Acquisition of ISS Washrooms in Scandinavia (9869Y)

TIDMBRSN

RNS Number : 9869Y

Berendsen PLC

06 January 2011

6 January 2011

BERENDSEN PLC

Acquisition of ISS Washrooms in Scandinavia

The Board of Berendsen plc ("Berendsen") is pleased to announce the acquisition of the washroom activities of ISS in Denmark, Sweden and Norway for DKK 300 million (eqGBP34 million) in cash, paid from existing resources. Berendsen has also entered into a strategic partnership agreement with ISS under which it will obtain access to the ISS customer base for its portfolio of washroom products and become the preferred supplier of workwear to the catering business of ISS while ISS will provide cleaning and catering services to all Berendsen sites in the in the Nordic region.

The transaction took place on 29 December 2010 and is expected to be earnings enhancing in 2011.

Berendsen acquired ISS' laundry and mat businesses in the Nordic region in 2010.

Peter Ventress, Chief Executive of Berendsen, commented, "This acquisition is in line with the recent Strategic Review where we committed to invest in those areas of our business where we identified significant potential. The activities that we are acquiring from ISS are profitable, have strong margins and complement our existing operations in the region. This will result in a business that is the market leader in washrooms with a balanced spread of activities across the region."

For further information contact:

 
 Kevin Quinn, Finance Director     Telephone [phone] 
  Telephone [phone]           Financial Dynamics Richard Mountain 
 Berendsen Peter Ventress, Chief 
  Executive 
 

Notes:

1. Berendsen (formerly The Davis Service Group Plc) is a focused European textile maintenance business with leading positions in most of the countries in which it operates. As a focused business we are able to mobilise our resources to drive our strategies in our core area of expertise.

2. Sourced from management accounts; operating profit before exceptional items and amortisation of customer contracts and intellectual property rights.

3. Statements made in this announcement that look forward in time or that express management's beliefs, expectations or estimates regarding future occurrences are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect Berendsen's current expectations concerning future events and actual results may differ materially from current expectations or historical results.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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