TIDMARTA

RNS Number : 7185F

Artilium PLC

22 May 2017

For immediate release 22 May 2017

Artilium plc

("Artilium" or the "Company")

Artilium acquires the customer base of Digiweb Telecom in Belgium

Artilium plc (LSE/AIM: ARTA), the AIM quoted provider of innovative telecommunication software and solutions, is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Belgian customer base of Digiweb Telecom ("Digiweb") through its wholly-owned subsidiary United Telecom NV ("United Telecom") for an undisclosed sum (the "Acquisition").

Digiweb provides internet access, fixed line and mobile products and services to residential and business customers. Digiweb was established in 2001 and has grown both organically and through acquisition to become one of Ireland's foremost telecoms companies. In Belgium, Digiweb has acquired and consolidated residential and SME customer bases from TalkTalk Belgium and Mondial Telecom within its DT (Belgium) Bvba subsidiary.

The acquisition consists of approximately 8,000 customers and is equivalent to EUR1m in revenue per year with an average 34% gross margin. 80% of the revenue is derived from fixed line voice services. The acquisition will also include all necessary equipment alongside the customer contracts which will reside in United Telecom.

The rationale for the Acquisition is as follows:

   --     Creates scale in customer operations in terms of buying power and volume; 
   --     Increases margins on these customers as United Telecom has better buying conditions;

-- The customer base does not require additional human resources, therefore creating immediate value.

Details of the Acquisition

Consideration for the Acquisition has been settled in cash and through the issue of 1,601,315 new ordinary shares of 5 pence each ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 6.69 pence per Ordinary Share (the "Consideration Shares"), being the mid-market close price of Artilium's Ordinary Shares on Wednesday 17 May, 2017.

Application will be made for the Consideration Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and admission is expected to take place on Thursday 25(th) May 2017 ("Admission"). The Consideration Shares will rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares of the Company. Following Admission, the total number of issued Ordinary Shares in the Company will be 312,874,516 Ordinary Shares. This figure may be used by shareholders of the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or change to the interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Bart Weijermars, Chief Executive Officer of Artilium said:

"I am delighted by this opportunity to acquire such a significant customer base from Digiweb.

This acquisition adds scale to our growing customer operations in terms of buying power and volume without the need for additional human resources, thereby creating immediate value."

-Ends-

For further information please contact:

About Artilium

 
                                             +32 (0) 5023 
  Artilium PLC                                0300 
 Bart Weijermars - Chief Executive 
  Officer 
 
 finnCap Ltd 
  Jonny Franklin-Adams / Scott Mathieson 
  (corporate finance)                        +44 (0) 207 
  Camille Gochez (corporate broking)          220 0500 
                                             +44 (0) 207 
 Buchanan                                     466 5000 
 Richard Darby / Jamie Hooper / 
  Catriona Flint

Notes to editors

Artilium is a demonstrated leader in the development of next generation communication technologies. Artilium's strategy focuses on supporting its customers to successfully grow their business by providing flexible, cost effective and innovative solutions.

Artilium's innovation-driven strategy empowers telecom operators around the globe to face the tremendous challenges ahead. We combine next-generation technology with traditional telecom environments to create exciting new business opportunities for our customers. This ensures that our customers are able to keep up with rapidly evolving market demands while simultaneously growing their businesses.

ARTA(R) is the real-time Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) software that brings a full suite of new functionalities to telecom Operators and virtual Operators. Thanks to ARTA(R) value-added services portfolio, including for instance AAA of voice, text and data services, VoIP, 3G and 4G compliance, mobile payments and location-based services, our partners are more than ready to meet future customer needs.

Today, multiple renowned national and international telecommunication companies rely on Artilium to deliver voice, text and data services to approximately 1.5m end-users every day.

Artilium's "Pay-As-You-Grow" model allows us to scale our solutions to the exact needs of our customers. As a latest innovation, Artilium offers its product suite from the Cloud as a PAAS (Platform-As-A-Service), yielding ARTA's scalability, flexibility and proven stability.

Artilium PLC is a publicly listed software company on the London Stock Exchange (LSE/AIM: ARTA).

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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May 22, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)

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