Disposal
29 Mai 2003 - 5:05PM
UK Regulatory
RNS Number:6935L
Harrogate Group PLC
29 May 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 29 May 2003
Harrogate Group plc ("Harrogate" or "the Company")
Sale of 80% Interest in Campus Marketing Company (UK) Limited ("Campus
Marketing")
In September 2002 the Board of Harrogate announced that Harrogate had acquired
80% of the issued share capital of Campus Marketing, the consideration for which
was the issue of 13 million Harrogate ordinary shares ("Consideration Shares")
and #7,000 in cash. The balance of 20% was retained by Christopher Johnstone,
the Managing Director of Campus Marketing, who founded the business
("the Vendor").
The major reason for the acquisition was to enable Harrogate's wholly owned
subsidiary Axiom Software Ltd ("Axiom") to integrate the graduate recruitment
services of Campus Marketing with Axiom's JobQ product.
Whilst other activities of Campus Marketing, an entrepreneurial student
marketing agency, who organise on-campus marketing campaigns and establish brand
manager networks across the UK, have been relatively successful, Axiom has not
succeeded in its main aim of integrating its web-enabled recruitment services
into the graduate recruitment services of Campus Marketing. The board of
Harrogate has therefore decided to discontinue the activity and sell the
Company's stake back to the Vendor ("the Disposal").
The consideration for the Disposal is #7,000 in cash, which is equal to the
original cash consideration paid by Harrogate. In addition, it has been agreed
that the 13 million Consideration Shares will be held to the order of the
Company. It is intended that these shares will be placed in due course and the
proceeds retained by the Company for working capital purposes.
Other information required by Schedule Four of the AIM Rules is as follows:
1. The profits attributable to Campus Marketing were a loss on
ordinary activities before and after taxation of #11,290 for the 16 month period
ended 30 September 2002.
2. The net asset value of Campus Marketing as at 30 September
2002 was a deficit on shareholders' funds of #4,289.
3. The effect of the Disposal on Harrogate will be to
concentrate its marketing efforts on Axiom's JobQ product without any assistance
from the graduate recruitment services of Campus Marketing. The board of
Harrogate's view, as indicated above, is that the integration of JobQ with the
graduate recruitment services of Campus Marketing did not succeed in any event
and therefore any adverse effect on the business of Axiom will be immaterial.
The directors of Harrogate consider, having consulted the Company's nominated
adviser, Nabarro Wells & Co. Limited, that the terms of the Disposal are fair
and reasonable as far as the shareholders of Harrogate are concerned.
Contact Information
Peter Scott, Director on telephone no: 0161 877 2199 or peters@axiomsoftware.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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