Acquisition
Intermodal Resource Plc
07 July 2005
INTERMODAL RESOURCE PLC
('Intermodal' or 'the Company')
Announces the Proposed Acquisition
of
Taylored Hire Limited
('Taylored Hire')
and
A Placing of
11,086,362 New Ordinary Shares in the Company
at a Price of 11 pence per share
Intermodal, the equipment rental business serving the transport and logistics
industries in the UK and Europe, is pleased to announce that it has exchanged
contracts for the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Taylored
Hire for £1.875 million ('the Acquisition'). Taylored Hire is a truck and
trailer contract hire and rental business, based in the North West of England.
Established in 2000, Taylored Hire operates a fleet of 236 vehicles and 34
trailers serving a blue chip customer base. Taylored Hire is run on a similar
business model to Intermodal. The majority of its fleet is financed through
operating leases matched to long term contract hire, eliminating residual value
exposure. The average rental contract is for three years and, as a result of
its focus on contract hire, Taylored Hire achieves utilisation levels of over
98%. Taylored Hire's managing director and founder, will remain with the
business.
The total consideration payable for the acquisition is £1.875 million, to be
satisfied as to £1.575 million in cash and £0.3 million by the issue of
2,400,000 new ordinary shares in the Company. The cash consideration is to be
funded by bank facilities and the proceeds of a placing of 11,086,362 new
ordinary shares with institutional investors at 11 pence per share, 9,772,727
of which are being placed on behalf of the vendors of Taylored Hire ('the
Placing') raising approximately £1.22 million gross. The balance of the
proceeds of the Placing will be applied to meet the expenses of the
transaction. The Acquisition and Placing are conditional upon, inter alia, the
new ordinary shares to be issued pursuant to the Acquisition and Placing being
admitted to trading on AIM. Application has been made for such shares to be
admitted to trading on AIM, effective on 11 July 2005.
For its financial year ended 31 March 2005, Taylored Hire achieved a profit
before tax of £0.317 million on turnover of £3.569 million. At 31 March 2005,
the company's net assets were £0.876 million. The adjusted net asset value at
completion is expected to be approximately £0.375 million. The Acquisition is
expected to be earnings enhancing in Intermodal's current financial year ending
31 December 2005.
The acquisition of Taylored Hire expands Intermodal's range of products and
services, increases market penetration and establishes a base for the group in
the North West. Further, the directors expect that the integration of Taylored
Hire into the Intermodal group will result in opportunities for cross-marketing
existing services to the Taylored Hire customer base and vice versa.
Importantly, the addition of truck rental services will enable Intermodal to
satisfy the demand for 'full rig' hire.
As a result of the issue of shares pursuant to the Placing and Acquisition, the
Board has utilised almost all of its available authority to issue new ordinary
shares. Accordingly, the Company announces that it is today posting a circular
to its shareholders convening an Extraordinary General Meeting for 2 August
2005. The circular contains resolutions to allow the Company to increase its
share capital authorities.
Increasing its share capital authorities will provide the Company with the
flexibility to raise additional funds for its operations as and when it so
requires. In particular, the Company is continuing to pursue its expansionist
strategy and is regularly encountering opportunities for potential acquisitions.
To be in a position to take advantage of such opportunities, the Company
requires the ability to issue new shares - either to satisfy part or all of the
consideration, or to issue to new investors by way of a cash placing, in each
case to fund such acquisitions.
Commenting on the acquisition, Robert Montague, Chief Executive of Intermodal,
said,
'This acquisition is an exciting development for us. Taylored Hire has rapidly
established a strong, high quality service business which complements our own
operations. In particular, its business model, which targets long term
contract hire and avoids exposure to residual value risk, mirrors our approach
perfectly. I believe that its addition to our group further increases our
growth potential and broadens our market appeal.
We are continuing to pursue our strategy of strong organic growth while
examining other strategic acquisitions that will help us to expand our
portfolio of products and services.'
Enquiries:
Intermodal Resource plc Tel: 020 7448 1000 (today)
Robert Montague, Chief Executive Officer Tel: 01993 883148
Biddicks Tel: 020 7448 1000
Zoe Biddick or Katie Tzouliadis
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange