Acquisition

Driver Group plc 03 March 2008 DRV 3 March 2008 Driver Group PLC ('Driver' or 'the Company') Acquisition Of Commercial Management Consultants Ltd Driver, which provides specialist commercial and dispute resolution services to the construction industry, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Commercial Management Consultants Limited ('CMC'), the engineering and construction consultants, from CMC Group Holdings Limited ('Seller') for £2.975 million. The Directors expect that the acquisition will be earnings enhancing in the first full year of ownership. CMC is Driver's first acquisition since joining AIM in October 2005. Established in 1979, and based in Dartford, CMC provides site-based project services, including quantity surveying and planning, to construction and engineering firms throughout the UK. In particular, it has a well-established presence in the rail, utilities, highways, building, water, airports and marine sectors. CMC operates from four offices in the UK, being Dartford, Ascot, Manchester and Glasgow, and employs approximately 40 fee earners. CMC's client base comprises a number of major UK contractors as well as other blue chip organisations, including Public Private Partnership (PPP) contractors. The latest audited financial statements, for the year ended 30 November 2007, show CMC generated turnover of £3.77 million, gross profits of £962,000 and an operating profit of £448,000. Net assets at 30 November 2007 were £888,000. The acquisition of CMC will enable Driver to provide a broader range of pre and post contract services and offer increased expertise at all levels throughout the life cycle of a construction project. Driver is confident that reciprocal opportunities to introduce clients will provide immediate benefits in the rail and building sectors and that the acquisition will continue to bring significant customer and services synergies to both businesses in future years. The management team of CMC will remain with the business and CMC's Managing Director, Bob Parfitt, will join the board of Driver as an Executive Director. Through his employment in the group Bob is entitled to a salary of £100,000 per annum. His employment can be terminated on twelve months notice in writing by either party and he is subject to the usual covenants prohibiting him from soliciting business, employees or customers of the Company and CMC for a period of 12 months following termination. The Company has provided the information required to be disclosed under Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies for Bob Parfitt in a separate announcement issued today. Of the £2.975 million consideration for the acquisition, £1.475 million will be paid in cash and £1.5 million will be satisfied by the issue of 1,646,542 Ordinary Shares at a price of 91.1 pence per share ('Consideration Shares'). This represents the average mid price of Driver shares in the five days prior to completion. It is anticipated that the Consideration Shares will be distributed by the Seller to its shareholders. Application has been made for the Consideration Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and dealings are expected to commence on 6 March 2008. The Consideration Shares will rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares in issue and bring the enlarged issued share capital following the issue to 26,379,416. Subject to certain exceptions, the Seller has agreed not to dispose of the Consideration Shares to any person other than its shareholders and the shareholders have agreed not to dispose of the Consideration Shares until 1 March 2011. Commenting on the acquisition, Steve Driver, Chief Executive, said, 'I am delighted to announce this acquisition and to welcome CMC's Managing Director, Bob Parfitt to Driver's Board as an Executive Director. CMC is a highly regarded, well run company with a long established track record in its market sectors. We see CMC as an excellent strategic fit with Driver and are confident that its integration will bring significant benefits. Importantly, CMC will enable Driver to provide a broader range of contract services as well as bring us increased expertise across the life cycle of a construction project. As we reported recently at our AGM, the last year has been a period of investment for the Group as we focused on scaling the business for further growth. We are now seeing the benefits of our drive to increase our fee-earning capability coming through in top-line growth and the addition of CMC's high calibre consultants should help us to accelerate our growth.' For further information, please contact: Driver Group plc Tel: 01706 223 999 Steve Driver, Chief Executive Colin White, Finance Director Zeus Capital Limited Tel: 0161 831 1512 Alex Clarkson / Nick Cowles Panmure Gordon & Co Tel: 020 7459 3600 Mark Lander / Aubrey Powell Biddicks Tel: 020 7448 1000 Katie Tzouliadis This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

Companies

Diales (DIAL)
UK 100

Latest directors dealings