PAC sells off its plastic card division for €13.9 million
PAC has sold its plastic pard company and PCC Services subsidiaries to British company, CPI Card Group UK Holdings for a combined £11 million (€13.9m).
“The company continues to develop the strategy outlined to shareholders last year and invest in companies or acquire underperforming assets, in sectors where the company and management have significant experience and that offer strong growth opportunities. Part of that strategy is to divest non-core businesses where that opportunity can be created, in order to recycle funds into higher growth areas,” said PAC executive chairman, Peter Lynch yesterday.
The PAC group now consists of two arms — PAC Digimedia, which focuses on its publication printing business, including its Bell & Bain subsidiary in Scotland; and PAC Telemedia, which includes its majority stake in US mobile communications retailer, Cellular Center, and has 40 stores across three states in the southern part of the US.
In addition, Prime Active Capital, earlier this summer bought a 15% stake in British advertising and marketing company, Media Square for in the region of €5m, later increasing it to a 21.5% stake.
In June, Prime Active reported a 4% fall in revenue for 2007 and a pre-tax loss of €2.65m, compared with a profit of €103,000 for the previous 12 months. The closure of its commercial print division during the year led to the fall, but the company said it still had money to grow, a fact amply illustrated with this summer’s round of investments.
With regard to yesterday’s sale, Mr Lynch said that it would have been difficult for the group to keep driving financial growth in that part of the business without further diversifying into areas like credit card manufacturing — which calls for substantial developmental investment.
