Ramsdens Holdings PLC Acquisition of 18 stores trading as The Money Shop (6678R)

TIDMRFX

RNS Number : 6678R

Ramsdens Holdings PLC

04 March 2019

Ramsdens Holdings PLC

("Ramsdens", the "Group", the "Company")

Acquisition of 18 stores trading as The Money Shop

-- Ramsdens announces the acquisition of the business and certain operating assets of a selected portfolio of stores currently trading as The Money Shop for a consideration of GBP1.5million, payable in cash.

-- The 18 acquired stores will be rebranded as Ramsdens in the coming weeks and will incorporate the full breadth of the Group's customer proposition.

-- The acquisition supports the Group's continued delivery of its growth strategy to expand Ramsdens' reach across communities in the UK.

Ramsdens, the diversified financial services provider and jewellery retailer, is pleased to announce the acquisition of the business and certain operating assets of a portfolio of 18 stores trading as The Money Shop from Instant Cash Loans Limited (the "Acquisition") for a total consideration of GBP1.5million. The purchase price includes cGBP0.4m of goodwill and cGBP1.1m of assets. The Acquisition consideration will be satisfied in cash. Under the terms of the Acquisition, Ramsdens will acquire the pawnbroking loan books of the 18 stores and of five other The Money Shop stores which are to close.

The Acquisition supports the Group's stated growth strategy of expanding Ramsdens' presence and reach in the UK market and enables the Group to leverage the significant investments made in recent years in its brand, IT systems and people. The acquired stores are primarily located in the North West of England and Scotland and will be rebranded as Ramsdens over the coming weeks.

The Group believes there is significant potential to build upon the existing foreign exchange proposition in these stores and to improve performance through the expertise of the Group's management team. In addition, the Board believes there is growth potential arising from introducing the Group's growing jewellery retail offering into the majority of the acquired stores.

The Board anticipates that the acquired stores will make a small contribution to Group PBT in FY 2020 after factoring in integration costs including those relating to refits, rebranding, training and IT integration and that the acquired stores should contribute approximately GBP0.6m to Group PBT in FY 2021.

With the Acquisition, Ramsdens is taking on approximately 70 new employees.

Peter Kenyon, CEO of Ramsdens, commented:

"We are delighted to announce this value-enhancing acquisition and welcome our new colleagues and customers to Ramsdens. This acquisition further expands the reach of the Ramsdens brand and our trusted offering across communities in the UK and demonstrates the significant growth opportunities available to the Group in the fragmented UK market.

Ramsdens has a proven track record of acquiring stores and quickly integrating them into the Group and we will now prioritise our resources on these acquired stores. We are confident that this acquisition will deliver value for the Group's shareholders as well as the local communities where they operate."

This announcement contains inside information.

Enquiries:

Ramsdens Holdings PLC Tel: [phone]

Peter Kenyon, CEO

Martin Clyburn, CFO

   Liberum Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser)                         Tel: [phone] 

Richard Crawley

Joshua Hughes

Hudson Sandler (Financial PR) Tel: [phone]

Alex Brennan

Lucy Wollam

About Ramsdens

Ramsdens is a growing, diversified, financial services provider and retailer, operating in the four core business segments of foreign currency exchange, pawnbroking loans, precious metals buying and selling and retailing of second hand and new jewellery.

Headquartered in Middlesbrough, the Group operates from 140 stores within the UK (including 4 franchised stores) and has a small but growing online presence.

In the last financial year, the Group served over 800,000 customers across its different services. Ramsdens is fully FCA authorised for its pawnbroking and credit broking activities.

www.ramsdensplc.com

www.ramsdensforcash.co.uk

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March 04, 2019 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)