets of its data archiving business, Ancora Solutions ("Ancora"), a trading division within the IPPlus (UK) Limited subsidiary to Restore PLC ("Restore") for a total consideration of £500,000 in cash (the "Disposal").

Ancora operates primarily in London and the East of England. The business provides secure document removal, archiving, confidential data destruction and library move services to the medical and scientific industries, as well as industrial and professional sectors. In the financial year to 30 June 2014, Ancora reported revenue of approximately £732k and a loss of approximately £94k (including allocated central Group costs). The net book value of the assets being disposed of as at 30 June 2014 was approximately £325k.

As stated in the Group's last Annual Report and Accounts, the Board has been actively reviewing Ancora's operations. Following this review, the Board concluded that Ancora was non-core to the Group's contact centre service and software operations and that, as Ancora is relatively small in scale, an owner with a stronger presence in its sector could potentially derive more value from the business. Accordingly, the Board considers that the Disposal is in the best interests of the Group's shareholders. Completion of the sale will allow the Group to focus on its core activities of contact centre provision, call centre software and telephony and PCI compliant solutions, which delivered over 90 per cent. of Group revenues in the past financial year.

Under the terms of the Disposal, Restore has agreed to purchase the entire fixed assets, payroll and existing contracts of Ancora in return for cash consideration of £500,000. The Group intends to use the proceeds from the Disposal to strengthen its working capital position.

William Catchpole, Chief Executive Officer of IPPLUS, commented:

"This disposal is an important strategic step for the Group and allows us to focus on our core call centre and software activities as well as PCI-PAL, the Group's Level 1 accredited PCI compliant service."

For further information, please contact:

IPPLUS PLC	Tel: [phone]
William Catchpole, Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gordon, Chief Financial Officer
N+1 Singer (Nominated Adviser & Broker)	Tel: [phone]
Aubrey Powell / Alex Wright / Ben Griffiths

 

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