Under the terms of the agreement, DMGT has also agreed to make immediate provision of a £10.5 million bridge financing facility to Scoot, which will become repayable following completion or in the event that the acquisition does not proceed.
The businesses to be acquired comprise the assets and liabilities of the Loot print and online businesses in the UK and 91.67% of the equity shares of B&S Ltd, the publisher of Buy&Sell in Ireland.
The Loot business, together with Scoot’s interests in B&S, realised an operating loss of £2.8 million in the 17 month period ended 31 December 2000 (including a loss of £2.5 million incurred in the internet activities of Loot.com and a loss of £2.9 million incurred in the discontinued internet activities of Buy and Sell.net plc). As at 31 December 2000, the Loot business and B&S had net liabilities totalling £3.3 million.
Loot is one of the UK’s leading free classified advertising publishers, distributing its products via print, internet, interactive television and wap. Loot was founded in 1984 and launched its first publication, the London edition of Loot, in 1985. Today, Loot’s free-ads publication is published in 20 editions per week across the UK and has a weekly circulation of approximately 180,000 copies. Its website, Loot.com, generates approximately 24 million monthly page impressions and had 557,000 unique users, based on a March ABC audit.
SOURCE: COMPANY PRESS RELEASE
