Contact Information: For more information please contact: Andrea Dray MIND CTI Ltd. Tel: +972-4-993-6666
MIND CTI Acquires the UK Based Omni Consulting Company Limited (Trading as Abacus Billing)
Acquisition Extends Managed Service Offering, Strengthens the Team and Expands European Presence
| Source: MIND CTI Ltd.
READING, ENGLAND and YOKNEAM, ISRAEL--(Marketwire - October 11, 2007) - MIND CTI Ltd. (NASDAQ : MNDO ), a leading provider of convergent end-to-end billing and customer
care product based solutions for tier 2 and tier 3 carriers worldwide,
today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Omni
Consulting Company Limited (Abacus Billing), a UK leading provider of
managed services for customer care and billing solutions to
telecommunications carriers and large resellers as well as a leader in the
field in information and billing for utility smart metering.
Omni (Abacus Billing) provides billing and customer care software solutions
in a service bureau mode, mainly to European carriers that require complex
solutions, with a strong convergent offering and using web-enabled daily
reporting and billing. Omni is based in the London metro area, has over 30
employees and a unique and extremely strong methodology for its outsourced
offering, supported by regulatory accreditations from UK's Ofcom and Reg-TP
of Germany.
"Carriers around the world are lately looking more into the managed
services option and we are now better positioned to capitalize on this
trend," said Monica Eisinger, chief executive officer of MIND. "Abacus
Billing's solid reputation and proven expertise in the European market, its
strong existing customer relationships, and a great team of people,
complement MIND's strong management, deep industry knowledge, financial
backing and global resources. We believe that this acquisition puts MIND in
a good position for increased success in the European market."
The new division will continue to be led by Karl Wills, CEO of Abacus
Billing, and the current management team. Karl has been with Abacus since
2000, serving initially as COO and from 2001 leading the company as CEO. He
has more than twenty-five years of international business experience in
information technology and telecommunications and also has considerable
expertise in general management and logistics. Prior to joining Abacus,
Karl held a number of senior management roles, including Senior Director of
International Logistics at EMI music and European Solutions Director at
Metapack. He holds a Masters degree in Business Science from the University
of Manchester, and is a Visiting Fellow at Manchester Business School,
focusing on IT Strategy.
"The team at Abacus Billing is enthusiastic about becoming part of a
larger, public company with both global reach and financial strength. This
transaction allows Abacus Billing to better support its customers by
combining and enlarging the software development and deployment teams.
Furthermore, it will capitalize on the position that Abacus has attained in
Smart Meter Information and Billing" said Karl Wills, president of Abacus
Billing Limited. "Our existing and potential customers will benefit from
the greater comprehensive product range and extended capabilities leaving
us well placed to take on even more complex projects for carriers and
resellers offering prepaid and postpaid multiple services convergence."
Oren Bryan, chief financial officer of MIND commented: "Under the terms of
the acquisition, MIND acquires Abacus Billing for up to approximately $7.4
million (£3.6 million) in cash, of which £2.88 million in cash is to be
paid upon closing and a maximum performance related earn-out of £720
thousand is to be paid over the next 2 years. The transaction is expected
to be neutral to earnings per share, excluding acquisition-related items,
in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, and accretive to earnings per share,
excluding acquisition-related items, in fiscal 2008 and thereafter."
MIND will host a conference call on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 8:30 a.m.,
Eastern Time, to discuss the Company's third quarter of 2007 results as
well as other financial and business information, including this
acquisition.
About MIND
MIND CTI Ltd. is a leading provider of convergent prepaid and postpaid
end-to-end billing and customer care solutions for Wireless, Wireline, VoIP
and Quad-play carriers worldwide. A global company, with over ten years of
experience in providing solutions to carriers, MIND operates from offices
in Europe, Israel and the United States, serving customers in more than 40
countries around the world. For more information, visit MIND at:
www.mindcti.com.
Cautionary Statement for Purposes of the "Safe Harbor" Provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: All statements other than
historical facts included in the foregoing press release regarding the
Company's business strategy are "forward-looking statements." These
statements are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and on
information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements
are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may materially
differ. The forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and
assumptions, including the risks discussed in the Company's filings with
the United States Securities Exchange Commission. The Company does not
undertake to update any forward-looking information.