Tucows
to Acquire Boardtown, Leading Provider of Billing and
Customer Care Suite [April 21, 2004]
TORONTO,
Apr 21, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Tucows
Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: TCOW) today announced that
it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire all
of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock
of privately held Boardtown Corporation, a leading provider
of billing and customer care software solutions to Internet
Service Providers (ISPs) and Application Service Providers
(ASPs) worldwide. The transaction is expected to close
within the next two weeks.
"Provisioning, billing and customer
care are critical functions for ISPs, driving the flow
of revenue and facilitating the provision of exemplary
customer service and the addition of new products,"
said Elliot Noss, President and Chief Executive Officer,
Tucows Inc. "Billing and other backoffice solutions
naturally complement our existing wholesale Internet
services and will allow our customers to further rationalize
their back office costs and focus on revenue generation.
We expect that both companies will benefit from the
significant cross-marketing opportunities created by
this transaction."
Boardtown, with over 700 active customers,
has been profitable since 1997 and has no debt. Tucows
expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive
to cash flow from operations. Boardtown will continue
to operate from its current headquarters in Starkville,
Mississippi.
"Tucows and Boardtown share a similar
vision," said Bill Ford, President, Boardtown Corporation.
"We look forward to offering our products to Tucows'
large and growing base of Internet service providers
and web hosting companies and enhancing our products
by leveraging Tucows' industry knowledge."
Boardtown's premier product, Platypus
Billing System v4.0, is a leading recurring billing
and subscriber management software solution for ISPs,
ASPs and wireless providers.
"The acquisition is consistent
with our strategy to leverage our channel of more than
6,000 resellers to deliver a wide range of Internet
services and products," continued Mr. Noss. "Boardtown
has been very successful identifying the unique needs
of ISPs and has proven its ability to provide both robust
solutions and exceptional customer service and support.
We believe that the ability to offer our customers these
additional functionalities will significantly contribute
to maximizing the value of our customer relationships."
Tucows will satisfy the purchase price
of $4.0 million through $3.0 million in cash and $1.0
million in unregistered Tucows shares. $1.75 million
of the purchase price is contingent upon Boardtown achieving
specified performance milestones over the next 36 months.
About Boardtown Corporation
Based in Starkville, Mississippi and
incorporated in 1997, Boardtown Corporation is a leading
provider of billing and subscriber management software
solutions to service providers worldwide. Boardtown
has customers in 50 U.S. states and 40 countries. For
more information about the corporation, visit www.boardtown.com.
About Tucows
Tucows Inc. is a leading wholesaler
of Internet services to a global network of more than
6,000 resellers such as ISPs and web hosting companies.
Tucows provides a range of outsourced Internet services
and products, including: domain name registration and
management, digital certificates, managed DNS, and email
services. The company is the largest ICANN-accredited
wholesale domain name registrar. Tucows also distributes
software and other digital content through its global
network of affiliates offering more than 40,000 software
titles. For more information, please visit: www.tucowsinc.com.
This news release contains, in addition
to historical information, forward-looking statements
related to such matters as (i) the expected closing
date of the acquisition of Boardtown Corporation, (ii)
Tucows' expectations that the both companies will benefit
from the significant cross-marketing opportunities created
by the transaction, (iii) Tucows expectation that the
acquisition will be immediately accretive to cash flow
from operations, and (iv) Tucows belief that the ability
to offer its customers the additional functionality
will significantly contribute to maximizing the value
of its customer relationships. Such statements are based
on management's current expectations and are subject
to a number of uncertainties and risks that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those described
in the forward- looking statements. Information about
potential factors that could affect Tucows' business,
results of operations and financial condition is included
in the Risk Factors sections of Tucows' filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking
statements included in this document are based on information
available to Tucows as of the date of this document,
and Tucows assumes no obligation to update such forward-looking
statements.
TUCOWS is a registered trademark of
Tucows Inc. or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks
and service marks are the properties of their respective
owners.
SOURCE Tucows Inc.
Jacqueline Cook, Director Marketing,
Tucows Inc.,
+1-416-538-5450, jcook@tucows.com
http://www.tucows.com
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