The UK arm of one of the world’s largest vehicle fleet management groups is buying a 25% stake in Minorplanet Systems Plc, a UK company that provides vehicle data information systems. GE Capital Fleet Services Ltd GECFS, the UK arm of the General Electric subsidiary which runs 850,000 vehicles worldwide, is forming a strategic alliance with Minorplanet and is currently working out how many of its 90,000-strong UK fleet will be suitable for the system’s installations. They are a global company and they have been looking globally for this technology and they’ve found it in the UK, said Minorplanet’s chairman Michael Abrahams. Minorplanet, launched last year on London’s Alternative Investment Market, offers a vehicle management system with a device in each vehicle that downloads information about its movements when it returns to base. The company’s GSM-based technology has been extended to offer mapping information for Europe and real-time information showing where each vehicle is at any given moment. News of the tie-up with GECFS had sent the share price to 170 pence – against the 45 pence at which they were launched last year. Since the company had agreed to offer the first tranche of shares to GECFS at 60 pence, it intends to raise 4.7m pounds net by offering existing shareholders new shares at 60 pence on the basis of two for every nine held. GECFS will build up its holding to 25% with the option of further shares next year at 100 pence and the following year at 150 pence. Minorplanet only moved into profitability in March and figures for the first nine months of the current year show a net loss of 693,000 on revenues of 2.6m pounds.
