Placing & Acquisition

RNS Number:3272O
Debts.co.uk PLC
19 February 2008




                                Debts.co.uk plc
                        ("Debts.co.uk" or "the Company")


                            Placing and Acquisition


The Board of Debts.co.uk, (DETS.L), the specialist advisors for personal debt
solution management, are pleased to announce that the Company has conditionally
placed 6,066,669 new ordinary shares of 10p each (the "Placing Shares") at the
placing price of 45p per share, to raise £2.73 million (before expenses)(the "
Placing") and that its wholly owned subsidiary Synergi Partners Limited has
entered into a conditional agreement (the "Acquisition Agreement") for the
acquisition of substantially the whole of the assets and business of PB Recovery
Limited("PBR")(the "Business"), which comprise a substantial part of the trading
assets of Brightside Group PLC (the "Acquisition").

Seymour Pierce Limited ("Seymour Pierce") has agreed in a placing agreement with
the Company (the "Placing Agreement") to (subject to satisfaction or waiver of
certain conditions), as agent for the Company, use reasonable endeavours to
procure persons to subscribe for the Placing Shares at the Placing Price.
Seymour Pierce's obligations may be terminated by it in certain limited
specified circumstances.

The Placing is conditional on the Acquisition Agreement being completed in
escrow to the extent required by that agreement, the Brightside Shareholder
Approval (as defined below) being obtained, the obligations of Seymour Pierce
under the Placing Agreement having become unconditional and that agreement not
having been terminated, the shareholders of the Company having granted the
Directors the necessary authorities in order to permit the issue of the Placing
Shares (the "Authorities Condition") and admission to AIM of the Placing Shares
becoming effective in accordance with the AIM Rules.

The agreed consideration for the Acquisition is £1 million in cash payable on
completion, plus a temporary premises use fee of £86,000 payable on completion,
together with further deferred consideration of £125,000 (such deferred
consideration being subject to adjustment up or down by up to £125,000,
depending on inter alia the level of work in progress and debtors of the
Business at completion) and which deferred consideration will be paid in six
monthly instalments following completion.

A deposit of £25,000 (the "Deposit") has already been paid to PBR.  In the event
that the Acquisition completes, this will form part of the basic consideration
for the Acquisition. However, if the Acquisition fails to complete for any
reason other than the Acquisition not being approved by the shareholders of
Brightside Group Plc, then the Deposit will be forfeited and retained by PBR.






In addition to being used to fund the Acquisition, the net proceeds of the
Placing are intended to be used to reduce the Group's borrowings and otherwise
for general working capital.

The completion of the Acquisition is conditional on the Company receiving the
net Placing proceeds and the Acquisition completion being approved (the "
Brightside Shareholder Approval") by the shareholders of Brightside Group PLC.

The business being transferred includes Scottish Protected Trust Deeds (PTDs),
IVAs, bankruptcies and corporate work and the assets acquired are debtors and
work in progress (net of provisions) of approximately £1.9m and further
potential future contracted revenue of up to £2.1m.

The Business currently has 695 PTDs, 360 IVAs and 230 Bankruptcies under
management as well as a number of corporate clients. It is expected to produce
in year one a profit before tax of approximately £600,000 with monthly cash draw
downs of approximately £140,000.

The Debts.co.uk group will, following completion of this acquisition, be
handling some 2,050 PTDs, 3,300 IVAs and 2,500 Debt Management programmes, along
with approximately 360 other cases.

The Company expects the continuing tightening of credit terms in the UK to lead
to a resumption in the upward trend in numbers of IVAs and PTDs as evidenced in
recent reports from PwC and KPMG*.  In addition the introduction of simplified
IVAs (SIVAs), expected in October 2008, should further develop the personal
insolvency market.  Meanwhile the protocol resulting from the deliberations of
the Debts Forum involving all stakeholders in the IVA market was signed by 180
participants on January 29th.  This represents a major step forward in the more
efficient operation of debt resolution processes to the benefit of all parties.

Since the end of its financial year the Company has closed a number of offices
and made a number of redundancies which in aggregate will produce cost savings
of just over £2 million per annum.  Restructuring costs in the current financial
year are expected to be approximately £800,000.  Further potential cost savings
have been identified and are in the process of implementation; these will
increase ongoing savings to some £200,000 per month.

As of January 16 2008 the Company had drawn down approximately £1.3 million of a
£3 million Barclays Bank plc loan facility which is in place. The Company has no
other debt.

A circular will shortly be dispatched to shareholders in the Company in respect
of the grant of sufficient authorities to conclude the Placing.

Commenting on the acquisition, Paul Carter, Chief Executive Officer of
Debts.co.uk said:

"This is an exciting stage in the development of Debts.co.uk; I believe that the
acquisition of PBR assets will help us to further build upon the expansion of
the Group and in particular advancing our presence in Scotland with the addition
of PBR's Glasgow office to our existing Aberdeen office, which brings the total
level of trust deeds undertaken by the Group to approximately 2,000."



Ends


Enquiries:

Paul Carter, Chief Executive Officer                           0870 990 9714
Debts.co.uk plc

Chris Steele                                                   0207 034 4759
Adventis Financial PR                                          07979 604 687

Mark Percy / Parimal Kumar                                     0207 107 8000
Seymour Pierce Limited







* "Precious Plastic 2008 - Consumer credit in the UK" PwC 2008

   "One in four home owners struggling to meet mortgage payments" 
    KPMG 6 February 2008







                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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