Ramsdens Holdings PLC Acquisition (2025A)

TIDMRFX

RNS Number : 2025A

Ramsdens Holdings PLC

28 May 2019

Ramsdens Holdings PLC

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

Acquisition of additional four stores trading as The Money Shop and 12 loan books

Ramsdens, the diversified financial services provider and jewellery retailer, is pleased to announce the acquisition of four stores currently trading as The Money Shop and 12 loan books from Instant Cash Loans Limited (the "Acquisition") for a total consideration of GBP0.5m, which will be satisfied in cash. The purchase price includes the acquisition of GBP0.3m of pawnbroking loan book.

This announcement follows the Group's successful acquisition of 18 The Money Shop stores and five loan books from Instant Cash Loans Limited in March 2019, and supports the Group's stated growth strategy of expanding its presence across target regions in the UK. The Acquisition will also enable Ramsdens to further leverage the significant investments in brand, IT and people made in recent years. Following the Acquisition, Ramsdens now has 163 stores in the UK.

The acquired stores will be rebranded as Ramsdens over the coming weeks and the full breadth of the Group's customer proposition will be incorporated into the stores. As with the Group's previous acquisition announced in March, the Board believes that there are significant opportunities for Ramsdens to build upon the existing foreign exchange proposition in the acquired stores and to improve their performance through the expertise of the Group's management team.

The Board anticipates that in FY20 there will be a small contribution to PBT as the Group invests in integration costs including those relating to refits, rebranding, training and IT integration. It is expected that this acquisition will contribute approximately GBP0.3m to Group PBT in FY 2021.

As previously announced, Ramsdens will announce its FY19 financial results on 12(th) June 2019.

Peter Kenyon, CEO of Ramsdens, commented:

"Following our successful acquisition in March, I'm delighted to announce this acquisition which supports our growth plans. We have a proven track record of effectively integrating and improving the performance of acquired stores as we continue to capitalise on growth opportunities available to the Group as a leading operator in a highly fragmented market.

We welcome our new colleagues and customers to the Ramsdens community".

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 163 stores within the UK (including 4 franchised stores) and has a small but growing online presence.

In the FY18 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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May 28, 2019 02:01 ET (06:01 GMT)