Purchase of web-based loyalty platform expands Aimia's offerings in the U.S. loyalty market
MONTREAL, July 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - Aimia Inc. (TSX: AIM) ("Aimia"), a global leader in loyalty management headquartered in Canada, today announced that it has purchased Smart Button, an innovative loyalty technology provider for national retailers and other organizations, for a purchase price of approximately US $18 million. The acquisition will be financed with cash on hand. The purchase is part of Aimia's global growth strategy, strengthening its presence in the high potential U.S. retail loyalty market. While complementing Aimia's existing products and services, the acquisition of Smart Button will increase the breadth and depth of Aimia's loyalty product and client portfolio.
"Aimia's passion is helping our clients create deep and lasting relationships with their customers", said Michael Zea, President and CEO of Aimia in the U.S. "Smart Button is a great addition to the Aimia family and provides increased access to the high potential U.S. loyalty market, complementing our existing U.S. presence."
In June, the Conference Board's U.S. Consumer Confidence Index marked its highest point since January 2008. While confidence is rising, consumers are also making more informed purchasing decisions and marketers are responding with loyalty initiatives that are differentiated, intelligent and, most importantly, engage customers in personalized relationships.
Smart Button offers clients a turnkey, feature rich, loyalty solution that enables them to build deep relationships with their customers that are easy to integrate into a company's systems and can be managed by a company's own internal marketing team. Smart Button has a proven track record with ten plus years of experience, and a strong portfolio of retailers across the U.S. including well-known brands such as Hot Topic, Aeropostale, and KOA.
"The combination of Smart Button's platform and Aimia's unmatched reach and full suite of offerings in the loyalty services market will provide new and existing clients with turnkey loyalty solutions that meet their needs," said Smart Button President and CEO, Philip M. Sugar.
The acquisition further advances Aimia's position as a leading loyalty management company delivering world-class customer, distribution channel and employee solutions across all vertical industries, geographies and channels for consumer and business-to-business brands
Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements. Such statements may involve but are not limited to comments with respect to Aimia's and Smart Button's strategies, expectations, planned operations, future actions, anticipated financial performance and business prospects. Forward-looking statements, by their nature, are based on assumptions and are subject to important risks and uncertainties. Any forecasts or forward-looking predictions or statements cannot be relied upon due to, amongst other things, changing external events and general uncertainties of the business and its corporate structure. Results indicated in forward-looking statements may differ materially from actual results for a number of reasons, including without limitation, risks related to the business and the industry, Air Canada liquidity issues, dependency on top four commercial partners that purchase loyalty marketing services, including Aeroplan Miles, Air Canada or travel industry disruptions, airlines industry changes and increased airline costs, reduction in activity, usage and accumulation of Aeroplan Miles, retail market/economic downturn, greater than expected redemptions for rewards, industry competition, supply and capacity costs, unfunded future redemption costs, failure to safeguard databases and consumer privacy, consumer privacy legislation, changes to the Aeroplan and Nectar Programs, seasonal nature of the business, other factors and prior performance, regulatory matters, reliance on key personnel, labour relations and pension liability, technological disruptions and inability to use third party software, failure to protect intellectual property rights, currency fluctuations, interest rate and currency fluctuations, leverage and restrictive covenants in current and future indebtedness, dilution of the Corporation's shareholders, uncertainty of dividend payments, level of indebtedness-refinancing risk, managing growth, as well as the other factors identified throughout the Management Discussion & Analysis on file with the Canadian Securities regulatory authorities. Material factors and assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a projection or forecast are also set out throughout this document. We believe that the expectations represented by our forward-looking statements are reasonable, yet there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. The purpose of the forward-looking statements is to provide the reader with a description of management's expectations regarding the matters described in this news release and may not be appropriate for other purposes. The forward-looking statements contained in this discussion represent the Corporation's expectations as of July 23, 2013 and are subject to change after such date. However, the Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities regulations.
About Aimia
Aimia is a global leader in loyalty management. Employing more than 4,000 people in over 20 countries worldwide, Aimia offers clients, partners and members proven expertise in launching and managing coalition loyalty programs, delivering proprietary loyalty services, creating value through loyalty analytics and driving innovation in the emerging digital, mobile and social communications spaces.
Aimia owns and operates Aeroplan, Canada's premier coalition loyalty program, Nectar, the United Kingdom's largest coalition loyalty program and Nectar Italia. In addition, Aimia owns stakes in Air Miles Middle East, Mexico's leading coalition loyalty program Club Premier, Brazil's Prismah Fidelidade, and I2C, a joint venture with Sainsbury's offering insight and data analytics services in the UK to retailers and suppliers. Aimia also holds a minority position in Cardlytics, a US-based private company operating in transaction-driven marketing for electronic banking. Aimia is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: AIM). For more information, visit us at www.aimia.com.
SOURCE AIMIA
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