NOP Sale Completed

UBM has announced the completion of its sale of NOP World to GfK for £383 million in cash. A special dividend of c.90p a share will return £300m to shareholders.

The disposal agreement was announced on 15 April 2005. UBM intends to return £300m of the proceeds to shareholders in the form of the special dividend. An EGM will be convened to get shareholder approval for this and for a consolidation of UBM's issued ordinary share capital, to allow comparability of financial figures.

CEO David Levin says he is 'delighted with the achievement of this excellent result, enabling us to make a substantial capital return to shareholders and creating a more focused UBM which can continue to develop its global publishing and events interests'.

The consideration of £383 million is stated on a debt/cash free basis and is subject to an adjustment to reflect the level of working capital at completion. NOP is online at www.nopworld.com and GfK at www.gfk.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.