Aimia Acquires Smart Button
Purchase of web-based loyalty platform expands Aimia’s offerings in the
U.S. loyalty market
MONTREAL, July 23, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ – 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
Contact:
Media Contacts
Krista Pawley
Vice President Global Communications, Aimia
+1 416 352 3794
Investor Contact:
Karen Keyes
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations, Aimia
+ 1-647-428-5280