Strategic Partnership

    RNS Number : 7096V
  Electric Word PLC
  02 June 2008
   

    2 June 2008
    Electric Word plc 
    ("Electric Word" or the "Company")
    STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTION

    Electric Word plc today announced a strategic partnership between Mobilis Healthcare Group Limited ("Mobilis") and P2P Publishing
Limited ("P2P"), Electric Word's sports performance subsidiary, which provides specialist fitness and training information for amateur and
elite athletes from all sports, as well as coaches, physiotherapists and other professionals.
    The partnership will ultimately enable P2P's website visitors to access Mobilis's extensive range of sports and healthcare products,
allowing Electric Word to build further e-commerce revenues to support its subscription and other publishing activities. 
    The partnership will also involve Sussex Research Limited ("Sussex Research"), a related party of both Mobilis and Electric Word, buying
an option for �50,000 to acquire P2P for �1.4m in cash. The option to acquire P2P lasts for at least thirteen months, after which Electric
Word may give notice of the cancellation of the option. 
    In the year to 30 November 2007 P2P made profits before tax of �129,650 on turnover of �1,294,197 and the option agreement effectively
values P2P Limited at �1.45 million. 
    Sussex Research and Electric Word have also agreed that Sussex Research will replace an existing �600,000 loan to Electric Word with a
new loan of �1.45m. The new loan carries an interest rate of 2.5% over LIBOR, with �250,000 due to be repaid on 30 November 2008, �600,000
on 30 April 2009 and �600,000 on 30 April 2010.
    Stewart Newton is the beneficial owner of Mobilis and Sussex Research and, as previously disclosed, is a related party of Electric Word
(see further information below). The Directors of Electric Word, having consulted with Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited, the Company's nominated
adviser, consider that the terms of both the loan and the option agreements with Sussex Research are fair and reasonable insofar as
shareholders are concerned. 
    Julian Turner, Chief Executive of Electric Word, commented: "This partnership is an excellent development for Electric Word and fits
with our strategy of building commerce revenues around content as we have done in our education business. It will enable us to experiment
with e-commerce in the sports performance market at very low risk with a leading partner, bringing a very wide range of potential product
choices for our customers. If successful it could add further value to an already strong business." 
    Colin Webb, Group Chief Executive of Mobilis Healthcare, added "This is an exciting opportunity for us to collaborate with an
established online publisher to deepen our relationship with current and potential customers in highly relevant markets. We look forward to
a successful partnership with Electric Word."
    - ENDS -
    Enquiries:
 Julian Turner, Chief Executive, Electric Word    020 7954 3470
 Tim Spratt/Helen Thomas, Financial Dynamics      020 7831 3113
 Andrew Potts/Callum Stewart, Panmure Gordon      020 7459 3600
    Further information:
    Stewart Newton holds 1,020,000 ordinary shares in Electric Word (representing 0.72% of the total shares in issue) and is the beneficial
owner of through Sussex Trading Company Limited, which holds 23,036,364 ordinary shares in Electric Word (representing 16.18% of the total).
Sussex Trading Company Limited also holds �987,500 of convertible preference shares in Electric Word relating to the Company's acquisition
of SportBusiness Group Ltd in December 2005 and �875,000 in convertible preference shares relating to the Company's acquisition of Special
Education Publishing Limited in February 2008.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
 
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