DigiPoS Store Solutions Group (DSSG) sells Vista Retail Support

14 Jul 2008

Digipos Vista MBO Announcement

The board of directors of DigiPoS Store Solutions Group (DSSG) today announced the completion of the sale of its combined non core UK maintenance subsidiaries Vista Retail Support Ltd and Retail Services Ltd.

Under the terms of the agreement the long serving management of Vista effected a MBO to allow the maintenance operations of the company to be outright purchased for an undisclosed cash consideration.

The purpose of the sale was to provide greater independence to the Vista team to pursue maintenance contracts with non DigiPoS retail clients and at the same time to allow further investment and international expansion by DSSG of the add value services group that remained with the group under the conditions of the deal.

Graham Worsfold Group Executive chairman cited the need of the group to separate traditional third party maintenance activities in the UK, from the rapidly expanding international division that provides bespoke services under its Service Orientated Retailing (SOR) initiatives that have been successfully launched via group operations in Europe, Asia and America.

Worsfold stated that; "The management of all existing and future maintenance contracts in the UK will continue to be supported by the Vista team. The DSSG services group will also work with Vista to provide access to the expanded services capability in our Benelux based European retail services hub. This means from a group perspective our UK and European retail clients will have total stability and also can now gain access to an enhanced range of retail specific services for UK and international deployment. At the same time, Vista has the means to pursue its own expansion whilst continuing to provide maintenance support of our DigiPoS Retail Blade technology."

Vista will continue to be led by Managing Director Brian Norman and Finance Director Richard Olds. Brian Norman commented …"The MBO agreement will allow Vista to independently explore new maintenance services across a wide range of retail vendors and will also be able to continue to partner with DSSG on the major UK clients already provided with on-site maintenance and repair services. This means Vista can aggressively pursue its goal of becoming the number 1 maintenance specialist in the UK within the retail and hospitality sectors. We are excited about the prospect of operating as an independent company and growing our reputation for providing a high level of customer service and satisfaction".

DSSG was founded in 1994 in the UK and today is a multi-national retail group that has installed successfully installed over 250,000 retail solutions via its wholly owned subsidiaries operating in 15 countries. Vista was acquired as part of the UK investment in IS Retail in 2000 and has grown its specialist field maintenance operations to employ over 120 trained engineering staff. RTC Ltd was acquired from NSB UK in 2002 and included the maintenance and services activities in the UK. The RTC business unit was subsequently absorbed into the two separate maintenance and services divisions now operated by Vista and separated under the terms of the MBO.